Q.More editorial cartoonists are adding the dimension of animation to
their arsenal in recent years. Mike Lester, Ann Telnaes, and
Australia's Peter Nicholson are just a few whom have all been
regularly producing animated versions of editorial cartoons that
appear online. Wiley Miller (of the "Non Sequitur" comic strip) was
recently quoted as saying these animated editorial cartoons "tend to
go towards the entertainment value rather than the editorial or
political side of things. They're funny but they miss the point."
Do you agree with his sentiments on this new medium? And would you
ever consider making an animated version of your editorial cartoons?
A. Well, we can’t all be trailblazers through every thicket, can we? Animation isn’t one of the frontiers that interests me because I love line and rendering and these things are largely lost in the level of animation I could aspire to. Very few of my ideas present themselves to me in motion, so I would simply be imposing an unnatural task upon a drawing that wants to sit still.
That said, I’m opportunistic enough to take advantage of blazed trails, and if the pioneers work out the knots and eventually hand the rest of us an accessible map to the land of worthwhile animation, I’ll acquaint myself and see if ideas start talking to me in moving form.
