Interview With A Political Cartoonist
Image Source: YouTube:
Aislin- real name Terry Mosher- was born on November 11th 1942 in Ottawa, Canada. He has been creating from a young age. As a young man, he won his fine arts college entrance by forging his high school graduation certificate; he calls this his greatest work. During school, he spent summers drawing tourist portraits in Quebec City.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts, he decided that, instead of painting, he would keep drawing and became a political cartoonist. He was the official cartoonist of the Montreal Star from 1969 to 1972 when he moved to the Montreal Gazette.
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His work has also appeared in multiple other publications and has authored over 50 books. Many of his cartoons- 14,000 of them- are held in the collection of the McCord Museum in Montreal. His artist’s name, Aislin, is a shortened version of the name of one of his daughters.
Source: National Film Board of Canada
CS: What is your creative process when it comes to concept/story/joke generation?
Aislin: Most authors will walk across hot coals to make a deadline; it becomes their sole focus. I have been doing this for close to sixty years, and I’ve done everything from political cartoons to baseball cartoons for the Montreal Expos. I have wide interests, and the creative juices can get flowing at any time of the day.
CS: What is your creative production process for your comics? Traditional? Draw, then scan? All digital?
Aislin: I use every method I can; I can sit and watch a cartoon get created no matter what. Sometimes, I do use pure drawing to create a cartoon, scanning them afterwards, other times, I use a tablet to draw and then drop-in elements to create an image digitally.
CS: What have you learned since you started creating/sharing your work that would be useful for budding artists to hear?
Aislin: To succeed in what you're doing, you have to have wide interests and techniques. Move around a bit, and try different techniques from the ones you are used to. This can make a big difference.
Image Source: IdeaCity
A good place to start when exploring Aislin’s work would be to explore the online collections of the McCord Museum in Montreal. It features many cartoons that Aislin drew himself, as well as others that he has donated to the collection. He has been the subject of multiple exhibitions there, as well as others in many Canadian cities.
In addition, he has been the recipient of multiple awards; in 1985, he became the youngest person ever to be inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame. His cartoons have also courted controversy; one 1993 cartoon resulted in his becoming the first political cartoonist ever to be censured in the House of Commons. Other notable tributes include having a stamp issued by Canada Post to honour his many decades of work.
To check out more of Aislin’s work, visit his Blog.
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