Paul Szep - Cartoonist Survey #101

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, Paul Szep was born in the summer of 1941 in Hamilton, Ontario. His first printed cartoons ran in his high school paper, the Hamilton Spectator. His first submissions to the Spectator were sports cartoons but he soon moved on to political cartooning. After high school he attended the Ontario College of Art where he specialized in illustration. As most boys growing up in Canada Paul dreamed of playing hockey for the NHL and he did play for awhile under the Detroit Red Wings franchise. Paul freelanced as an illustrator before he was hired by the Financial Post to do cartoons and illustrations. In 1967 he was invited to try out at the Boston Globe as a political cartoonist. He landed the job and ended up being their chief editorial cartoonist until 2001. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in both 1974 and 1977. In 1978 he was the National Cartoonist Society’s, Editorial Cartoonist of the Year and in 1987 he tied with Bill Gallo for the NCS’s Sports Cartoons Award. He has been honored with many other awards including the Thomas Nast Prize in 1983. Paul’s cartoons have been syndicated to hundreds of newspapers worldwide. He has also been a contributor to Golf Digest (he’s quite a golfer himself, as are a lot hockey players) and he has written more than a dozen books. His regular cartoon, “The Daily Szep”, appears in the Huffington Post and he is presently syndicated by The Creators Syndicate. Visit Paul’s website and see his political cartoons at the Huffington Post.

What is your favorite pen to use?
Staedtler pigment liner, Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen, Montblanc.

Do you draw in pencil first and if so do you use a standard pencil or a mechanical one?
Yes I draw in pencil first with a mechanical one.

Do you do your coloring by hand or on the computer?
I color by hand with colored pencils and watercolors.

What type of paper do you use?
Bienfang watercolor paper.

What thing(s) do you hate to draw?
I dislike drawing caricatures of attractive women.

Do you buy your supplies from big chain art store catalogues/websites or a local one that you physically go to?
Most of my supplies are bought at Staples but there is a great local art store in Tampa when I need special items.

Are there any rituals that you do before starting to draw?
My ritual is hitting golf balls every morning at my club and then running on a treadmill.

Do you listen to music while you draw and if so what genre?
I love classical music on when I work.

Did you read comics as a kid and if so what was your favorite?
I did read and trade comic books as a kid but can't recall my favorites.

What is or was your favorite comic strip?
I did love POGO.

What was your favorite book as a child and do you still own a copy of it?
Pinocchio was my favorite book although I do not have a copy of it.

Did you have any formal art training and if so where did you receive it?
Spent 4 years at THE ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN in Toronto Canada studying illustration.

Do you feel that the Internet is a blessing or a curse?
The Internet has been great for me but it has impacted newspapers and thus cartoonists in a negative way.

Did either of your parents draw?
Neither of my parents draw, but my late grandmother was a clothes designer in her native Hungary.

Do you keep a sketchbook?
I do not keep a sketchbook.

Have you ever taught cartooning/drawing and if so did you enjoy the experience?
I taught satire at Harvard but have never taught cartooning and frankly don't think it can be taught.

Do you feel that talent or passion is more important in drawing?
Passion and talent are both required to succeed plus some luck in what is a very competitive field with fewer opportunities right now.

Do you collect anything and if so what?
I have collected way too many putters over the years that did not make me a better putter and are now being tossed.

Are you a righty or lefty?
I'm right handed.

If you weren't an artist what would you want to do for work?
I played pro hockey and now play tournament golf so I probably would be a hockey coach (of course I would have to move back to the frozen tundra in Canada) or a golf pro-teacher.

In one or two sentences describe your drawing area.
We call my work area the wreckage room because it is jammed with books, drawings and golf clubs. People have gone in and never been seen again.

Do you play any musical instruments?
I would have liked to play the violin, but sadly no.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone who wants to pursue drawing as a career what would it be?
My advice to someone wanting to draw for a living would be to learn to do it on-line, that is the future.

Who is your favorite artist?
I have many favorite artists. In my own field, Ronald Searle, Daumier and of course Pat Oliphant, who is head and shoulders over every one else.


Thank you very much Paul.

Illustrator, caricaturist and animator, David Cowles, shares his answers next.

David Horsey - Cartoonist Survey #96

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist and columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, David Horsey, was born in 1951. He spent the first three years of his life in Indiana and then moved to Seattle, Washington. He was a cartoonist for his high school newspaper and in his freshman year at the University of Washington he started doing editorial cartoons. While at the University of Washington he became the first editorial cartoonist to be chosen as editor-in-chief of the college’s newspaper, The Daily. He graduated in 1976 with a B.A. in communications. After college David started his professional career as a reporter for the Bellevue Journal-American. In 1979 he was hired to be the editorial cartoonist of the Post-Intelligencer and he has been there ever since. In 1986, he earned a master's degree in international relations from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.

He was awarded a Berryman Award for Cartoonist of the Year in 1998 by The National Press Foundation and followed that up by winning a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1999. Four years later he won another Pulitzer Prize and then in 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Seattle University. He has traveled to Japan, Mexico and Europe and has been witness to presidential primaries, the Olympics, political conventions and the Super Bowl. David’s cartoons have been collected in numerous compilation books. He is syndicated by Tribune Media Services and his work appears in 200 newspapers including, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, USA Today and The Washington Post. David still lives in Seattle, with his wife and two kids. Check out David’s blog at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, here.

What is your favorite pen to use?
After years of using cheap No. 2 brushes, I now use sets of cheap Micron pens.

Do you draw in pencil first and if so do you use a standard pencil or a mechanical one?
I use a 3H pencil.

Do you do your coloring by hand or on the computer?
I color on my computer using PhotoShop.

