I had every intention of cartooning this week — especially given last night’s political drama. But it’s finals week for my first quarter of grad school and compromises had to be made. New toon in seven, I promise.

We’re at war and our economy is a mess — and our leaders don’t seem to realize there is a connection between the two. Mainstream media reports now put the cost of the war in Iraq at around $5,000 per second. That’s per second! And unlike previous wars, there’s been no attempt to pay for at least part of this boondoggle as we go. In fact, current leaders have gone to the opposite extreme with massive tax cuts for the rich and a pair of tax-rebate pittances for us working folk. This week’s toon, “Stimulating a War Economy” [Archive No. 0817], pokes at this issue.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “Stimulating a War Economy” [Archive No. 0817]

Following is the second of two recent interviews I’ve done with print publications. This one was conducted via e-mail by Brian Hayes for the Winter 2008 edition of Blend, a national magazine about student journalism. The full interview follows below; a PDF download of the magazine is available from the National Scholastic Press Association. (Special thanks to Brian, Blend and Ball State University for permission to reprint this article.)

I posted the feature story from the Douglas County Empire Press earlier today.

In the business:
Professional cartoonist got start
on high school publication

By Brian Hayes

Andrew Wahl, 37, is a self-syndicated editorial cartoonist and graduate student. His company, Off the Wahl Productions (www.offthewahl.com), features much of his work.

Where did you go to High School?

Lake Stevens, Wash.

Did you work on HS publications? Which one? What positions?

I was the features editor and editorial cartoonist for the student newspaper, The Valhalla.

Where did you go to college?

AA (emphasis in journalism and political science) from Everett Community College; BA (dual emphasis in comparative American and international studies) from the University of Washington-Bothell; current graduate student via distance education (master’s in liberal studies with an emphasis on history) though Fort Hays State University.

Did you work on college publications? Which one? What positions?

I was the editor-in-chief and editorial cartoonist for the Everett Community College student newspaper, The Clipper. UW-B didn’t have a student paper at the time, so I self-published my own, The Shooting Star.

Some people know at an early age what they want to do in life. When did you first realize you had a knack for cartooning?

It was actually journalism that came first for me. I self-published my first newspaper, The Shooting Star, when I was just 5 years old. I used an old ’40s typewriter my dad let me haul home from the dump and a stack of carbon paper. I peddled the first issue up and down my block. (The Shooting Star would return several times during the years, most recently in 1995 between my junior and senior years in college.)

About the same time as I got the journalism itch, I also fell in love with comic books. That’s where the cartooning itch came from. Political cartooning came later, during my senior year in high school, as I became more politically aware. It was a nice marriage of my two passions (though I’ve done comic-book work, too, and plan to tackle another comics project this summer).

To be an editorial cartoonist, you must have some natural artistic talent. But, what other things have you done that have helped develop your cartooning skills?

I care a lot about the craft, and I think my cartooning has gotten better over the years, but artistic skill is really a secondary consideration. For me, it’s always been about the content. The key to being a good editorial cartoonist is to become as knowledgeable as possible, and to develop the ability to apply that knowledge critically. I’m a political wonk and history junkie, both of which feed the cartooning beast. My recent return to grad school to study history is part of an ongoing effort to improve the content of my cartoons.

How did you get your first big break?

I’ve made almost all of my breaks for myself. This is a trait I picked up from my dad. He’s a commercial artist, and he always told me that while there are plenty of other artists out there who are better, he was never going to let anyone outwork him. Dad made a career out of hustle and working hard. It’s a great philosophy that I’ve tried to make my own.

I marched into the office of the local daily paper when I was 9, looking for a job (I didn’t get one, but they did do a feature on my publishing of The Shooting Star). My community college journalism program didn’t have internships available, so I put together a portfolio of editorial cartoons and worked with the college and the local daily to set one up. And I again self-published The Shooting Star while finishing college to make sure I’d have good clips when I got out. And those clips did prove pivotal in getting my first full-time job, as the editors where impressed with my entrepreneurial attitude.

There are all kinds of things reported in the news these days that could be the subject of a good editorial cartoon. How do you sift through all the stories and decide what is best to draw? Where do you get your inspiration?

Every time I sit down to come up with a new editorial cartoon, I start with the same basic question: “What’s the most important (or interesting) issue in the news today?” In most years, this question prompted many answers — and cartoons on a wide range of topics. But, recently, two answers just kept popping up: 1. George W. Bush, who I firmly believe to be the worst president in U.S. history, and 2. the war in Iraq. By mid-2007, I feared I was becoming a two-note commentator (one really, as those two topics are so inextricably linked at this point). Thankfully, now that primary season is here, other topics have again wedged their way into the mix.

