Cartoons and Me
Andy Singer
Cartoons are a
great medium for educating people by quickly showing ideas and relationships.
The word “Cartoon” comes from the Italian word Cartone, “a Preparatory
sketch, as for a fresco or painting.” Cartooning combines images with words
in a kind of verbal and visual shorthand. This combination of words and images
(or just multiple images) enables the artist to communicate complex ideas very
simply and quickly — much faster than is possible with written words. In
addition, wordless cartoons are very universal and can be understood by foreigners
or even poorly educated people with minimal language skills.
As a result, Cartoons have been used for everything. When you fly on a plane,
the safety instruction card that tells you how to put on your oxygen mask or
exit the plane in an emergency is essentially a cartoon— a combination of
words and images. Right Wing Christian Fundamentalist groups use the little “Jack
Chick” cartoon books (passed out to the public) to educate or lure in followers.
I’ve seen information on AIDs and STDs in cartoon form, on posters in the
subway. I’ve seen cartoons in advertising, children’s education, health
department information, in instruction manuals; they’re everywhere. Cartoons
are also the basis for films and videos, which must first be drawn up as cartoon
“storyboards”, to show camera operators and actors how scenes will
be shot.
The US government
made “Jihad Manuals” for the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan and manuals
for the Nicaraguan Contras (on how to destroy Nicaragua’s infrastructure)
that were essentially cartoon books. I’m sure they’ve made voting instructions,
wartime propaganda and lots of other stuff that features cartoons as well. In
Mexico, Vincente Fox (like many past presidents) had a comic book made about
himself, an effective technique in a country where many people are without television
or electricity. The applications of cartooning are endless.
Cartooning
is a blend of writing and illustration, and the writing part is absolutely crucial.
You can make the most beautiful drawing in the world but, if the concept or content
of what’s being said isn’t interesting or funny, the cartoon will be
a failure. Despite this, in the 19th and early 20th Centuries the emphasis seems
to have been on the quality of the drawings. There were notable exceptions (like
James Thurber) but most cartoonists were excellent draftsmen — like Thomas
Nast, Honore Daumier, Winsor McCay, Rube Goldberg, and George Herriman. After
the advent of modernism, drawing became somewhat less important; Charles Schultz,
for example, emphasized writing and good characterization over drawing.
Today,
the emphasis on writing is almost total. Cartoonists like Tom Tomorrow (This
Modern World), David Rees, or Max Cannon don’t draw anything: they use scanned
or traced 1950’s-style drawings or photo images (clip art), collaged together
with words. While this too involves some craft, these cartoonists are almost
completely about writing or concept. This turn toward “appropriation”
is also evident in other visual arts and in music.
I am
somewhat the opposite. I love to draw and was originally a painting major in
College. So, in some ways, cartooning is just an excuse for me to draw. Cartooning
is the way I look at and process the world around me. I believe that visual art
is an extension of one’s social, philosophical and religious beliefs and
that, on some level, image making is a social act. Image making has a political
dimension. Visual art is a social force.
