"Let's role play. You be Sarah, and I'll be the big, bad, moose." Copyright D.Barstow

Ahhh, I tried. But Wordless Wednesday isn’t for me. I’m a cartoonist, and we believe a picture is worth a 1,000 words, so long as we write some of those words.

I wrote this as a New Yorker style cartoon. Okay, it’s sex play, role play. Do you have a problem with that? I suppose I could have used it in Slate, but this was before I started in there. And there really is a big difference between New Yorker cartoons and political cartoons.

New Yorker cartoons are more selfish and self-centered. And, um, as has become obvious to me in Gocomics, readers of the New Yorker might not be as smart as they think, but they do understand parallel universes.

More cartoons:

1. Lysistrata is about withholding sex for peace.
2. Men like to talk about sex.

"I'm thinking about putting my face on our new product line, like Paul Newman does...would that turn you on?" ©D.Barstow 2009

I heart Paul Newman! Not so much for his movies, although he was great – but for entering my own life by doing movies on location, where I found him in person.

I was dating the special effects guy on one film, and I remember he had to build a special sweat hut so Paul could sweat off all the beer he drank each day and still look trim for the film. (What, no Paul Newman beer? I think I saw a beer in his hand most of the time.) Another time, I was with some friends who went to a car race in Pennsylvania, and there he was, glowing on the track. He did have that star sparkle, and good for him.

He passed away this year, shortly before I started doing cartoons for Slate. You have to realize, I never even read editorial cartoons until the last year. Not ever.  So I was suprised and pleased that they also do cartoons about holidays (not just war holidays, like Memorial Day, but Easter, too) and also note when interesting or important people pass away. I would surely have done one for Paul, but this is the only cartoon I did about him, a couple of years ago. It’s typical New Yorker, although it wasn’t IN the New Yorker, of course.

Design note: I picked the colors out in about 10 seconds, and LOVE them!

Here’s to you, Mr. Newman.

More cartoons:

1. Paul Conrad, cartoonist extraordinaire, died this week.
2. Wordless Wednesday: Not ready for primetime Slate cartoon.

"Add hair of Sarah, eyerolls of McCain, wool of Obama, and Biden's slip of the tongue...and we get a pretty tasty election!" © D. Barstow, 2008

I hope you don’t have to know Macbeth to understand this cartoon; just a rudimentary knowledge of witches is helpful, however. They do like to cook, they have unusual spices, and they’re passionate.

Plus, they like to stir up trouble for this election! You go, girls.

The Drawing
This is a rough. The lettering for the caption was so bad I had to re-caption it in my Wacom, with a decent font. I also gave it a quick wash. You know, I just love this energy! Sometimes the first time is good enough.

Calling all illustrators and cartoonists, if you know how to keep the freshness and energy of a rough, while doing the finish, please share! We all wish roughs could be finals.

So Happy Halloween, everyone, and don’t forget to vote with your mouth this Halloween! Or happy All Saints Day, depending when you read this. Still, have a happy mouth.

More cartoons:

1. Debating candidates for Dancing with the Stars cartoon.
2. I need to frequent more bars.

"What's a 5-letter word for a woman who's both a barracuda and a pitbull?" ©D.Barstow 2009

I don’t know, tell me. I don’t do crossword puzzles, I do Soduku. (Actually, my favorites are logic problems.)

But you know who they’re talking about here, right? Did I get the animals right? And the word they might be thinking of? Only a few more days left to love this cartoon! Not to say anything negative about Sarah Palin – she’s taken enough teasing. But the election will be over, and then things will become clearer. This cartoon can be taken a couple of different ways. (Hey, it’s more original than commenting on Sarah’s farking hair.)

Note: no swear words appear in this post, but feel free to use your imagination. And yes, two 5-letter words come to mind right away, and they’re not proper names.

The Drawing
I’m not sure if the perspective here is totally right. I do know her desk is right. It’s an antique, with a brand new laptop on it. She has a pleasant view of the backyard as she writes a note to a friend. The cartoon as reproduced is too small to see that her eyes are serious, bordering on annoyed. However, they have a hot marriage.

PS. I still do cartoons that I think are funny, not to get someone elected. So don’t go thinking you know which way I roll.

More cartoons:

1. Santa is unemployed and may need Prozac.
2. The official Osama bin Laden cartoon.

"I have to get off. I've been waiting all week for "Dancing With the Candidates."" ©D.Barstow 2008

I love ‘em both: Dancing with the Stars, and the debates. They’re both exciting, in their carefully preplanned, not really spontaneous way.

This is a rough, in case you wondered. Love the slashing energy.

I wonder who she’s talking with.

Next up: foxtrot, with Obama and Palin, and Argentine tango with McCain and Biden. Watch those Argentine flicks.

More cartoons:

1. Will Sarah Palin show up in Dancing with the Stars?
2. Dancing With the Stars leeches off of The Bachelor. Thanks, ABC.

I’ve never done any editorial cartoons before. (My father used to suggest that if I did them, I would be a “real” cartoonist,  but fortunately – I think it wasn’t until he held my first book in his hands – that mantra has stopped, or at least slowed down. Well, here I am, Dad!)

I don’t know any cartoonists who mix the genres, actually; you’re either funny or serious, and I always choose funny! (Plus, what about those arrows and signs and symbols and nametags and scrawling ink splotches all over everything in editorial drawings? Kind of messy.)

Sarah Palin as a child with gun in hand. "They're not toys, they're trophies."

I have certainly made my opinions known about Los Angeles political figures in my Los Angeles blog, but I’ve never thought of cartooning as my favorite way to prove anything. Words are faster.  So no LA cartoons…but national politics are easier to find the humor in, I find!

This current campaign season certainly has the drama, and so I’m ready to dive right in and try something out of my comfort zone! (Plus I always like the challenge of studying something new to make fun of.)

One of the caveats of this project was: Don’t try out for a Pulitzer, please.

Speak for yourself, sir. Aim high. I have a few ideas simmering, but I thought I’d present this one here, as an example of how to rework, work it, baby.

The Drawing
Hope you can read the caption: Sarah Palin as a child with gun: “They’re not toys, they’re trophies.”

This is my first try at lettering with my Wacom tablet and pen, and boy is it hard – my hand has been cramping up.  (Any suggestions, cowboy cartoonists?) But the Wacom is much easier to color with, for sure. Doing text with a tablet pen is hard because the work space on the tablet is a different proportion than the screen or real paper.

But I do like young, innocent Sarah!

More cartoons:

1. David Letterman has a secret crush on Sarah Palin.
2. What would Sarah Palin do? What will she do?