Former Wichita Eagle Cartoonist Talks About Life After Layoff

Cutbacks among editorial cartoonists this year has been dramatic (myself included). They're part of the larger wave to layoffs and reductions experienced by most major media companies due to the economic recession.

Richard Crowson, the former cartoonist for the Wichita Eagle, was let go back in September after spending 21 years at the paper. But he's not letting all the sour news keep him down.

It was announced earlier this week that Crowson will now be cartooning for the Wichita Magazine on a monthly basis. Beginning in January, he'll have free reign with the inside back page of the magazine, and plans to fill it with a satirical view of the city drawn as a prairedog town called Wichidog Town.

Richard is also busy playing his banjo, volunteering, and he's even started his own website and blog, located at http://www.richardcrowson.com.

Despite losing his job, Crowson told Alan Gardner over at The Daily Cartoonist that things seem to be very optimistic:

This layoff thing has been just the kick in the butt I needed to explore some of these possibilities that I’d wanted to get involved in for years. After some 30-odd years of editorial cartooning (some of which were very odd) I’m due for a change. The experiences I’ve had drawing for The Wichita Eagle for the last 21 years, and for The Jackson Sun (in Jackson, Tennessee) for 9 years prior to that, have been rewarding and a real blast, but now I can stretch out a little and it feels good!

Recently he talked with KMUW's Frank Dudgeon, which you can listen to here.

Auburn Football Cartoon Out of Date Before it Even Ran

Another cartoon, this time by Birmingham News cartoonist Scott Stantis, didn't see print because of the volatility of the news cycle.

Scott explains why here.

H/T - The Daily Cartoonist

Newspaper Industry Cartoon by Steve Greenberg

I missed this earlier, but Steve Greenberg, the former editorial cartoonist for the Ventura County Star, posted this cartoon on Metaprinter.com back when he was laid off from his staff job in November.

Greenberg used to contribute cartoons to Editor & Publisher magazine, and it seems more relevant today that it might have 12 years ago when it first appeared.

Cartoonist Name Omitted from CBS News Story

In a CBS News story about Barack Obama's monumental task to restore credibility to the White House, CBS points to an editorial cartoon that seems to sum up their entire story in one single image.

The problem is, they don't even bother to mention the artist.

"A cartoon from the Houston Chronicle caught the flavor," the story begins, not bothering to mention that the cartoon was penned by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Nick Anderson.

The story goes on to describe the cartoon in lieu of showing it or providing a link:

A man standing in front of a burning building labeled "the economy" is shouting into a phone: "My house is on fire, how soon can you get here?"

A fireman who looks like Barack Obama answers, "January 20th."

This story illustrates a giant pet peeve of mine as a cartoonist. Whenever a news story uses an editorial cartoon to clarify its point, they very rarely credit the editorial cartoonist by name, choosing instead to go with the "a cartoon from x publication" instead.

Would someone ever quote something out of a Maureen Down column just by saying, "In a column that appeared today in the New York Times..."

This happened to me recently in a New York Times story about a cartoon I had drawn for PolitickerNH.com about the New Hampshire senate race:

Mrs. Shaheen’s risk-averse approach to the issues helps explain why a cartoon posted on the politickerNH.com Web site ridicules Mrs. Shaheen as the driver of a car stopped at a green light, refusing to move without knowing what the polls say.

It's too bad they couldn't give me a namecheck, or even pay me for the right to show the cartoon. But I guess it's all right.

After all, I'm only a cartoonist.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Cartoonist Calls an Audible

David Horsey, the editorial cartoonist at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has an interesting post on the perils of deadline cartooning and late-breaking news.

Zapiro: The Mandela Files

The cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro (seen above with Nelson Mandela), launched his latest coffee-table collection of Mandela cartoons last night, along with an annual of his most recent work.

He spoke to Sunday Times books editor Tymon Smith about his satirical depiction of and commentary on Madiba’s life (an honorary title adopted by elders of Mandela's clan). In this audio slide show Zapiro explains the significance that this experience has had on his own career and personal growth.

Morland Wins British Cartooning Award

Across the pond, they have political cartoonists too, and one of England's best, Morten Morland, won the Political Cartoon Society's cartoonist of the year award last night in London.

"It’s a fantastic compliment be recognized like that by a jury who’s gone through a whole year’s worth of work, and although I could probably name a handful of people that I’d rather give the award to than myself, it’s a brilliant inspiration, and a much appreciated pat on the back," Morland said on his blog.

"It's great that Morten has won this," said fellow cartoonist Andy Davey, "The judges commended his immediately recognizable style and use of unusual perspective - I'd second that. "

Morland's cartoons appear every Monday in The Times newspaper.

In addition, Steve Bell, the political cartoonist at The Guardian, picked up the 'Gillray Goblet' for the best single image of the year. Peter Shrank of The Independent on Sunday came in second to pick up the 'Tenniel Tankard.'

Christian Adams, the political cartoonist for The Daily Telegraph, commented on his blog about the awards, including some cartoonist chatter that occurred in the pub afterwards.

