Cheating with one eye
By Steve Greenberg | September 30th, 2009 | PERMALINK
Alas, when one is an editorial cartoonist, one is compelled to keep drawing, whether the body is ready to do so or not.
In light of Iran’s new and highly provocative long-range missile tests, right after Obama revealed to the world Iran’s previously undisclosed facility for enriching nuclear fuel for weapons, I came up with an idea for a cartoon on this I wanted to produce. Beyond wanting to simply draw, I also still have commitments to various publications to provide material.
As my previous blog post indicated, I am recovering from a detached retina in one eye. I haven’t had any real vision in the eye for two weeks, and can only see extremely blurry shapes from that eye right now — which is a vast improvement over seeing nothing from it a week ago, prior to reattachment surgery. As part of the healing process I’m required to keep my head down and to the right as much as possible, and only sleep on my right side.
So, how can I draw? Well, very slowly and awkwardly… and by “cheating” if I can.
By “cheating,” I mean using any shortcuts and tricks I can to create my finished images. These can include Photoshop tricks, substituting cartoon fonts for my own lettering, using different tools and reusing pieces of my old cartoons.
Back to the cartoon on Iran’s missile tests: Once I had my idea, I wanted to draw it in the least-taxing method I could, eye-wise. I realized that a missile is a very symmetrical object, and I could probably get away with drawing just one half of it (above), and flipping and duplicating it to create the other half. That would both save time and preserve the symmetry. Drawing the half-missile wasn’t a problem: I draw in a head-down position anyway (a hunched-over habit that normally I see as a bad thing… but in this case it was a good thing).
Then I added an Iranian flag and colored the missile in Photoshop. To have a second missile, I copied, pasted and reduced the first one. I should also mentioned that I transferred files from my usual iMac G5 computer to a laptop, and worked — head down — with the laptop in my, well, lap, using my Wacom tablet once I had downloaded the driver to be able to use that device on the laptop.
I decided I needed an image of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad; no problem, I’ve drawn him many times. I stole from myself a caricature of him from a previous cartoon for the head and posture, then stole from myself a second caricature of him for the arm position, and merged and tweaked these in Photoshop.
I added my type on the missiles in Adobe Illustrator, merged it in Photoshop, finished coloring the piece, and stole one of my signatures from a previous cartoon to finish, and voila, the finished cartoon as seen here:
I think this worked out pretty well. And would you have known how much I cheated if I hadn’t just told you?
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Be sure to see the huge archive of my work (organized by topic area) on my web site at http://www.greenberg-art.com
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Comments
Comment from Steve Greenberg
Time September 30, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Hi Donna, no, I only have an old Intuos 2 with a 6×8″ working area.
Comment from GWA
Time October 5, 2009 at 11:04 am
Steve … you know: when life hands you lemons…. make apple cider (or whatever that saying is).
Sounds like you’re putting your creative mind to good use. When you recover you’ll have new tools
in your bag.
Take care.
G
Comment from motman
Time October 5, 2009 at 11:18 am
Steve, dedication above and beyond. Rapid healing!
Comment from Jeanne
Time October 5, 2009 at 11:22 am
Cheating? HARDLY! It is called using tools… The primary skill that you provide to the folks who buy your work is creativity and a unique way of expressing ideas. By NO MEANS is using the amazing tools available to streamline your creative process cheating! god\’s blessing on your cntinued recovery. Scary stuff, eye troubles!
Comment from Jack Hand
Time October 5, 2009 at 11:40 am
Steve, using your brain isn’t cheating. Get well soon.
Comment from dale
Time October 5, 2009 at 11:59 am
Re the cartoon itself: if you were surrounded by nuclear weapons in Pakistan, Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan and in the Gulf….and the West had a history of subverting Iranian sovereignty and voices in Israel and also the US were calling for war……….wouldn’t you reason that the Only thing that could prevent being invaded is the deterrent of nuclear retaliation? Iran does not have a history of invading others; the US supported Hussain when he invaded Iran. Israel has invaded many nations and recently commited war crimes in the Gaza Strip, killing 1400 Palestinians to the 14 that the lame Palestinian resistence could muster. Over half the dead were civilians, women, children, and civilian targets were repeatedly hit. See the Goldstone Report.
