Editorial Cartoon

Artist Statement

For my editorial cartoon, I decided to comment on the recent violence and domestic terrorism at the United States Capitol, as well as the horrifying disappointment that is the President of the United States. In the cartoon, a mother and daughter sit on the couch, facing a tv where they see a rioter (now infamous from the images circulating in the media) yelling next to the confederate flag. The daughter asks her mother, “is that the president?”, referencing the connotation s that have arisen with the position of the president over the last four years. From all the girl has seen or heard of the president, she is unsure if this rioter is the man himself. I personally was deeply disturbed and saddened by the events at the capital, including the tragic loss of life due to Trump’s incitement of violence. I wanted to express this in my editorial cartoon.

I started the piece by drawing the black outline of the mother and daughter on a piece of paper, then used pencil, pen, and marker to fill in the image on the screen. I originally wanted to make this piece digitally, but it was taking a really long time for me to figure out how to work photoshop so I eventually decided to save time and draw it instead.

This cartoon uses elements of line to create the cartoon-style image of the mother and daughter sitting on the couch. It also used color to emphasise the image on the tv screen, and to make the pattern of the flag recognizable. As I said, I originally planned to make the tv image digitally, but couldn’t figure out how in time. If I were to go further with this project I think I would try to figure that out.