Happy Monday! Today if you open any major newspaper published by STUFF (which after a quick wiki search, it seems like it’s most of them) you might notice that ya’ boy has reached the mainstream. That’s right team, I’m now doing “editorial cartoons” for the big leagues, well, kind of, I’ll be their fill-in guy when the other cartoonists need a break.
My first submission was a slightly altered version of the above. I didn’t check the dimensions of the cartoon until after I drew it (classic Dan move), so I had to expand it and also removed the road-worker arms at their request (a reasonable request IMO). So this is what graced the papers this morning:
For background on the comic, National and Act have hit out hard at unnecessary spending on road safety, including “too many road cones” (that keep roadworkers safe) and “over-engineered pedestrian crossings” (That keep pedestrians safe) and removing speed limit reductions and pitching raising them even further which experts have claimed “will lead to more deaths and serious injuries on our roads”. But cutting back on health, safety, and wellbeing measures to save a few dollars here and there is becoming a dark recurring theme for this coalition.
Art-wise, I was inspired by the Gorillaz first album cover, and wanted to include the ‘make it click’ car as it was an icon of road safety for me as a child, so him being used recklessly on the road by Seymour, brown, and Luxon seemed like a good metaphor for their changes.
It was a fun cartoon to draw, and having to think up an idea with a deadline time crunch was also a fun challenge, I’m looking forward to doing more hopefully in the near future!
Danz.