4 min read
When we read a book such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein we will conjure up various images of Victor Frankenstein, even though the classic black and white film used a mad scientist archetype, which however, is not in the novel at all. There's nothing wrong with borrowing this popular movie icon to fit Shelley's story if ever you begin to read it. Either way, the point is, Victor Frankenstein, (like many fictional literary characters) will work your imagination; we take on the job of visualising or bringing characters to life through interpretation—this is where the work of the author ends and where we begin.
The cartoonist and illustrator does exactly the same with character creation or the composition of visual comedy. Symbols, pop culture, stereotypes, tropes and memes are all tools. We all saw the caricatures of Trump that saturated Instagram, especially the tantruming child or cry baby? This man has been symbolised, mocked and postured more than most political figures I can think of, to be honest.
It's the various combinations or ways of depiction, the construal and style are way more important than the subject. Countless techniques are within you, waiting: you can break the conceptual art perimeters. I love how cartoonists unapologetically make piss taking and fuckwittery an art.
At the start of my drawing processes, there is always a haze, that blurry raw idea, the gist of what I want to say. If I wanted to make a visual joke about Conservative MPs speaking lusting to cut disability benefits I'd immediately start by exploring common stereotypes and the most depraved, disgusting wretched imagary I can think of to taint these specimens, it's weaponising your creativity—sadly some media platforms ban you for it!
Before Anthony Hopkins immortalised Hannibal Lecter back in the nineties, people read about him first. His presence and appearance was upto the reader and so, multifaceted in his enriched written form (he had crimson brown eyes and extra fingers in the book).
Realistic cartoons require extra time but they can detract from the mood or the joke itself. Maybe this is why Calvin and Hobbes aren't decorated with ultra realistic facial features, it is a well designed and simplified that leaves a little space for your imagination.
