Cartoon Donald Trump - Stephen Colbert report

This is something i found quite relevant where there is a small segment now and again (as far as I'm aware) on the Stephen Colbert show which is known as the Colbert report with a cartoon Donald trump and it has someone attempting an impression of him as a voice actor. As i said it is more of a cartoon than a caricature but i suppose the very idea of the cartoon is basically a caricature. Features that they have focused on for comic effect are the orangness of him and the hair is a prominent feature. For my research i have seen many trump parodies and in my opinion this doesn't really stand out however the fact that it is on an extremely well known program such as the Colbert report which is a show full of political satire it does earn some credit for that and i believe its quite unique as well. 

Since i am focusing everything on Trump now i think its will be really good to attempt my own character work of him, so to find things like this it creates a good basis for me. 

This is unrelated but its a caricature that i quite liked, again focusing on his hair as the comedic element but with a side suggestion that his hair is an angry monster because it is representing his aggressive foreign policy/immigration positions. 

Really useful extract from a website

From searching about i stumbled across this really amazing piece of writing on a website which is in the link below and it talks pretty much about everything i have attempted to signify in my essay however i feel i have stumbled across it too late for it to be involved in my essay.  

It does however feature a few words on the website from a man who i have used for quotation in my essay and he is the former conservative cabinet minister Lord Baker. I did not know he was formerly of this position so it is really interesting to know that his words are coming from a former politician.  


 http://onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2012/11/british-political-cartoons-martin-rowson.html

Political cartoons: Britain's revolutionaries

By Kayte Rath

They appear daily in our newspapers and have lampooned prime ministers for generations, but have political cartoons helped Britain avoid some of the political tumult of its European neighbours?
For nearly 400 years, Britain has avoided violent struggles and political revolution.

In 1789, while France was busy overthrowing its royal rulers and unceremoniously chopping off the heads of its aristocrats, Britain shunned their revolutionary zeal, preferring a more sedate pace of change.

And where France led, others followed. In the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries virtually every other state in Europe has experienced at least one forcible overthrow of government.

Historians may have their theories as to why, but so does former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Baker, and it's a rather novel one: Political cartoons.

The peer, who served under Margaret Thatcher as home secretary and chaired the party in her final days as prime minister, has long had an interest in collecting and writing about cartoons and is vice-chairman of the Cartoon Museum in London.

For him, this unique British contribution to the world of art - which Lord Baker credits Britain with "inventing" - has helped stem the frustrations of the British people since it first started nearly 300 years ago.

"I believe that if you can laugh at your rulers, you don't cut off their heads," he says. "Laughter is an escape for those kinds of pent up feelings. It helps make society calmer."

'Defecating, urinating, fornicating'

And because of Britain's lack of censorship laws in the 18th century - the "golden age" of political caricatures according to Lord Baker - this "graphic satire" was able to flourish.

"In Europe, all the other countries had censorship.

"If you criticised the king or queen of France you were sent to the Bastille - in fact if you criticised Louis XIV you got torn about by four horses, which did rather discourage people.

"But there wasn't any censorship here: we laughed at our kings and queens and we laughed at our prime ministers."

Not only has the culture of cartooning helped Britain remain a stable country, it was also the beginning of public engagement in politics, making a connection between prime ministers and the people for the first time.

"Before cameras, radio and TV, it was the only way in which people got to see their politicians," Lord Baker says.

"They would get stuck up in shop windows for everyone to see. It was the first time people actually saw royalty, judges, MPs, aristocracy and the celebrities of the day.

"The cartoons were bought by the middle class as they were the only ones who could afford them, but it was the beginning of real public interest from people in their politicians."

With different attitudes to physical appearances and bodily functions, the early cartoons could be extremely rude.

"In the 18th century they didn't have the same physical hang-ups that we do now - you had people farting, defecating, urinating, vomiting, fornicating - everything. No one escaped.

"George III was shown manuring his own field."

Robert Walpole, generally regarded as the first man to hold the post of prime minister from the 1720s to 1742, was represented by his exposed rear end.

"The first cartoon of Walpole was of his big bare bottom straddling the Treasury.

"You couldn't see his face, but everyone knew who it was because they knew you had to kiss Walpole's bottom if you were to get anywhere. He ran the state by patronage, handing out positions and everybody knew it."

Other politicians have had their own distinctive caricatures, with cartoonists picking one easily identifiable "tab" to let the audience know who is being made fun of.

These can often capture a politician's character better than official portraits do, Lord Baker says.

"Caricatures can say in a flash what it takes 20 column inches or three minutes of TV to say.

"The cartoon has an immediate impact. They are snapshots of a given moment and can characterise people forever."

William Pitt the Younger was shown as a drunkard, Disraeli had "curly Jewish locks", Churchill was easily identified by his fat cigar and for Margaret Thatcher it was her handbag.

More recently, Lord Baker says, John Major was depicted with "naff Marks and Spencer's underpants", after once allegedly being spotted with his pants tucked over his shirt - after this "the pants became everything".

