2009 Toon Awards!

This past weekend several NCC members drove down to picturesque Lake Okoboji, IA to attend the 2009 Toon Awards Exhibition, held at the Pearson Lakes Art Center right in Okoboji (in the town, not in the lake). It was organized by Toon-Ed, a cartoon education group led by Sioux Falls cartoonist Ken Alvine. Veteran magazine gag cartoonist and Iowa resident Dave Carpenter and Ken did a fantastic job with the show, program and all the arrangements. The folks at Pearson also did a great job, especially Lissa and Danielle. It's not easy setting something like this up.

Toon-Ed is dedicated to educating the student of cartooning and provides a chance to showcase students cartoon art that are enrolled in post-secondary schools, colleges, art schools, and universities. Cartoon art students were invited to participate in the TOON Award. Speakers did presentations on Saturday and an exhibit of professional cartoon art opened in the main lobby and landings.

The Cartoon Exhibit-

Cartoons hanging in one of the Pearson Center landings

This was pretty impressive. It included original works from a lot of big time cartoonists. There were original comic strips including work from Chris Browne (Hagar the Horrible), Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman (Zits), Greg Evens (Luann), Lynn Johnston (For Better or for Worse), comic book pages from Stan Goldberg (Archie) and many other great examples of professional cartooning being showcased. I have two original MAD pieces hanging right by the bathrooms were they belong! Some of the artwork was donated to the raffle conducted on Saturday night and some to a silent auction that ends with the end of the exhibit. The show runs until June 27th, so stop in if you find yourself in the area.

An original "Zits"

Artwork by Bucky Jones

An original "Luann"

An original "Hagar" Sunday

Some original garbage from MAD

The Student Competition-

Ed Baker pronounces judgement

College students 18 years of age or older were welcome to submit up to 3 pieces of their original works of cartoon art to the Pearson center for inclusion in the competition. The submissions were hung in a special gallery at the Art Center. There were only 13 artists with entries but some very enjoyable and solid work.

The work was be judged by a panel of professional cartoonists on Friday. The panel included NCC members:

• Chris Browne of “Hagar the Horrible”


• Ed Baker -Emmy award winning storyboard animator


• Paul Fell- Editorial Cartoonist


• Buck Jones - Humorous Illustrator


• Tom Richmond of “Mad Magazine”

Judging was not easy, there were easy arguments to be made for the worthiness of just about every entry. We each picked an artist for best work in comic strip, animation and illustration categories, as well as best overall work. Judging was fair and there was no bribery involved, much to our disappointment.

The artists recognized were:

• Best Comic Strip- Eric Lee Johnson (Northern State University)


• Best Animation- Katy Elder & Roman Serebryakov (Des Moines Area Community College)


• Best Illustration- Roman Serebryakov (Des Moines Area Community College)


• Best Illustration- 2nd Place- Alex Heberling (Ohio State University)

Award winner Alex Heberling

And the 2009 Toon Award for Best Overall Work:

• Eric Lee Johnson (Northern State University)

Eric Lee Johnson and his award winning art

Congratulations to the cartoonists and all who entered. Your work looks great in that gallery.

Cartoonist Speakers-

On Saturday there was be several workshops on cartooning by professional cartoonists:

• Dave Carpenter, Magazine cartooning


• Jim Allen, Dissecting a Cartoon


• Ken Alvine, Cartoon Ingredients

Because there was also a "meet and greet" with the cartoonists upstairs I only got to catch Dave Carpenter's talk, which was fascinating. Gag cartooning is both a great art form and an interesting business. Dave is one of the top gag cartoonists in the business, with a long list of frequent clients including the Harvard Business Review, Barron's, Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, and many, many more.

Dave Carpenter talks cartooning

Chris Browne and fans

There was also a main speaker following the Saturday Evening awards banquet. "Nebraska's Cartoonist" Paul Fell shared his work including his editorial cartoons, sports cartooning, caricatures and illustration. Paul also talked about the future of cartooning and the internet, and showed us his latest efforts in online cartooning including the free subscription service The Daily FellToon, and his new online Huskernutz store.

As expected, it was a fun time. It's never dull hanging out with other cartoonists... illegal sometimes, but never dull.

New work for a new blog site.

This is for a new blog in Lincoln that promotes the arts and a little politics and opinion. They asked me to do some cartoons. I'm having fun with this one.

A MAD Caricature Convention

The International Society of Caricature Artists (ISCA, formerly known as the NCN) just announced their guest speaker(s) for the 2009 Annual Caricature Convention and Competition on November 2nd-7th in Sandusky, Ohio:

It’s an all MAD lineup featuring:

• Sam Viviano- Longtime MAD artist and current art director
• Mark Fredrickson- MAD cover artist and well known humorous illustrator
• Hermann Mejia- The brilliant “artist’s artist” for MAD, caricaturist, painter, sculptor, genius
• Tom Richmond- An unworthy schlub along for the ride

More art...

