Personal History…The New Yorker Cartoonists Non-Deadline Deadline
One of the many things I’ve liked (alright, loved) about working for The New Yorker is the absence of pressure the magazine places on its cartoonists. The absence itself is purposeful: we (“we” being the cartoonists) are allowed complete freedom to pursue our work. This freedom came out of a belief by the magazine’s founder that artists do their best work when they are left alone. There are no quotas (i.e., no certain number of drawings that have to be submitted each week…altho in recent years a myth began making the rounds that we had to submit ten a week. The mythical “ten a week” confounds me — it’s antithetical to one of the magazine’s core beliefs), no deadline, no editorial direction. It’s completely up to us to draw what we want and deliver that work when we want to deliver it. There is a caveat, of course: if you wish to submit in a certain week, you’re asked to do it by noon on Tuesday. But, as I said, if you do not wish to submit on any given week, the magazine’s cartoon editor will not come knocking on your door wondering where your batch of drawings is.
I’ve worked well under these non-conditional conditions for nearly half a century. The idea that I do not have to submit each week somehow encouraged me to want to submit each week. I look forward to the non-deadline deadline, and cannot wait to meet it. There’s a certain flow to the week, knowing that the work will move on out (out and south to Manhattan). I like that finality, no matter the outcome (acceptance or rejection).
Once the batch of drawings is scanned and emailed, the new work week immediately begins. I click off the scanner, and then, returning to a fresh sheet of paper, pick up my Rapidograph, give it a shake, set its point on the paper — and off it goes, ouija board-like. This moment is perhaps one of my favorite of the week: the new beginning.
I’ve called this post “Personal History” because it is just that. Every cartoonist has their own work habits or non-habits, their own ideas about their work, and how and when to do it, and submit it. Some take time off, some work through the week, some work just a few days a week. The stories are as varied as the number of cartoonists. And that’s the point. We work best when we are ourselves.
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The Tilley Watch Online, March 13-17, 2023
An end of the week listing of New Yorker artists whose work has appeared on newyorker.com features
The Daily Cartoon: Avi Steinberg, Dan Misdea, Mads Horwath, Zoe Si, and a duo effort from Sofia Warren & Ellis Rosen.
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I do miss going in to pitch. The instant feedback, the camaraderie with fellow cartoonists waiting to go in, the lunch. Those days are sadly over, it seems.
This is now a relic of a once regular weekly routine:
https://www.jasonchatfield.com/blog/how-to-submit-to-the-new-yorker