So while we try to portray Amadinijad as a lunatic, it is rational, from an Iranian point-of-view, to seek the one reliable defense against Western aggression, and that is nuclear weapons. It is just like when the NRA says that the cure for crime with guns is guns in the hands of the people. The Iranians see the need for nuclear guns in a world which has attacked them and demonized them. Are they saints? No, but they haven’t started any wars or invaded anyone, as the US and Israel have, both armed to the teeth and seething with anti-Iranian sentiment.
If we attack Iran, even the moderates and liberals (funny how we alway support the liberals abroad but curse them at home) will rally round the flag, and we will strengthen the hand of the Right in Iran, the status quo. We would undercut our own best interest.
There is a solution: admit the obvious that it is unfair for some (12 nations) to have nuclear arms and others to be prohibited by force from attaining them. Therefore, a robust nuclear disarmanment program worldwide, led by the US, would induce others, who seek nuclear arms (not just Iran but many many nations want this more or less guaranteed defense) to be willing to suspend developments. If the US, which has 30,000 nuclear warheads, would agree to destroy a certain number each year, conditional on other nations doing likewise, there would be momentum for disarmament. The momentum is now if for arming, and as I have stated, a famous Harvard study found that of 2000 arms races in history studied, 98% led not to security but to war. Let’s lead the way in getting rid of nuclear weapons, as Ronald Reagan preached, and from that moral foundation, we will be able to reason with those who seek nuclear deterrent for the rational reason of self-defense against nuclear-armed self-proclaimed enemies.
It is in our own best interest to understand the rational concerns of the Iranians and to offer them a plan which, in good faith, is part of a global denuclearization program. I know Obama supports the idea of eliminating nuclear weapons, but with the the American Right trying to undermine his role as President and Commander in Chief, in effect aiding and providing comfort to our enemies, it will be difficult for him without the strong support of the progressive people of America to lead on this issue.
This cartoon, like so many, just mirrors the conventional stereotypes about Iran without probing beneath the surface to the perfectly rational desire for nuclear defense. As such,it is weak satire (no one likes Amadinajad in the US anyway) and at worst, a form of propaganda which inhibits rational debate about how to come up with a solution which respects Iran’s desire for self-defense as a rational idea.
Comment from Sue
Time October 5, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Dale makes a lot of sense, I think. If only those at the top were amenable to sense!! Eliminating nuclear weapons is the best gift we can give ourselves and descendants. Of course, then we have to figure out what to do with the active ingredients!
As they say, where’s there a will, there’s a way.
Comment from Ormond Otvos
Time October 5, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Well said, dale at 11:59!
I’ve noticed that people who have opinions for a living often have bias towards their employers’ views. As a mass media cartoonist, however occasionally edgy, Cagle necessarily has a fine ear for how you can go, and in this current Hate the Iranians, Love the Israelis atmosphere, the current cartoon tells you where he is.
I’m waiting for some cartoons criticizing the European-approved Israeli theft of land with a title from G-d, and the concentration camp they’ve made of Gaza.
Maybe a cartoon of a landlord making an excuse with a ghostly lebensraum over his shoulder peering anxiously to see if he can come back. That would address the “facts on the ground” and the “natural growth” lies.
We shall see…
Comment from Jim
Time October 5, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Leave it to Dale to inject his leftist rhetoric into this discussion when the man was simply trying to show us how he practices his craft. I think Dale doesn’t have enough to do.
Comment from John
Time October 5, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Interesting article, Steve, concerning your ingenuity in continuing to keep drawing despite your malady.
In agreement with Jim’s post - I think you could probably have a cartoon that would consist of only a picture of a round, steel ball and you would have the extremists from the right and left trying to impose a political position from what they see.
Comment from Wilfried Schuler
Time October 5, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Dale is spending time and tries to teach ignorants. This is in vain. The US establishment wanted war with Afghanistan. They wanted war in Iraq. They have both now. The results are desastrous. Of course.
And thousand wise man told Bush it will end like it did. In vain. The whole show now follows a pattern known since hundred years. A junior member of the fire brigade lays fire to a barn. Later he is the bravest one to fight the flames. This guy was Zbiginiew Brezesinski in 1978. He put the torch into Afghanistan.
