Political Animation on the Web

By: Dave Astor Mark Fiore creates a single editorial cartoon a week, yet he's among the hardest-working artists in the profession. That's because Fiore does political animation -- a compelling mix of words, pictures, motion, voices, sound effects, and music.

A prime example is last month's animation marking the second anniversary of 9/11. As a piano plays mournfully in the background, title cards announce: "Two years after more than 3,000 innocent people were killed, we present ... A Nation Remembers." Then Fiore shows scenes of Ground Zero workers "who were told by the EPA the air was safe"; the 19 hijackers, "none of whom were from Iraq"; and New York City firehouses, "six of which have been closed due to budget cuts." Meanwhile, a cartoon version of President Bush frantically advises viewers not to remember all that. But Bush does want people to remember things like his wearing of a flight suit this spring. "That was sure cool," intones the president, as voiced by Fiore. "I'll never forget that day!"

Fiore, whose clients include newspaper Web sites, spends more than 35 hours on each 45-to-60-second animation. Part of the process is familiar to any print editorial cartoonist -- a position Fiore once held as a freelancer and San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News staffer. Fiore checks out the news, comes up with an idea, and does research before writing and sketching a storyboard showing various scenes.

Then, Fiore does anywhere from 10 to 30 drawings the old-fashioned way -- ink on paper. "That's really important to my work," he told E&P Online. "I want to have a line so it doesn't look too 'computery.' My goal is to bring my style from the print world to animation." He also letters some of the text by hand.

After that, Fiore scans in his work and tackles the technical elements with the help of Flash software. He colorizes, creates eye blinks, draws different mouth positions to convey people speaking, links scenes together, adds audio, and the like.

Fiore does more than 90% of the voices himself, including a very convincing Arnold Schwarzenegger. Among those handling the rest is Fiore's girlfriend, who imitated Condoleezza Rice in a recent animation.

The animations run on eight sites, including SFGate.com (affiliated with the San Francisco Chronicle), VillageVoice.com, and Salon.com. Each animation gets an average of 230,000-plus visitors on the sites for which Fiore has traffic numbers.

Fiore is able to make a living from eight clients because he charges much more for his labor-intensive work than syndicates do for print editorial cartoons. He also does at least a dozen freelance animations a year.

The San Francisco resident (http://www.markfiore.com) works both at home and in a studio. He bikes several miles downhill to work and pedals uphill on the way back.

Fiore, 34, started as a freelance print editorial cartoonist in the early 1990s. He picked up Flash animation skills in 1999 while doing freelance work for a Web-oriented firm. Two years later, Fiore landed a high-profile job in the print world as full-time editorial cartoonist at the Mercury News. But that 2001 position lasted only several months before Fiore was let go.

Fiore misses a couple aspects of print cartooning: Making a strong point in just one panel and commenting on several topics a week. But, overall, he finds animation much more to his liking. "You can tap into so many different emotions," said Fiore. And, he added, it's interesting how hard-hitting a message an animation can get away with when a silly song is on the soundtrack.

The left-of-center Fiore, who often pummels Republicans but also takes on Democrats, received a 2002 Online News Association award for his animations. This year, he won the National Cartoonists Society's new-media division honor. Jury chair Mark Szorady -- who does the "George," "Double Take," "Word Pile," and "George's Word Ladder" features for DBR Media -- told E&P Online that Fiore "embraces all the digital tools available to put up something new and unique. His material is very, very dynamic. It makes a statement and it's humorous. He's at the top of his game. He's defining how cartoons of this type work on the Web."

***

Wildfires Have Impact on Copley

Some Staffers Forced to Abandon Homes

Like others in the San Diego area, Copley News Service staffers have struggled to cope with the devastating effects of southern California's wildfires.

Five of the 23 CNS people who work in the news service's San Diego headquarters have had to abandon their homes to stay with family and friends, according to Glenda Winders, editorial director of CNS. And the parents of one CNS staffer saw their home burn. But all staffers have continued coming to work. "We were very, very impressed with that," said Winders.

Staffers have gotten to the office this week with headlights on to see through the smoke. "It was like driving through a thick fog," said Winders. "And you have to use your windshield wipers to wipe away the ash. Everything is covered with ash."

Also, streetlights have been on during the day and people walk around with masks due to the poor quality of air. "The surroundings are surreal," said Winders. "It's like we're on the moon. I've never seen anything like it. It really is unbelievable."

Winders, whose house sits about six miles from the flames, said the Copley Press-owned San Diego Union-Tribune has been doing a huge amount of wildfire coverage that CNS is sending to other newspapers. She noted that CNS editors are working long hours getting this content out to clients.

**

Et cetera ...

"Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz finished second behind Elvis Presley in a Forbes.com list of the highest-earning deceased celebrities. Schulz's comic still brings in $32 million a year through such sources as licensed products and reruns distributed to newspapers by United Media. The next seven finishers were Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, ex-Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, children's book creator Dr. Seuss, race-car driver Dale Earnhardt, rapper/actor Tupac Shakur, reggae artist Bob Marley, and actress Marilyn Monroe.

"Faces in the News" by caricaturist Kerry Waghorn of Universal Press Syndicate turns 25 in November. The Vancouver native's work is published in more than 250 newspapers worldwide.

Andrews McMeel Publishing released Blueprint for Disaster, the latest "Get Fuzzy" collection by Darby Conley of United.

The Cartoon Art Museum of San Francisco is hosting "Too Hot to Handle: Creating Controversy Through Editorial Cartoons." The show, organized by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, runs through Feb. 1. A Nov. 6 opening reception features editorial cartoonists Rex Babin of The Sacramento Bee and King Features Syndicate and Tom Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Weather.com has added more than 18,000 searchable locations to its database -- bringing the total to 98,000. Clients for the Weather Channel's Web site include USAToday.com.