Author: liza

My Left Hand vs My Right Hand: Creativity Revisited

Breaking a bone is common, but when it happens to you, it’s all consuming. I broke my arm a few months back, and wrote about it for The New York Times. For the first time in my life, during the healing process, I couldn’t draw with my right hand.  I got to know my left had very well, and wrote about it.   The Times published some of the drawings and writing about the experience in the Sunday Op Ed section (7/22/18) and online. Here is the link.
During the months of healing, The New Yorker published one of my drawings that I did with my left hand!  

 

And here are some of the drawings. 

 

Animations On CBS This Morning

As Resident Cartoonist of CBS News, I was invited to create animations for a story on CBS This Morning. The story is about people who wear “uniforms.” Not the traditional police or nurse type of uniform, but clothing they select and then buy numerous sets and wear every day.  Like Michael Kors and Steve Jobs, for example.
When President Barack Obama was in office, he wore the same type and color of suit all the time. Remember when he appeared on tv in a tan suit

and the Internet went wild with speculation? I immediately drew this image to the right as I watched him on television. No one listened to what he said, which was a serious talk about terrorism.
Steve Jobs said if you wear the same thing all the time, people will listen to what you are saying and not what you are wearing.  I believe this, and acknowledge that this can be a complicated discussion when it comes to gender.
The animations were integrated in a very creative way, I was thrilled to be a part of this.  Here is the link to the story, and the drawings are below. CBSN’s Vlad Duthiers was the correspondant who told the story, and performed an interesting workplace “experiment.”  Kira Kleaveland was the creative producer of the piece.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solo Exhibit Of My Political Cartoons In India

I was honored to have an exhibition of my political cartoons in Bangalore, India at the India Institute of Cartoonists.
It makes me very happy that my work was able to travel, it can speak as well  (if not better) as I can in person. Seeing my cartoons about women’s rights  be shown in different countries, as well as my cartoons about politics and life in the United States means a great deal to me. 
India has a long, fascinating history of political cartoonists, and I have read some about it in Caricaturing Culture in India, by Ritu Gairola. It is fascinating to me to see how different cultures approach cartooning, and how different countries find humor in their lives. A vital art form that often is a risky profession, in many countries cartoonists are jailed for creating satire about their governments.  
Cartoons can cross borders–in important ways, and in difficult ways– when words cannot. We have seen with the Danish Cartoon Controversy in 2006, and then the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris in 2015 that cartoons can be misunderstood and the result can be deadly.  A firm believer in total freedom of speech, nevertheless I am finding it a complicated line to walk. It is a line that requires trying to understand how one’s work might affect others, while drawing about issues that are important to you and you feel need to be expressed. I wrote about this in The New York Times following the death of cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo publication in 2015,  here.
Many thanks to the organizer, V.G. Narendria, and his colleagues at the India Institute of Cartoonists for giving me the honor of having my work cross the border into India, a country I find fascinating. 
Interview with the New Indian Express
Interview in The Times Of India
Cartoonists and Amarnath Kamath
Mr. Girish Karnad, actor and writer

Animating Earth Day

For many, Earth Day is about picking up trash to make our surroundings more beautiful. As I  thought about that, I came up with the visual idea that while Earth Day takes many forms and many activities, it is ultimately  about putting our Earth back together.

Here is my initial sketch to flesh out the idea:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the animated version that was published by CBS News:
 
Finally, I decided to complete the initial sketch and make a still graphic narrative piece, with an ending that for me, brings it all together:

Appearing In Parade Magazine

I remember when I was growing up, along with the comics in the Washington Post, I always looked forward to the Sunday magazine, Parade. It was visual, so right down my alley.  I am very pleased that this week, I appear in the online version of Parade. Journalist Dr. Nancy Berk did a wonderful job interviewing me in advance of my speaking at the Erma Bombeck Writer’s Workshop next week, April 5th in Dayton, Ohio. Also thrilled about that! Thanks to my friend and very funny comedian Wendy Liebman, for making that happen. Wendy is an instructor at the workshop every year. I can’t wait!