The overall look of an editorial cartoon can sometimes seem silly and juvenile—whether it be because of the obvious biases, the sometimes scratchy handwriting, or the caricatured representations of public figures.
But the actual work that goes into creating that single story-telling panel can actually be daunting. There are so many factors that come into play when creating a cartoon that not only has to have a political message, but also be somewhat entertaining. I’d like to guide you through a step-by-step process, and perhaps you can come up with something to share with the readers of Dixie Sun.
1. Know your point of view
There are people who definitely prefer to be the peacekeepers, and there are those who tend to steer completely clear of conflict altogether. If you fall into this category, then perhaps creating an editorial cartoon isn’t for you.
The best politically focused cartoons come from artists and writers who have a definable position on a topic. Pretending to have an opinion can only get a person so far. It won’t take long before you’re out of ideas if you’re a fence-sitter. You need to be the kind of person who can get extremely excited about some things and terribly disappointed in others.
If you approach creating a cartoon with this mentality, then your readers should know where you stand on an issue based on the product you show them.
2. Keep up with the Kardashians
And the Clintons, and the Baldwins, and the Ahmadinejads. If you’re not focusing your cartoon on something current, then you’re most likely going to end up with a “Family Circus” knock-off.
Watch the news, read the papers, peruse the blogs—do whatever it takes to keep yourself current. By keeping current with the news, you’re actually setting yourself up to succeed at step No. 3.
3. Focus on everything ridiculous
Paying attention to the news is all fine and dandy, but you need to keep a special eagle eye out for moments you can make fun of. Why on earth do you think President George W. Bush was re-elected? It was because all the political cartoonists out there were striking gold on a daily basis.
President Obama has had a few gaffs as well. It wasn’t too long ago he made a toast to the Queen of England—in the middle of the British national anthem. To a political cartoonist, that’s the equivalent of handing a book of matches to a pyromaniac and then daring him to burn the city down.
4. Know how to make fun
It simply won’t do to re-tell the exact same story everyone else has been seeing on the news. As an editorial cartoonist, you need to take the common news and put your own spunky spin on it.
Let's use Obama as an example again. It was obviously just a simple mistake when he interrupted the British national anthem; he certainly didn’t do it on purpose. So you can run with that. Perhaps you can have a cartoon titled, “The rest of Obama’s British visit,” and then draw him making social faux pas in ridiculous situations.
You could draw him sneezing into the Queen’s tea, then draw him comparing Prime Minister David Cameron to Austin Powers, and finally show him meeting the Duchess of Cambridge (a.k.a. Kate Middleton) while asking, “And who are you?”
5. You’ve got to doodle-doo
Now I’ve seen my fair share of political cartoons, so I can tell you right now that you don’t have to be a talented artist to pull one of these off. However, you do have to have some sort of flair for drawing imitations of public figures. And if you find your rendition of a certain political person isn’t quite recognizable, you can easily throw a name badge onto your drawing.
You’ll want to sketch it out in pencil first, just in case you make an error. Then you can decide to make your cartoon color or black and white. I started out with the simple black and white format, then I started coloring in my characters with sharpies. Now I use watercolor. The medium is completely up to you. I bet a political cartoon colored with crayons would be a hit.
6. Once is not enough
The very first political cartoon I ever drew was in junior high. Trust me when I tell you it was the equivalent of manure in its first stage. Because I was so unsuccessful at that first cartoon, I was hesitant to do it again. It wasn’t until college that I decided to take another shot at it.
My first cartoon of the year was OK, but it certainly was lacking. However, as the weeks have gone by, I’ve found the concepts come to me much easier, and my art is improving. Just be prepared to make a few mistakes.
So do you think you’ve got it in you to at least come up with one editorial cartoon? We’d love to see it! Share it on our Facebook page at Facebook.com/Dixie.sun.
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