Peripherally I watch the magazine market because I enjoy the art, but since magazine gag cartoons aren’t this blogs focus, I’m rounding up some of the news I’m seeing in that market space because I know there are a lot of magazine cartoonists that read this blog:
John Donohue is a frequent New Yorker cartoonist who will be teaching a class on how to draw and sell gag cartoons. It appears to be a one-time opportunity on March 1st in Manhattan.
In his class March 1, Donohue will teach the entire process of creating a cartoon. “The idea is the first thing,” he says. “I’ll go over how to come up with ideas and how to refine them.” He’ll also cover the various techniques for expressing them and how to sell them. “I’ll give insights on where to send cartoons and the best way to make sure they are seen by the right people.
“I’ll also reveal some secrets about what to do with all those rejects.”
The class is open to amateurs and experienced artists. For more information, visit www.mediabistro.com or call 212-929-2588, Ext. 2.
Drew Dernavich is featured in the Vail Daily.
And lastly…
The New Yorker is under-fire for printing what many are calling an offensive polish joke. Robert Weber drew a gag in which two children talking with the caption reading, “My parents named me Zbigniew because they were drunk.”
“Neither the cartoonist nor the editors of The New Yorker thought this was anything other than a joke about the difficulty of pronouncing a name,” Remnick told The Associated Press. “It’s two American kids talking to each other. There was never any intention or thought of this being a particularized ethnic joke, much less an ethnic insult.
“We just don’t publish that kind of thing,” he added.
It is hard to belive in the real intention of the cartoonist, that this is a joke about the difficulty of pronouncing the name. There are many more popular and more difficult names to pronounce such us: Wawrzyniec, Zdzislaw, Wienczyslaw, Przemyslaw etc. So, why Zbigniew was the cartoonist choice? Quite simple.
If you remember that just on February 1, Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski was testified in front of Congresional Committee you do not need to be a rocket scientist to make connections between all three points: name, time and joke. Make your own conclusion: that is my five cents to the whole story. Cheap, very cheap and very offensive, not funny at all.
Lighten up. I know the gag wasn’t that funny, but any name the cartoonist used would probably riled someone. This time the joke is on anyone named Zbigniew. How mant times, as a cartoonist, have you made fun of something very personal to someone, they got all bent out of shape and you sat there scratching your head as to why THEY overreacted. Chill. This time the bear got you. When i do caricatures at High School functions, there is always a gaagle of adolescent girls there who egg each other on about getting themselves “done” by me. One of them is always the sarcastic one who makes fun of the others and thinks my work is great–until they sit down. Then I become a hideous monster out to destroy people. I am that mean, nasty cartoonist. This time, Zbiggy, you are the teenage girl.