Opinion: Illustration is easier than cartooning
January 24, 2013 in Comment, General
When it was suggested by the editor that I should write a piece to the statement, “Illustration is easier than cartooning”. I thought he also ought to reverse the notion and ask an illustrator too.
Trouble is, I’m not an illustrator so know little of their strange and arcane ways. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I have illustrated a couple of books in what might loosely be called a non-cartoon style. And many years ago whilst doing a fine art degree, a snotty lecturer suggested I should switch to Illustration because my work was “rather slick and commercial”. The fool! Did he not see that I was going to be the next Jack Vettriano?
Cartoonist and illustrator are very wide terms. If by illustrator we mean those driven souls who churn out graphic novels – how do they do it? – then give me cartooning any day. On the other hand if, as a cartoonist, you get lucky with a multi-panel strip of Doonesbury or Calvin and Hobbes or The Fosdyke Saga proportions and you don’t have time to draw anything but the same re-occurring characters day after day, world without end, how do you stave off madness?
Do illustrators feel the same? What little illustration work I’ve done rapidly became tedious. Same characters, different situations. Rather more interesting to write than to illustrate. Unless, of course, you’re Victor Ambrus who is brilliant enough to stop even Tony Robinson becoming tedious.
However – I love that word, it means you’re about to kick the foregoing into the long grass – a good cartoon drawing has to be a good joke as well. Thinking of a good joke can be a killer. “Good joke” means one which in the first instance makes you the cartoonist laugh. Whether it makes a commissioning editor laugh is another matter entirely (Ian Hislop is such a tease). Some days good jokes pop up like weeds. On others – like today – there’s a great desire to draw funny stuff but nothing happens and an unhealthy amount of daytime TV is watched.
There. My head’s nearly empty now. The only thing I’d add is the word “good”. Good illustration is easier than good cartooning. Must dash, DCI Banks is on.
PS. If anybody wants a definition of “good”, ask the editor in the comments.
Editor adds: Thanks to Bill for putting his head above the parapet.
BRIGHTY said on January 24, 2013
Point of information: This article should, of course, be properly entitled ‘Opinion: Illustration is easier than gag cartooning’.
Huw Aaron said on January 24, 2013
I’m not sure whether I agree completely with Bill, but I’d definitely imagine that it’s a lot easier for a good cartoonist to do an illustration than for a good illustrator to create a cartoon. The cartooning skillset is drawing ability, writing ability and the elusive ‘funny gene’. Having all three is desirable, but the second two more so than the first, I’d suggest – which is where an illustrator with even the greatest draughtsmanship in the world might come unstuck.
Bill Stott said on January 24, 2013
Yes – definitely a parapet job this. But I agree with Huw. I would though. I’m a cartoonist. We need the thoughts of an illustrator here. [rummaging sounds as Brighty puts on other hat]
Matthew Buck said on January 24, 2013
I think Huw’s analysis is pretty accurate. Cartooning is a writing job.
BRIGHTY said on January 24, 2013
No it’s not. Writing can be part of a cartoonist’s job, but not in all cases. Is a caricaturist not also a cartoonist? Are comic artists who work to scripts not written by themselves not cartoonists? Or are they ‘merely’ illustrators? And by the same token, are those who write cartoons, but get others to draw them, allowed the title of cartoonist, while their drawing partners are ‘merely’ illustrators? That’s the perverse conclusion this is heading towards.
Andy Davey said on January 24, 2013
Steve raises some interesting points (he should in fact be busy scouring the news for funny ideas right now) – but then it’s his special subject. His questions are almost impossible to answer – it’s all opinion and semantics in the end. The question of who is a cartoonist in a team where one person writes and the other illustrates is a marvellous conundrum, illustrating the futility of trying to define such things. I would have to say – given my own internal gut reaction criteria – that neither is, although they both produce what most people would know as a cartoon (or a comic). That conclusion looks foolish; strung up by my own criteria. I would resist the use of “merely” – although Steve quite deliberately used speech marks; there is nothing better or worse in being an illustrator or a cartoonist. The huge difference is, as Bill says, in quality – good v not so good, but then that too is subjective.
johnroberts said on January 24, 2013
I call myself a caricaturist – and you spell that b-a-s-t-a-r-d.
Huw Aaron said on January 24, 2013
When a writing/illustrating team get together to create a cartoon, their skills are combined to form a cartoonist. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers work in a similar way.
Andy Davey said on January 24, 2013
Yes, thank you Roberts-bach for that helpful interjection, but what about when you’re doing those beautiful illustration things you do?
BRIGHTY said on January 24, 2013
Then he’s a cartoonist, Andy, as he is when he’s a bas…caricaturist. He draws professionally in a cartoon style. A cartoonist – simple as that.
Cathy Simpson said on January 24, 2013
I’ve said this elsewhere, and I’ll jolly well say it again. Saying that ‘Illustration is easier than cartooning” is like saying “Accountancy is easier than playing football”. It probably is if you’re a 58 year old accountant. It probably isn’t if you’re an eighteen year old footballer.
Many illustrators have very little in the way of a sense of humour, and to them producing a cartoon would be well nigh impossible. A cartoonist who can’t draw wouldn’t be able to produce an illustration which required a high level of technical skill. You’re more likely to succeed as a cartoonist who can’t draw, as long as you’ve got the sense of humour, than you are as an illustrator who can’t draw.
Pete Dredge said on January 24, 2013
Are there any cartoonists who don’t draw in a ‘cartoon style’?? Glen Baxter comes to mind as someone who adapts his spin on the adventure book illustration style.
