Showing posts sorted by relevance for query al goodwyn. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query al goodwyn. Sort by date Show all posts

Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Al Goodwyn's editorial cartoon productivity is way up

Al retired from his main job this summer, and as a result, he's producing a lot more political cartoons for his shared website Confederacy of Drones at https://confederacyofdrones.com/author/confederacyofdrones/

Monday, April 09, 2012

Al Goodwyn in Cartoonist Studio contest final round

From: David Hagen

Al has made it to the final week or final round in the Cartoonist Studio contest for the second straight year.
 

 

Monday, March 16, 2020

Catching up with editorial cartoonist Al Goodwyn

by Mike Rhode

You're one of the few rare conservative political cartoonists...

And getting rarer, along with political cartoonists in general.  It's tough to see great cartoonists being let go by their home newspapers.  But it's happening more and more frequently. 

We last did an interview in 2011. The field has been shrinking for everyone, but you've been keeping busy since then.

At that time I wasn't doing much in the way of political cartoons, mostly gag cartoons.  I blame it on my day job for keeping me so busy.  Commuting into and out of DC every day was also cutting into my available time.  As I got near retirement age, I decided to give the political cartooning a new push to see if it would keep me occupied in retirement.  That happened to work out better than I thought, so I hit the virtual retirement button last June. 

You started a political newsletter/blog Confederacy of Drones in 2017, retired from your full-time job in 2019, been hired as an editorial cartoonist by SC's Aiken Standard, provided an illustration for an anti-Trump book, and now you've done the illustrations for the polemical children's book "Help! Mom! The Swamp is in my School".

The blog was something I always wanted to do but just kept putting off.  As they say, starting's the hardest part.  Over a couple of beers, a friend of mine provided encouragement for a collaborative effort and Confederacy of Drones was born.  Beer is amazing. The blog let me exercise my editorial satire, political cartooning and general snarkiness.  On a whim, I approached the Washington Examiner.  They were very open to discussing my political cartoons and ended up using a few and even gave me an opportunity to do several covers for the magazine.  From there I did work for The Hill, local Virginia newspapers, the Aiken Standard, online political sites and the books.  I even managed getting cartoons recently in the Washington Post and Politico. 

So how's retirement treating you? 

My worry prior to retirement was that I wouldn't have enough activities to occupy my time.  I don't know how it's possible but I feel busier now than when I was working full time and cartooning.  

How did you get the "Help! Mom! The Swamp is in my School" book job with Katharine DeBrecht? It appears the three previous books in the series are illustrated by Jim Hummel.

Katharine had seen some of my work and reached out to gauge my interest.  Her book would involve around 20 illustrations, plus be needed in a condensed time frame.  This schedule didn't work out for Hummel so she reached out to me.  Katharine had already written the book and knew what she wanted in the illustrations, so it was clear from the start what was needed.  

Is this book a work-for-hire job, or something closer to a partnership?

Strictly work-for-hire but I still considered it a partnership.  We spoke by phone or email almost daily as I put together roughs, offered suggestions for each illustration's layout and got feedback from her.   She was phenomenal to work with and it turned into a great collaboration.   

How did you do the art? Did the author provide any guidance, or leave it up to you? Are you digital at all yet?

She provided the illustration's message, identified the setting, and who she wanted in it.  I'd generally sketch something out really rough if I wanted her to consider changes and what those might look like, otherwise, I'd provide a more final product for her review.  I drew them on Bristol board by hand, scanned them and then did all color and clean up digitally.  That's typical of how I do all cartoons. 

Does the book match with your personal politics? We don't often get into politics on this blog, but I'm curious. Do you support the current turn the Republican Party has taken?

I wouldn't do an illustration that I couldn't get behind, so yes the book was a good match.  The author of the anti-Trump book I supported a couple of years ago had asked me to do many of the cartoons but I knew those wouldn't have hit the mark he wanted.  The one cartoon I provided was on Trump's rash of firings at the time.  As far as the Republican Party, I support many of their efforts as a conservative but they've failed when it comes to fiscal responsibility.  I do like that Trump's helped them find a collective spine.  Unfortunately, his spine-development efforts also come at a price that includes dumb tweets, name-calling, and a new standard for narcissism.  

