Dan Wasserman "Out of Line" Presentation

 Above March 12, 2012 cartoon by Dan Wasserman, copyright The Boston Globe.


Boston Globe editorial cartoonist Dan Wasserman gave a talk on March 31, 2012. Titled "Out of Line," it was the final program of the month-long One Book One Town series in Sharon, MA. Amy Nachbar reports for the Sharon Advocate.

A few excerpts:

Some of his earliest influences were Garry Trudeau, known for “Doonesbury,” Tom Toles of the Washington Post, Herbert Block of the Chicago Tribune, and Bill Mauldin of Pinstyle.com. But his first influence was his own father who was an amateur artist and exposed Wasserman to drawing as a young boy.

He said he still draws the old fashioned way with pen and a drawing board and then enhances his work on the computer once the drawing is complete.

Wasserman said he has five rules for men of his trade: democracy was designed for cartoonists, it's tough to compete with reality, cartoonists have attachment issues, religion is a funny thing, and politicians need cartoonists desperately.

Sometimes Wasserman gets hate mail which he also shared last night. One man sent him a nasty letter which was highly insulting and another letter a few weeks later. Wasserman recognized the signature on the second letter and when he turned the card over it had the name of the man and his wife with a photo of the man's house, address and the two family dogs.

Read the entire article here.