Real-Life Decision Making
As an editorial cartoonist, you must be concerned with detail. Just because your cartoon is three inches tall in the newspaper doesn't mean you drew it that small. A lot of it depends on the detail of the cartoon.
If, for instance, you're drawing a picture of Charlie Brown or Garfield, you aren't going to need a lot of leeway for detail. Therefore, you can draw the comic strip fairly small. However, if your cartoon strip involves the Eiffel Tower, a computer motherboard or the engine of a Corvette, you'll need a lot more space for detail.
Your next assignment is to draw a cartoon about the growing unemployment in the town of Baconburg. Apparently, over the last few years the rate has increased at a steady clip. Now, the unemployment rate sits at about 23.1 percent.
In this case, you'll draw the strip considerably larger in size than how it appears in the newspaper. On top of that, there is the choice between using a single frame or several frames to complete your idea in a cartoon.
A single frame would make point faster. A strip of several frames, though, would tell a story and possibly hit people just as hard.
"One of the most important things in editorial cartooning is comprehending," says Clay Jones, an editorial cartoonist. "The question always is: how can I best present this idea to the people? It's my job to answer."
What do you do?