Cartoon of the Day

Current Harvard Business Review Cartoon

This drawing appears on page 72 in the current March issue.

Wisdom ( Write this down, right now )

" Our aspirations are our possibilities. "

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON 1709 - 1784 English Lexicographer, Critic and Essayayist

Cartoon of the Day

Raging Bull

Kind of reminds you of RAGING BULL, doesn't it ?

Cartoon of the Day

Another New Yorker reject bites the dust

Cartoon of the Month

Wisdom

" Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow them. "

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT 1832 - 1888 American Novelist

Wisdom

" Love not what you are but what you can become. "

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES 1547 - 1616 Spanish Writer

Cartoon of the Day

New Comic for Generation I

New Comic Book coming, available right here ! L.A. MAN is a little KRAMER ( from Seinfeld ) a little Groucho Marx, a little Three Stooges and a little Bob Mankoff.

Wisdom

" We are made kind by being kind. "

ERIC HOFFER

Cartoon of the Month

I love cartoons about characters like this, Super Heroes, Classic movies, etc.

Cartoon of the Week

I like cartoons about prison, electric chairs, Torture Dungeons . . . as long as it's someone other than me experiencing it . .

Wisdom

" Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. "

ANAIS NIN 1903 - 1977 FRENCH NOVELIST

Wisdom

" If you are not getting as much from life as you want to, then
examine the state of your enthusiasm. "

NORMAN VINCENT PEALE 1898 - 1993 American Writer and Minister

Wisdom

" Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. "

ALBERT EINSTEIN ( 1879 - 1955 ) German-born American Physicist

Cartoon of the Day

Wisdom

" A genius ! For thirty-seven years I've practiced fourteen hours a day, and now they call me a genius ! "

PABLO SARASATE 1844 - 1908 Spanish Violinist and Composer

Wisdom

" If there were nothing wrong in the world, there wouldn't
be anything for us to do. "

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW 1856 - 1950 Essayist and Critic

Wisdom

" Pray devoutly, but hammer stoutly. "

SIR WILLIAM GURNEY BENHAM

Recent American Legion Cartoon

This one came out in the last month or so. Someone mailed me the clip, since I can't get the magazine, I hadn't seen the cartoon in print.

Wisdom ( Write this one down )

" We create our fate every day we live. "

HENRY MILLER

Reader's Digest Cartoon

This one is also from the current February issue of the magazine, page 6. This one also belonged in THe New Yorker. Needless to say, after the usual Pavlonian-reflex rejection from Mankoff, I shot it off to Reader's Digest and they bought it in 2 minutes.

When I recieved my complimentary issue from the folks at Reader's Digest, I noticed a note on the inside from the Cartoon Editor, Norman Hotz . . It said: " Two of your cartoons in one Reader's Digest equals One cartoon in The New Yorker . " Funny, it caught my eye.

Anyone who knows anything about New Yorker Cartoons ( It must not include me ) would probably say that these indeed are " New Yorker Cartoons ". What do YOU think ?Comments Welcome.

Current Reader's Digest Cartoon -

Here's one of two of mine in the February issue of the magazine. This one is on page 50 ( Humor in Uniform section ). Funny thing, when I first completed this, I thought of it as a New Yorker cartoon, so I shot it off to them believing that finally I might crack the magazine . . so after the usual rejection, I immediately sent it to Reader's Digest and they bought it instantly.

As usual, I always use a Marine's uniform, since it's more familiar to me and I don't have to worry about getting the uniform wrong!

Wisdom

"The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking."

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON 1790 - 1784 English Lexicographer, Critic and Essayist

Cartoon of the Day

Wisdom ( Worth writing down )

" Love not what you are but what you may become. "

MIGUEL DE CERVANTES, 1547 - 1616 Spanish Writer

Wisdom ( Write this down, right now )

" One of the greatest of all principles is that men can do what they think they can do. "


NORMAN VINCENT PEALE, 1883 - 1993 American Writer and Minister

Results and Comments- Favorite Magazine Cartoonist

Here's the final results on the contest . . Mike Lynch had some good questions . . and so did James Grasdal from Canada . . I agree with Mike in that it's very hard to pick just 1 or 2 or 3 because tomorrow you might change your mind, I know that I feel that way.

It looks like Sempe and Leo Cullum and Sam Gross were the winners here . . all are the cream de la crem ( or something like that ). And VIP also won !

