In recent years, I've been contacted by many magazine editors requesting that I add more minorities in my cartoons. I was immediately presented with a host of problems, and some serious challenges.
First of all, how does a magazine cartoonist draw a minority? It's one thing to create a detailed color illustration or portrait, where the artist can paint precise facial features and subtle skin tones, but magazine cartooning is basically art in shorthand and a cartoonist doesn't have the luxury of detail.
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Because of this lack of detail, magazine cartoonists have a long tradition of relying on visual props (often stereotypical) such as canes to depict the elderly, striped uniforms to denote prisoners, and lightbulbs overhead to display ideas.
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Let's take, for example, a Mexican. Yes, I could draw the obvious sombrero, poncho and mustache, but then I'd be accused of stereotyping (and rightly so), especially if the cartoon takes place in a setting other than Mexico (ie. a business meeting).
The same goes with an Indian (either kind), Middle Easterner or Jew. Ruling out stereotyping, drawing minorites is a somewhat difficult task. My solution is to embrace the stereotypes and not make a big deal out of them. Simply draw people from India wearing a sari, or a Middle Easterner sporting a head wrap, but don't make the joke about that.
I've been asked about the use of Asians in cartoons. Besides drawing the typical thin or slanted eyes, which can often be mistaken for squinting (see below), there's no real way to pull off an Asian likeness in cartooning. You're probably saying "Wait a minute, what about Anime? Those guys draw Asians all the time". That's true, but Anime is much closer to illustration than magazine cartooning, where most of us draw eyes as mere dots.
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My final example is the use of African Americans. Frankly, it's fairly easy to depict a black person simply because of the skin color and uniquely curled hair, which comes across well in cartoonland. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to accomplish unless the publication accepts cartoons in color or greywash.
This entire subject is an extremely sensitive one, and as a white guy I realize that I'm going out on a limb just addressing the very issue. Things were a lot easier when I could simply poke fun at white guys with impunity.
Now, I've got to poke fun at everyone, and that's going to be a real challenge. In fact, it's the subject of my next post.
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