Category: News

  • Unemployed Dad Cartoon Blog

    Just starting this blog a few months ago, its nice to see certain people come back and offer comments on different things. If my commenters have their own blog, I tend to go take a look.

    One frequent commenter, Michael Freed, has a funny webtoon called “Unemployed Dad” which focuses on the life of hmmmm how do I say this…an unemployed dad.

    Now I don’t know if Michael is really unemployed (then again I don’t know how else he could post this much if he had a job) but his blog is worth checking out.

  • Obama Presidency Cartoon by Michael Leunig

    It is a frequent occurrence that I get an email from someone I know with a cartoon attached that they think is funny. Too many times there is no reference to the original artist or their website. I’ll post soon as to what this could mean to intellectual rights of cartoonists.

    I got this cartoon this week due to the inauguration that was done when Barack Obama was elected..

    leunigobama

    Once again there wasn’t any indication of the cartoonist except for their signature.

    So in honor of the inauguration and a cartoonist getting full credit for his work, here is the link to his site – Michael Leunig, a well known artist from Australia.

  • Tom Richmond Caricature Tutorials

    One of my new favorite places on the web is visiting Tom Richmond’s blog. Tom is a freelance illustrator who does a lot of work for Mad Magazine.

    I marvel that with his workload he consistently publishes pretty much daily, with tips, news info, and caricatures he has done.

    He even has a section where he has highlighted several of his caricature drawing tutorials. Of course even reading his stuff doesn’t make my crap look any better but it definitely helps you look at the drawn image differently. I especially like how he explains the “Law of Constant Mass“.

    Whether you enjoy cartooning or enjoy seeing a great cartoonist…check it out.

  • Bearman Cartoons Popping up on the Web

    I have found my cartoons popping up in various places around the web. Most unfortunately don’t do the right thing and link back to mine to show my ownership of the cartoon. But two posts this week I found got it right.

    The first is at Queer Cincinnati dealing with the Gays in the Military. He actually “half-heartedly” blog rolled my site during my challenge to bloggers to help the FreeStore Foodbank in Cincinnati. I love that…”half-heartedly” Is it my drawing or my personality?? ha ha

    The second is the website 2012news.com. They picked up on my first cartoon dealing with 2012 conspiracy theories. Trust me I am sure there will be more to come.

    Shout out to both of them. Thanks for supporting my little part of the universe. Remember if you use my toons in your blog please refer your readers back here. If you are looking to use in any form of paid web or print publication or any other way that you will make money, please contact me to discuss usage.

  • Newsweek Magazines Best 2008 Editorial Cartoons also sucks.

    In case you missed my post about editorial cartoonists not happy with Time Magazine’s pick for top editorial cartoons of 2008, now it is Newsweek’s turn.

    The Daily Cartoonist reports that Association of American Editorial Cartoonists president Ted Rall has now penned an even stronger letter to Newsweek Magazine for their picks of Best cartoons of 2008.

    a. Rall seems more irritated that Newsweek would continue to print “safe” cartoons rather than controversial or more thought provoking. But this is an argument to make about all the cartoons they run throughout the year not just their “best of” because,
    b. Newsweek seemed to only pick from what cartoons they ran during the year so it only seems right that those would be the choices.
    c. With all the cartoonists being put out of work, isn’t it nice someone is still printing anyone’s work?

    The article doesn’t link to Newsweek’s choices so I am providing it here.

    Newsweek Magazine Best Cartoons of 2008

  • Time Magazine Top 10 Editorial Cartoons of 2008 Sucks

    Editorial cartoonists are up in arms with Time Magazine’s list of the Top 10 Editorial Cartoons of 2008.

    Michael Cavna of the Washington Post thinks that the selection was made with their eyes closed. And Association of American Editorial Cartoonists president Ted Rall even fired off a letter to Time Magazine showing his own disgust saying “In 2008 hundreds of brilliant political cartoonists produced thousands of hard-hitting, thought-provoking and hilarious cartoons…and all you could come up with was this phoned-in crap?”

    Now looking through the Time list, I would have to agree that most of the selections I wouldn’t include in a top 100 of my own list. And this is coming from someone who thinks his own stuff is mediocre at best.

    But I find it amusing how invested people get in others “Best of” lists. Someone even suggested that the AAEC create their own best of list.

    Here is how I responded:

    “what I was thinking was to submit a list of the 10 best editorial cartoons to Huffpost.”

    And what makes you think your picks would be any less biased? Any top 10 list I have ever seen is full of crap and obviously biased or not well thought out. I just read Entertainment Weekly where they list the “Top Ten Most Notable Events of 2008″ Three of them are movie premieres. Seriously, the premiere of Sex and the City is one of the top ten of 2008?

    Even if you post nominees and have people vote, what you end up with is still not the best. ie. Just because someone wins American Idol doesn’t make them the best singer in the competition.

    Maybe it’s that people get hung up on the terminology that if someone creates a best of list that it is absolute and therefore insulting to anyone not on the list. Instead, maybe you create a post of “Ten Editorial Cartoons of 2008 that I Liked Best”

    Maybe instead of Best of Lists, people should start creating Worst of Lists. I can’t see anyone complaining that they didn’t make the list.

  • Pulitzer Online Noms Follow Up Post

    Last week I created this blog entry discussing how the Pulitzer organization is now accepting online newspapers for consideration of their coveted award.

    Well since then I received an email from Simon Owens of bloggasm.com (it’s not some sex site, you dirty minded people) He wrote this article for pbs.org that has more details. In it he speaks with Pulitzer administrator Sig Gissler, as well as editors from Slate and Salon.com.

  • Create Cartoon Characters of Yourself

    Hongkiat.com has a great post about 11 different sites that you can visit to create cartoon characters of yourself. My favorites were the South Park Studio and Simpsonize ME (obviously to create your own Simpsons character.

    I created a cartoon likeness of a family member and had it made into a photo cake. Regular photos look too cheesy but give your friend/loved one a cake with an cartoon likeness of them and they will love it.

  • The death of the Newspaper Cartoonist

    With all this talk of layoffs at daily newspapers all over the country, one position that doesn’t get much press is the editorial cartoonists. This Washington Post blog article brings the story to light. It even mentions Cincinnati’s own Jim Borgman as one who has been pushed out this year.

    Will we soon see a group of middle aged men marching to Washington, ink and Wacom tablets in hand, looking for their own bailouts? Is this the death of the political cartoon as we know it?

  • Pulitzer now accepting Online Newspapers for Consideration

    According to this Huffington Post news entry online only newspapers are now eligible for entry into the coveted Pulitzer prize competition.

    One can only wonder if the Cincinnati Beacon (where I initially post all my cartoons) will one day seek eligibility and then maybe my own hack cartoons would in turn be eligible.

    However, a further look at the details at Editor & Publisher
     notes some exception that would possibly deny both the Beacon and the Huffington Post from entry.

    At minimum eligibility they must “publish in print or online at least weekly; that are primarily dedicated to original news reporting and coverage of ongoing stories; and that adhere to the highest journalistic principles.”

    It’s the last part that may be an issue. I think both would be classified as media activist websites versus online newspapers.