Sunday Mailbag

Q: You seem to do a lot of political caricatures and humorous illustrations.  Is it a preferred subject for you, or is this just the way things work out?

A: When you are known for doing caricature you inevitably get a lot of work dealing with politics and politicians… especially in an election year. It’s certainly not a preferred subject for me, but it is a subject that seems to lend itself to work for my style of illustration. I’ve done political-centric work for magazines, newspapers, products, movies, iPhone and iPad apps and even campaign materials.

One thing I try hard to do in regards to political work is not to be pigeonholed into only doing work for “one side of the aisle”. I have done illustrations for projects that are considered liberal, conservative and somewhere in between. My own political beliefs lean to the left of center, but I have no problem doing work that criticizes liberals or conservatives alike. One of the greatest things about this country is our freedom to criticize our government and freely discuss and debate the policies and proposed policies of our elected officials. Disagreement is healthy, as long as it’s done respectfully. The work I’ve been doing for Ray Grigg‘s film “I Want Your Money” is conservative in nature, touting the benefits of “Reaganomics” and criticizing the free-spending of the Obama administration, while the work I do for MAD is often more liberal in message (although they also take their shots at Obama and the Left). I work on stuff for Scholastic¬¨‚Ć and other educational publications that are squarely non-partisan as well… all with equal attention on my part.

The one place I draw the line is doing any work that promotes discrimination against anyone for things like race, sex, religion or sexual orientation. Sometimes politics cross that line, and I won’t be a part of that.

Here’s some examples of just a few of the political pieces I’ve done in the last few years:

Magazine cover for Scholastic

Images for a political novelty product

Bobblehead for film promotion

Another Scholastic Cover…

A piece for MAD

Yet another Scholastic cover

Cover for “Contingencies Magazine”

Another piece for MAD…

Illustration for “Fade In Magazine”

Book cover illustration

Another “Contingencies” cover….

Movie Poster Illustration