Tony Blair was all about "the teeth and the ears" and Gordon Brown was shown as "being grossly fat".

In the current crop of leaders, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have proved more difficult to capture because "they have similar types of looks".

"They haven't got very lived in faces yet. You need to have someone with distinctive features," he says.

However, this has not been a problem for the Labour's fresh-faced, younger leader Ed Miliband: "He was Wallace and Gromit straight away."

Trump memes/opposing images

After reflecting on my feedback and the fact that I have watched many videos on youtube with Donald Trump and listening to the often idiotic and mysgonistic, racist things that come out of his mouth i have put together a quick collection of Anti Trump images as i feel this is the target i may try and focus on, despite already doing the odd thing on Cameron. 

Most of these images come in the forms of memes which is what was suggested for me to look at by my peer. Memes i feel through the culture of today on social media is the modern day caricature especially if they are depicted with something to do with politics. They may not be drawings or anything that looks like a traditional caricature however they still reflect everything that a caricature is all about, aiming to belittle its subject such as someone as Donald Trump and just basically take the mick out of them. 

Peer/Crit feedback

So after having a peer review of our cop project work i still feel pretty none the wiser as to where to go and with such little time left to produce work too.  I have struggled immensely with this project and all of cop really as for some reason it is not a module that agrees with me however i feel that in good time i will realise that level of ignorance and will hopefully recognise the importance of it in order for me to gain an understanding of how to contextualise the events in the world around us. It should also help me improve the independent skills that i do so desperately need, in order for me to be able to conduct my own research as a way of forming a direction with a self led project. 

So i was dreading the result of the whole crit as i feel that i am probably a month behind in work that i should have when the deadline is next week however i also recognised that through the peer feedback it is a chance to reflect on what has been suggested and to just simply pull my finger out. 

So on the feedback sheet that we were given the first section asks the peer to comment on:

- The relationship between the context and practical responses so far. 

The feedback i was given was:

• Clear relationship between proposal and research/quotes and the work produced, same kind of simplistic humour - i think the third quote sums up pretty well. 

So from this answer at least i know i am not completely lost in the project and have at least demonstrated some level of coherent research which was presented through my visual journal. It is a fair comment on the simplistic humour side of things as although i have not produced many of my own visual outcomes that is the kind of angle i am going for in my work or at least in the theory of what my work should be. 

Next was this point:

- Comment on the clarity with which the visual responses and theory are connected. How and why does one process inform the other? 

The feedback i was given was: 

• I feel like the digital/photoshop thing is like the new caricature anyway - good progression from more traditional stuff. 

This was a good valuable comment as i was unsure as to whether my photoshop 'experiments' were of any credibility and i suppose was keen to see what kind of stance people would have on that way of creating imagery as i felt it could have been deemed as slightly lazy. 

Next was to:

- Comment on the visual quality of the practical responses: 

The feedback i was given was: 

• Lo-fi approach, reminds me of like weird memes - kind of so dumb its funny - find the one where someone replaced Donald trumps eyes with his mouth and it literally looked the same
• It sort of adds to the batting down of these political figures. 

That last comment is really important as that is to why i tried getting into making my own caricatures in the first place and simply following the fantastic words of Martin Rowson. I just have found an effective and imaginative way to do it yet, i guess i have maybe scratched the surface with the photoshop images but i need to develop something further. 

Finally the all important one which is because the deadline is so near:

- What issues need to be addressed ahead of the submission deadline? 

The feedback i was given was: 

• Probably just need more examples of practical/sketchbook work to go along with the research 
• Look at memes from the US elections, i like the idea that they're just getting ripped apart by sixteen year olds online. 

I was pleased with the feedback that was given however i knew myself i would just generally be along the lines of do more work which is easier said than done when your head just doesn't know what to do or where to start. Time will tell and hoping i can get cracking!

Steve Bell - images

Another name which i am fairly familiar with but haven't looked at a lot of his work before is Steve Bell. Like most prolific British caricaturists Steve Bell has had a really good career working with many publications such as private eye, punch and the guardian. 

Bell has like most of my other influences a very distinctive style particularly when depicting some 'characters' as David Cameron where he is always drawn as a condom, which in a way i suppose is taking it from a somewhat grotesque angle as he is explicitly saying that cameron is a dick. 

He works in a very traditional sense in terms of how he produces his images, which is as i said a traditional use of watercolour and i imagine ink and markers of some sort. Perhaps this is for many reasons the first being that it keeps that traditional aesthetic of a caricature as caricaturist are not really like illustrators in the way that they explore new avenues or ways of creating an image and will generally stick to what they do and what they are used to, which i guess avoids readers being confused of when they have their works every week in the paper. If there was a constant change of 'style' then it would certainly work against the caricaturist. I also imagine that it is a way of working that just generally suits and he is able to get the work done quicker, probably with him working to deadlines, perhaps. 

