Summary
- National Cartoonists Day is celebrated to recognise the contributions of cartoonists and illustrators in modern society.
- Today, cartoons are mainly used for political commentary on editorial pages of newspapers and magazines.
- It is easy for cartoonists to convey harsh realities through cartoons that are otherwise to say.
- With the passage of time, new career options opened up for cartoonists, and today cartoonists work in various different fields such as marketing, advertising, animation, etc.
- There are advertising cartoonists, animation cartoonists, children’s book illustrators, comic strip cartoonists, editorial cartoonists, gag cartoonists, etc.
National Cartoonists Day is celebrated to recognise the contributions of cartoonists and illustrators in modern society. Cartoonists have been playing a critical role for so many decades through their sketches on social and political issues.
Although the history of caricatures and illustrations goes back thousands of years, modern practice to use cartoons matured in the early 1840s.
Earlier, such caricatures were mostly used for humour and satire, but cartoonists started playing a key role by the start of the twentieth century.
Today, cartoons are mainly used for political commentary on editorial pages of newspapers and magazines.
When was National Cartoonists Day first celebrated?
The National Cartoonists Day has been celebrated since 1999. The date of May 5 was chosen because cartoonist Richard Outcault’s creation Hogan Alley debuted on May 5, 1895.
The iconic character, later known as The Yellow Kid, became massively popular, and it used to be published in the Sunday edition of the New York World.
Since then the role of cartoons has taken different shapes, but their popularity has remained strong throughout the twentieth and 21st centuries.
During World War Two, cartoonists Gus Edson, Otto Soglow, Clarence D. Russel, and Bob Dunn thought that there should be a club that could preserve their work once the war ends. This became the basis on which the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) came into being in 1946.
Later, due to the efforts of the representatives of this organisation, the National Cartoonists Day was first held in 1999.
How Significant Cartoonists Work is?
Cartoonists play a significant role in our society. They are not only opinion makers, but they often also challenge powerful people through their cartoons and caricatures.
In 2006, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that cartoonists have a big responsibility because they can encourage us to look at ourselves more critically. Cartoonists can also increase people’s empathy towards the sufferings and frustration of others.
In short, journalism and modern new media are incomplete without cartoonists and their work.
“Cartoons are a great medium for demonstrating just how absurd something is, without ever having to say it directly,” says Jen Sorensen, an American cartoonist and illustrator.
Cartoonists and Different Careers
With the passage of time, new career options opened up for cartoonists. Today, cartoonists work in various different fields.
There are advertising cartoonists, animation cartoonists, children’s book illustrators, comic strip cartoonists, editorial cartoonists, gag cartoonists, etc.
Cartoonists do different kinds of duties as per their required field of work. However, some of their core responsibilities include concept development, artistic execution, storyboarding and layout, writing and dialogue, deadline management, collaboration and feedback, self-promotion and marketing, etc.
Conclusion
The National Cartoonists Day is an excellent opportunity to recognise the positive impact of cartoonists in our lives.
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