This week’s subject is Star Trek’s new Uhura, actress Zoë Saldana. She also “played” Neytiri in “Avatar”, but as she was a CGI blue alien the entire movie it’s hard to recognize her from that role.

Q: My question is about the placement of the people you draw in a humorous illustration. I know you have to deal with art directors that probably help a little, but how do you decide where to place the people, props, etc? And is there a way to learn how to get to the “placement” decision faster and at the same time relaying the message you are trying to make to the viewer? Is there a book or coarse that will help, or just keep looking at the art of other artist like yourself?

A: Composition is one of those things that is difficult to teach to someone because there are so many elements that come into play yet there are few hard and fast rules to adhere to. It’s a little like trying to explain how to ride a bike. When you are on a bike, you can feel when you are balanced and you can feel when you are going to tip over. I follow no real conscious formula when it comes to composing an illustration… it’s all about achieving that feeling of “it’s working”. Yet composition is the weakness of many a terrific artist.

When I consider the composition of a single illustration I really have no rules or guidelines or anything I can explain as to where my composition comes from. Basically I read over the art direction, start visualizing in my head and then do several sketches as experiments for composition. It is very much a feel-as-I-go process. The only things I really consciously think about are three main elements: focus, balance and tangents.

Focus-

Focus is simply what is supposed to be the most important thing about the illustration… what is the message? What is the element I want people to focus on? That should be be the centerpiece of the illustration. That means it’s literally in the center or where ever your eye is drawn to in the piece. This can be accomplished in so many ways it’s impossible to list them all. You can have the eyes and reactions of any figures in the image leading to the focus. You can position objects or negative space between objects to lead to the focus. You can use contrast, color or lighting to bring attention to the focus. Every “scene” presents some way of accomplishing this, so it is a matter of solving the problem for a specific illustration.

Balance-

This is simply the overall solid and substantial feel of an image… the balance. Like my bike riding analogy, this is really more of a sense than it is a calculation. Just like you sense yourself being balanced or tipping over on the edge of some object, looking at an illustration I sense if things are not balanced. Then I adjust things by adding or subtracting elements to the illustration, until that sense of balance returns. Like focus, each image is different and how you achieve balance is unique to the illustration.

Tangents-

Finally I check things over to try and make sure I avoid tangents, which are bad for composition. A tangent is when the contours of two objects touch or almost touch in a given image, creating an awkward juxtaposition which interferes with the depth and readability of the illustration. It creates confusion as to what object is in front of what other object, and is distracting. You fix this by either separating the objects in question or by overlapping them more significantly.

Avoiding tangents is composition 101, but that’s the only composition class I had and the rest has been all faking it for 20 some odd years.

The best I can tell  you is when you have a sketch of an illustration laid out, tack it up on the wall, step back from it and take a good look. Is it awkward? Is it heavy on some side or another? If so you need to work on the composition.

Thanks to Lee Fortuna for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

I’m out of town for the week, and thought we’d play a little game… just exactly where am I? More pictures to come.

The deadline is looming large for this year’s Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship from the National Cartoonists Society Foundation.

From the NCSF Website:

Jay Kennedy Scholarship

The annual Jay Kennedy Scholarship, in memory of the late King Features editor, was funded by an initial $100,000 grant from the Hearst Foundation/King Features Syndicate and additional generous donations from Jerry Scott, Jim Borgman, Patrick McDonnell and many other prominent cartoonists. Submissions are adjudicated by a panel of top cartoonists and an award is given to the best college cartoonist. The recipient is feted at the annual NCS Reuben Awards Convention attended by many of the world’s leading cartoonists.

Applicants must be college students in the United States, Canada or Mexico that will be in their Junior or Senior year of college during the 2010-2011 academic year. Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship.

Along with a completed entry form, applicants are required to send 8 samples of their own cartooning artwork (copies only); noting if and where the work has been published, either in print or on the web. (See application for details.) DO NOT send original artwork.

DEADLINE: ENTRIES MUST BE POSTMARKED BY FEBRUARY 12, 2010

The applications will be judged by the National Cartoonists Society Foundation (NCSF) and the number of scholarships given out and their amounts will be at the discretion of the NCSF.

No procrastination now, younguns! The competition is fierce but one thing is certain, you cannot win if you do not enter. The deadline is less than a month away. Don’t miss out. Here’s a link to the all-important application form!

I’m pretty busy trying to get a bunch of stuff done prior to yet another (and the last one for the forseeable future) trip out of the country, but I thought I’d share a fun link today.

MAD artist Tom Bunk just joined the blogosphere with a bright, shiny new blog that is well worth a look. Tom is a diversely talented illustrator, and the popping eyeballs and squirting entrails he often does for MAD are only a few of the things he draws and paints brilliantly. Of course he’s also well know for his work on Wacky Packages and the Garbage Pail Kids stickers and cards, but as you will see at his blog his paintings run the gamut from Dali-esque surrealism to Picasso-esque abstractions and many places in between.

Hopefully Tom updates his blog regularly with more of his terrific work.

This week’s sketch is of former baseball player Mark McGwire, who this week tearfully gave away the worst kept secret in sports… that he used steroids when playing professional baseball. What a shock!

While I applaud McGwire somewhat for coming clean (so to speak) and admitting to his using illegal drugs while breaking some of baseball’s most hallowed records, it’s laughable that he also claims that the steroids had nothing to do with his accomplishments as a player. He said in an interview that he believes he’d still have hit 70 home runs in 1998, and ended up with 583 career homers.

I’ve heard the arguments from steroid user apologists that using steroids do not improve hand eye coordination, increase reaction time or make you a better baseball “brain”, and that those things have more to do with great hitting and playing than just being strong. That may be true, but steroids will increase your strength in your swing AND the speed of your bat. They will allow your body to recover from injury and exertions keeping you playing at peak level longer and much more consistently. They will prolong a career that naturally would have begun to fade as the player’s physical skills become blunted by age. “Big Mac” had several very good years as a younger player, hitting between 20 and 40 home runs a year with a high of 49 in his rookie year of 1987. In 1993 and 1994 he was injured a lot and only hit 9 homers both those years playing in only a handful of games. 1n 1995 he returned to relative health at 31 and hit his usual average number of homers (39). Then in 1996, at age 32 he suddenly jumps to 52 homers, and hits 58, 70 and 65 in the next three seasons at the age of 33 to 35… an age where most player’s skills have begun to decline noticably. He admits to having used steroids and human growth hormone all duing this time, and for much of his career.

Yep, Big Mac… steroids had nothing to do with it.

Without steroids no way does McGwire have those kinds of numbers during that 4 year span. Likely his home run numbers overall are deflated throughout his career. No way does he hit over 500 homer runs lifetime. Without the 500 career homers or the tainted home run record (broken in 2002 by another ‘roided up cheater named Barry Bonds) McGwire isn’t even in the conversation for the Hall of Fame. I think McGwire realized that he needed to make the admission so that he could a.) start working as the St. Louis Cardinal’s batting coach without the constant questions about this infamous testimony in 2005 and b.) to have a few years for the baseball writers to soften up and forgive him so he gets into the Hall of Fame.

I think it’s fine that McGwire gets a job as hitting coach for the Cardinals. He’s right in that steroids themselves don’t make you a great hitter and he’ll have some great advice for young players (as long as that advice doesn’t include “start injecting yourself with ‘roids”). I also think that the only way Mark McGwire should get into the Hall of Fame is by buying a ticket at the front door like everybody else.

It’s that time of year again! The National Cartoonists Society will hold their annual Reuben Awards Weekend on May 28-30th, this year in Jersey City, New Jersey. The NCS just released the details of how to submit work for consideration in the various divisional award categories. Just a reminder… you do NOT have to me an NCS member to have your work be eligible. The only requirements is the work be in published sometime between December 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. Submit published tear sheets when possible and document when and where the work was published.

From the NCS Website:

It’s time to prepare your entry for the National Cartoonists Society Division Awards.

Below, you will see the list of the juries which will judge the categories, the jury chair and the address to which you will send your entry.

Please remember only recent work can be considered. This means work published between the dates of December 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. Please submit published tear sheets when possible and document when and where the work was published. Members of the National Cartoonists Society and nonmembers may submit.

Each entry must be accompanied by a completed ENTRY FORM and a BIO SHEET.

The winners will be announced at the 64th Annual Reuben Awards Dinner on May 29, 2010.

Cartoonists are invited to submit their work (or the work of anyone else) no later than February 6, 2010, for consideration for one or more of the following Division Awards:

TELEVISION ANIMATION Submit one or more samples in VHS or DVD format of aired or exhibited work that was released in the year 2009 to: Brian Walker, NCS Connecticut Chapter, 34 Old Forge Rd., Wilton, CT 06897-3707 (hiandlois1@aol.com)

FEATURE ANIMATION Submit one or more samples in VHS or DVD format of aired or exhibited work that was released in the year 2009 to: David Folkman, NCS Los Angeles Chapter, 6171 W. Century Blvd. #160, Los Angeles, CA 90045 (folkmanart@aol.com)

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION Submit 6 samples of published work to: Jack Pittman, NCS Southeast Chapter, 1740 Brooks Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27607-6618 (jack@jackpittman.net)

GAG CARTOONS Submit 12 samples of published work to: Tom Stemmle, NCS New Jersey Chapter, 184 Richards Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (tomstem@optonline.net)

GREETING CARDS Submit 6 samples of published work to: Brian Kelly, NCS Chicago Chapter, 6N784 Colonel Bennett Lane, St. Charles, IL 60175 (ragstandman@msn.com)

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS Submit 12 samples of published work to: Mike Edholm, NCS North Central Chapter, 2108 Sandstone Road, Lincoln, NE 08512 (medholm1@mac.com)

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS Submit 12 samples of published work to: Patricia Storms, NCS Canadian Chapter, 65 Bernice Crescent, Toronto, Ontario CANADA M6N 1W7 (gpstorms@rogers.com)

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION Submit 6 samples of published work to: Adrian Sinnott, NCS Long Island Chapter, 27 East 24th Street, Huntington Station, NY 11746-3701 (acsinnott@adriansinnott.com)

BOOK ILLUSTRATION Send up to 6 samples of published work to: Rob Smith, Jr., NCS Florida Chapter, PO Box 540103, Orlando, FL 32854-0103 (ncs@robsmithjr.com)

EDITORIAL CARTOONS Submit 12-20 samples of published work to: Mark Parisi, NCS New England Chapter, 16 Slayton Rd., Melrose, MA 02176 (markparisi@aol.com)

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION Submit 4 samples of published and marketed work to: David Coulson, NCS Pittsburgh Chapter, 6425 Wilkins Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 (ndavid.coulson@gmail.com)

COMIC BOOKS Submit 3 samples of published work to: Doug Bratton, NCS Metro Chapter, 17 Crestmont Drive, Dover, NJ07801 (bratcartoonist1@aol.com)

GRAPHIC NOVELS Submit book published in 2009 to: Mike Lynch, NCS National Representative, 61 Nutes Road, Milton, NH 03851-4800 (mike@mikelynchcartoons.com)

Once again: Each entry must be accompanied by a completed ENTRY FORM and a BIO SHEET.

The submission deadline is February 6, 2010.