Ja, well, no man is an island

JA WELL NO FINE is a perculiar South African expression which includes a positive, a negative and is probably the most non committal response to any situation.  Back in 1987 I was given carte blanche by the then editor of the newpaper then called The Sunday Star and was asked to produce a cartoon that was anything but political.  As an exercise for myself, I decided to tackle one of the oldest cliche cartoon ideas - the desert islands gag.  I simply wanted to see how many cartoons I could extract in that limited situation and learnt a lot along the way e.g. if one saw a daily cartoon which featured a desert island on a day where that space was a blank there would be an implication that although there was nothing to look at, a desert island did in fact exist - I finally came up with a caption for this space which was "I've been on this island so long I am beginning to question whether I exist and is there an island?" 

I called my one panel cartoon "Ja,well,no man is an island" and it became quite a hit!

As a little bit of personal history and probably the best story of my career is that I was told that years on a leturer at Wits University asked his student "Who said "No Man is an Island?"".  Once student answered in all seriousness - "Dov Fedler"!  I will be posting these old cartoons as I scan them, clean them up and add some colour - enjoy"   27 September 2011

monday idea vacuum sep. 26 2011

It is going to be morning of scribbling. Winnie Madikizela Mandela's 75th birthday today.  Problem is I need a cartoon for Cape Times Wednesday. Not keen on going after Winnie. Maybe something in birthday resolutions? Matches?
Cele fired this week?  Maybe Robert McBride to take his place? Here's a Winnie oldie.

Hooray - a start!

COVER FOR NOSEWEEK

The following illustration began like all my political cartoons. It starts as a layered pen sketch, that I then scan. Colour is rendered digitally.  Being a techno-idiot, I use an antiquated program called Corel  PHOTO-PAINT. It is a simple intuitive program that involves a minimum of keyboard. It essentially offers a palette of infinite colours. One can switch from pen to pastel to oil. One other thing. I use a pen and tablet and very little mouse so that the exercise is pretty good simulation of drawing.

Hold That Tiger - a process

It would be tedious to explain the issues that make up a particular cartoon. The drawings, I hope, explain enough.  This is one that took me a little longer. My problem was to accommodate more elements than I prefer. It needed a wider landscape. Normally, I get it in two. I was trained in advertising and work in layers i.e. I trace. The first impulse is generally the best.  Drawing does its own thing. I try to get out of the way.

This cartoon appeared on Saturday 17 September 2011.  There are two issues involved  - one is a rock singer called Ard Matthews who made a botch of singing our National Anthem at a rugby match. The other is Julius Malema, who is fighting to sing a song whose lyrics are "Kill the Boer".  When two issues collide so happily, ideas come very easily.

welcome to my blog

To any non South African, my name and work is totally unknown.  In my country, I have been a professional cartoonist working in editorial, advertising and have often been asked my process which finally, is the most interesting aspect of any artist's work.  What I will be posting onto this blog is a mass of material published and unpublished, sketches, experimental comics and everything that I do.  Hopefully there will be few words and more pictures. 
Enjoy. 
Dov Fedler
19 Sept 2011.

PS:  There is another purpose to this exercise and that is to solicit more work!  To do this just e-mail my business partner, Debbie Gardner at fedler@iafrica.com who will inform you of  all we have to offer!