As for inspiration, I find it in my great love for our nation. The American experiment is a unique one, an attempt to form a national identity not out of ethic similarity but from a shared belief in freedom, liberty and democracy. I’m a true believer in that American dream, and editorial cartooning gives me a voice to reveal whatever nightmares try to corrupt it. I hope that doesn’t sound too cheesy, but, at the end of the day, I’m a patriot at heart.

Have you ever been sent hate mail or been the subject of a letter to the editor for a particular cartoon that you drew? How did you handle that situation?

Oh, yeah! For the last three years I did editorial cartoons for The Wenatchee World in North Central Washington. That region is “redder” than most of Texas. So my often left-of-center toons developed a nice “fan club.” For a while I had several people praying for me, but eventually most were OK with the idea that I was going to Hell.

As an editorial cartoonist, your job is to make people think. If people are taking the time to write hate mail, you’ve done your job. And if people on your side of the issue write letters to the editor in your defense, a dialogue has been started. You can’t ask for better than that.

Obviously, you can’t please everyone all of the time. So, in general, what advice would you give an up-and-coming cartoonist on how to handle criticism and public scrutiny?

Develop a thick skin. Keep it about the issues and don’t ever let it get personal. Remember the old axiom that you’ll hear from ten upset readers for every one happy one; that doesn’t mean there aren’t more happy ones out there, just that upset people are more eager to raise their voice. And, again, if you’re getting people to respond and talk about the issues, you’re doing your job well.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about a career in cartooning?

Be prepared to do something else to pay the bills. Editorial cartooning is a brutal, brutal field to break into these days. By most accounts, there are fewer than 100 full-time, paying, editorial-cartooning gigs in the country. To put that in perspective, there are more than 400 players under contract in the NBA. The best advice I received about breaking in was to develop the widest set of journalism tools possible. My first full-time job was as a graphics editor at The (Longview, Wash.) Daily News. Once in the door, I started doing editorial cartoons within a few weeks. In Wenatchee, I was a copy editor and then the features editor, but was able to get editorial cartooning added to my job description. I won’t lie: It’s tough going in today’s market. But if you’re willing to bring something else to the table, you can still make a go of it.

Most creative types love good pub, and I’m no exception. I’ve been honored recently to be featured in a pair of print publications, both of which have been gracious enough to let me reproduce their work here. First up is “No Walls in His World,” by Karen Larsen of my hometown newspaper, the Douglas County Empire Press. A cover image and the article in its entirety are available below; its also available as a PDF download of the newspaper pages. (Special thanks to Karen and Empire Press publisher Mike Cassidy for allowing this reprint.)

Look for the other piece, from Blend, a national magazine about student journalism, shortly.

No walls in his world:
Fiber connection lets local
man pursue degree while
putting cartoons on web

By Karen Larsen

After serving as copy editor, features editor and then also editorial cartoonist for the Wenatchee World, Andy Wahl has moved on to pursue a master’s degree and a free lance career.

However, the Waterville resident is doing it all from his home office right here in town.

Wahl is pursuing a distance degree from Fort Hays State University in liberal studies with an emphasis in history. At the same time he is marketing a weekly editorial cartoon on the web, both through a personal web-site and through several other sites that feature his work.

With the help of fiber-optics connection, Wahl said that he is able to pursue his education and find millions of readers from locations around the world.

“The ability to do that while standing in the middle of a wheat field is just astounding to me,” Wahl said.

Wahl’s interest in journalism and in cartooning goes far back into his childhood. When he was five years old, he published his first newspaper using carbon paper and an old typewriter that he rescued from retirement. He published the newspaper, which he called “The Shooting Star,” on and off up until just before his senior year in college.

In fact, it was some of his self-published clips that landed him his first journalism job at the Longview Daily News.

Wahl was hired by the Wenatchee World in 1999. The World began to publish Wahl‘s editorial cartoons in 2004.

Wahl said that before he writes each cartoon he thinks about what is the most important thing happening in the news that week. For the past few years, the answer had usually been the war in Iraq, and President Bush’s leadership in that war. Those were topics that he frequented during his time at the World.

For this reason, he received many letters of criticism. Wahl said, that though he considers himself to be a political liberal, he also satirized Clinton during the scandals that unfolded during his presidency. “You have to be able to hold everybody accountable,” Wahl said of the job of an editorial cartoonist.