Matthew Buck said on January 24, 2013
Yes I think so Pete. I would suggest some of the presently popular digital manipulation artists work effectively as cartoonists.
BRIGHTY said on January 24, 2013
I’m more than happy for anyone who draws in a cartoon style (if it’s not cartoon style, it’s not cartooning) to call themselves a cartoonist, and also an illustrator if they illustrate, or a caricaturist if the draw caricatures, etc, etc, etc.
Huw Aaron said on January 24, 2013
Pete – there’s a guy called David Malki who’s work is somewhat similar in that way to Glen Baxter. His webcomic – Wondermark – is made of collaged scans of vintage Victorian illustrations…and is tres amusant. And he’s definitely a cartoonist.
Bill Stott said on January 24, 2013
Hmm, dictionary definitions of “politician” don’t include “self -seeking lying rat-bag” so maybe OED wouldn’t be my first port of call, although I don’t disagree with Steve.
I also think there’s a value judgement to be made here in terms of what “good” means. Many cartoonists who apply to join PCO don’t get in.Because they’re not good enough.
On the other hand, quite a few of those don’t make a bad living – e.g., greetings cards etc., for companies who like clunky stuff. Who sell it to a certain swathe of the public who like clunky stuff. Maybe the same swathe which likes Celebrity Big Bugger [with Eric Pickles] and the very clunky Strictly Come Dancing.
So “good” is the missing word here.
BRIGHTY said on January 24, 2013
Cartoons and cartoon drawings aren’t always humorous though, Huw – far from it.
Terry Anderson said on January 25, 2013
If illustrations are visuals that expand upon and support text, then a draughts person, photographer, cartoonist or designer may in the course of their career be called upon to don the mantle of illustrator. I disagree with the notion that comics consist of illustration; the interplay between text and image is entirely different. As I say in workshops with kids, in a comic the written word and drawn image can be entirely at odds, combining to provide meaning that neither could do alone. Illustrators meanwhile contradict the text at their peril!
Finally to the judgement implicit in this blog post; that editorial gag panels and newspaper strips are the acme of cartooning. That’s a matter of taste and entirely defensible as a personal opinion. But despite having been written by an individual it’s posted under the PCO banner. I hesitate to reiterate my contribution of October last, but we return to the thorny matter of criteria and definitions. Most importantly, who the PCO appear to be discounting, publicly, as cartoonists.
BRIGHTY said on January 25, 2013
Excellent points, Terry.
And a quick note on the original flawed question, putting aside the fact that both are interchangeable, I find drawing my own material (for the purposes of the question, cartooning) is almost always less challenging and preferable to drawing that of others (for the purposes of the question, illustration). So yes, cartooning is definitely easier than illustration (for the purposes of….etc, etc….)
Matthew Buck said on January 25, 2013
Editor writes:
And to that end, thank you all for contributing to the excellent thoughts that are coming in about Bill’s piece.
Huw Aaron said on January 25, 2013
I suspect such an opinion piece was written party to generate this kind of interesting debate about the nature and work of cartoonists.
Pete Dredge said on January 25, 2013
Of course ‘writing’ means ‘creating’ rather than a reliance on text or caption. LARRY springs to mind, in the gag cartooning field.
Bill Stott said on January 25, 2013
“Be careful who you seek to exclude”. Or indeed, admit. When I was on ‘t’ committee, each and every applicant’s work was scrutinized to the nth degree. Dark and dangerous work, but somebody’s got to do it. “Humour voice” came about because we couldn’t think of anything which adequately explained that certain something which made the applicant’s work funny. I’m sure that the same level of agonising goes on in committee now.
But that’s not the original statement, which said “Illustration is easier than cartooning”.The absence of “good” here is interesting because including it narrows the field considerably.Doesn’t help prove or disprove the statement though. I wrote the original bit from an entirely personal standpoint .In an ideal world I’d call myself a gag cartoonist, but in the real one I spend much of my time ILLUSTRATING moderately dull articles on fiscal union or automatic gearboxes with CARTOONS.
So, having read all the excellent ,informed comments, I’d say that non-cartoon illustration cannot be usefully compared to cartooning. They’re both easy/difficult in their own ways.
BRIGHTY said on January 26, 2013
I agree with your last paragraph, Bill, assuming by “non-cartoon illustration”, you mean illustration that is not in a cartoon style. If it means illustration that is in a cartoon style, but the brief has come from someone other than the artist, then that is still cartooning in my book, and there is nothing to compare. Both are cartoons, and the ‘easy/difficult’ bit then relates purely to the addition of the writing factor. You might think that, self-evidently, that addition makes the job more difficult (i.e. that you have to think up a gag on top of drawing it), but as I’ve already declared, drawing to someone else’s brief can very often be more challenging and painful than drawing something you’ve written yourself, and in those cases, I’d have to say that (gag) cartooning is certainly easier than (cartoon) illustration, and infinitely more enjoyable.
BRIGHTY said on January 26, 2013
Huw, I have no argument with your definition of ‘Humour Voice’, but from past discussions, I’m not confident that is everyone else’s understanding of it.
gerardwhyman said on February 4, 2013
It all sounds like an argument in the playground a couple of six year olds would have, ‘my dad is better than your dad!’ etc. It also sounds that we’re an insecure bunch trying to big ourselves up by saying we use more of the grey matter in our world. To me, whether you’re a painter, sculptor, illustrator, cartoonist, whatever, it’s all about problem solving and that’s the crux of the matter. However, I realise this opens another can of worms – do cartoonists have bigger problems to solve than illustrators?!