What other conservative cartoonists do you follow regularly?  

Michael Ramirez, Lisa Benson, Gary Varvel,  Rick McKee, Steve Kelley, David Hitch, plus others.
 
Are there any liberal cartoonists you keep up with? 

Quite a few actually.  Walt Handelsman, David Horsey, Signe Wilkinson, Jimmy Margulies, Rob Rogers, Joe Heller, and more.  There are several sites that provide a great cross-section of cartoonists such as Arcamax.com.  You can find my cartoons there as well. 

How about other types of cartooning? We most recently saw each other at a Pixar movie talk. Anything or any one you'd like to recommend?

I really appreciate anyone who pours out their creativity via cartooning and animation.  There's something about the drive to create that keeps people engaged regardless of the obstacles they face.  My recommendation is to support all of those creative types, buy their books, see their movies and recognize the creative passion that goes into their work.

Here's a recent Virginia Press Association interview with Al.

Friday, October 22, 2021

The latest Goodwyn cartoons

Our buddy Al Goodwyn just moved even further from DC, from Fredericksburg, VA to one of the Carolinas. We wish him well. Here's his comics from his moving week.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Rob Roger's political cartoon exhibit opens at GW's Corcoran

Rob Rogers
by Mike Rhode


I was able to briefly stop by last night as Rob Rogers made a few short remarks about an exhibit of his cartoons, including 10 original pen and ink drawings and the companion colored prints critical of Trump that a Pittsburgh newspaper refused to print before they fired him. Also included are prints of sketches that they turned down before they became completed cartoons. Rogers' contentious relationship with the papers new editor has been written about extensively and soon after he was fired, GW announced they would exhibit his cartoonist directly across the street from the White House complex (information from their press release follows the images). The exhibit is sponsored by GWU and the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists. AAEC president Pat Bagley and Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes contributed to the text of the exhibit.

The sold-out event drew local cartoonists Mike Jenkins, Joe Sutliff, Carolyn Belefski, Politico's Matt Wuerker, and Al Goodwyn a freelance cartoonists who appears locally in the Washington Examiner, in addition to Library of Congress curator Martha Kennedy (whose exhibit on women cartoonists is on display at the Library), and the Washington Post's Michael Cavna.

More photos can be seen here.
 





Incomplete sketch rejected by newspaper

Cavna, Goodwyn, Jenkins, Belefski

Belefski, Sutliff and Wuerker

Sutliff, Wuerker and Kennedy

 
Bagley's statement




 'Spiked: The Unpublished Political Cartoons of Rob Rogers' Opens at the GW Corcoran School of the Arts and Design

Editorial cartoonist was dismissed from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after facing censorship of his cartoons


WASHINGTON (July 18, 2018)-The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at the George
Washington University opened "Spiked: The Unpublished Political Cartoons of Rob Rogers"
today. This pop-up exhibition in the atrium gallery of the Corcoran School's historic Flagg
Building features 10 finished cartoons and eight sketches that went unpublished by Rob Rogers'
employer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, between March 6 and June 3, 2018.

Mr. Rogers served as the editorial cartoonist for the Post-Gazette for 25 years, until his firing in
June 2018. Prior to his dismissal, the newspaper refused to publish a series of cartoons
produced over three months.

"I believe the role of a newspaper is to be a watchdog, keeping democracy safe from tyrants. I
hope that visitors to the exhibit get a sense of the important role satire plays in a democracy and
how dangerous it is when the government launches attacks on a free press," Mr. Rogers said. "I
am excited to have my original cartoons on display at the Corcoran. The fact that these are
cartoons about the president and now they will be on shown a few blocks from the White House,
that is pretty incredible!"

The Corcoran strives to promote diversity of thought and experience, address critical social
issues and educate the next generation of creative cultural leaders.