If you do your coloring by hand, what do you use?
On the rare occasion I color by hand, I use watercolors.

What type of paper do you use?
Bristol board.

What thing(s) do you hate to draw?
Bicycles.

Do you buy your supplies from big chain art store catalogues/websites or a local one that you physically go to?
Local.

Are there any rituals that you do before starting to draw?
Procrastinate for hours.

Do you listen to music while you draw and if so what genre?
Occasionally, mostly ‘80s rock and roll.

Did you read comics as a kid and if so what was your favorite?

If you mean comic books, Archie.

What is or was your favorite comic strip?
Doonesberry.

What was your favorite book as a child and do you still own a copy of it?
Wind In the Willows. Yes.

Did you have any formal art training and if so where did you receive it?
Yes, at the University of Washington.

Do you feel that the Internet is a blessing or a curse?
Both.

Did either of your parents draw?
My mother.

Who in your life is/was the most supportive of your art?
My mother.

Do you keep a sketchbook?
Nope.

Have you ever taught cartooning/drawing and if so did you enjoy the experience?
Yes, and I hated it.

Do you feel that talent or passion is more important in drawing?
I give the edge to talent.

Do you collect anything and if so what?
No.

If you were an animated cartoon character who do you think you would be?
Bugs Bunny.

Are you a righty or lefty?
Righty.

If you weren't an artist what would you want to do for work?
Documentary movies or best-selling novels.

In one or two sentences describe your drawing area.
It’s a room lined with bookshelves with my grandfather’s leather chair scooted up to a Bombay Company desk upon which sits my MacBook Pro hooked up to a 30-inch HP monitor.

Do you play any musical instruments?
French horn — once upon a time.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone who wants to pursue drawing as a career what would it be?
Make sure you actually know how to draw.

Who is your favorite artist?
Steve Hanks.

Thank you for taking the time to answer, David.

The next set of answers come all the way from Israel and are provided by the cartoonist for the strip Dry Bones, Yaakov Kirschen.

Ann Telnaes - Cartoonist Survey #95

Editorial cartoonist, Ann Telnaes, was born in Stockholm, Sweden. She attended the California Institute of the Arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in character animation. After college she worked as a designer for Walt Disney Imagineering. She started her career as an editorial cartoonist in the early 90’s. Her print editorial cartoons have been published in numerous newspapers such as, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, The New York Times. Ann has made many television and radio appearances including, NPR, The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, C-Span, and BBC radio. In 2001 she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. Her work was shown in a solo exhibition at the Great Hall in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress in 2004 as well as in Jerusalem and Paris. She switched from doing printed editorial cartoons to animated ones in 2008 and they are posted every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday on The Washington Post's website. Ann is a member of the National cartoonist Society and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband. Visit her website here and her blog here. See here animated editorial cartoons here at The Washington Post.

What is your favorite pen to use?
I use a brush for inking- Winsor Newton series 7, #2. Sometimes I'll use a brush pen, too.

Do you draw in pencil first and if so do you use a standard pencil or a mechanical one?
For my rough sketches I use a non-photo blue (or any light color) Prisma pencil.

Do you do your coloring by hand or on the computer?
I color in PhotoShop.

What type of paper do you use?
For my inked finals, a 2-ply bristol, vellum.

What thing(s) do you hate to draw?
There's nothing I really hate to draw, just things I'm not very good at drawing. Anything mechanical.

Do you buy your supplies from big chain art store catalogues/websites or a local one that you physically go to?
I order online. I'm usually in a place where going physically to an art store is too time consuming.

Are there any rituals that you do before starting to draw?
No, just can't do final inkings first thing in the morning. Have to have coffee first.

Do you listen to music while you draw and if so what genre?
No, I listen to C-Span.

Did you read comics as a kid and if so what was your favorite?
I read Peanuts, but my favorite was Thelwell's pony cartoons.

What is or was your favorite comic strip?
I don't really follow comic strips now. Love the art of Wiley, Watterson, and Richard Thompson.

What was your favorite book as a child and do you still own a copy of it?
I still have a boxed collection of Thelwell.

Did you have any formal art training and if so where did you receive it?
I studied character animation at California Institute of the Arts. I was extremely fortunate to have both Bill Moore and Bob Winquist as teachers- learned everything I know about design and color from them.

Do you feel that the Internet is a blessing or a curse?
For me, overall it's been a blessing. People could access my work even when print clients chose not to publish my editorial cartoons and I can reach international audiences more easily. Also, the ability to gather reference material is invaluable for a freelancer like me.

Did either of your parents draw?
No- but my uncle, who died before I was born, did paint.

Who in your life is/was the most supportive of your art?
My husband.

Do you keep a sketchbook?
Yes.

Have you ever taught cartooning/drawing and if so did you enjoy the experience?
No.

Do you feel that talent or passion is more important in drawing?
Both are important; I've known several people who were incredibly talented but without the passion and drive, went nowhere.

Do you collect anything and if so what?
I wouldn't say I collect them, but I have lots of books about art and cartooning.

If you were an animated cartoon character who do you think you would be?
A UPA character.

Are you a righty or lefty?
I'm right handed.

If you weren't an artist what would you want to do for work?
Probably work in wildlife conservation.

In one or two sentences describe your drawing area.
I have two- a large kitchen counter and a big, open studio with a great view.

Do you play any musical instruments?
No- it would be painful if I did.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone who wants to pursue drawing as a career what would it be?
Really love what you do because you probably won't make a living at it- much less become rich and famous.

Who is your favorite artist?
One of my favorites is Alexander Calder.


Thank you again for your time Ann.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist, David Horsey is on deck. What are the chances of having two Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonists in a row?