Those who can...

It seems to me, if you're going to give advice on how to draw Barack Obama you should show that you can draw a picture that actually looks like him.

Taylor Jones is a good caricaturist but he's missing on these images. He doesn't bother with the shape of Obama's face, which is an important feature: long, triangular. The chin needs to extend further below the mouth. The eyes and brows are turn down too quickly from the bridge of the nose and the eyebrows are too close. A slightly larger distance between them is important. Accentuate the width of the smile, not the height. And in a smile turn town the upper lip.

...otherwise I wouldn't get it.

John Darkow, The Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri

My horrified reaction on reading this had nothing to do with the assassination joke. Lincoln is fair game already.^†

No. What I find so distasteful is how the joke is spelled out. Darkow does all the work for us. He throws every clue he can think of into the first bubble. And it's not even a real observation.

Then he klutzes up Lincoln's line. Instead of 'I need that' he goes with the awkward I'd need that.

Lastly: the suitcase/luggage with baggage written on the side… Can we ask for another joke from these cartoonists. It's like a competition to see who can tell the joke last.

See more of Darkow's work.

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† I've even heard some good James A. Garfield jokes. But it's still too soon for McKinley.

Don't Worry, Oprah's Fine

© Copyright 2008 Daryl Cagle

Daryl Cagle's cartoon accompanies a post he wrote about the California fires.

The media’s celebrity obsession has little to do with actual events on the ground. Most of the homes that were lost belong to regular folks. I inherited my house from my mother who spent her career working for the local school district. The homes of 14 teachers at Westmont College were lost. I don’t know where those celebrities live.

In 1977 the media’s trivial obsessions had a tangible effect. President Jimmy Carter refused to declare a federal disaster area, noting that the people here are wealthy and can take care of themselves. A disaster declaration would have meant that my mother and I could have lived in a FEMA trailer for a year, while our house was being re-built.

Who knows if the media can be blamed for Carter's decision. But they really do suck sometimes. The more expensive a house is the more likely the owner will be fine if it burns down. And the more likely that it'll make it into a story.

Pilot

By Cardow - The Ottawa Citizen

10/28/2008

Now just to keep Casey happy -- If we're going to accept this analogy, I realize that it can be extended even further to say that even if Obama is an ace pilot the plane is gonna crash.

Political Images

Gordon Campbell's cartoons have been getting some attention lately. Not necessarily for being funny or smart.

The artwork is interesting. A lot of it looks more like image manipulation rather than freehand drawing.

Is his 10/20/08 "Benedict Powell" panel at all clever? Is it at all insightful? Is it at all racist? …meh…

Here's a pro-McCain panel (9/15/08):

'Cause remember he's a war hero.

Yeah the ads making fun of McCain's computer illiteracy are pretty dumb.


But here's my take on the really irrelevant issue anyway:

Gag

[click image to enlarge]

Casey and I have tackled humor. I think we tackled too hard and paralyzed it. He provided an example of some jokes that might be too offensive to be funny unless you're a true formalist. And so I offer this cartoon from here.

Consider: linguistically the structure of humor can better be described by potential than by success.

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