Tag: Mick Stevens

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of May 4, 2020

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The Cover: In Francoise Mouly’s Q&A with this week’s cover artist, Chris Ware, she informs us that the issue is anchored by “a kaleidoscopic account of a single day in New York.”  And so we see a cover, in Mr. Ware’s patented style, loaded with snapshots of the city —  a cover nearly devoid of people.

The Cartoonists:

Liza Donnelly, Robert Leighton, Amy Hwang, Roz Chast, Mick Stevens, Liana Finck, Julia Suits, Frank Cotham, Lars Kenseth, Peter Steiner, Karl Stevens, Edward Steed, Elisabeth McNair, Ali Solomon

The Cartoons:

First thing I noticed zipping through this week’s cartoons (via the slideshow on newyorker.com) is that 9 of the 14 drawings contain non-humans. Is this unusual? I don’t know; haven’t kept track of the human/non-human ratio of the cartoons over the years [if anyone has, please let me know — I’d love to see the numbers]. What may be unusual are the three drawings in a row containing two animals apiece: Ed Steed’s two cows, Elisabeth McNair’s pig and squirrel, and Ali Solomon’s two seals.

The remaining half-dozen cartoons featuring non-humans: Peter Steiner’s shark (fins), Lars Kenseth’s multitude of rabbits, Roz Chast’s cow, Liana Finck’s dog(?), and Amy Hwang’s snails. This week’s lead cartoon, by Liza Donnelly, is a direct nod to NYC’s shut-down (it features a none-too-pleased caged subway rat).

The high percentage of animals in the issue reminded me of this passage from Brendan Gill’s Here At The New Yorker:

“Once, Geraghty [the magazine’s Art editor from 1939-1973] mentioned to me that the art department ‘bank’ contained a deplorably high number of jokes featuring conversations between animals. I proposed that the artwork of an entire issue of the magazine be devoted to talking-animal jokes, thus reducing the bank and just possibly causing our readers to lose their minds.  My proposal was accepted, the issue came out, and as far as the magazine could judge, the prank went largely unobserved.” 

Other Cartoons That Caught My Eye:

It seemed pre-ordained that Roz Chast would do a panic buying drawing. Love her (signed) photo drawing of “Der Bingle.” Mick Stevens’s me time drawing is a fine/fun piece of work; applause applause for the way Frank Cotham handled the damned in his splendid media attention drawing. I’ve no idea how Mr. Cotham’s cartoon is sized (I don’t have access to the digital edition yet) but this cartoon would certainly work beautifully on a half-page.  (Update, now that the digital issue is available:  Mr. Cotham’s drawing has been run a bit larger than most of the issue’s cartoons…not a half-page tho.)

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch:

Without having the digital issue in front of me I’ve no idea if Mr. Irvin’s classic Talk masthead (below), shown the door, and replaced by a redraw in the Spring of 2017, has finally returned.  Here’s more information on it.(Update: the redraw still appears. The classic remains in storage)

Behold the real deal!

 

 

 

 

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of February 3, 2020; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Daily Shouts Cartoonist

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The Cover: a snowy bridge. Read the Q&A with the cover artist here, and see the pretty digital snowflakes fall.

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons:

In a throw back to earlier Monday Tilley Watches, I’ll take a quick tour through all the cartoons in the issue; a mostly text-driven drive-by of the work.

The first drawing, by David Sipress, references the recent demise of Mr. Peanut (is he really gone, or was it just a dream?). The topic of the late legume was recently covered here.

…Julia Suits’s pirate in cargo shorts on a gangplank is next (cannot see cargo shorts/pants on a New Yorker cartoon character without thinking of the below cargo pants drawing by the late great Leo Cullum — it appeared in The New Yorker,  August 17, 1998:

…The third cartoon (oh, alright: drawing) in the issue belongs to Barbara Smaller, who’s been contributing to the magazine since 1996.  A bedroom, a married couple, and a reasonable question.

…next is a Zach Kanin poker game (assuming it’s poker — I see chips on the table). I really like the three card players Mr. Kanin has drawn. The fellow to the left looks a little like Ernest Borgnine (with a pinch of Broderick Crawford tossed in?):

To me, the guy on the far right resembles Mandy Patinkin.

…next up: Liana Finck on an age-old flooring concern. Nice floating ghost.

…Harry Bliss and one of his collaborators (Steve Martin) address a potential problem for passengers on one of those floating mini-cities sailing the seven seas.

…five pages later: an Emily Flake drawing far far removed from her usual style and cartoon concerns. Think Hindenburg disaster mashed with social media done in a sort of Stuart Leeds style.

