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July 31, 2007
GMO animals
The FDA is looking into how it will certify genertically modified organisms, including genetically altered animals, for food consumption. Among the problems with GMO products is that people with allergies (including potentially fatal ones) may have no idea how they will react to consuming plants and animals that don't exist in nature.
The rough sketch for this cartoon that was shown to the Opinion Page Editor for the okay is below.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 5:06 AM
July 29, 2007
Heathcare claims denials
Okay, I admit it: I saw Michael Moore's movie, "Sicko," recently. You should too. Regardless of what you may think of Moore or his films, his portrait of our nation's broken healthcare system has something to affect everybody's interests, either from their own experiences or from their potential experiences.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 6:35 AM
July 27, 2007
WEIRD stuff (non- editorial cartooning)
I do a lot of stuff for the Ventura County Star that isn't editorial cartooning. Most of my duties aren't, in fact. I draw generally two editorial cartoons per week for the newspaper, with most of my staff duties being informational graphics (lots of daily locator maps, charts, diagrams, fact boxes and other explainers) and some illustrations.
For the past couple of months I've been producing humorous illustrations for our weekly TimeOut section for Chuck Sheppard's aptly-named "News of the Weird" column, a collection of bizarre news items, such as the "noise war" between neighbors illustrated here. I don't believe this feature is online, so you'll need to pick up the print edition of the Ventura County Star on Thursdays to see these.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 10:06 AM
ANOTHER ANIMATED CARTOON!
This might be the best of my animated editorial cartoons, a few of which I produced as an experiment in 2001. They are very time-consuming to do, and need to have enough long-term "shelf life" to be worthwhile (and since I don't do Flash animation, must be applicable to this simpler, non-sound GIF animation format). But I may dabble in it again when I can find the time and an appropriate idea.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 9:42 AM
Color?
You'll notice that some of the cartoons on this blog are in color. They do not run in the print newspaper that way... in fact, I've never had a regular editorial cartoon run in color on any of the newspapers I've worked for in my 29-year career (although I've had color illustration work run). The reason is simple: opinion pages aren't given the coveted color printing pages. Those are reserved for the ads that bring in revenue, and color news content, feature stories, sports and photography that can make better use of those color positions.
So, I color a percentage of my work for the web -- this blog, my own web site and elsewhere, mostly because it's fun to see. It takes time -- which I don't always have -- and not every cartoon translates easily to color or is even enhanced by it. In many cases the starkness of a black & white image retains more power and impact than an image in color. But I do colorize when I can and when it's appropriate.
A footnote about the Star: years ago, it had a freestanding Sunday Opinion section with a color front cover. My predecessor here, John Sherffius, did occasional color editorial cartoons that ran there. There is a bit of talk about reviving a freestanding Sunday Opinion section... we'll see, but I won't hold my breath.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 9:32 AM
Editorial Cartoonist online
The nation's editorial cartoonists ("political cartoonists") have their own professional organization, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. In fact, we just met over the Fourth of July week in Washington D.C. for the group's 50th annual convention, which was a blast.
We discuss the state of the industry -- usually a depressing situation as more and more jobs get cut (more to be written about that), although this session was more upbeat and proactive, looking for ways to improve our threatened profession's standing amid a newspaper industry going through wrenching economic changes. We also socialize, listen to speakers (such as columnists Helen Thomas and Mark Shields, Washington Post investigative reporter Dana Priest, and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich). We also drink beer and socialize.
The AAEC has its own web site, and it's a great one, with daily and archived cartoons by hundreds of cartoonists, searchable databases, info about cartooning and cartoons in education, industry news and more. It can be seen here:
AAEC web site
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 9:19 AM
AN ANIMATED CARTOON
This is one of a few animated editorial cartoons I did in 2001, mostly to see if I could do animation. This was done as a GIF animation, which means no special flash viewer is required; on the other hand, it's more low-tech and does not allow for sound.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 9:03 AM
July 24, 2007
Sex offenders pushed out of urban areas
The passage of "Jessica's Law (Prop. 83) last fall meant registered sex offenders would be pushed out of most urban areas -- anywhere near a park, school, etc. So where can they go? Out to the countryside, where they will have less monitoring and can live more undetected. Maybe city folks will rest easier...
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 6:57 AM
July 23, 2007
Spiffing up this blog
At last, larger and more readable cartoons! And you'll see an expanded bio off to the side here, with a link to my own site, plus there is now a shorter URL (www.venturacountystar.com/greenberg) to get to this page. And I'll be adding some more content, including rough sketches and background to the cartoons, from time to time. Thank you to our online guru, Bruce McLean, for his assistance!
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 2:36 PM
Getting to the final drawing
My cartoons begin with rough sketches, done in ballpoint pen at about the size the cartoons get printed. These are shown to Marianne Ratcliff, the Opinion Page Editor, for her okay.
Once I have the cartoon approved, I draw it in pen and ink, using a light box to trace my pencilled version onto the final paper. This USED to become the final "original art," prior to the computer.
Nowadays, however, i scan in the line work (seen above) and open the image in Photoshop, where I clean up the drawing (much better than using white ink!), add my gray tones and sometimes add my type, if i feel typeset letters are better for a given cartoon than hand lettering. The finished cartoon is below.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 2:22 AM
July 22, 2007
RiverPark cinemas
The Oxnard city council tentatively approved a movie multiplex at RiverPark, which could be bad news for the struggling, still-new downtown Plaza Cinemas and downtown redevelopment hopes.
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 4:50 AM
July 17, 2007
Homer Simpsonization in voting attitudes
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 9:15 AM
July 15, 2007
New, improved bottleneck
Five years and $85 million dollars later, and the Santa Clara River Bridge bottleneck has moved from the east end to the west end...
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 4:18 PM
July 12, 2007
The new face of California
Projections indicate that California will be majority-Hispanic by 2042 (and in Ventura County by 2040), with whites down to 36 percent; the state has already gained a "minority majority."
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 5:23 AM
July 4, 2007
Independence Day
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 5:14 AM
July 1, 2007
Carrying Iraq
Posted by Steve Greenberg at 5:08 AM
