Graphic Fiction - Research 2.2: Turning Pictures into Words

The second exercise is research-focused and explores the one-panel 'gag' cartoon still popularised in satirical publications, political sections of newspapers and famously in The New Yorker magazine. I attempted my own New Yorker gag cartoon right at the start of Key Steps in Illustration which was a lot of fun.

There were three gag cartoons from the 20th century to analyse and reflect on, followed by summarising the cartoon in under 100 words. I had to imagine that I was describing the image for a cartoonist to draw - tricky! The three images were very different in their styles, and they all took different approaches in terms of details. One thing that seemed consistent was the aspect of looking closely for the detail that sells the punchline.

I decided to take on the challenge for the first image, which I wrote as is I was in the 1950s:

Chas Addams, Technology Comic (1950s) © The Advertising Archives. Used under educational fair use policy.

"Most of the cartoon is taken up with a modern computer filling the room, so much so we can only see two sides. Neon lights glow above as a cleaning lady mops the floor at the end of the day. Knobs, screens, dials and gauges cover the computer. What we then see on the far side is that it also has a tiny door! Our cleaner notices a small suited man carrying a briefcase coming out of the door. He doffs his hat to the woman at the end of his hard day running the computer on the inside!"

(99 words)

Further Research into Gag Cartoons

The second part of this task was to conduct further research into gag cartoons from a specific list of cartoonists:

• Gary Larson

• Virgil Partch

• James Thurber

• B Kliban

• Roz Chast

I researched the cartoonists online, going through as many examples of their cartoons as possible. I have included my main sources in my bibliography, but I looked at other sources too (they were less reliable for citation).

Going through all of the options, I ended up choosing the following cartoon:

Used under educational fair-use copyright policy

I chose this image as I really like the combination of simple lines with some rich watercolour-style colours. It's really clean but there is a goofiness about it I really like. Despite the fact that the cartoon is silent, the storytelling is brilliant. I particularly like the way that the angle of the water draws your eye to the goldfish with the baseball bat.

There is a stylistic realism to the style, but the characters are really cartoony with funny anthropomorphism. It has lovely little touches like the bat and glove which tells you everything you need to know about what they have been doing. It's really efficient. I like the surreal take on animals doing things humans would do, and Larson captures the "oh.... crap!" expressions on the fish brilliantly with really simple gestures and faces.

The joke is funny not only for the surrealistic anthropomorphism but for the situation itself, weirdly you can really sympathise with the accident - it reminds me of lots of similar situations with my sister as a child. But... with fish! I've really enjoyed looking at all of these cartoons, and I am really in awe of how clever so many of them are. It's something I really admire but I am not sure I have the kind of insight to make these kinds of cartoons.

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References

1. AnimationResources.org - Serving the Online Animation Community. 2021. Magazine Cartoons: Virgil Partch's Wild, Wild Women - Animationresources.Org - Serving The Online Animation Community. [online] Available at: https://animationresources.org/comics-virgil-partchs-wild-wild-women/ [Accessed 24 January 2021].

2. Bpib.com. 2021. Virgil Partch. [online] Available at: https://www.bpib.com/illustrat/partch.htm [Accessed 24 January 2021].

3. Cartooncollections.com. 2021. Cartoon Collections - James Thurber. [online] Available at: https://www.cartooncollections.com/search?artists=1634 [Accessed 24 January 2021].

4. Chast, R., 2021. Roz Chast : Cartoons : Fairy Tales. [online] Rozchast.com. Available at: https://rozchast.com/cartoons.shtml [Accessed 24 January 2021].

5. Comicartfans.com. 2021. Virgil Partch - Comic Artist - The Most Popular Comic Art By Virgil Partch. [online] Available at: https://www.comicartfans.com/comic-artists/virgil_partch.asp [Accessed 24 January 2021].

6. Eatmousies.com. 2021. Eatmousies | New Home Page. [online] Available at: https://eatmousies.com/home/ [Accessed 24 January 2021].

7. Larson, G., 2021. The Far Side Comic Strip By Gary Larson - Official Website | Thefarside.Com. [online] TheFarSide.com. Available at: https://www.thefarside.com/ [Accessed 24 January 2021].

8. Linesandcolors.com. 2021. B. Kliban Cartoons On The Web – Lines And Colors. [online] Available at: http://linesandcolors.com/2014/08/04/b-kliban-cartoons-on-the-web/ [Accessed 24 January 2021].

9. Thurber, J., 2021. James Thurber. [online] Jamesthurber.org. Available at: https://jamesthurber.org/ [Accessed 24 January 2021].