ONE LOVELY DRAWING, part 76

This is a 1933 political cartoon by Vaughn Shoemaker.  It appeared in the Chicago Daily News, which went defunct many years ago:

Look at how smart this drawing is!  Shoemaker understands the architecture of a rowboat and knows that the keel would make it tilt on dry land.  He understands the bone structure of ankles and makes those feet tilt at different angles.  He understands how the shoulders would hunch up in this position and he understands how the wrists would curl:

Shoemaker also understands the architecture of a pier.  Look at how the boards sag, how the posts in the foreground are stained by the previous waterline, how the posts in the background are mere black shadows to lend structural strength with no distracting details:

I've never seen a digital tool make marks like this

Notice how the shadow under the pier is cross hatched to stay lively; this avoids a big black blob in the center of the composition.  More importantly, it allows Shoemaker to control the value of the shadow, darkening it as it recedes in the distance: 

Notice some of Shoemaker's tactics to keep the drawing lively.  He clearly understands how a coil of rope would normally hang, but he twists the end of that rope all around.  He understands the anatomy of hands, but he gratuitously lifts that pinky finger to make it more interesting:

Drawing a political cartoon every day, Shoemaker had to work at lightning speed, which meant he had to understand all these lessons before he sat down at the drawing board.  He had no time for a field trip to study how a pier is constructed or how a receding waterline leaves marks on the shore. Yet there's a lot of confidence in his thick, fast brush strokes.

Here's my point:  In 1933 there were thousands of political cartoonists such as Shoemaker working for thousands of newspapers like the Chicago Daily News.  Often these cartoons appeared on the front page, above the fold.  Today there are fewer than 40 full time political cartoonists left, and the number of newspapers is rapidly dwindling.  Daily newspapers have turned into weekly newspapers, and many of them can no longer afford an editorial cartoonist on the payroll. 

Shoemaker was not one of the more famous cartoonists but I think his drawing is noteworthy, so I want to make a point of noting it here.