Ward Sutton moved to Colorado a few years ago.
Political cartoonist Ward Sutton, a relative newcomer to Colorado, might have come here to get away from it all, but his handiwork enjoys a national reach, appearing in such publications as the Boston Globe and the New Yorker and, as drawn by his alter-ego Kelly, The Onion. The Herblock Prize winner also diversifies as an illustrator, creating high-profile band posters, animation for HBO and Comedy Central, and even face masks sold on Etsy. Through it all, his caricatures are spot-on, and his humor remains even-handed and ridiculously funny.
Westword: What (or who) is your creative muse?
Ward Sutton: I work mainly as a political cartoonist, so my muse tends to be all that is wrong with the world. I just read a quote today from Kurt Tucholsky, a writer from 1930s Germany, that sums it up nicely: “A satirist is an offended idealist.”
Ward tackles Westword”s Colorado Creatives questionnaire.
Who are your role models as a political cartoonist?
The cartoonist Herblock worked from WW2 until the era of Clinton, mainly for the Washington Post. He was unflinching, and much of his work still resonates as though it was created today. He was fully dedicated to his craft and lived in a now-distant era where presidents would invite cartoonists to the White House.