Ramblings about College Days and Cartoonists

It is no secret to our regular readers that I greatly admire the talents of many cartoonists. It began back in college, where one on my best friends from our tennis team was an art major. He was into everything, from drawing to painting to sculptures. Eventually, he talked me into attempting some of these tasks, all with disastrous results with the exception of one. I found that I was somewhat blessed with a passable knack for drawing and shading with pencil or charcoal. I have since loaded some of my attempts in the Artwork Section of our main site.

Given an hour or so, I could make a decent replica of what I observed, but I was fascinated by a few students who could quickly sketch out a caricature of a person or thing in a matter of minutes. Years later, while managing our computer graphics and print shop, I often needed a catchy piece of art for a school-fundraiser, safety promotions for an industrial client, or for various other types of programs. I sometimes did my own, but in most cases, I would turn to a couple of friends for the artwork. One worked as a cartoonist for an area newspaper and the other was the minister of education/music at a local church who did freelance art on the side. I was continually amazed at the detail, the range of expressions, the depth of a story that these artists could portray with just a few strokes of the pen.

Since it usually takes me a page or two to say what a good artist can communicate with a simple sketch, I often employ these toons as a means of reviewing events of interest to our readers (not to mention the fact that it’s also much more fun). So, as we pass the halfway point of the year 2012, we’ll be posting a series of reviews featuring many gifted and talented artists. The first, which will be uploaded in the next day or two, is intended to be a summary or overture of many of the various events, subjects, controversies and commentaries on our current society from the past six months. The other review posts will primarily be grouped by subjects, and will be loaded later, along with some other articles. We hope you enjoy them.