Basic Journalism Skills Training April 2, 2016 By Reyjhon Entenia EDITORIAL CARTOONING Basic Journalism Skills Training April 2, 2016 By Reyjhon Entenia

What is an Editorial Cartoon? Also called political cartoons, they make a comment about issues in the news. Editorial cartoons are comics but with limited use of words. Editorial cartoons are opinion- based. They have a point of view. Not objective.

What is an Editorial Cartoon? An Editorial cartoon is not a poster. It is NOT an illustration of a news article or editorial article It is an independent opinion of a cartoonist without instruction or guidance of the management of the paper.

Essentials of Good Editorial Cartoons Good editorial Cartoons express the cartoonist’s opinion on a topic and provoke readers to think and clarify their own opinions. Thinking skills are much more important than drawing skills in creating a good cartoon Quick and easy to read – people who won’t read an entire editorial will glance at a cartoon

Essentials of Good Editorial Cartoons Easy to understand – they’re not often subtle, so most people get the message quickly Drawing should be uncluttered. It should be clean, bold and recognizable. Any words used (captions, dialogue balloons or words that are part of the drawing itself) should be large, clear and easily recognized.

Essentials of Good Editorial Cartoons Don’t be too much of a perfectionist. If your cartoon is clever and gets across your opinion, you’ve done a good job!

Elements of Editorial Cartoons SYMBOLS - simple pictures that are commonly understood by people in our society to stand for ideas or groups. Peace Freedom and Democracy

Philippine Gov’t Corruption Wealth Hope Victory Press

Elements of Editorial Cartoons 2. CARICATURES Drawings of people that exaggerate certain features to make the cartoon picture of the famous person quickly and easily recognizable. Caricatures are not always flattering, but make it clear who the artist is drawing, even if his or her artistic skills are limited

Drawn by Gilbert Daroy of Philippine Daily Inquirer

Drawn by Gilbert Daroy of Philippine Daily Inquirer

Elements of Editorial Cartoons 3. STEREOTYPES Are more often than not insulting, generalizations that may or may not have any basis in fact Some stereotypes are less negative and can be used by the artist to create humour, etc.

Drawn by Rene Aranda of Philippine Star

Elements of Editorial Cartoons 4. HUMOR AND IRONY Humor can also be used to ridicule a person, group or issue that that the artist believes to be embarrassing or wrong. Humor can sometimes take the edge off a serious or controversial subject.

Irony: (a statement that is the opposite of what is meant) can also be used to draw attention to an issue that is important to the artist.

Drawn by Rene Aranda of Philippine Star

Elements of Editorial Cartoons 5. ANALOGIES Analogies are comparisons. In simplest terms, they tell us that this thing is like that other thing, at least in one respect. They often use symbols and compare a current situation to a well know historic event, story, book, movie, fairy tale or nursery rhyme.

Drawn by Gilbert Daroy of Philippine Daily Inquirer

Elements of Editorial Cartoons 6. CAPTIONS AND LABELS Words can be used (very few words, however) to emphasize or explain some aspect of the drawing. The artist may also use captions and labels to make it completely clear who or what is pictured in the drawing.

Drawn by Eugene Bacasmas of The Philippine Star

Steps in Drawing Editorial Cartoons STEP 1: Brainstorm: What is a topic or issue you want to comment on? STEP 2: Make a point: What do you want to say about your topic? STEP 3: Choose appropriate element/s: Highlight important features of your idea.

Steps in Drawing Editorial Cartoons STEP 4: Draw: integrate the elements you’ve chosen and start drawing. Try different angles, test various approaches. Don’t worry too much about the illustration itself. “Drawing is not the most important part. Seventy-five percent of a cartoon is the idea, not the artistic skills.” – Patrick Chappatte, cartoonist of The International New York Times

Steps in Drawing Editorial Cartoons Get Feedback: Which idea lands best? STEP 6: Revise and Finalize

Tips in Drawing Editorial Cartoons Keep it simple, clear and bold. Best editorial cartoons mainly composed of 3 subjects that form an idea.

Tips in Drawing Editorial Cartoons 3. Should be uncluttered. Never add unnecessary subjects/elements to the drawing. 4. Use appropriate symbol.

Tips in Drawing Editorial Cartoons 5. Readers point of view and the cartoonist idea should meet. 6. An editorial cartoon always have a clear margin. 7. Should be signed by the cartoonist to have full copyrights of the piece.

Award Winning Editorial Cartoons The Buffalo News editorial cartoonist Adam Zyglis is the winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning. (www.robot6.comicbookresources.com)

Award Winning Editorial Cartoons Aristides Hernandez Guerrero of Courrier International (Cuba) won the 2015 United Nations/Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Award

Award Winning Editorial Cartoons Signe Wilkinson (USA) won the 15th World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition