Watch this tutorial on how author Jeff Kinney draws one of his most famous characters. Make some sketches and start developing your own series of cartoon characters!

Education

Draw like a cartoonist. 

How do political cartoonists get their message across? Use this quick guide from the Library of Congress so you can start experimenting with how to share your ideas!

Career

Learn the techniques political cartoonists use.

Brainstorm 3 of the issues you care about most, then draw a political cartoon that focuses on one of these issues to show to your history or social studies teacher.

Make your own political cartoon!

Fine Artists

Create original artwork using any of a wide variety of media and techniques.

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

First Interest High-Point

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Second Interest High-Point

Third Interest High-Point

Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

Artists and Related Workers

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations

Art and Design Workers

Use materials such as pens and ink, watercolors, charcoal, oil, or computer software to create artwork.

Integrate and develop visual elements, such as line, space, mass, color, and perspective, to produce desired effects, such as the illustration of ideas, emotions, or moods.

Confer with clients, editors, writers, art directors, and other interested parties regarding the nature and content of artwork to be produced.

Submit preliminary or finished artwork or project plans to clients for approval, incorporating changes as necessary.

Maintain portfolios of artistic work to demonstrate styles, interests, and abilities.

Create finished art work as decoration, or to elucidate or substitute for spoken or written messages.

Cut, bend, laminate, arrange, and fasten individual or mixed raw and manufactured materials and products to form works of art.

Monitor events, trends, and other circumstances, research specific subject areas, attend art exhibitions, and read art publications to develop ideas and keep current on art world activities.

Study different techniques to learn how to apply them to artistic endeavors.

Render drawings, illustrations, and sketches of buildings, manufactured products, or models, working from sketches, blueprints, memory, models, or reference materials.

Create sketches, profiles, or likenesses of posed subjects or photographs, using any combination of freehand drawing, mechanical assembly kits, and computer imaging.

Create sculptures, statues, and other three-dimensional artwork by using abrasives and tools to shape, carve, and fabricate materials such as clay, stone, wood, or metal.

Study styles, techniques, colors, textures, and materials used in works undergoing restoration to ensure consistency during the restoration process.

Develop project budgets for approval, estimating time lines and material costs.

Shade and fill in sketch outlines and backgrounds, using a variety of media such as water colors, markers, and transparent washes, labeling designated colors when necessary.

Collaborate with engineers, mechanics, and other technical experts as necessary to build and install creations.

Create and prepare sketches and model drawings of cartoon characters, providing details from memory, live models, manufactured products, or reference materials.

Examine and test paintings in need of restoration or cleaning to determine techniques and materials to be used.

Create graphics, illustrations, and three-dimensional models to be used in research or in teaching, such as in demonstrating anatomy, pathology, or surgical procedures.

Brush or spray protective or decorative finishes on completed background panels, informational legends, exhibit accessories, or finished paintings.

Trace drawings onto clear acetate for painting or coloring, or trace them with ink to make final copies.

Apply solvents and cleaning agents to clean surfaces of paintings, and to remove accretions, discolorations, and deteriorated varnish.

Model substances such as clay or wax, using fingers and small hand tools to form objects.

Collaborate with writers who create ideas, stories, or captions that are combined with artists' work.

Provide entertainment at special events by performing activities such as drawing cartoons.

Render sequential drawings that can be turned into animated films or advertisements.

Market artwork through brochures, mailings, or Web sites.

Photograph objects, places, or scenes for reference material.

Set up exhibitions of artwork for display or sale.

Frame and mat artwork for display or sale.

Teach artistic techniques to children or adults.

Acrylic paintbrushes

Alcohol lamps

Angle grinders

Artists' fountain pens

Artists' palette knives

Artists' palettes

Ball mills

Bevel tools

Brazing tools

Bush hammers

Bust armatures

Camera lenses

Ceramic bead bars

Clay cutters

Clay mixers

Computer data input scanners

Detail carving tools

Die grinders

Digital calipers

Digital hydrometers

Digital pyrometers

Digital scales

Digital thermometers

Digital viscosometers

Dipping tongs

Drying cabinets

Dust masks

Edging tools

Electric kilns

Electric potters wheels

Electric saws

Encaustic scrapers

Encaustic spatulas

Enlarger timers

Extruder dies

Fettling knives

Figure armature systems

Gas kilns

Glass kilns

Graduated measuring cylinders

Hand chisels

Hand glaze mixers

Handheld clay extruders

Handlemaker tools

Head armatures

Heat resistant gloves

Kick wheels

Kiln carts

Kiln oxygen probes

Kiln ventilation hoods

Laptop computers

Lens filters

Linoleum cutters

Loop tools

Mat cutters

Metal inert gas MIG welders

Mold knives

Oil paintbrushes

Oxyacetylene torches

Paint spray guns

Personal computers

Photo enlargers

Photo quality computer printers

Photography tripods

Plasma cutters

Pneumatic chisels

Pot lifts

Potter's ribs

Pottery cleanup tools

Pottery duster brushes

Pottery kilns

Power sanders

Print squeegees

Printing tongs

Processing trays

Protective safety glasses

Pugmills

Raku kilns

Raku tongs

Remote firing flashes

Riffler rasps

Round hole punches

Saber saws

Sandblasting guns

Sculpting thumbs

Sgraffito tools

Shielded arc welders

Single lens reflex SLR cameras

Slab mats

Slab rollers

Square hole cutters

Stationary lighting systems

Steel rasps

Stone carving chisels

Stone carving knives

Stone saws

Strobe flashes

Sumi paintbrushes

Tablet computers

Political Cartoonist

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ colonial music ♪ ♪ colonial music ♪ (Jeff) [Boston accent]  Harvard. You park your car at Harvard. (Andy)  We all went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Jeff and I just graduated in May, and Sam has one more year. We've been given this opportunity to drive around the country in a big, green motor home to interview people from all walks of life. Leaders and visionaries within their fields, people whom we admire. We're at a place where we're not exactly sure where our path is and where we're gonna go. So we'd like to talk to you about where you were, what you were thinking, when you were 20 something years old, just out of school, and how those passions and ideas have brought you to where you are today. That's a good question.  I remember being at your stage. I went to college and then went to law school, and business school immediately thereafter. I'd done a year of law school and a year of business school. I was 24 years old, and it dawned on me that I was getting to the point where I was going to need to make career decisions soon, and I felt totally unprepared to do that, 'cause I'd never done anything but go to school my whole life. I felt like I shouldn't make my career decisions until I've done some things. So, I actually dropped out of school... Dropped out of  law school, dropped out of business school, and was gone for three and a half years. In that time I certainly thought about what I wanted to do, and I spent most of that time outdoors. I was an Outward Bound instructor, and worked for Outward Bound for several years. This was something I wanted to do in my life: I want to climb, I want to do mountaineering, kayaking, and things like that. If I wait and don't do it now, I'll probably never do it. So I'm going to use my 20s for what they're best for: screw around, try lots of things. So I had a fairly prolonged adolescence, if you will. I realized this didn't have a 40 year future and at that point, I decided to go back to school. I finished my JD and my MBA, and finally graduated at the age of 29. So where did you go after school? What was the next step? When I graduated, I went to a consulting firm here in Boston called Boston Consulting Group. I was there for almost seven years. It was a great job. Made a lot of money, flew around the country first-class, you had a nice office, and you got to deal with these big problems that senior managers at big companies needed help on. It was a great job, but again, after five or six years, I started asking myself, is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? Is this my last job? Is this it? And that was a scary thought. I said, "No, if I'm still doing this in 10 or 15 years, then I'm not going to be happy with how I've lived my life." It made me think about what I really want. At that time I was in my mid-30s. When I came here to Boston. It was a great city. It had world-class  everything: sports, culture, history, education. Everything was world-class except one thing: There was no great beer. How can you be a world-class city without a world-class beer? So that was my one little tile that I added to the mosaic of Boston. That's been the foundation of Boston Beer Company: a love of really good beer, and a desire to share that with other people. Getting rich is life's big booby prize. People who aren't happy want to be rich. I thought, "When I start my own company I'm going to start something that is going to make me happy." 'Cause in the big scheme of things, what would you rather be: happy or rich? I think most people would rather be happy. So I started a company and started a life's work that I knew was going to make me happy. But were there  obstacles initially, or even now, that you had to overcome to create this company? We started with nothing; the whole company was two people. I made the first batch of Sam Adams in my kitchen, and I didn't have huge expectations. I thought it'd be this nice, little, local company in Boston. Maybe the beer would make it's way all the way to Hartford, or maybe all the way up to Portland, Maine, but I didn't expect much. We didn't have an office, we didn't have a phone. We did everything off an answering service. We had our business meetings in bars. We just bought these pads at a stationary store and wrote out the invoices. I'd keep one copy and when people paid me, I'd throw it away, and that was our accounting system. So essentially, the lesson is that culture and values can substitute for hard resources. With Sam Adams, we were able to change the world of American beer and create something that is familiar to everybody who loves good beer with nothing. So, what advice would you have for someone that's in our position? There is something that climbers talk about, which is the difference between perceived risk and actual risk. The outward bound paradigm, the essential experience, is probably encapsulated  in rappelling - walking off a cliff backwards. As an instructor what you've got to get people to do is have enough faith in themselves that they will literally walk off a cliff backwards. Now as an instructor you know that they're on a rope, that rope would probably hold a car... You know everything is safe, solid and secure, but to the Outward Bound student, they're walking off a cliff backwards. When I left the consulting firm to start Boston Beer Company, it was in a lot of ways the same situation. The perceived risk was high. I was walking off the cliff backwards. There was nothing beneath me. I had this high-paying job, great office on the 33rd floor, looked out over Boston harbor. One day I got in the elevator, rode the elevator down, and all of a sudden it all disappeared, and I was brewer and a beer salesman. People say, "Gee, you took a lot of risk." Well, the reality was, that probably wasn't true. The big risk would have been staying at a job that wasn't fulfilling, and wasting my life. That's a risk. Quitting it to do something I really loved and believed in - that's not a risk. (Jeff) He knew so much about beer, he knew so much about hops, he knew so much about malt, he was going off about it. I don't know, something about that is a little obsessive. but any artist is a little obsessive. He was definitely an artist. (Andy) Within whatever field, whether it's beer or photography or beauty bark manufacturing, if you can set a precedent not only for the country, but for the world, that's something. That's an achievement. ♪♪ (Jim) [impressed] Oh, wow! Should I sign this thing? (Andy)  Yeah, please wherever  you'd like. (Jim) Cool. (Andy) Thank you. ♪♪ ♪♪ [RV engine] ♪♪ (Anna) I was going to  Arizona State University, I was sort of floundering. I was majoring in art, in graphic design, but I wasn't being very serious about it. [laughs] When you're in high school you can say, "I can draw better than anyone else." But when you get into college you actually start  to compete. So I made a decision I'd drop out, which is something... not in my background. And I decided I was going to apply to an art school because I needed to be serious about it, and it was a big deal. I worked in a casino for almost a year to make enough money for the first year of art school because it's very expensive. That was quite a year for me, because I made a decision that I was going to apply myself and go for a goal, but I didn't apply myself until I finally realized it's only in your power to make of yourself. No one else can do it for you, When that realization hits you: It's all up to you if you want to do something with your life, you can either sit around and complain about all the hard knocks that come your way or you can actually take control of your life. That made a big difference for me. Where did you get the confidence? Particularly in any artistic field, there's a lot of the idea that it's not practical to go into it. How did you reach the place where you were like, "I'm going to major in it, I'm gonna go to art school. This is going to be what I do," Not just something you would do for fun while you worked another job. That was a concern  my parents had. I sort of made a deal with my dad that when I went to college I'd minor in art and major in journalism. For some reason that went absolutely nowhere. I don't even remember taking a journalism class in college. I went to college in the early 80s. That's when everyone was majoring in business. Everyone was gonna go to Wall Street. That never occurred to me, I really knew that you're gonna be doing that for a long time. I couldn't see myself doing something that wasn't a passion, something I really wanted to do. That's the reason I continued on with it. What is it about art that makes you passionate about it? I've always drawn, as a kid, I mean, always. The thing that's different with the art that I did then was I just liked to draw: the actual motion of drawing. This stuff is really something that gets me going because it takes your ability to draw and then you can express an opinion through the drawing. Once I discovered this, that really clicked for me. I've always been very opinionated anyway, but to take something I actually do well - drawing - and stick it together, it's powerful. How did you get into this specifically, what was your exposure? I was up late one night  doing a freelance job while I was working at Walt Disney. I watched the Tiananmen Square events unfold on television and it had such a powerful effect on me that I dropped everything and did a editorial cartoon all on my own, no intent of publishing it or anything. That sort of awakened it. then when the Anita Hill hearings happened in '91 I was so outraged watching those because I hadn't been political before that, but having been in the private industry for several years, knowing about sexual harassment and knowing it happens. to watch Senate hearings where a bunch of guys are sitting up there saying,"There's no such thing as sexual harassment anymore, because we already passed laws for that." That's when I decided to draw a series of editorial cartoons and send it out to various newspapers to get published, and that's how it started. Just be ready to look at other doors, 'cause I had a lot of doors open to me that I never thought about when I was a student. I took them, and it worked out really well. You can do anything you want. I didn't believe that when I was your age. I think it's part being scared, being frightened about what's out there... the unknown. You can do anything you want, just try it. What are you  gonna do, fail? Big deal.  [laughs] Just keep trying. You're so lucky to be in this country and to have what's available to you. You should really take advantage of it. A lot of people don't have what you have. We really appreciate it. Well you guys have fun, I wish I could go with you. [laughs] ♪♪ ♪♪ [RV passing] ♪♪ (Gabriel) Come on up. (Bernardo) Yeah, how's it going, Gabriel? (Gabriel) So how's the trip? (Bernardo) Very good. [door closing] (Bernardo)  I'm actually going to a junior college, I'm a liberal arts major. In high school I wasn't that much into school. I wasn't a bad student, I just didn't enjoy many classes, except for one - video productions. It was the first time I got to experience using a camera or editing what I had shot. getting a taste of filmmaking in a sense. I think that's what I want to pursue. To see how someone like yourself was able to follow that career at our age, around 21, Did you have a set career in mind? I do have more than a career, I have an area of interest in my life. I discovered television later on in my life. Since the beginning,  my love and my passion what I discovered, was theater. I came to this country many years ago, I was directing theater in Boston. I directed a play that worked very well in Boston. One day a producer came to me and said, "Your play is so visual, so wonderful. "Why don't we do a special with your play. "Talk about Latin America, "it's in Spanish, it's so visual, "that anyone can understand it. I would like to shoot that," We agree,  I said, "Sure." and they shoot on film - 16 mm. So I was actually with the crew, I was fascinated experiencing it. I said, "That was fantastic!" I'm trained to direct actors, I never work in television or movies before. It was fascinating for the experience. I say, "I would love to work. I would like to help." I decided to help.  I went to this TV station, WCVB, channel 5 in Boston. I started to work in the station. After one year they offer me a job. "Okay so I can't continue directing theater, but I will go into television." I did documentaries for them. I had a chance to win an Emmy for the station. Did you have people say, "No you shouldn't do that." (Gabriel) Yes, all the time. How did you deal with them? You say, "I want to do this," but all these people telling you, "No you should get a real job." What was your response? (Gabriel) I know you'll have to edit this piece, but usually I say  "(...) off." It is a wrong concept that we have to face, there will be a lot of people saying, "Don't do that." You have to be honest about yourself, be honest with others,  be honest about what you want. Suddenly this is a conversation between friends, more than an interview. I think you know, deep in your heart, you do know what you want. Explore yourself and try to see what you really want to say. "Do I have something to say to the people?" Do I have something to project?" Everyone is born with a message. Everyone is born with something to say. It's inside, part of your legs, your arms, your sex, your eyes. It's part of you. You need to just say it, find and say it, "This is what I'm here for." If you have this spirit  of doing what you want, because it's the right thing, you have to do it. You would drink coffee? I'd like some coffee espresso. (Bernardo) I'll take some coffee. You, Coffee, too? (Bernardo) A lot of people judge success by how much money is made, I don't want a job where that's what I'm looking for, where money judges success, I want to be happy. How do you judge happiness? Well, I think you already have the answer in your question. I never did, and I never will, judge success with money. They're two things that have nothing to do. Success, for me, is to be able to talk with people like you, today, in the middle of an afternoon. This is magic, and I believe in magic. The magic of communication and the magic of being happy. When you arrived, I thought we were going to spend a half hour, then I'd have to work. Now I can spend the entire afternoon with you, because magic happened. It's the same thing with my work or anything. My priority is me first, which is perhaps egoistic. Me and whatever good I can give to the rest of my peers, that's my priority: me being happy. I sound like a priest a little bit today, no? (Bernardo) This is the stuff  we're asking. (Cristina)  Can you read that out loud to us? (Gabriel) [speaks Spanish] "Gabriel is looking, and protecting you. Good luck." (all) Thank you. (Gabriel) Tan pronto. (Cristina) Adios! (Bernardo)  I really liked this interview. when Gabriel was talking, he was speaking to me the way that I think. It's hard to actually connect with something deep and meaningful, when he was talking, I was like, "Wow, it makes sense," Every now and then, it just hits you. It was really cool to see that he was in something I wanted to pursue. While I was listening to the interviews, that was starting to click in my head, "Yeah, I do really wanna do film. That is what interests me." It was always an idea. I think that's what my biggest problem was, I'm not a very confident person. That's kinda why I never acted on my interest in film, because I'd be like, "Well, what if I fail?" Definitely, these interviews are giving me something inside to push me forward. Do what you wanna do, you gotta start somewhere. Just keep doing it, If you really love it it'll come around, Just show your passion for it. I think what kept me going was: to prove them that they're not always right, just because they're older. If you guys are too young, I think it's trouble. You start getting cocky, you think that you're the cat's meow and stuff. When I did the magazine thing, It's just a matter of doing the work that's in front of you. what is interesting to you right now? Maybe this is what's interesting to you right now. ♪♪ (female announcer) To watch more interviews from the road and listen to the music that keeps us driving, visit www.roadtripnation.com Online you can learn more about the Movement and how to bring the Experience into your classroom. ♪♪ ♪♪ 