…on page 45, a Tersa Burns Parkhurst retirement party. Dunno why but the cartoon reminds me of MAD magazine’s Dave Berg’s “Lighter Side Of…” drawings (that’s a good thing!).

…on page 43 is a drawing by Mick Stevens, one of the most veteran artists in this issue.  He began contributing in December of 1979 (Roz Chast in this issue with a full page color Sketchbook, beats him out by more than a year– her first drawing appeared in June of 1978).  I wonder if the male dancing bird in Mr. Stevens’s drawing was originally in color. Either way (color, or b&w), a fab cartoon.

…David Borchart’s auto rental drawing (page 43) gets a Spill gold star for the use of the word “rassle.” Zeke, the fellow that’s prepared to rassle, is also mighty terrific.

…On page 54 is an Ed Steed drawing that at first glance reminds me of Zach Kanin’s in this same issue, but only because, in both drawings, the viewer is seeing a table front and center and from near precisely the same angle. Instead of card players (as seen in Mr. Kanin’s drawing) we have animated garden utensils and tools. They’re plotting something.

…next up is a Robert Leighton drawing of mountain climbers.  I love how Mr. Leighton has immediately tossed us into a situation that would normally demand the best possible equipment available. You gotta feel for the climber who came unprepared.

…Thoroughly enjoyed  — as usual with Lars Kenseth’s work — his drawing of campers situated down on the ground, and in much nicer weather than Mr. Leighton’s. Look at the care he took in adding the reflection of the moon on the lake.

…next up is a three panel hat x-ray drawing by Liza Donnelly ( who began contributing to The New Yorker in 1982). This drawing answers the oft-asked question of what could possibly occupy all that beanie air space. Love the kitty!

Lastly, Adam Douglas Thompson (the most junior artist in this issue — his first drawing appeared in The New Yorker in the issue of April 8, 2019) gives us a sort of contemporary Chon Day drawing (it’s on page 68). “Sort of” because Mr. Thompson’s line and Mr. Day’s line have different flows.

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch:

This man (Rea Irvin) is wondering what happened to his beautiful Talk masthead design (shown below). You know — the one that appeared in The New Yorker for 92 years, not the re-draw that’s been around since May of 2017.  Who took the iconic masthead away, and why, and where oh where can it be? Actually, the answer to the first question is easy. Perhaps the last question is easy as well.  It likely resides in a file on a desktop, easily accessed. The question of why is the puzzler. Read more about its disappearance here.

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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Daily Shouts Cartoonist

The Daily Cartoon: by Brendan Loper, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2016.

…and a Daily Shouts by J. A. K., who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2014.

 

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of December 23, 2019; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon; Emma Allen’s Year In Review Not-To-Be-Missed Daily Shouts; Blitt’s Mao & Nixon

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The Cover:  Ed Steed’s third New Yorker cover in five months. This makes my day: it’s always great to see a New Yorker cartoonist cross-over from the cartoon department to the art department (shades of the pre-Tina Brown days when the cartoonists provided the majority of covers). Here’s a Q&A with Mr. Steed about his latest cover.

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons:

Zipping through this new issue I see it’s loaded with cartoons (yay!).  I also see that the freshman class of the 1970s is well represented: Roz Chast, Mick Stevens, the late Jack Ziegler, and myself; there are also four freshman from the class of the 1990s: P.C. Vey, Nick Downes, Kim Warp, and Barbara Smaller. And at opposite ends of the time line are George Booth, a freshman in the class of the 1960s (1969 to be a little more precise), and Keith Knight, who makes his New Yorker debut in this issue (so a freshman in the class of the 2010s). Mr. Knight is the 27th newbie of the year, and the 53rd to join The New Yorker‘s stable since Emma Allen took the cartoon department reins in the Spring of 2017.

Seeing the Booth cartoon (it’s on p.32) takes me right back to my fledgling days at The New Yorker and my belief that Mr. Booth’s work is what the magazine’s cartoons are all about: superb drawing, and a precisely defined world of personalized humor. Some forty plus years after I discovered Mr. Booth’s world I still get revved up and inspired from seeing one of his drawings.

A couple of thoughts on a couple of drawings: both Sofia Warren’s fine drawing (p.51) and Nick Downes’ wonderful Rockefeller Center skating rink drawing would’ve benefited us (the readers) had they been allowed more space. These are drawings full of great detail.

On the other hand, Roz Chast’s funny Abominable Snow-Woman (p.73) seems just the right size. Such a good drawing. It would be great if she marketed her snow-woman as a stuffed toy (I’d want one).

