Every day, a cartoon bird appears on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch doing something different –– swinging a bat, commenting on national politics, flying a helicopter. Well, we don’t really need to explain, because if you’re from St. Louis, you’ll know what we’re talking about. The Weatherbird is St. Louis.
But the 121-year-old bird doesn’t appear out of thin air. It is the work of Dan Martin…
The Riverfront Times interviews cartoonist Dan Martin about semi-retiring.
What is your process drawing the Weatherbird?
I deal with Brent Fisher, the night city editor, who knows what’s on the front page that day. The Weatherbird always has to comment or relate to something on the front page. He sends me a budget of what’s going to be on page one and I look through what I think might be the best bird subject, and then he says OK, and then I draw it here at home. I’ve been working at home during the pandemic for the past two and a half years.I still draw it the old-fashioned way. I do it with pencil and ink on Strathmore drawing paper…
I love this, particularly seeing something that worked well over a hundred years ago that still works today. Newspapers and cartoons are peanut butter and chocolate.
What a wonderful article! Bodacious congratulations, Dan!