What's New From 2006

The following information was posted under “What’s New” on the OtWP Info main page in 2006:

Thinking twice (or more)
[Posted 10.23.06]
From Andrew’s weekly e-mail:

I started this week’s toon, “Presidential Thinking” [Archive No. 0638], with the lone image of Bush as “The Thinker.” I thought this was just a great visual, but couldn’t decide on which of two or three different thought balloons I wanted to go with. I eventually embraced the indecision, came up with a couple more balloons, and turned it into an interactive cartoon. Kind of fun, and, hopefully, plenty biting. Let me know which thought bubble you’d go with.

On the tech front, I’m still arm wrestling with the site’s migration to a new Web host. Best I can tell, everything has been properly put into motion, but it’ll take another few days before all the changes propagate throughout the Web. Until then, I’ll maintain the site with both hosts, hoping to prevent any disruptions. Technology: They never promised it would be easy.

Till next week.

Yes, that's Clinton
[Posted 09.26.06]
From Andrew’s weekly e-mail:

Former President Clinton has been in conservative crosshairs again recently, first with ABC’s “The Path to 9/11” earlier this month, and again during his fiery interview on “FOX News Sunday” this past weekend. With elections coming and Osama still nowhere to be found, it seems conservatives are eager to joust with a familiar foil. It was obvious grist for a cartoon, and “GOP Boogeyman” [Archive No. 0633] is the result.

Unfortunately, this seems to be one of those times when the execution of the cartoon fails the concept. I knew when I finished this week’s cartoon that it would fly or die based on the readers’ ability to recognize Clinton in the second panel. I admit, I was a bit worried. And, based on calls and comments from readers of my home newspaper, The Wenatchee World, I had reason to be.

While some readers had no doubt it was Clinton, others had no clue. So they called, confused. For them, I had failed. As an editorial cartoonist, I love getting a response from readers — be it anger or joy — but I never want to leave readers confused.

I think the Clinton panel failed them for number of reasons:

• Caricatures often evolve with a readership. For example, the first few times I caricature a new political figure, I will often label the character for clarity. As I start to get better control of the caricature, I drop the label and the character starts to take on a life of its own. For example, my Bush doesn’t look exactly like the real Bush, but my readership clearly know who it is. One of the problems with Clinton is that I hadn’t drawn him since 1998 (before my six-year hiatus) and my current audience at The World had never seen my version of the former president.

• Compounding the problem is that I was going for an exaggerated, vilified version of Clinton. Big mistake: You can’t draw an evil Clinton. The guy is a human Muppet. Regardless of what you think of his politics, you’d be hard-pressed to find evil in that doughy, smiley face. Mischievous, sure. But evil? Nah.

• The final strike was the different style I used for this cartoon’s background. I scanned in pencil sketches, then darkened the line work and applied a filter in Photoshop. While the effect was pretty close to what I was going for, it ended up a bit sloppier and darker than I had hoped. Some vital details of my Clinton caricature, such as the hair, were lost in the mud.

Anyway, that’s probably way more than anyone needs to know about why I’m not overly happy with this week’s cartoon. If you see Clinton in the second panel and the cartoon works for you, great. If not, I apologize. Either way, we’ll hit it again next week.

Back from vacation with a new Washington-state-centric cartoon, “Eyman Rejected … Again” [Archive No. 0625]. For those not familiar with the political scene here in the Evergreen State, Tim Eyman is the local tax-crusader-for-profit who made me lose faith in our initiative process.

Growing up here, I was always a big proponent of the direct democracy offered by the initiative process. But, starting with his infamous I-695 in 1999, Eyman has damaged our state by getting a series of ill-advised tax cuts on the ballot. For the first few years, voters took the bait: Do you want to pay $30 for license tabs or keep paying a couple hundred bucks? It was all prize with no pain.

But eventually the public started to see the damage that cuts in revenue were causing. Also hurting Eyman’s more recent offerings was the revelation that he was pocketing a healthy salary for his efforts. And, last year, the images of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina made some Washington voters rethink their position about investing in infrastructure.

Eyman had a good run: He made some cash, lowered taxes for the wealthy, and caused much grief, especially for rural towns that relied on vanishing state funds. But, with a series of high-profile failures, including his latest tax-cut initiative failing to earn enough signatures to make the ballot, it seems Washingtonians have grown tired of Eyman’s efforts. About damn time, I say.

For my national outlets, I’m reoffering a toon from early last year, “State of the First Amendment” [Archive No. 0507]. With our civil liberties under constant assault from the current administration, the work of the good folks behind firstamendmentfuture.org is more important than ever.

That’s all for this e-mail. I’m guessing it’s back to the Middle East for next week’s toon.

Andrew is taking the week off for some summertime bonding with his family. He’ll return with a new cartoon on 07.31.06.