Dubai: Walt Disney famously called it "a flight into a dimension that lies beyond the reach of time". The American businessman and Disney Cartoons founder was talking about his craft — cartooning. It is a tough art to master.
In pictures: Selected Gulf News illustrations
Ask the millions who slave away with brush and pen desperate to find that hairline balance between fantasy and reality to convey reason and thought. Newspaper cartoons have an added dimension — they are a tool to promote free speech and support content.
It is a realm of the weird and wonderful, where truth finds voice in colours and strokes.
The World Press Cartoon (WPC) body recognises the talent of these quiet masters every year by hosting selected works from around the globe at a special exhibition in Portugal followed by a book edition.
This year Gulf News had the maximum entries and selections — 10 illustrations from the main newspaper, three from XPRESS and one from Friday magazine.
Four hundred artworks were picked from over 4,000 entries for the World Press Cartoon Sintra 2010 Exhibition.
The display is open to the public until July 4 in the Sintra Museum of Modern Art, Portugal.
"In the World Press Cartoon 2010 a number of themes are naturally assessed, [such] as the Barack Obama Nobel Prize and the death of Michael Jackson," explained salon director Antonio Antunes on the WPC website.
"We have more and more works in competition, new authors and new countries, what is creating a wide culture representation of different countries.
It is easy to compare the differences between countries with freedom of speech and others with restrictions."
In its sixth edition, the WPC focused on its "commitment to promote the cartoon while journalistic approach, award the merit and the talent of the best and promote the freedom of speech as a supreme human value".
We present conversations with our recognised artists...
Newspaper cartoons are a realm of both fantasy and reality. Gulf News' talented designers and illustrators share the challenges and inspirations that shaped their selected cartoons. Here they relinquish their brushes and graphic pens to talk to Readers Editor Anupa Kurian about their art.
Gulf News Design Director Miguel Angel Gomez discusses the importance of the World Press Cartoon 2010 recognition:
What is the significance of the World Press Cartoon win for Gulf News?
It is a big achievement. We are the newspaper with the most entries selected, and one of our artists is the only one that had all [three] his works selected. It shows the talent of the team and the expertise they developed after years of practice. This recognition motivates us to keep giving our best every day.
How many entries have been published and how many did we send?
We submitted 22 illustrations and 13 were selected to appear in the book [and exhibition].
Why do you believe we were awarded with so many published entries?
We have very talented staff, they manage various techniques and illustration styles; apart from their illustration skills, they are able to understand a story and synthesise it into a strong concept that is simple to understand.
Most newspapers have a single style when it comes to illustrations/cartoons but Gulf News allows diversity of styles - why?
The UAE is a diverse country and we want this diversity to be represented in our pages. We set high quality standards for our illustrations but apart from that we want the voice of each artist to be heard. For me a page where all the illustrations have the same style is not consistent, just flat.
What does this mean when it comes to overall excellence of the product?
An excellent product is the result of excellent inputs from all the areas involved.
