WELCOME to the Sioux Falls Area Cartoonists Blog! This should be a great way to communicate, spotlight cartoonist activities, spotlight each cartoonist and generally have fun and cartoon fellowship!To keep our focus on the fine art of cartooning and to keep things positive and friendly, a few guidelines for posting and comments. Topics to avoid:
* Prices
*Politics (heated debates/dialogue, that is. We do have editorial cartoonists left, right, and in the middle.)
*Religion
The rest we'll make up as we move along!
4 comments:
On the topic of politics;
Would a discussion on the current state of the market in regards to political cartooning be out of bounds?
Sounds appropriate to me, John. I think the guideline (avoiding politics, etc.) is more in keeping the environment where all of us have diverse backgrounds upbeat and focused on cartooning aspect vs heated exchange over political parties, etc. -- who is right, who is wrong ... that type deal. There are other blogs, etc. that deal with that.
While in discussion of the market in political cartoons -- just newspaper/print strips in general and marketing would be another interesting discussion. The role of the newspaper is certainly different nowadays .....
Good question!!!
The current state of the market in regards to political cartooning is not promising. I think all cartoonists, especially political cartoonists, are struggling to get their artwork noticed by national syndicates. This past year alone, nationally-known politcal cartoonists Michael Ramirez, Kirk Anderson, and John Sherffius, to name just a few, were fired from their jobs due to budget constraints at their respective newspapers. In fact, the Chicago Tribune has not hired a replacement for Jeff MacNelly, who passed away seven years ago. Political cartoonists need to follow the lead of Mark Fiore, whose animated political cartoons appear online on the internet. The future of political cartooning in newsprint appears bleak unless cartoonists find a strategy to convince editors that readership will decline without the presence of political cartoons in their newspapers. The Argus Leader treats a political cartoon like a letter to the editor. Although I like the exposure of having my cartoons published, I also devalue my artwork by giving it away. The Argus Leader will never pay if it continues to receive free content. Maybe we could create a syndicate, similar to Artizans, in order to market our cartoons on local and state issues.
Tim - I've been hesitant to submit editorial cartoons to the Argus Leader for exactly that reason. The exposure gained doesn't seem to reflect the time & materials used.
I'm not about to stop creating political cartoons, but would prefer a better venue...and a different President to poke fun of. ;) Our current one is too easy...
Also, what do you think of the 'Non-Sequitur' strip from Feb. 4th? It can't show it, but here's a description from an article;
"Miller -- a former editorial cartoonist whose "Non Sequitur" feature is syndicated via Universal Press Syndicate -- drew an assistant addressing a newspaper executive in the Feb. 4 comic.
The assistant says: "There's a group of editorial cartoonists outside who are threatening to draw scathing cartoons in protest of the elimination of so many staff positions and to post them on the Internet to bring public
pressure on you."
The executive replies: "Didn't they do that last year? What did they call it ... Big Stink Tuesday?"
"You mean Black Ink Monday?"
"Whatever. So how'd that work out for them?"
"Well ... there's even fewer of them now. I guess that's why they're still upset."
"I see ... . But since a lot of those protesters have a staff position and are selling their work to me dirt cheap through syndication, what incentive is there for me to spend 500 times more in salary and benefits for the work
of just one person?"
The assistant answers: "I'll go ask, sir." She subsequently reports back to say that the cartoonists "just mooned me, then ran off giggling to the nearest bar and started drawing on cocktail napkins."
To which the executive replies: "Well, let THAT be a lesson to me."
http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2007/02/05/non-sequitur-cartoon-creates-stir-among-editorial-cartoonists/
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