Genre Research

While politics finds its way into every nook and cranny of the world, the political cartoon
is unique in the way that they “offer a brightly coloured alternative to formal news reporting,
providing light relief from the ever-increasingly gloomy political discourse” (1). As a creative
way to comment on individuals, events, policies, or society at large, political cartoons can be
appealing to broader audiences in their easily-digested medium, as you there is often little to
read, and can complement more traditional texts or stand alone as valid examples of discourse.

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Although they typically utilize analogy, irony, symbolism, and exaggeration as the main
elements, cartoonists also face the challenge of actually transforming their idea into an image
and producing the accompanying artwork (2). Furthermore, political cartoons most always
revolve around the satire as their method of communication. Because of this, the majority of
political cartoons use caricature-styles to over-exaggerate features of specific individuals being
critiqued (3).

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In my research, I explored a variety of famous and ordinary political cartoons, and my
results revealed to me that political cartoons can attack anything from the smallest of issues to
the largest of scandals. In fact, the genre in itself is almost limitless: if you can connect an idea to
a visual format, especially relying on typical symbolism practices like big-headed politicians, the
message can come alive. With that being said, however, the best political cartoons are the
byproduct of intentional planning, artistic skill, and socio-political knowledge.

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As I am not an artist, I did look into the best practices for physically creating different
cartoons and landed upon a few beginner-level cartooning tutorials on YouTube (4). In the
various lessons, I learned that cartooning is not simply free-drawing but consists of a collection
of fundamental drawing “skills” connected to a repeated process of creating shapes amidst
layered sketches. These tutorials drastically improved my knowledge and abilities related to
facial feature development, proper proportions, and even spacing with character phases. Lastly, I
learned that the best inspiration is that which already exists: real-life photos to help visualize
settings and objects as well as cartoons by other artists to help envision potential styles.

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Works Cited
1. “The Importance of Political Cartoons.” Ellwood Atfield,
www.ellwoodatfield.com/event/the-importance-of-political-cartoons/. Accessed 7 March
2021.
2. “Lesson 5: Analyzing Political Cartoons.” The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Foundation,
www.lincolnlogcabin.org/education-kits/Abraham-Lincoln-Lesson-Plans/Lesson-5.pdf.
Accessed 5 March 2021.
3. Knieper, Thomas. "Political cartoon". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Feb. 2018,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/political-cartoon. Accessed 5 March 2021.
4. “How To Draw Faces- Front View: CARTOONING 101 #1.” Let's Draw with
BeeJayDeL, YouTube, 14 July 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=T52UIiUtozA.
Accessed 7 March 2021.
5. Various examples for inspiration on Google Images under the search keywords “political
cartoon”

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Sample

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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March 11, 2021

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