Monday, February 23, 2009

Happy Birthdays, Ted and Joe!

I don't normally do many caricatures of political figures, as my preference is for showbiz entertainers. However, over on the National Caricaturists Network (NCN), our esteemed senior member, Jan Op De Beeck, has come up with a daily challenge for us to draw a celebrity he has chosen who is celebrating his or her birthday that day. That's what led to my recent caricatures of Lee Marvin and Ellen Page, by the way. This past Sunday was Senator Ted Kennedy's birthday and, since he's a politician I quite admire and respect, I thought I should do a caricature tribute to him. (Don't forget - we have him to thank for being one of the major players to endorse Barack Obama in the presidential race!)

Admittedly, I have somewhat mixed feelings about Senator Joe Lieberman, who celebrates his birthday on Tuesday. Though a Democrat, Joe also seems to have one foot firmly planted in the Republican camp, being somewhat hawkish in matters of defense and foreign policy. Still, I do respect him for speaking his mind and voting accordingly, as I don't believe anybody should slavishly adhere to the party line on every issue.

Incidentally, I have to share this funny YouTube clip I came across, as it turns out that somebody else agrees with me in noticing the similarities between Joe and the "son" of Stimpy in an episode of John Kricfalusi's "Ren and Stimpy":

6 comments:

Club Caricatura said...

Hello, I am a great admirer of your art and talent

Regards from Chile,
karlo

Kelly Toon said...

I am not a big fan of Lieberman, not only for his hawkishness but also because he strongly supports the "War on Drugs," which has cost the lives of thousands of American citizens, and even more lives have been lost to this ridiculous prohibition at the border between the USA and Mexico. The people down there are understandably mad as hell over our willingness to promote the culture of violence, murder, and crime that is a direct result of criminalizing drugs such as pot, heroin, and cocaine.

Kelly Toon said...

ooooh, I'm wrong, I'm thinking of Vice President Joe Biden! Well, now you know how I feel about him :p

Jim A. said...

Ha! Definite similarities there between Lieberman and "Son". I believe "Son" was inspired by presidential candidate Paul Tsongas who ran against Bill Clinton in '92.

Sadly, I just learned he has since died back in '97.

John said...

just want to let you know I have passed on the Dardos Award to your blog.

http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/the-dardos-awards/

chumpmonkey said...

Great stuff all over this blog, Pete! I'm an animator (Sheridan graduate) and caricature enthusiast. It's disappointing to me I missed out on being taught bu you, but you did teach several friends of mine- Mike Higgins, Greg Brown, Eric Henze, etc. Anyway, I've been a longtime fan of your work, particularly your caricatures.