The pitcher was done for MLB...one of my Reuben submissions this year. The other Wahoo cowboy was done while I was helping our Humor Studio a few years back. I wish it could have been available for a submission but it didn't qualify. Still one of my favorites.

Back with More Politicians

Christmas 07-Peanuts collection

In light of Tom's request for postings-Here is a series of illustrations I did some time ago. The collection of 4 (below) had LED lights that would go off when the cover button was pressed. The lights were placed in the circles.
Hope you like 'em. I love working for Peanuts! I mean..."with".

Revised NCC Chapter Meeting Schedule

NCS Reuben competition rules prohibit anyone but full members of the NCS from being present during the actual judging of the competition. Therefore we have scheduled the judging for Saturday morning, prior to our 1:00 pm full chapter meeting and speakers. Here is our revised schedule for Saturday, February 21st:

8:30 am- Meet at Downtown Holiday Inn for breakfast.
9:15- am- 1:00 pm- Judge our division in private Holiday Inn meeting room.

Scheduled speakers:

• Cedric Hohnstadt- Minneapolis area illustrator & animator
• Tom Floyd- veteran comic book artist
• Jeff Koterba- Omaha World-Herald editorial cartoonist.

1-2pm- Meet at Dish (11th. and O), eat lunch (attendees responsible for purchasing own lunch)

2-5pm- General business meeting and announcements. Some drawing events and activities. First speaker of the day.

5-6:00- Cocktails and dinner (again at attendees own expense)

6:00-????- Our remaining two speakers will make their presentations. This will be followed by socializing into the night.

Participants are responsible for paying for their own food and drink during the Saturday schedule.

Official Chapter Meeting Schedule

From meeting organizer Paul Fell:
____________________________

Here's our schedule for our Feb. 21 National Cartoonists Society chapter meeting and cartoon award judging.

All activities will be held at the Dish restaurant in their lower level party room. Dish is on the corner of 11th and O Streets, right in the middle of Lincoln's downtown entertainment district. It is only a couple of blocks walk from the Downtown Holiday Inn (9th. and P) where some of our members are staying.

Right across O Street is a city parking garage, so you don't have far to walk from your car.

Just a reminder... the reduced rate for rooms at the Holiday Inn is on until Feb. 9. The rate is $94 a night for a double. For reservations call the front desk directly at 402-475-4011 and tell them that you are part of the "NCS N. Central" group.

Here's our schedule for Saturday, which, by the way is FREE to all comers. Our featured speakers will be:

• Cedric Hohnstadt- Minneapolis area illustrator & animator
• Tom Floyd- veteran comic book artist
• Jeff Koterba- Omaha World-Herald editorial cartoonist.

1-3pm- Meet at Dish (11th. and O), eat lunch and watch judging of NCS editorial cartoon division entries. We have received around 30 entry packets, so there will be lots of great work to see.

3-5pm- General business meeting and announcements. First speaker of the day.

5-6:30- Cocktails and dinner.

6:30-????- Our remaining two speakers will make their presentations. This will be followed by socializing into the night.

Participants are responsible for paying for their own food and drink during the Saturday schedule. Our chapter chair, Tom Richmond, refuses to pick up the tab for anyone to whom he doesn't already owe money.

Meeting Location in Lincoln Set!

Chapter treasurer Paul Fell and chapter black sheep Mike Edholm have secured our venue for our chapter meeting in Lincoln on Sat, Feb. 21st.

The meeting will be held at the "Dish" restaurant in downtown Lincoln, in the "Dish Downstairs" private event room starting at noon until whenever. Members will be able to order off the sandwich menu for lunch and, more importantly, there is a bar. Our judging and all our speakers will take place at this location.

"Dish" is a short 5 minute walk from the Holiday Inn, where we have an NCC discount rate on rooms booked before Feb. 9th. For the convenience of those driving in for the day, there is a city parking garage right across O Street from Dish.

We now have well over 30 submissions, so it will be quite the task reviewing all the work. Lots of great cartooning, great speakers and great company. Best of all no fee for attending. I hope to see a great turnout. If you haven't been to a meeting in some time please try and make the effort to come.

Greetings Fellow NCC Cartoonists!

Just wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself here. My names is James Hungaski, and I have recently become a member of the National Cartoonist Society. I have been a humorous illustrator for a number of years, for both publication and advertising clients. I currently live in Anoka, MN with my wife Kelly, newborn son, Lucas, and our dog Maxx.

I am looking forward to meeting many of you at the upcoming chapter meeting, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Meanwhile, please visit my blog, to view more of my work, in addition to my website, which is www.hungaskiillustration.com

Thanks to fellow members Tom Richmond and Ed Steckley, for helping me become a part of this great organization!