Really enjoyed Paul Noth’s Bat-signal/Robin-signal drawing (p.42).  I especially like the work he put into Batman and Robin’s outfits.

Speaking of cartoon worlds, as I was earlier in regards to Mr. Booth’s work, I cannot leave this ramble on the cartoons without mentioning how missed Jack Ziegler’s cartoon world is. Seeing his drawing in this issue is a tip of the iceberg reminder of what a spectacularly funny cartoonist he was. If you don’t already have his masterpiece collection, Hamburger Madness, get it.

 

The Rea Irvin Talk Masthead Watch: Bah, humbug…nothing has changed.  The redrawn masthead, installed in the Spring of 2017 still sits where Mr. Irvin’s beauty once sat. Below is Mr. Irvin’s classic design; here’s where you can read more about it.

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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

Ellie Black on a critic’s crisis.

Ms. Black has been contributing to The New Yorker since February of this year.

 

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Shouts In Review

Emma Allen, The New Yorker’s cartoon editor, and editor of  Daily Shouts, lists Shouts highlights.

A whole bunch of New Yorker cartoonists are therein.

 

 

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Blitt’s Mao & Nixon

From “Barry Blitt’s Kvetchbook,” a flashback to February of 1972, when Nixon met Mao. Above: the real deal.

 

 

 

Video Of Interest: The “Sesame Street” Edition Of The New Yorker Caption Contest; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon; Today’s Daily Shouts Cartoonist

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Video Of Interest: The “Sesame Street” Edition of The New Yorker Caption Contest

Here’s 7 1/2 minutes of fun: several of Sesame Street’s beloved characters give The New Yorker‘s caption contest a go.

Cartoons shown in order of their appearance are by: David Borchart, Joe Dator, Tom Cheney, Ellis Rosen, Harry Bliss, Mick Stevens, Amy Hwang, P.C. Vey, and yours truly.

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Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon

Happy (?) holidays, by Tom Toro.  Mr. Toro has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2010. Visit his website here.

 

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Today’s Daily Shouts Cartoonist

“Horoscopes As Unintelligible Words” by Olivia de Recat, who has been contributing to The New Yorker since 2018.  Visit her website here.

The Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of November 25, 2019; Today’s Daily Cartoon & Daily Shouts Cartoonists

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The Cover: It’s the Food Issue and it’s the Thanksgiving issue, so surprise: a turkey. You can read a Q&A with the cover artist here.

The Cartoonists:

The Cartoons… random comments on a few of the cartoons in this issue:

…Mick Stevens delivers a fab caveman drawing (it’s on page 69).  Beautiful drawing with a great caption.

…another fine drawing/caption from Bruce Eric Kaplan (p.50).

…a full page color “Sketchbook” by Kendra Allenby, as well as drawings by Amy Kurzweil and Lonnie Millsap reflect the issue’s food theme (and, for good measure, a drink drawing by Ellie Black).

…a Thanksgiving drawing by one of The New Yorker‘s Cartoon Gods, Gahan Wilson.

… a fun evergreen caption by Frank Cotham.

…I wonder how many of you will turn T.S. McCoy’s drawing (p.72) upside down.

The Rea Irvin Missing Talk Masthead Watch:

Sadly still missing from The New Yorker (but you can see it directly below). Read about it here.

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Meet The Artist (1943): Richard Taylor

Another in a series of self portraits of New Yorker artists included in the Meet The Artist catalog published by the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in 1943.

Richard Taylor’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:

Richard Taylor Born in Fort William, Ontario, Sept. 18, 1902. Died in 1970. New Yorker work: 1935 -1967. Collections: The Better Taylors ( Random House, 1944, and a reprint edition by World Publishing, 1945), Richard Taylor’s Wrong Bag (Simon & Schuster, 1961). Taylor also authored Introduction to Cartooning (Watson -Guptill, 1947). From Taylor’s introduction: the “book is not intended to be a ‘course in cartooning’…instead, it attempts to outline a plan of study — something to be kept at the elbow to steer by.”

Below, the great photo of Richard Taylor from his book Introduction To Cartooning.

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Today’s Daily Cartoon & Daily Shouts Cartoonists

Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon: Robert Leighton on government officials. Mr. Leighton began contributing to The New Yorker in 2002. Visit his website here.

Today’s Daily Shouts: “Dating Material: Stalking Your Ex Throughout History”  by Julia Edelman & Olivia de Recat.  Ms. de Recat has been contributing to The New Yorker (print magazine) since 2018. Visit her website here. Ms. Edelman is a writer who has contributed Daily Shouts pieces illustrated by New Yorker artists.