A MONKEY PHILOSOPHER WITH A BIG PEN-STICK
IrishSpacemonk claims to be a little Irish and a bit more philosophical. He can be found drifting somewhere just high enough to orbit, and low enough to see what's happening on the ground, never quite sure the right time to land.
Just about everyday he draws and posts a new political cartoon. He may not be for the Republican at heart. But don't think you're completely safe as a Democrat, 'cuz both sides of the isle are in the sights of his Wacom pen-stick.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CANTANKEROUS IRISHSPACEMONK
Q: Why do you do what you do?
A: I always have an opinion. Problem is, they're usually too nuanced. And my argument for both side would put you to sleep. There's no such thing really as right. But there's a lot of wrong. Oh, I know, you think that doesn't makes sense. So now you understand, that's why I draw pictures.
Q: How long have you drawn political cartoons?
A: I think my first cartoon was when I was three. It was probably of my dad, although my mom labeled it "The Man". I got in trouble a couple of times in school drawing funny pictures of my teachers. In college, while taking art classes, my paintings were usually very political. However, I didn't start seriously drawing cartoons and calling them political cartoons until the start of this PixelMarx blog thing. That was July 30th, 2007.
Q: Tell us a bit about PixelMarx. Are you really a Communist? Why the name?
A: Oh no. I don't have the faintest idea about communism, except it was an idea clarified by a certain Karl Marx, who really had very little to do with events that gave communism a bad name. And if I recall, I think it was a reaction to a bunch of really wealthy men giving capitalism a bad name. Today, you're just plain silly if you think we really operate in a true capitalism. I think our current system would more likely fit within the label, "dysfunctional corporate socialism" where corporations define our freedom, our health care, our time off...and eventually our lay off.
The reason for the name PixelMarx...well, for starters, have you tried to find a domain name recently that ends in dot.com? It's pretty tough. So when you're looking for a domain name, and you come across one that's not taken that has nice ring, you snag it. I originally planned to use it for a social-community of freelance designers but that turned out to be too much work. And probably would've made way to much money.
Q: Give us an idea of your process. What does it take to draw a cartoon a day?
A: It takes me around 2 to 3 hours from concept to pushing "publish" in WordPress.
This sounds like a lot of time to some people, but when you realize the average American (whomever that is) watches over 4 hours of television each day, I'm being a bit lazy only publishing one drawing.
My process starts with being who I am, and that's a news junkie. I listen to talk-radio, I surf news web sites, I watch television news (yes it's a bad thing). I recently became fully engaged with the use of Google Reader and so I try to subscribe to any good content I find. So I start by being loosely informed about a large number of issues.
Then I start to brainstorm. This is the scariest part. Because there's always a feeling that you'll not do as good as last time. But something eventually clicks.
Next, I'll do several thumbnails of possible configurations. I look for dynamics in a scene that can be exploited, twisted, given double meaning, all to make a point.
Then I draw. I start in pencil (or sometimes I work direct on the computer). When I've reached a point where I'm satisfied with the drawing, I then ink it with black pixels. I have a terrible time with spilling real ink so I way prefer the computer for this task.
From sketch to final inking it takes about an hour and a half. I've also placed the text and word balloons at this point.
Then I color. Once color's done I take it into my template for applying legal notices, etc. And then publish to the web.
I don't spend much time with my actual writing. That's not what I'm about.
Q: Well, that's a lot of information. How long do you plan to keep it up?
A: I'm aiming for the next election year, unless somehow I start to make money from these drawings. Then I might go longer. I can't see living on $0.50 cents a day. But for now, the entertainment value is worth every penny.
NOTE: Because this Q&A is not really an interview, any word could change at any time. Feel free to check back from time to time in case the nuanced IrishSpacemonk decides he wants to answer the questions differently.
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION ABOUT THE IMAGES
All IrishSpacemonk's (Nate Sullivan) political cartoons are free to use under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Use these cartoons on your own blog. Email and share with friends (or enemies).
Just be sure to give credit where it is due. Thanks.
