— Art Henrikson
The mysterious workings resulting in a cartoon on the editorial page puzzle most people. When I’m introduced as a cartoonist, faces immediately light up with a combination of incredulity, amusement and wonder: “But what do you really do for a living?”
A cartoonist is pictured strolling into an office about noon, dashing off a cartoon and leaving about an hour later for an afternoon of golf, swimming, or sprawling on a couch watching the Chicago Cubs baseball game. The word, cartoonist, conjures visions of affluent comic strip artists laughing on a bed of greenbacks.
In cartooning, the comic strip artists are in the Cadillac class and the editorial cartoonists are in the Volkswagens.
An editorial cartoon says something graphically to the reader about contemporary life. According to a recent study of reader habits, eight seconds is spent studying the cartoon. In those eight seconds, the reader should know what the setting is, who the main characters are, and why they are doing what they are doing.
The reader is not asked to agree with the cartoonists’s point of view. The purpose is to focus the attention on a subject for a short period of time, causing him to think seriously about the subject.
The subject is selected through the process of storing up information about contemporary problems of reader interest. I wish I could read a thousand words a minute. You never can read enough spot news or in-depth articles to fill that filing cabinet in the back of the head. This reading should include opinions of those with opposing points of view.
This first phase of creating cartoons starts the moment day breaks and ends when you drop off to sleep.
At some point a decision is made, a subject is selected. This introduces the reflective period. It can be pursued while dozing, staring out of windows, snacking, strolling along streets or washing the car. Here the outsider comes to the conclusion the cartoonist is goofing off or just plain loafing. A judgment has to be made about what you are trying to say to the reader. If it is too far afield from the newspaper’s position, the editor will not okay it and the reader will never see it.
At last we come to the visual stage of creating a cartoon. Which vehicle conveys your point of view the best? Which is the best way to point out the incongruity of a situation? Is it better to use ridicule or whimsy in this case?
Are you looking at what has happened, is happening or could happen? Does this situation relate to a fairyland tale, something in sports, literature, Bible quotations, current fads? The reader must recognize the vehicle or he won’t receive your message.
Dozens of miniature sketches strive to interpret the idea. The wastebasket overflows with brilliant thoughts, satirical gems. Long pencils shrink to nubs. Your nose and forehead take the appearance of a coal miner’s face with smudges of black.
Once the idea is selected, more little sketches are made, placing the main elements of the cartoon in different positions. The job is to find the best layout which will attract the reader. Simplicity is important.
The rough is drawn and okayed by the editor. If caricatures are involved, the newspaper library and current periodicals are checked for latest photos of the individuals. Also, files must be searched for accurate photos of props to authenticate the cartoon. My wife, Lois, has compiled an excellent “morgue” for me.
It is helpful to know your drawing limitations when you start creating an idea. If animals aren’t your expertise, avoid them. If you can’t escape, you’ll have to endure letters saying you put the horse’s front legs on wrong.
I redraw my rough layout onto a second sheet, eliminating errors, straightening lines, sharpening up expressions. Then I place it on a light board and trace it in pen and ink onto a single-ply Crescent board.
In my case, living in Des Plaines, 67 miles from the editor of Rockford Newspapers, I put four roughs into the mail before 8:30 pm. I keep a copy of the roughs. The following morning, the editorial page editor calls me (I hope) to report which roughs are okay. That afternoon I mail the finished drawing, with four more roughs. This is my eleventh year with Rockford’s two daily newspapers. I visit the Rockford Morning Star and Register-Republic office several times a year.
Arthur “Art” Henrikson is our posthumous political cartoonist. We draw on the work from his long career, which began in high school before World War II and lasted into the 21st Century, for cartoons created to illustrate an issue of his time and that now illustrate an issue from our own.
To learn more about his life, career, and legacy you can read his biography in our January issue and visit his website.
Leave a Reply