Thomastoons Cartoon Blog

World's First Animated FilmBy Cartoonist Rob Thomas

If you've never heard of Emile Cohl before, you're in for a real treat.

Emile Cohl (1857-1938) was a French caricaturist, cartoonist, toy inventor and animator best known for creating the first fully animated film, fantasmagorie (1908).

A very entertaining, short film devised in a 'stream of consciousness' style, fantasmagorie was composed of 700 stick-figure drawings, each of which was double-exposed, and has a running time of nearly two minutes. Filmed with black lines on white paper, Cohl later reversed the negative in order to achieve the effect of white chalk on a blackboard.


The making of 'Fantasmagorie' was an arduous process, during which Cohl placed a drawing on a lightbox, photographed it, then traced it on the the next sheet with slight changes, and repeated the process until finished.

By the way, the title refers to the 'fantasmograph', which was a mid-nineteenth century lantern which projected ghostly images that floated across the walls.

Minorities in Cartoons, Part 1-The DrawingBy Cartoonist Rob Thomas

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.

Same Caption, Different CartoonBy Cartoonist Rob Thomas

You've probably heard of caption contests, such as the one offered by The New Yorker Magazine, where a captionless cartoon is published and readers compete to write the winning gagline.

Maybe they should offer the opposite - Publish the gagline first, and then allow cartoonists to compete by sending in the most appropriate drawing.

Hey, just a thought.
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Blogging Tip from RobCartoonist Rob Thomas' latest online discovery

I have a habit of discovering the latest trends just nanoseconds before they are on their way out.

So, in keeping with that long and proud tradition, today I finally discovered how to accomplish one of the most common blogging techniques out there - taking a screen snapshot.

Here is an example of a screenshot.
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You can take snapshots of just about anything that shows up on your computer screen, including portions of a page.
Here's a screenshot of my computer's empty desktop.

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Snapshots don't include links because they aren't live pages, but photos of one. So obviously, if you run your mouse over a snapshot nothing will happen.

Finally, here's a screenshot of my computer's desktop with a bunch of open windows.
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Now, there are many programs you can download in order to acheive this. Most of them cost money, but there are some free ones for the taking. I tried several programs and finally settled on one called InstantShot! for Mac. If you're a PC user, I'm sure you will find even more choices.

A Little Friday HumorBy Cartoonist Rob Thomas

For many, the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year, but for the rest of us it's Annual Tryptophan Recovery Day. Devoid of energy and still recovering from potato peelers elbow, we hold true to our favorite law of motion: INACTION.

Here's a little end-o-the-week cartoon.

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Thanksgiving HumorBy Cartoonist Rob Thomas

Just a few yuk yuks for the Thanksgiving holiday...

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Tools of the TradeBy Cartoonist Rob Thomas

From cave paintings to cartoons, artists have always looked for new and better ways to translate images from their minds to their medium.

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The latest and most innovative tool in recent years is the Wacom tablet.

The Wacom tablet allows one to draw directly onto the computer, complete with pressure sensitivity that mimicks the human hand.

My brother Bill, also a cartoonist, swears by his desk model intuos 3 which comes in several shapes and sizes.



Personally, I use the Wacom cintiq for my work.

It's a much more expensive model because it allows you to draw directly onscreen, as opposed to the intuos 3 which is a desktop writing pad that transfers the images to your computer monitor.

Here's a pic of me at work.

Frankly, the intuos 3 is a much wiser purchase than the Cintiq.
For one thing, it is SO much cheaper, and once your brain gets used to drawing in one place while looking at another (short learning curve), it's pretty much the same thing.

In fact, even though I work on the Wacom screen, I find myself looking at my computer monitor most of the time because the screen resolution is sharper.

By the way, I don't draw on the Wacom. Nothing can replace pen and ink for that personal touch. Instead, I use it for coloring as well as editing and cleaning my cartoons.

Diversity in Cartooningby Cartoonist Rob Thomas

Gotta give Charles Schulz credit. Yes, today this excerpt from 'Peanuts' may seem gratuitous in it's use of a token black kid, but what would the world have looked like ol' Sparky hadn't taken that first small step?

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The Magic Pen of Ronald SearleCartoonist Extraordinaire by Rob Thomas

If you're not familiar with the work of British cartoonist Ronald Searle (born March 3, 1920), strap yourself in.

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Searle wields his pen like a samurai on crystal meth. Just check out this drawing.

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We're talking serious artistry here. Is this guy's linework freakin' outrageous or what? His extreme contrast between thin and thick, greywash and splatter technique are very to similar to Arnold Roth and Carlos Killian.

But wait, here's another one.

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Searle drew cartoons for Punch, covers for the New Yorker, and even did animation for Disney.

He is also the creator of St. Trinians School.

Actually, St. Trinians is a series of cartoons about a fictional school for girls. The girls are wicked (and well-armed), violent little creatures and the female teachers aren't so nice themselves.

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I've always loved his animal drawings, especially his big, fat cats.

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Ronald Searle's life story is no less fascinating than his artwork. There's a great BBC documentary (2006) about his life and work, if you can get your hands on it.

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Internet-friend or foe?By Cartoonist Rob Thomas

Gotta love the web. Then again, there are drawbacks.
The following pretty much sums it up.