Drawing Criticism

September 5, 2019 9:45 AM

Where there were more than 2,000 staff cartoonists at work a century ago, and 180 as recently as the 1980s, contemporary estimates are grim: a 2011 survey by The Herb Block Foundation, an educational nonprofit, estimated that fewer than 40 such jobs still exist.
posted by Etrigan (9 comments total)

Quick let's hire a couple outside analysts to find out why!
posted by aspersioncast at 9:51 AM on September 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

Like everybody else, they were outsourced and became contractors doing the same job for less pay and less job security. An acquaintance in the business is self-syndicating to keep his work in the papers, plus he sells commissioned cartoons, sells signed originals, etc. to keep earning a living as a editorial cartoonist.
posted by COD at 10:00 AM on September 5, 2019 [7 favorites]

They should have pivoted to animation
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:06 AM on September 5, 2019 [7 favorites]

How is this possible? The amount of high quality art being made my freelancers and just hobbyists on the internet has exploded.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:12 AM on September 5, 2019

The key word there is Staff. Lots of art still being produced, just no security.
posted by Mitheral at 11:15 AM on September 5, 2019 [6 favorites]

How is this possible? The amount of high quality art being made my freelancers and just hobbyists on the internet has exploded.

In our delightful modern society, this just means there's more competition for the spots that exist, which employers use to drive down pay for everyone.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:42 AM on September 5, 2019 [9 favorites]

PS: the late Herb Block and the foundation he established are both pretty awesome. (And I say this as someone who recently had a grant proposal rejected by them!) There's some background info on Herb Block here, and some greatest hits of his here. Looking at those cartoons really underscores what a loss this trend is for journalism in America.
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:47 AM on September 5, 2019 [4 favorites]

I've almost always found political cartoons to be somewhat diluted by the medium itself - most are unoriginal or obvious (complete with labels for world leaders usually), or the art seems ill-suited to the serious subject matter. Those few that work, or are even inspired, probably ought to just be called illustration instead.

I also wonder, how does the popularity of political cartoons track with the ubiquity of news photography?
posted by reductiondesign at 1:12 PM on September 5, 2019 [2 favorites]

From a Canadian view, most of the single frame political editorial cartoons in the Canadian mainstream newsprint papers (Star/Sun/Glob/etc) are pathetic & lame, and deserve to fail. This is a reflection on their editors, who do not value interesting editorial art as a reflection on the issues of the day.

(The exception is Graeme MacKay in the Hamilton Spectator, a genius in this funny genre.)
posted by ovvl at 6:34 PM on September 6, 2019 [1 favorite]