"The general discussion was the cluelessness of editors and backbenchers about cartoons," Adams said. "Don't they realize that the readers actually LIKE cartoons! Most newspaper people really don't 'get' what cartoons are for and about."

Laid-off Des Moines Register Cartoonist Strikes Back

Brian Duffy, the former editorial cartoonist at the Des Moines Register who was escorted out along with 40 other employees as part of a nation-wide lay-off program at Gannett, has had the chance to get back at his former bosses.

After the news broke that he was laid-off from his staff cartooning job of more than 25 years, Cityview publisher Shane Goodman got in touch with Duffy and offered him a full page to publish whatever he wanted.

Duffy took him up on his offer and penned the cartoon above for the December 10 issue of the central Iowa weekly newspaper.

Goodman spoke positively of the award winning cartoonist, telling WHOtv 13 that "The Register's loss is our gain."

Wichita Eagle cartoonist latest to be shown the door

The Wichita Business Journal is reporting that Wichita Eagle editorial cartoonist Richard Crowson has been laid off, the latest in about a half dozen staff cartoonists let go in recent months, and one of dozens of cartoonists jettisoned in recent years as newspapers continue to struggle with declining revenues, an economic downturn and online competition.

“I understand the circumstances newspapers are having to deal with, economically with the Internet,” Crowson told the Wichita Business Journal.

"They're just wanting to tighten down a little bit on the budget and adjust to the new economic realities."

On Sept. 16, the Wichita Eagle announced six of its employees were being laid off and another 16 had accepted voluntary buyouts, representing a 6 percent reduction in the newspaper’s workforce. The Eagle said it already had laid off about 2 percent of its workforce in 2008.

Its parent company, The McClatchy Co., announced it would reduce its workforce company-wide by 10 percent, or 1,150 full-time employees.

Crowson had been with the Kansas newspaper since 1985, working first as a newsroom artist doing illustrations, maps, and graphics. In 1987, the paper created the cartoonist job for Crowson.

Crowson says he isn’t sure what’s next for his career. He says he will take time off and enjoy not having a daily deadline. But he also is looking into other types of art and illustration projects.

“I like to keep my options open."

To view a video about Crowson's process of creating cartoons, click here.

Political cartoonists in Iraq have no shortage of material.

There's an interesting story in today's USA Today. about the dangers that face Iraqi cartoonists in their violent and war-torn country.

One of the more interesting aspects mentioned in the piece discusses the Iraqi Cartoonists Association, and how membership has dwindled down to 50 members due to cartoonists fleeing the country because of non-stop violence and death threats.

You can check out the story here.

Will Eisner's new website

One of my favorite artists, Will Eisner, just got a beautiful new website with lots of cool features, like a page devoted to John Law (currently being written and illustrated by Gary Chaloner, who also designed the new site).

Check out the new site here.

Thanks to The Comics Reporter.

Chicago Tribune for sale! Anyone?!

What the Duck!

Aaron Taylor, the editorial cartoonist for the Daily Herald and fellow member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, recently submitted his webcomic What the Duck to six syndicates. What the Duck is a strip for and about photographers, and what's interesting is he created a really funny Syndicate Bingo to track the results.

Check out What the Duck here, and go here to take a peek at his editorial cartoons.

UPDATE: I was mistaken in attributing the What the Duck webcomic to Aaron Taylor. Of course, it is Aaron Johnson that produces the daily webcomic. My sincerest apologies go out to both of them, all other Aarons I might have slighted in life.

Thanks to The Daily Cartoonist for the correction.

Irwin Hasen sings?!?

To any Kubert students who are interested, over on Mike Lynch's blog, he posted up some pics from the National Cartoonist Society's holiday party. There's a lot of cool stuff to be seen. Everything from a pic of the society from 1919, an appearance by Bill Woodman, and our old pal IRWIN HASEN singing Falling Leaves. There's also a shot of him with some lucky lady. He hasn't lost that magic.

Davis takes over Prickly City

For those of you that are interested, check out GoComics to follow Matt Davies' week-long fill-in at the helm of Prickly City. The liberal artist is the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for the Journal News in White Plains, NY, and he was asked by the strip's creator, Scott Stantis, to take over while he's recovering from shoulder surgery. In addition to creating and drawing Prickly City, Stantis is also the editorial cartoonist at the Birmingham News.



From these first two strips, I can't wait to see where Davies will take the conservative strip.

Mikhalea Reid auctions her original art for charity

I met Mikhaela Reid at the SPX this year in Bethesda. Her editorial cartoons are very original, and separate themselves from everything else that's being done right now. Plus, she's a real down-to-earth broad, so the least I could do is spread the word for a bit of charity she's involved in.

Mikhaela put up one of her originals on eBay as part of the celebrity fund-raising auction for Center for New Words in Cambridge, MA. The auction ends on Tuesday, December 5th, so get bidding!!!!!

Here's the link to the auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250053662316