Monday 15 September 2008

Drawing the V.P. Candidates


Steven Heller, in the New York Times yesterday.

Political cartoonists and caricaturists have their jobs cut out for them this presidential election. John McCain and Barack Obama have such distinctive physical traits that they are almost caricatures themselves. Indeed, the challenge for these illustrators is not capturing the top of the tickets but rather the bottom. Although Joseph Biden and Sarah Palin are easily picked out in a crowd, their satiric soft spots have not really been identified — or targeted.

Of the two, Mr. Biden has been the toughest to capture. His conventional good looks have so far made him immune to acerbic caricature and his drawn likenesses have not been exactly accurate. Although his hair puffs up in the back like one of those streamlined bicycle helmets, it is not a profound enough physical flaw on which to create a comedic persona.