Cartoons Evolve in Texas

By: Dave Astor Nick Anderson can draw and write at a level that would make him a top editorial cartoonist even if computers didn't exist. But the digital age has expanded his horizons in a way that's been especially noticeable since he joined the Houston Chronicle in February.

Anderson, who won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning at The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., started a blog for the Chronicle in March. One way he carved out time to blog was by changing the way he uses a computer to create his cartoons. And Anderson, when interviewed May 10, was also in the process of developing animated cartoons. The first one was slated to possibly launch in June on Chron.com.

It's quite a workload for Anderson, who's also vice president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. But he says he keeps his busy schedule in perspective: "There's a much lighter workload when you're unemployed!"

Anderson's blog includes finished cartoons, preliminary sketches, and comments from readers. "It's an opportunity for them to vent publicly without sending e-mails only I would see," says Anderson, who also posts his own comments. He added that blogs in general "help eliminate the ivory-tower aspect of journalists by making us more accessible."

The cartoonist says one reason he's happy to be at the Chronicle is that the paper has a strong online presence through its blogs, podcasts, and other Web and wireless offerings. This kind of innovation will "help newspapers survive," he says, adding, "It's refreshing to see a paper investing in its [online and print] product when many papers are looking for places to cut."

Chronicle Editor Jeff Cohen tells E&P, "We're creating content the way we always have. But we're getting the content to people in all kinds of ways."

Anderson has created cartoons partly on the computer since his days at The Courier-Journal. But he's since tweaked the process to where he can now draw and color each of his elaborate cartoons in five hours or so. Anderson still does pencil sketches the old-fashioned way, but no longer does hand-inking: Instead, he scans the sketches into the computer and "inks" cartoons with a stylus applied directly to the monitor. Then, as he has done since 2004, Anderson adds textured color via Corel Painter software.

Animation is the next level. Anderson hopes to create one animated cartoon a month in addition to the five print cartoons he does per week (which might drop to four, depending on how time-consuming animation turns out to be). In the next five years, he adds, it's conceivable that he could get to a point where he could create one animated cartoon a week.

"Since Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Nast began doing editorial cartoons for American newspapers, cartoons have evolved," says Cohen. "It's obvious to us that the evolution needs to continue. We hope Nick's animations will be on the leading edge of that." And Cohen won't be surprised if they are. "No one draws conclusions like Nick Anderson," adds the Chronicle editor, noting that the cartoonist is "an equal-opportunity skewer."

What has it been like to "skewer" in Texas? One thing Anderson mentioned is that several topics he covers have both national and local/state resonance. "Since George W. Bush is from Texas, anything I have to say about him has some local aspect to it," Anderson notes. He added that the same goes for Enron, a Houston-based company before its implosion; and immigration ? obviously a huge issue in a state that borders Mexico. Then there's Texas musician Kinky Friedman's independent gubernatorial run, a campaign that has attracted national attention.

Anderson, 39, says he and his wife and two sons enjoy being in Houston. "We like life in a big city," he said. "And Houston is very open to outsiders."

The Ohio native, who hides his sons' names (Colton and Travis) in every cartoon he draws, worked at The Courier-Journal for 15 years before joining the Chronicle. Anderson's cartoons also run in approximately 75 other newspapers via the Washington Post Writers Group.

Anderson was thrilled to receive his 2005 Pulitzer, but thought this year's winner ? Mike Luckovich of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Creators Syndicate ? deserved the 2006 nod. "When I saw his 'WHY?' cartoon, I told my wife Mike would win the Pulitzer," recalled Anderson, referring to the drawing in which Luckovich inked the names of all 2,000 American soldiers who had died in Iraq as of October 2005. "I thought it was a very innovative way to get across an opinion. Mike also did many other great cartoons that didn't even make his Pulitzer portfolio."