Did he not say \" The Russians will have their Vietnam there\" ? Right he was. And now the Americans will have their second Vietnam. Thats the bitter irony of history.
All this Pinocchio pictures are nice drawings. Quite funny. But they distract your attention from the real point. May be Ahmadinedschad is not sane, totally unreasonable, ok. But was Bush? Is Krauthammer or Rush Limbaugh sane? Guys working with lousy tricks and stories right of the closet of any bloody dictatorship country. And the crowd is applauding? Why and for what? If President Obama were a great man, he would pick Ann Coulter for secretary of state and send her to the middle east. And if the Mullahs would not give in the first time, he must tell them, \" ok, if not now, I will send her again and again until you sign my agreement. Would you agree doing so, Korea, Iran, Jemen, Libya, Syria, latest by Christmas would lick the presidents feet to avoid this desaster?
Regarding Iran might have the bomb. How many bombs have Pakistan, India, Israel? Did they ever respect any international treaty or rule? No, because otherwise they would not have any. And did anybody
care? Indian presidents often end their time murdered. Is this a stable reliable country? How many
Taleban and al Queda are in Pakistan, how many in Afghanistan? All these things are just calming down
childrens. The real point comwe later.
Comment from fencerider rob
Time October 5, 2009 at 4:14 pm
it seems steve is only responding to the drumbeat of the warhawks
Comment from Escritor de Tejas
Time October 5, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Hey, Steve…good premise, very good final product! CONGRATS!
The best definition of ‘creativity’ I’ve ever heard (as a writer) is:
CREATIVITY IS THE ABILITY TO STEAL WITH GOOD JUDGMENT!
No difference in cartooning, poetry, portraiture, sculpting, photography or literature. Just be sure to paraphrase, not plagiarize in the written arts.
Comment from Robert Barron
Time October 7, 2009 at 6:08 am
Way to hang in there. I’m impressed.
Comment from dale
Time October 7, 2009 at 11:48 am
Wilfried………….perhaps you are right. Those who wish to learn can learn; those who willfully hold positions without logic or fact–i.e. the stupid–will not learn. I taught special education for 10 years. There is a hugh gulf between ignorant and stupid. Trying to teach the stupid is like trying to convince the wingnuts that it doesn’t matter where Obama was born or that the death panels they are so afraid of are no different from the counseling which is already offered in many programs, etc.
Just as the Weekly Standard and other groups erupted in applause and cheers when the US lost the Olympics, these stupid people value their irrational, possibly racist hatred of Obama more than they do their love for America, which does not include the large majority of Americans who voted for Obama and change. This goes beyond stupid to disloyal. The only loyal opposition to Obama today is the progressive wing of the left spectrum.
I think the tea baggers shot their wad. They screamed, they yelled, they lied, they disrupted, they stood with others with racist and threatening signs, they took Limbaugh and Beck seriously, they vented their anger and hatred. They got 70K to Washington DC. The tea baggers on this forum have lost a lot of their volume since they were reminded that free speech has responsibilities. Now, they are sulking in wounded anger, waiting for the next moment to vent their ignorant, self-defeating rage.
I recommend Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here and Roth’s The Plot to Destroy America as good imaginative efforts to visualize the takeover of facism in America. Of course, it wraps itself in apple pie and the American flag. Traditonalism becomes the happy face of American facism……liberalism becomes the enemy. We see the semi-conscious outlines of this program in today’s liberal haters, even when liberals are rooting for the home team. and represent the electoral judgement of the American people.
Comment from sunita
Time October 8, 2009 at 6:14 am
Lol Dale’s comments here seem more like this clip here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oefo00eB_1Q
Hahaha…
Comment from Donna Barstow
Time September 30, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Wow, Steve, what a scary experience. Now I’ll have to go back and read your first blog on this.
About stealing from yourself…Wha? Doncha know that’s a cartoonist’s way? Especially with these tight deadlines that political cartoonists have.
That reminds me, I’m avoiding a deadline right this very minute, so gotta fly. Great cartoon, btw. Nice layout, idea, all. Sounds like you usually use a Cintiq? Me, I only have that Wacom, but I love it.