<p>In Boston, the Northern route team interview Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams and take a tour of the brewery. En route to Washington, DC, the Southern route team meets with Ann Tenales, Pulitzer Prize- winning political cartoonist. In DC, the Central route team sits down with Gabriel Garcia, independent filmmaker.</p>

Boston - Washington, D.C.

But I really didn't apply myself until I finally realized that, it's in your power to make of yourself. It's no one else can do it for you. And I think when that realization hits you it's all up to you if you wanna do something with your life. You can either sit around and complain about all the hard knocks that come your way or you can actually take control of your life. That made a big difference for me. 

Choices

Take Control Of Your Life

I was going to Arizona State University and I was floundering too. I was majoring in art, I was majoring in graphic design but I wasn't being very serious about it. [LAUGH] When you are in high school, you can usually say, oh I can draw better than anyone else. But when you get into college, you actually start to compete. I made a decision that I would drop out, which is something not in my background and I just said, I'm just going to apply to an art school because I needed to be serious about it. It was a big deal. I worked in a casino for almost a year to make enough money for the first year of art school cuz it's very expensive. That was quite a year for me, cuz I really made a decision that I was going to apply myself and go for a goal. But I really didn't apply myself until I finally realized that it's in your power to make of yourself, no one else can do it for you. I think when that realization hits you, it's all up to you, if you want to do something with your life. You can either sit around and complain about all the hard knocks that come your way or you can actually take control of your life. That made a big difference for me. >> Where did you get the confidence? It seems like, particularly, in any artistic field, there's a lot of ideas that it's not practical to go into it. >> Right. >> How did you reach the place where you were like, you know what, I'm gonna major in it or I'm gonna go to art school and this is going to be what I do? >> [CROSSTALK] [LAUGH] >> Yeah, and not just something that you would do for fun while you worked another job. >> Actually, that was a concern my parents had and I made a deal with my dad that when I went to college, I would minor in art and major in journalism. For some reason, that went absolutely nowhere, I mean I don't even remember taking a journalism class in college. I went to college in the early 80s, that's when everyone was majoring in business, everyone was gonna go to Wall Street. That never even occurred to me because I really knew that you're gonna be doing that for a long time and I couldn't see myself doing something that wasn't a passion, something that I really wanted to do. So that's the reason why I just continued on with it. >> What is about art that makes you passionate about it? >> I've always drawn as a kid, I mean always. The thing that's different with the type of art I did then was just I liked to draw, I just liked the actual motion of drawing. This stuff is really something that gets me going because it takes your ability to draw and then you can express an opinion through the drawing. Once I discovered this, that really clicked for me. I've always been very opinionated anyway but to be able to take something I actually do well, which is draw and stick it together, it's powerful. >> What got you in to this specifically? What was your exposure? >> I was up late one night doing a freelance job while I was working at Walt Disney and I watched the Tiananmen Square events unfold on television. It had such a powerful effect on me that I dropped everything and did an editorial cartoon on my own, no intent of publishing it or anything and that sort of awakened it. Then when the Anita Hill hearings happened in 91, I was so outraged watching those because I hadn't been political before that. But having been working in a private industry for several years and knowing about sexual harassment and knowing it happens, to watch Senate hearings where a bunch of guys are sitting up there saying, there's no such thing as sexual harassment anymore because we already passed laws for that. [LAUGH] That's when I decided to draw a series of editorial cartoons and send it out to various newspapers and try to get published and that's how it started. Just be ready to look at other doors, cuz I had a lot of doors open to me that I never thought about when I was a student and I took them and it worked out really well. [LAUGH] You can do anything you want, I didn't believe that when I was your age. I think it's part being scared and being frightened about what's out there, the unknown but you can do anything you want. Just try it. What are you going to do, fail? Big deal. [LAUGH] Just keep trying. You're so lucky, to be in this country and to have what's available to you, that you really should take advantage of it. A lot of people don't have what you have. >> We really appreciate it. >> You guys have fun, I wish I could go with you. >> Thank you very much. [LAUGH] 

