Mike Peters Rocking the Overhead Projector at 2009 CartoonapaloozaBy Mark Kaufman

I attended Cartoonapalooza last night, a public forum presentation during the Association of Editorial Cartoonists annual convention which is taking place in Seattle this week. It was a fun presentation by some real heavyweights in the editorial cartooning arena, including some folks whose work I have enjoyed and respected for manay a moon. I mean come on, two Pulitzer Prize winners, Pulitzer finalists, best selling authors, syndicated far and wide, it was a great lineup to say the least. Panelists David Horsey, Signe Wilkinson, Jack Ohman, Ted Rall, Rob Rogers, Matt Bors, Steve Kelly, Mark Fiore, and Mike Peters had eight minutes each to show work, talk about controversies, careers, and took questions from the audience. Original art from AAEC mebers was for sale as well.

I was most impressed with Jack Ohman's long form work, which was a welcome shift away from the standard format of issue/caricature/joke. Jack described it as more of a graphic novel format, instead of a one or two panel  cartoon, these seem more serious, with a looser illustration style, interviews, and a journalistic writing style.

I also learned that most editorial cartoonists are unable to operate a laptop.

Twitter FistBy Mark Kaufman

Rejected illustration idea for an opinion article on recent world events, Iran elections, death of Michael Jackson, etc., and the power of Twitter.

Rejected out of hand, but I still like it.

By Mark Kaufman

I did not use StumbleUpon for this week’s entry, instead I found a most awesome site dedicated to magazines by chance.

The Galactic Central site is a wonderful repository of magazine cover art and information on pulps, genre magazines, i.e. girlie, adventure, romance, western, sci-fi, crime, general interest titles, literary, and sports adventures to name but a few. The great thing about this site besides the fact that it is a repository of beautiful illustration from the various golden ages of magazine publishing and design, is that it is an online library of a crazed completist! The site will take you hours and hours to navigate, but I guarantee that you will happily click to and fro and be amazed at the lovely and/or insane artwork, checklists, titilating titles and the raw, bold, and brazen things publishers did to make sure that their magazines jumped off the newsstands. A guilty pleasure to be sure.

…Boobs.

Mir-Hossein Mousavi (Khameneh), The Queen's Park, 1972, Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art CollectionBy Mark Kaufman

I was up until 3am PST last night watching a live broadcast of the Ayatollah Khamenei speech at Tehran University last night. Reports breaking a while ago are that those close to Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been arrested, and his contact with the outside world has been restricted. I do not know much about Iran, Iranian politics or what will happen after Khameni's hard line stance, but I now know that Mousavi is an artist and an architect in addition to being a politician and revolutionary. Go here and here for interesting articles on Mousavi.

By Mark Kaufman

I saw Objectified last week, the new film from Helvetica director Gary Hustwit at the Cinerama Theatre in Seattle. The huge theatre was packed with graphic, industrial, information and product designers whose hearts did a collective flutter when design icons like Dieter Rams or Jonathan Ivie make their big screen appearances. The director was in attendance and a non cringe inducing Q+A followed. There were only a couple of questions from the audience that made me roll my eyes, so that is a very good ratio for this sort of thing. I enjoyed the film, I thought it was an interesting look into industrial design, creating products, sustainability issues and the people that create the products and everyday experiences we take for granted. It is a well crafted, smartly edited and good looking film.

The most interesting thing about this film and Helvetica, is the director’s marketing and distribution chops. His method of presenting his films is reminiscent of the traveling roadshow promoters of the 1950s and 60s, that crisscrossed the country presenting low budget horror, “sex” and exploitation films in small theatres in the south and midwest, drumming up stunts and controversy to sell tickets to a double-feature before high tailing it out of town to find the next group of suckers. Mr. Hustwit has found himself a willing audience of designers and creatives in cities around the world who are willing to shell out extra dough to see documentaries about what they do. While I do not think that the crowds that flock to these screenings in Seattle, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London or Barcelona are suckers, and  Mr. Hustwit’s films are by no means low rent exploitation films, one thing that designers love is a little navel gazing about our industry and that is being exploited to good effect. Mr. Hustwit has simply tapped into the desire of communities everywhere to see themselves and their passions up on the big screen. Like I said he is a gifted filmmaker and a brilliant marketer. So when Objectified rolls into your community, it is well worth a look.

By Mark Kaufman

Sick Fuck.

By Mark Kaufman

I hate to do type by hand, but still I must practice, practice, practice.

By Mark Kaufman

What to do this weekend. Waste time at the Adult Swim Games Page? Figure out your place in the business world with this awesome Venn Diagram from Bud Caddell? Do something productive with a Sharpie?

Me? None of the above. I'm going to the track.

By Mark Kaufman

Would be Gerald Ford assassin Sarah Jane Moore has been back in the news lately, (on the Today Show not I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here) which reminded me of this portrait I did when the 38th POTUS died. The idea of course that while most people were celebrating his life and legacy, what his pardoning of Richard Nixon actually wrought was Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. One of my fave caricatures.

BankAmericard from Credit Collectibles.com, Stencil from the Stencil Street Art Project, Phones from Matt Gross for The New York Times.By Mark Kaufman

Stumbled upon these sites today, which shows where my head is at. I do not want to be working today. I'd like to book a flight with my BankAmericard to Berlin to see some stencil street art, and then use this set-up from the New York Times to call someone in the US of A and talk about it what I have just seen. And then have a beer and sausage. Good times…

By Mark Kaufman

Day after day, me, you and everyone you know sits in front of a computer screen, tiptaptapping away, writing, creating art, researching and goofing off. This week Jorge Columbo created a New Yorker cover with an iPhone! An iPhone. As amazing as that is and you can find a video here of the process, that got me to thinking about how cool and amazing the software is that allowed that to happen, and how far we have come in the history of computer art. Along with the New Yorker cover above are some examples going back over 50 years to the infancy of comuter generated art, and an example of one of the first computer "tablets". Needless to say it was inconceivable in the 1950s and 60s that you could take a room full of Univac computers to the streets of New York and create art. Go here for a history of computer graphics.

By Mark Kaufman

Very old piece, for The Rocket in the early/mid 90's. Couldn't tell you what it was for or what the intent was, but I’ve always liked the image.