It’s funny how often I encounter people who either know me as an editorial cartoonist or a whimsical wildlife painter. For someone who only knows the cartoons, they’re sometimes genuinely surprised at my paintings, and vice versa.
While I share a cartoon at the end of each email to my subscribers and link to the page on my site, I don’t often mix the two, especially at a time when so many confuse political opinions with personal identity. I have shared the odd political rant over the years, but not often. Contrary to what people imagine, I don’t enjoy discussing politics, especially since people usually only bring it up to figure out if you’re on their side or not.
We never used to do that in this country.
I’ve been an editorial cartoonist since 1998, full-time since 2006. I’ve known several cartoonists who got into the profession because they liked politics and knew how to draw. I got into it because I liked to draw and figured I could learn politics, which I have. But I have always enjoyed the art first.
I didn’t paint my first whimsical wildlife painting until 2009. It’s now the larger part of my work, but I’m still an editorial cartoonist. I draw one cartoon each week for the Rocky Mountain Outlook, usually on a local topic. But I also draw five or six syndicated cartoons each week, on regional, provincial, national and international topics.
The way this job works is pretty straightforward. I follow the news every day, looking for stories that I think are worth commenting on, then I draw the cartoon and send it out to papers across Canada. If a newspaper prints it, that’s when I get paid. Some of my clients are on contract and only run my work. Others buy cartoons à la carte, where I’m competing with other cartoonists for space on the editorial page.
Just like an opinion columnist, every cartoon is my perspective, not some neutral or balanced report. I have never considered myself a journalist. Some readers agree with my take on things, some don’t, and that’s part of the deal. You don’t get into editorial cartooning expecting applause from everyone, and if you did, you wouldn’t last long.
After nearly three decades, I’ve learned that no party deserves blind loyalty. They’re all playing the same games, designed to convince you they’re on your side. The smoother the talker, the more convincing the con. Cynical? Sure. Comes with the territory.
One of my favourite lines comes from a Van Halen video for the song Right Now: “Right now your government is doing things we think only other countries do.”
I just went and watched that video again. Decades later, very little has changed. Go watch it.
So while I don’t often enjoy the workplace hazard of following politics and the news so closely every day, because it takes a toll on a sensitive soul, I still enjoy the drawing.
Throughout this post, you see a cartoon I drew earlier this month. The fish and lure imagery isn’t original, cartoonists have used it for decades, long before I ever picked up the pen. There’s a whole catalogue of themes and visual metaphors that get recycled from time to time, not just by me but by every cartoonist in the business. They work, so we put our own spin on them.
I’m sharing this one, along with the different stages of the process, simply because I enjoyed drawing the fish. And on the days when the political noise feels overwhelming, when it seems like every headline is just another example of somebody manipulating the public for their own gain, I try to remember that I still get to draw and colour for a living.
That’s not nothing.
Cheers,
Patrick