Confidence

Failure

Fear

Honesty

Instincts

Passion

Transitions

Interview

What got you into this specifically? What was your exposure? >> I was up late one night doing a freelance job while I was working at Walt Disney and I watched the Tiananmen Square events unfold on television and it had such a powerful effect on me that I dropped everything and did a editorial cartoon all on my own. No intent of publishing it or anything. And that sort of awakened it. And then when the Anita Hill hearings happened in '91, I was so outraged watching those. Because I hadn’t been political before that but having been in working on a private industry for several years and knowing about sexual harassment and knowing it happens to watch senate hearings where a bunch of guys are sitting up there saying, well, there's no such thing as sexual harassment anymore because we already pass laws for that. [LAUGH] And that's when I decided to draw a series of editor cartoons and send it out to various newspapers and try to get publish, and that’s how it started. 

Getting Political

Just be ready to look at other doors, cuz I had a lot of doors open to me that I never thought about when I was a student. And I took them. And I, it worked out really well. [LAUGH] You can do anything you want. I didn't believe that when I was your age, I mean, yeah, I think its part being scared, being frightened about what's out there, the unknown. You can do anything you want, just try it. What are you gonna do, fail? Big deal. Just keep trying. I think you're so lucky to be in this country and to have what's available to you. You really should take advantage of it. A lot of people don't have what you have. >> I really appreciate it. >> Well you guys have fun. I wish I could go with you. >> Thank you very much. >> [LAUGH] >> It's a good time to get married. >> [LAUGH] 

Opportunity

You Can Do Anything You Want

Where did you got the confidence? It seems like particularly in any artistic field, there's a lot of idea that's not practical [LAUGH] To go into it, how did you reach the place where you were like you know what? I'm gonna major in it then I'm gonna go to art school and this is going to be what I do and not just yeah, and not just something that you would do for fun while you work another job. >> You know actually that was a concern my parents had and I sort of made a deal with my dad that when I went to college I would minor in art and major in Journalism. For some reason that went absolutely nowhere, I don't even remember taking a Journalism class in college. You know I went to college in the early 80's, that's when everyone was majoring in business, everyone was gonna go to Wall Street. That never even occurred to me because I really knew that you're gonna be doing that for a long time. And I couldn't see myself doing something that wasn't a passion, something I really wanted to do. So that's the reason why I just continued on with it. >> What is it about art that makes you passionate about it? >> You know, I've always drawn as a kid, I mean always. The thing that's different with the type of art I did then was I just liked to draw, I just liked the actual notion of drawing. This stuff is really something that gets me going because it takes your ability to draw and then you can express an opinion through the drawing, which once I discovered this, that really clicked for me. I've always been very opinionated anyway, but to be able to take something I actually do well, which is draw, and stick it together, it's powerful. 

Follow Your Passion

I was going to Arizona State University, and I was sort of floundering too. I-I was majoring in art--I was majoring in graphic design-- but I wasn't being very serious about it. [laughs]. You know, when you're in high school, you can usually say, "Oh I can draw better "than anyone else," but when you get into college, you actually start to compete. So I made a decision that I would drop out, which is something, you know, not in my background, um. And I decided I was going to apply to an art school because I needed to be serious about it. And uh, it was a big deal. I worked in a casino for almost a year to make enough money for the, for the first year of art school 'cause it's very expensive. That was quite a year for me 'cause I really made a decision that I was going to apply myself and go for a goal. No one else can do it for you. And I think when that realization hits you that, you know, it's all up to you if you wanna do something with your life, you know, you can either sit around and complain about all the hard knocks that come your way, or you can actually take control of your life. That made a big difference for me. 

Ann Telnaes

Political Cartoonist

Videos

Ann Telnaes

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

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Politics

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