"Mr. Rogers' work has tremendous educational value to our students by speaking to the skills of
technical virtuosity, iteration, perseverance and creative methodologies on how to critique
power," Sanjit Sethi, the director of the Corcoran said. "His work also becomes a powerful point
of departure for this community to speak with each other about issues around censorship,
freedom of the press, journalistic and creative integrity and the consequences of hypernationalism to a democracy."

The Corcoran organized "Spiked" in conjunction with University of Pittsburgh's University Art
Gallery and in collaboration with the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.
"Freedom of speech is more than words. It's pictures, too," Pat Bagley, president of the
association, said. "This exhibit draws attention to Rob Rogers, a popular voice at the Post Gazette
for 25 years. It points to what people in power do to people who draw funny pictures of
the powerful and why that is an important measure of a free and open society."

In addition to the exhibition this summer, the Corcoran will host a series of conversations this fall
regarding issues around censorship, freedom of the press, journalistic integrity and the consequences of nationalism to a democracy, in collaboration with both the Association of
American Editorial Cartoonists and GW's School for Media and Public Affairs.

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Cavna on this week's Missouri editorial cartoon upset

'Horrified' Missouri newspaper owners resign over 'racist' police cartoon — published by their dad

Washington Post June 10, 2020

The cartoon, by Tom Stiglich of Creators Syndicate, came out shortly before Al Goodwyn's cartoon which also ran in a Southern newspaper.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Clay Jones buries his conservative COVID-denying colleagues

by Mike Rhode
 
In his cartoon from yesterday "Urine Trouble," Clay planted a bunch of conservative cartoonists, many of whom are anti-vaxxers or covid denyers, under a bunch of tombstones.  I see Scott "Dilbert" Adams, Henry Payne, Al Goodwyn, Mike Lester, Branco, Chip Bok, Glenn McCoy, Gary McCoy, Tom Stiglich, Rivers, Lisa Benson, David Hitch, Dick Wright, Bob Gorrell, Steve Kelley, Gary Varvel, Dana Summers, and of course, Ben Garrison.

Christopher Key is not a cartoonist, but a nut who screams at people about being the vaccine police, and is the focus of Jones' blog post.

When asked for a comment, Clay addressed his technique, "The reason I made the lettering on the headstones faint is that I didn't want to make it the focus of the cartoon. It's supposed to be more like Easter eggs, but I struggled with making them faint while also making them clear enough to see." About the content, he said, "I only aimed at anti-vaxxers or those who have politicized the pandemic. I excluded conservatives like Scott Stantis, Michael Ramirez, and Rick McKee because I've seen them promote the vaccines and ridicule the lunatics."

He's at Tales from the Trumpster Fire

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Thursday, October 04, 2018

Bruce Guthrie's photos of Rob Rogers and Ann Telnaes

DC -- Corcoran School of the Arts and Design -- Event: "Spiked": A Conversation with Rob Rogers & Ann Telnaes:
  • Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.
  • Description of Pictures: "Spiked": A Conversation with Rob Rogers & Other Editorial Cartoonists
    by The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design @ GW
    Join us on the evening of October 3 to hear Rob Rogers and Ann Telnaes in an intimate panel talk at the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design on the issues of censorship, freedom of the press, journalistic integrity and the consequences of nationalism to a democracy. Audience members will have a chance to ask questions. Tickets are limited! This event is put on in partnership with the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) and GW's School for Media and Public Affairs (SMPA), and is part of a larger series of conversations with students and faculty as part of the "Spiked" exhibition.
    Ann Telnaes (speaker) creates editorial cartoons in various mediums — animation, visual essays, live sketches and traditional print — for The Washington Post. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for her print cartoons and the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for 2016. Telnaes is the current president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and is a member of the National Cartoonists Society.
    Folks in the audience included: Sara Duke, Michael Cavna, Mike Rhode, Steve Artley, Warren Bernard, Al Goodwyn, Joe Sutliff, and Art Hondros.