References and inspiration # 3 - Bruce Petty

Bruce Petty is Australia’s pre-eminent political cartoonist and Academy Award winning animator. His political cartoons appear on a regular basis in The Age, while his animations - which tend to be more oriented towards socio-cultural issues than government politics - appear on broadcast tv, cinema and in art/film collections and archives. His rather intricate animations are produced using traditional analogue techniques that translate his drawing style into an animated sequence.



The Age, 11/08/2006



Click here to view full movie at www.dl.filmaust.com.au

References and inspiration #2 - Michael Leunig

I have always enjoyed the whimsical, poetic and philosophical nature of Michael Leunig's cartoons. His leftist beliefs are unapologetically expressed in his political cartoons, some of which have attracted a degree of controversy: Chaser cartoon stunt



Some of Michael's more recent political cartoons employ digital technology in the cutting and pasting of colour photographic images, as shown above. I am interested in how digital technology is contributing to the evolution of political cartooning; the capacity to print high resolution images in colour certainly offers new opportunities for cartoonists.

Michael has also produced animated versions of a number of his cartoons, which is why his work is particularly relevant to my research. In 2002 he completed production on 50 one-minute stop-motion animations, which are featured on his "Leunig Animated" DVD.

More on Michael later...

References and inspiration #1 - Peter Nicholson

I've always been a fan of Peter Nicholson, Australian political cartoonist extraordinaire, creator of 'Rubbery Figures' and - since 2002 - a digital animator.

His Flash animations can be seen on The Australian online news site, Youtube, and on his personal website:

www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au

Here's one of his animations:



Peter's animation software of choice is vector-based program Flash; he makes use of a graphics tablet to apply to his animations the same distinctive drawing style seen in his hand-drawn cartoons. Peter's animations typically employ vibrant and colourful hand-drawn graphic elements that are crudely animated; and clever dialogue voiced by the talented Paul Jennings. Each animation - generally around 30-40 seconds long - is completed within about two days, with Peter generally churning out one each fortnight (give or take).

What I wanted to do with my research - produce and disseminate animations within the framework of a regular weekly/fortnightly news cycle - was what Peter was already doing. So I needed to approach my research from a different angle, and that was to investigate how portable digital communication technology, alongside internet-based content, might impact upon the traditional political cartooning paradigm.

I'll be talking more about Peter's work in later posts. For the mo', let's look at another influence...

The proposal...

The School of Art don't muck about when it comes to research proposals. It took me a while to put together a document that clarified my topic, the context for the thesis, methodology, development, outcomes, precedents and related issues...

4000 words later, I had a proposal that offered a pretty comprehensive framework for my M(Phil) studio-practice and sub-thesis components. I put the split at 80:20, but this may well change further down the track if I have the opportunity and motivation to transfer this program to a PhD.

This is the bread and butter of it all:

"My research will be an examination of the relevance of political cartooning in its historical contexts and new media applications.

The project will explore the impact of the electronic media revolution on the traditional printed political cartoon image, and investigate the use of computer animation techniques in retooling political cartooning to a new media context.

Research into Australia’s contemporary political cartoon landscape and Australian artists making political, animated works will provide a theoretical context for the making of digitally animated work that is disseminated within the framework of a regular media cycle.

In developing methods and processes through which the traditional printed political cartoon can adapt to the electronic media environment, this project will establish a contemporary relevance to the political cartoon as an effective device for subversive political comment."

With that out of the way, I was ready to get it on. I began my M(Phil) March 31, 2006.

In the beginning...

In 2004 I took up a position at the ANU's Centre for New Media Arts, lecturing in animation. No kidding. Here I am:

http://www.anu.edu.au/newmedia/pages/staff.html

Following earlier careers in design, high school teaching and training, I decided academia was the place to be. So I approached Dr Martyn Jolly and Helen Ennis at the School of Art to discuss potential research projects.

When Martyn asked me what I was interested in, I said, "animation, politics and cartooning". Having no idea myself how all these might fit together, I was surprised and delighted when, after a discussion about making political animations, Martyn suggested that I could "retool the long history of political cartooning to a new media context".

And there it was, a research topic - all I had to do was write up a proposal.