So far, however, work in caricature had been crude and was to be completely overshadowed by the brilliant Thomas Nast, the great political cartoonist. Mr. William M. Tweed was the first political “boss,” and the subject of Mr. Nast’s cartoons. He represented that leader’s face as a money bag with dollar signs as features, and in this strange way he somehow managed to secure a very good likeness of the man. It is even said that when at last Tweed was forced to run away to escape imprisonment, he was recognized and caught through the familiarity of all with his cartooned face. Mr. Nast’s cartoons were published in Harper’s Weekly, and became so popular that they opened a way for the publication of a new humorous magazine, Puck. Then came Judge and Life. These three are devoted mainly to cartoons.
By permission of Mr. John T. McCutcheon
The Mounted Policeman’s Lot Is Not a Happy One
Now many weekly journals, as Harper’s, Leslie’s, and a monthly magazine called Cartoons, make this a special feature. Nearly every newspaper in the country contains at least one cartoon in each issue, and many have their own cartoonists, whose time is busily occupied preparing drawings for the daily issues.
Then, too, the Sunday supplements are full of them, and we have become well acquainted with Frederick Burr Opper, creator of “Happy Hooligan,” “The Folks in Funnyville,” “Alphonse and Gaston,” “Maud, the Matchless,” “John Bull,” and others; Richard Felton Outcault, creator of “Hogan’s Alley,” “Yellow Kid,” “Buster Brown,” “Buster, Mary Jane, and Tige”; A. B. Frost, creator of “Tragedy of the Kind Hearted Man and the Ungrateful Bull Calf” and “The Spinster’s Cat That Ate Rat Poison,”; Carl Emil Schultze, known as “Bunny,” creator of “Foxy Grandpa” and “Bunny’s Blue Book,” and many others.
Requirements. A good cartoon must show the real characteristics of the original, exaggerated, yet easy to recognize. A picture that will tell its story at a glance can be understood by all, and will be remembered long after paragraphs are forgotten. So it is readily seen what a power for good may be found in the daily cartoon.
It is necessary that a good cartoonist have a clear sense of form, although great freedom is allowed in his drawing and no attempt is made for a studied or accurate representation. He should be a keen observer and well informed, especially on all topics of daily interest, and possessed of much originality and a ready pencil.
Process of making a cartoon. A general idea may be given of how a cartoon is made. First, the cartoonist must have a subject or an idea to be represented. This is sometimes suggested by the city editor, by members of the staff, or more often left entirely to the judgment of the artist. Then the idea is usually sketched in with pencil on a piece of medium weight cardboard, corrected, and then finished in pen and ink. Black ink is used with pens of various sizes depending upon the width of line desired. The best cartoonists use lines of different widths. Often we find a strong bold line for the foreground, a medium line for the middle distance, and a thin line for extreme distance. The drawing is usually made twice the size it is to appear in the paper. When sent to the printer a photograph is made of the drawing of the size required. The film is then stripped off the plate and put on a heavier, thicker plate and printed through on a piece of zinc, covered with some substance which is not affected by acid. The zinc is then placed in an acid bath which eats away the parts exposed to light in the printing, leaving the lines of the drawing untouched.
JOHN T. McCUTCHEON
One of the best-known of our cartoonists is Mr. John Tinney McCutcheon, of the Chicago Tribune. He is one of a comparatively small number of cartoonists who have studied art and understand the principles governing it. Many have not had this special training, and must rely entirely upon the clever idea represented and the natural skill which they possess. Besides this preparation Mr. McCutcheon is a graduate of Purdue University, Purdue, Indiana. He has traveled around the world, and seems to have qualified himself for his work in an ideal way. An eyewitness of the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish War, he sent a detailed account to the Chicago Record which was one of the “most notable events of journalism in connection with the war.” He also visited many places in the Orient, in the Philippines, and was with the Boer Army in Africa as correspondent for the Record. In 1900 he returned to Chicago as political cartoonist for this paper, but later accepted a position with the Chicago Tribune.