KAL unveils animated Barack, Hillary

Economist cartoonist Kevin “KAL” Kallaugher unveiled his animated Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton last night at Atlanta’s Alliance theater. You can see the video on the Economist’s web site.

7 thoughts on “KAL unveils animated Barack, Hillary

  1. i don’t know about disrespect. comment directed at the candidates in a 4 minute cartoon amounted to:
    – hillary saying “i’ll start to cry” (you can just make it out near the end);
    – and obama being surprised by the 3 am phone call.

    kal, the liberal, didn’t even take a poke at john mccain other than a “geezer” reference done in the most indirect way.

    there was a very general suggestion that the process is messed up and a little more specific indication that bill clinton is self important.

    bush, however, took two or three direct hits. i am pretty sure he was included (and given a podium in this democratic debate?) just to have someone safe to skewer.

    kal’s caricatures are great, as always, but other than that, this is really just a gag cartoon employing political figures that move (and i hesitate to use the word gag here given the lack of humor). it just restates and rephrases the current situation.

    in the print world, that type of editorial cartoon doesn’t have a lot of reason to exist, but you spend a few seconds on it and move on. a 4 minute version of one, though, makes you a little upset you spent the time on it.

    i do like kal’s editorial cartoons so i am assuming he has greater things planned for future animations.

  2. This is the problem with the vast majority of the animated “editorial” cartoons I’ve seen, where it’s style over substance. They can be cute, funny and entertaining, but rarely do they ever make anything close to an editorial point. I think Mark Fiore is still doing the best work in this field, from what I’ve seen.

  3. Along the same lines, the Ringtails NYorker cartoons, to my thinking, are actually LESS funny after shoving them thru the animation make-over hole.

  4. I totally agree with Mike and Wiley and would like to add that Ann Telnaes is creating some fine animations. Plus the cartoonist godfather who has been animating longer than anybody, Bill Mitchell at CNN understands the medium while still packing a punch.

    That’s part of the beauty of the medium is that there are so many different levels ‘n’ looks it’s going to take a little time for cartoonists to truly understand what works and what doesn’t. In the meantime we may have to put up with some attempts that miss the target.

  5. Milt Prigee wrote: “…itâ??s going to take a little time for cartoonists to truly understand what works and what doesnâ??t. In the meantime we may have to put up with some attempts that miss the target.”

    Exactly.

  6. IMHO I think short 60 second or less animation works best.
    The Pearls Before Swine cartoonist did an online interview and he said that he thought that short was best. I tend to agree with him.

    The online comic “What The Duck” has some really good samples of short animated content.

    I like KAL’s 3D work. 3D allows you to “build once” and reuse
    those digital assets for other work. Flash is good but is is still TOOOOO time consuming and limiting to do as a true “one man band”. Fiore does great work as a “one man band”.

    3D has a higher learning curve AND requires a more expensive digital studio, but in the end 3D is worth it. You can do camera angles and other things that Flash just can’t do.

    The problem is the online editors and producers. They want you to do 2 minutes or more. That is a lot of work and is very hard to produce alone.

    Online editors often want you to do one or two of these animated cartoons per month…PLUS do your “regular” cartoons…AND they don’t want to pay alot more for the animated content.

    Doing animated content IS NOT like doing a “goofy” “YouTube” video, most online editers/prducers just don’t understand this.

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