He added that though he was often criticized for lack of patriotism, patriotism is in fact one of the values that inspires his cartooning. “We have been brought together around the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and that’s worth cartooning about… It’s only through criticism that we do get better,” Wahl said.

Wahl said that though he feels that it is wrong that the Iraq war has virtually disappeared as an election issue, he has been glad to be able to turn his cartooning to the election itself.

With a woman and an African American as serious contenders for the first time in U.S. history, and with the potential for what he calls a “generational showdown” between McCain and Obama, Wahl has found this election to be fascinating and rich in material for his work.

Wahl said that behind each cartoon he writes, is a large amount of time spent reading and analyzing the news. Then he usually spends time thinking about the topic he will choose and then doodling on a sketchpad. After he feels satisfied with his work, he takes the pad and scans it onto his computer.

Wahl said that he does touch-up and adds dialogue digitally. “Each year the process is becoming increasingly digital,” Wahl said about his cartooning.

During 2005 and 2006, Wahl became the first American to place back to back in the United Nations Correspondents Association Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Awards. Each year more than 800 cartoonists from around the world participate in the competition.

Wahl said that he tries to enter highly visual cartoons that can be understood without knowing English. In 2006, Wahl won the award for his cartoon, “Checking the Gauge” which featured a picture of the world, with gas tank running empty.

Wahl said that the next direction he plans to take with his cartooning is to create a serial comic on-line. He will try to develop an audience for this comic and a market for the collected edition.

When Wahl is awarded his master’s degree in two to three years time, he also plans to look for an adjunct faculty position at a community college, and continue to develop his cartoon career in his spare time.

Wahl’s cartoons can be viewed at his web-site at www.offthewahl.com.

I’m starting to get worried about the Democratic race — and about the increasingly nasty tone of both candidates. At the end of the day, this election isn’t really about them. This week’s toon, “A Word From the Middle Class,” tries to put that in focus.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “A Word From the Middle Class” [Archive No. 0816]

How do you make an “elitist” charge stick against someone with Barack Obama’s background? The whole line of attack — which is the subject of this week’s toon, “Who’s Out of Touch” — just seems disingenuous to me.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “Who’s Out of Touch?” [Archive No. 0815]

This week’s concept was actually last week’s runner-up in the sketchbook. While it would have been timelier right on the heels of the Congressional hearings, our insatiable oil addiction isn’t going anywhere soon. It’s also an underlying cause for so many of our problems, from our entanglements in the Middle East to global warming. So I went ahead with “The Hunger.” It’s not the most sophisticated metaphor, but I also wanted a simple, striking visual after last week’s text-heavy toon.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “The Hunger” [Archive No. 0814]

For the fifth week in a row, my toon deals with the war in Iraq. While I don’t want to become a one-topic cartoonist, I feel it’s important to keep hammering on the Iraq issue during this election season. While the candidates, media and much of the nation have decided the economy is the top campaign issue, the war continues to take a huge toll in lives, limbs and treasure.

This latest cartoon deals with “The Numbers Game” that some play with U.S. casualty reports. Yes, the 4,000-plus dead in Iraq is a small number compared to previous wars. But nearly 30,000 more have been wounded, and many of these warriors would not have survived during previous conflicts.

According to Atul Gawande of Harvard University, 30 percent of U.S. troops wounded in World War II died from their injuries; that number has dropped to about 10 percent in Iraq, as body armor and faster and better medical care keep troops alive. But these warriors are dealing with life-long injuries that include loss of limbs, brain damage and blindness. To get a real sense of the human toll this war is taking on U.S. forces, the number of wounded needs to be a major consideration.

So I say again … President Bush and leaders in Congress: Support our troops by getting them the hell out of harm’s way.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “The Numbers Game” (color version) [Archive No. 0813b]

______________________________

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “The Numbers Game” (B&W version) [Archive No. 0813a]

I’m sending out my cartoon a day early this week to commemorate another grim milestone in the war in Iraq. Late Sunday, U.S. military fatalities in Iraq hit 4,000. That news barely made a ripple with the media, which seems to have again lost its way when it comes to watchdogging this fiasco.

President Bush and leaders in Congress: Support our troops by getting them the hell out of harm’s way.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “4,000” [Archive No. 0812]

“Five Years … and Counting.” This has to end.

Links: Buy a hand-signed, 11×14 print of this cartoon | On the main site: “Five Years … and Counting” [Archive No. 0811]