I also could've easily put Leo Cullum and Danny Shanahan on my list.

We'll have another contest down the road but this time the rules will be drafted by a Wall Street Law Firm so everything will be crystal clear before voting . . no hanging chads !

From the newer guys in The New Yorker I like Leighton, Bliss and Patterson !

Since we're talking about good gag cartooning here, did you ever notice: NOT ONE PERSON PICKED NOT ONE OF THOSE FEW NEW ( New meaning in the last 15 years or so ) CARTOONISTS YOU CONTINUALLY SEE IN THE NEW YORKER WHO HAVE ZERO TALENT, CAN'T WRITE OR DRAW, NOT ONE ! . . I wonder why that is . . . HMM ? ( maybe art imitating life ? or art imitating the cartoon-picker or it's just a zeitgeist thing or it COULD be the attitude around The New Yorker is the ubiqutous " WHATEVER " ).

It's sad, As Pat Byrnes once eloquently commented on a collegue's cartoons: " At first they were kinda funny, These cartoonists drawings will never be published as gag cartoons in legitimate venues because they're not smart enough, because the cartoonists are not smart enough . . if they were, they wouldn't continually assault the art of the magazine cartoon every chance they get unless the cartoons were brilliantly incisive and fabulously rendered that the irony would reverberate throughout the professional community. Does anyone actually believe this to be ?

For awhile, there was something sort of funny about them, though in a sad sort of way. Now it's just sad. And embarrassing to the profession of cartooning. New Yorker: Please find a new honest batch of cartoonists whose work can be appreciated and enjoyed by more than the dozen or so fans of this KRAPP. Wake up, smell the coffee !

Like George Carlin says: " You ugly people know who you are . . " BUT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, THEY DON'T KNOW WHO THEY ARE ! MAYBE THEY'RE JUST DUMB. OR ARE THE PEOPLE WHO BUY THE STUFF DUMB ? OR ARE THE READERS WHO ARE TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT DUMB ? THIS IS JUST AN OBSERVATION. . . I DON'T THINK ANYONE'S DUMB . . But maybe, just maybe, the artist and the cartoon-picker(s) are ILL-INFORMED, NAIVE, DUPLICITOUS, DISHONEST, but I would never say dumb . . . I think they actually BELIEVE, THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVE ( Like Kucinich ) that the world has not caught up with them.

As for Charles Addams and Peter Arno, I feel they're in an untouchable class by themselves and will probably be excluded from the next contest because they're too obvious . . The contest is for the mob below them . . Nuff sed.

Harvard Business Review Cartoon

This drawing also appeared in the February 2008 issue, page 8.

Harvard Business Review Cartoon

This drawing is in the latest February, 2008 issue, page 81 and they devoted a half-page for it. They always look extra nice when the image is prnted as a half-page with lots of white space around. Lucky, I had two cartoons in this issue.

After receiving an okay, the finished drawing was executed on my light table on white bond paper with a Micron pen, then scanned and the grey wash tones were applied on the computer using my Corel PaintShopPro 9 program. The final drawing was then printed on a heavy matte photographic paper. This became the original and final drawing, I slipped it in a clear plastic sleeve and mailed it to them.

Cortlandt Forum Cartoon - 1999

This full-page cartoon appeared on page 74 of the medical magazine. This drawing was rendered with a fine black rollerball pen, then I went over the hard lines with a sharp 6B charcoal pencil. Finally I smudged the greys using my finger and smudge sticks.

Cortlandt Forum Cartoon - 2001

This full page color cartoon appeared on page 98 of the monthly medical magazine.
This was back in the good old days when this magazine was a huge user of cartoons ( and still is ) along with a couple of sister publications, then along came Mankoff's Cartoon Bank and gobbled up this market offering lower prices. It's called progress, free enterprise, capitalism.

It's the way the system is supposed to work. The difference is that at Wal-Mart the goods come from China and the goods are produced by CHEAP CHINESE LABOR under deplorable conditions. Here, in this case, not only is the cartoon sold below the going rate, the goods are produced by CHEAP AMERICAN LABOR because, the selling price of the cartoon is split 50-50 between the Cartoon Bank and the artist. It's legal and I'm not complaining, I'm just telling it like it is.

Actually, it was a good marketing ploy. ( If you're a Capitalist )