Donnie Pitchford, Ralph Steadman, Paul Ackley, Jerry Craft, Clay Jones, Angelo Lopez, Liana Finck, Jim Toomey, Jack Mallette, and the new National Cartoonists Society Board of Directors (Karen Evans, Drew Aquilina, Greg Cravens, John Hambrock, Ellen Liebenthal, Jamar Nicholas, Nick Seluk, Johnny Sampson)
Donnie Pitchford part of the Carthage Main Street 2024 Arts Walk of Fame Induction
Inductees for the annual awards have spent their formative years here or significantly contributed to the Carthage and Panola County arts community.
In 2010, Pitchford returned to the endeavor he began at age 5: being a cartoonist. The weekly “Lum and Abner” comic strip began in 2011. It is available online and in print and includes an audio production for the blind. Pitchford has created comic book stories and art for Argo Press of Austin, illustrated children’s books, written scripts for the “Dick Tracy” newspaper strip, and produced the science fiction comedy strip “Tib the Rocket Frog.”
Gauri B. Godbole of The Panola Watchman has details.
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Ralph Steadman’s 2023 in Pictures
The Ralph Steadman Art Collection presents pictures from Mr. Steadman’s 2023.
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Paul Ackley Editorial Cartoons Get Spot at The Billy Ireland
GREENVILLE — You’ve seen Paul Ackley’s editorial cartoons on the pages of The Daily Advocate and The Early Bird since the early 1980s, but now many pieces of his work will forever be preserved at The Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. Ackley was recently honored with inclusion into the repository of cartoonist’s work from around the world.
He pointed out that it isn’t an easy process to be included in the museum and library. The artist must apply for inclusion and then their artwork is scrutinized by the library and museum’s board. Only the top comic and editorial artists are accepted.
Ryan Berry at The Daily Advocate reports on the honor.
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SLJ Asks Newbery Medal Winner Jerry Craft 5 Questions
Winning awards can be life-changing … Below, read the responses from Jerry Craft, who won the 2020 Newbery Medal for his graphic novel New Kid.
The School Library Journal quizzes Jerry Craft.
The Q and A that was not about winning an award:
What are you working on now?
A brand new three-book graphic novel series that has nothing to do with New Kid. But I can’t share details just yet. Sorry. But I CAN say that there’s also a New Kid movie in the works that I am an executive producer on.
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A Talk With Editorial Cartoonists Clay Jones and Angelo Lopez
On January 14, 2024, editorial cartoonists Clay Jones and Angelo Lopez had a conversation on the state of American editorial cartooning, the importance of editorial cartoonists to protect their independent thinking, and the continued power of editorial cartoonists to influence state and local issues.
From Angelo’s YouTube channel.
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Publishers Weekly Asks Liana Finck 4 Questions
You Broke It!, the picture book debut of New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck, is a fresh and funny deflation of adult authority figures. A series of anthropomorphized animal parents scold their offspring in familiar but contextually illogical ways: the title is voiced by a mother bird who’s peeved that her hatching offspring has broken the eggshell
You’ve talked about wanting to be a New Yorker cartoonist since you were a child. Was being a children’s book author also a longstanding goal?
I’ve been trying to make children’s books all my life—it was really my first goal…
Libby Morse for PW talks to Liana Finck.
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Conservation Cartoonist Jim Toomey Visits a Marine Life Center
Jim Toomey, the creator of the daily comic strip, “Sherman’s Lagoon,” says he has two lifelong passions: Art and the sea … On Thursday, Jan. 25 at Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC), fans of his work can meet him. Toomey will be part of the center’s “By the Sea” lecture series. He’ll be discussing the inspiration behind “Sherman’s Lagoon” and his journey of conservation efforts. He has recently repurposed his cartooning skills into animation and has completed a series of short films in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme on the topic of ocean conservation.
Florida Weekly reports on Jim’s appearance.
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When Jack Mallette Was an Auburn Cartoonist
Jack Mallette, Auburn alumnus, recounted his time at Auburn. Mallette was the art editor of the Glomerata and was and a part of the “school of cartooning,” at The Auburn Plainsman.
Mallette was a part of the Glomerata, Plainsman and The Circle during 1976-79. He worked on The Plainsman staff as a cartoonist and art editor.
“If you worked on one, you basically worked on all three back then, it was sort of incestuous for organizations, but fun nonetheless,” Mallette said.
He spoke on his cartoon character, Ace Roxoff, a parody of an Auburn student, which didn’t go over well with Plainsman editorial staff when published…
Brychelle Brooks for The Auburn Plainsman interviews Jack.
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Meet Your National Cartoonists Society Board Members
Get to know your peers who are volunteering their time and talents to sustain and nurture the NCS by serving on the Board of Directors. The board is required to meet a minimum of twice a year but, with so many exciting projects underway, we have been meeting once a month or more! You can learn all about board positions in the NCS Bylaws here, but we think it is most important for you to know who we are as creators, as fellow humans, and as members of the NCS.
I was also on that Auburn Plainsman staff, and I’d lost track of Jack over the years. It’s wonderful to know what he’s been doing.
Thanks so much for picking up the story on the Carthage, Texas Arts Walk of Fame!
Hey Donnie…
Recognition well deserved. Congratulations,
Milburn