This is the way he depicts chancellor of the exchequer George Osbourne, rather crudely with a ball sack hanging out of what i think is a gimp mask...Which once again certainly feeds into a grotesque nature that Bell can sometimes have in his work but not in an over the top way, which i really like.

This is a very successful caricature as you can immediately tell that it is a crossover of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair as some sort of hybrid monster. 

And just so i can get another attack in the form of a cartoon against Donald trump in here is a small cartoon strip by Steve bell that would have been featured in the guardian. In this Bell has used the idea of centering the satire on Trumps hair which i have found is a highly important aspect when caricaturing him.

Donald trump photoshopped as a chicken

This is another in my 'series' of photoshop things. These kind of images are more for my own amusement and to just show some sort of general development and i realise there not any kind of finished work but i feel its good to exercise that idea of satire and incorporating my own way of basically taking the mick out of such 'politicians' as Donald Trump. 

This image also works well with the caption as 'laying the foundations' as he is depicted as a chicken, basic simple satire really. Also the face caps it off, looks like he's forcing the egg out basically. 

Trumpdonald.org

This is yet another example at 1) how wonderful the internet can be and 2) how much momentum the idea of anti trump has all over the internet and certainly what i have found through my research. 

Theres not much to analyse with this as i am merely just evidencing it but this is the website known as 'Trumpdonald' where you can't do much apart from make his eyes follow the trumpet around his head which you can move with the cursor and then blow the trumpet in his face, to which is hair piece reacts and blows in which ever direction. It is in some ways a very modern form of satire which makes it an interesting way of looking at it. The term 'the simplest things please the simplest of minds' does come to mind with this one however i don't mind as it is another hilarious example which shows what lengths some people will go to to hate on the Donald. 

Another hilarious aspect to point out is there is a counter in the bottom left corner of the screen which i believe counts how many times the trumpet has been used. Sometimes i don't know what to think of this generation and the use of the internet...

Photoshop mess around 4

Grow up Cameron! is simply the message with this one. 

Photoshop mess around 3 - slimy slug cameron

A comment about how all his deceitfulness just reminds me of a slimy character and working with the idea of how to defile the subject i decided to turn him into a slug, working with the slimy theme. It is also a comment of how he is vulnerable now that the people have turned against him more than ever (although i really don't think he cares) and that its only a matter of time before he's trodden on. 

Photoshop mess around 2

After recent events with this muppet i guess i illustrated the phrase 'Cameron's in the shithouse' and again i might add.  Such things as having the public coin the name 'dodgy dave' for him and the very strong march protest to try and get him to resign. I don't know much about politics but i am aware that this man is as disliked as Donald Trump and continuously appears to be cocking up so yeah although its not a high end piece of work this is another way of me quite simply taking the mick out of this politician in particular. In true political satirist style i have included little kind of social comments such as 'trust of the people' toilet paper and the fact he's got a book by his side called politics for dummies. 

I guess if you want to do political satire at any level it really helps to understand politics and to know what exactly they are doing wrong however i sometimes think its enough to just simply not like them. 

Attempting grotesque characters

Since i have set my proposal for the project on the idea of the grotesqueness within caricature i thought it may be useful to make an attempt at my own little daft cartoons. I felt this would be a useful exercise as i myself do not create much work that reflects anything grotesque in my opinion but i do have a slight interest in it, just not enough. That is why i have chosen this topic of grotesqueness as kind of a challenge to myself and see where it could take me. I may unlock something or i may not and it may take me down some other avenue of portraying cartoons or caricatures but for now this is my very basic attempt at grotesqueness. 

Very daft Photoshop thing

Basically because i wanted to and was starved of ideas i have turned Donald Trumps face into the seed of an avocado. I believe it fits well because he often has a very rough textured face and i thought it would fit...I don't know maybe I've just lost my marbles. 

Photoshop mess around 1

Just a quick photoshop thing i have done on Donald Trump as i decided i wanted to try out creating comical images but with just using photoshop mainly because with all the other work in the other project i kind of wanted a break from drawing.  So although it may not be an example of developed work in any way it still conveys everything i intend with the idea of satire. 

I started off with this image of Mr Trump. I thought to myself how orange his face looks so i then decided to turn him into an orange. It all pretty much went from there really, not much else to say other than that. But although its really simple to think of how he looks orange therefore i will turn him into an orange it is above all else the main principle of what a good caricature is. For example Gerald scarce felt that with Margaret thatchers sharp personality it needed to be reflected through a sharp nosed and sharp teethed monster. Its all about identifying a trait or a feature and capitalising on it, that is how a caricature is born and how it is made effective. 

These are the oranges in question that was used for the photoshop 'experiment'. 

I collected many other stupid faces of him to use as my ammunition for the work. I just don't understand how someone can pull some faces, i just don't get it Donald...

Once again a moronic face.

Quite repulsive in my opinion

And last but not least, this guy...

My piece which as received fairly well humour wise by my peers.