Case study: CARICATURASIBIZA
Here I present my political satire cartoons made under the name of Caricaturasibiza. Below I comment a very recent case and explain one of these pieces creation process.
On this article’s writing date, in March 2023, the criticism will be focused on Vicent Marí, current Ibiza’s Council President. He is mentioned in actual political information at national level mass media, since he has been charged in corruption cases and in these days, some images have beeen published related to his work lunch with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the main opposition leader, PP’s national president and candidate for Prime Minister, who is being accused of “brotherhood with delinquents”. The client contacts to tell me that there have been some news related to the purchase of 6 “new” buses by the Council, that in fact are not so new, they are second-hand, they produce a lot of smoke and we have controversy over the matter. He specifically requests that in the new vignette, Vicent Marí (Ibiza’s Council President) and Javier Torres (2nd Vice President of Ibiza’s Council, Ibiza & Formentera’s CS coordinator and accountable for local bus service) must be the targets for the caricature, and that all 6 buses must appear, that they have to emit a lot of smoke, that people included in the scene need to wear gas masks and sends me LINKS TO RELATED NEWS like this one. There I begin an analysis phase of the case and search for inspiration. These are some of the images that I found, they are a some photos of the people to be caricatured and other pictures that would be relevant later.
After the analysis, I captured the general approach for this cartoon with a sketch, which I usually do by hand on a sketchbook. In the foreground, both 2 leading politicians would appear at a bus stop along with other citizens, about to ride on one of these famous buses while putting their gas masks on. They should suffer all “benefits” of their arrangement in their own flesh!. Managing to include so many buses was a challenge and the concept immediately led to the fact that they would appear in a row and with a good perspective so that they could all enter in the composition. At this point, the sketch is always sent to the client to start previewing and making the first general adjustments to the concept and texts, until OK is received. It is different for each piece, but in general terms the client proposes some texts and I complete their initial writing in this sketching phase. Sometimes only a very general approach is proposed to me and I am free to shape it as I decide and write all the texts. The client can make changes to the piece up to the last minute, but in the sketching phase everything is already quite defined.
I digitize the approved sketch using a scanner and use it as background for reference, inside a Photoshop template file that I have prepared with the header and some preliminary balloons. The inking phase begins, drawing all the strokes and also typing all the texts. One of the drawing’s stylistic features used is that the silhouettes of the leading figures and those relevant elements in the foreground are reinforced with thicker strokes so that they stand out from the background, especially when it has a lot of detail.
Another related new is published that commnets on the complaint by a citizen with reduced mobility, he explains that those “new” buses are not well designed to allow his access. New balloons are included in this phase to highlight this fact and complete the texts; Placement and size of comic balloms are very important factors that greatly influence the composition and are taken into account from the beginning. Some recurring elements that are repeated in the vignettes can already be imported into the document to continue adjusting the composition, like our talking sheep, a character that has a clear function: Created to be used as a joker card, Caricaturesibiza’s spokesperson when we have something to say.
The first of the following images shows the strokes layer drawn with my graphics palette, overlapped over the sketch I use as a reference; Each vignette has a different creation process that varies depending on the concept, the characters and elements that appear, the background or environment to be represented, and the general complexity of the piece. They are always digital illustrations with a refined finish and within this category, they are mixed creations combining drawings with photomontages, photographic textures and also 3D graphics. How to caricature people that you don’t know and have never seen? I use person’s face pictures, that after having been treated and deformed using tools such as Photoshop’s liquify to exaggerate their traits, are used together with the sketch as a reference to trace the faces guaranteeing the resemblance. To execute some of these face strokes, I tend to use skin color dark shades instead of black, which softens a lot the expression and the final result.
The second image is the color base layer created for this piece. First of all, I color each element’s area in the composition or fill it by applying images of fabric, sand, wood or any material to give texture. The color bases for the faces, are set using the selected face pictures of the protagonists that are treated, blurred and smudged, until they look like cartoons. In a second pass through all parts of the color base created, I use Photoshop’s expose/burn tool on each area to give it volume; it is about painting highlights and shadows always taking into account the supposed placement of lights and what type of lighting you want to give to each part of the vignette.
Actually each character and element should have its own strokes layer and color base layer separately, so you can easily reposition and correct all components if necessary.
The following image shows the final artwork, the result of superimposing all stroke layers in multiply mode, over the color bases created. The final details are incorporated, which in this case would be different Ibiza images composed in panoramic to recreate the strong reflections that always occur in tinted glass surfaces as bus windows and also their “Transport Public d’Eivissa” labels; these details help a lot to geographically situate the scene. The intention is that the buses that appear are like those that are the object of satire and have been seen by the residents of the island. The previous investigation of the news and images analysis are essential to finish off the piece well and give it meaning. One of these these vignettes style features is their header, which has a different color in each piece; On this occasion I chose orange color after seeing one of the selected photos background color that alludes to the institutional color of Ciudadanos (CS), Javier’s political party.
Making a vignette with this finish takes me between 1 and 2 working days (from 6 to 16h), depending on the complexity of the piece, the number of characters and the amount of adjustments requested by the client.
Making a vignette with this finish takes me between 1 and 2 working days (from 6 to 16h), depending on the complexity of the piece, the number of characters and the amount of adjustments requested by the client.
These finished pieces are also supervised from the legal point of view, to avoid the mistake of publishing unfortunate criticisms or jokes based on personal details; The consequence could be a formal complaint. From the beginning I suggested to the client that we should not refer to anyone by their real name in the cartoons, so that they are not so direct allusions to anyone and public can only “know who they are by their physical resemblance”. As we said in some occasions, we intend to make people smile and become aware of the delicate situation, including all the protagonists of the vignettes, so these pieces should not be taken as a personal attack in any case.
Caricaturasibiza becomes 10 years old
In 2013 the first cartoons from Caricaturasibiza were released. At the beginning they were published weekly, there have been phases with a fortnightly or monthly periodicity and long rest periods as well. Today the action continues thanks to Francisco Vilás, a private client with great sense of humor who has not hesitated to request caricatures of himself to be included in the pieces as one more of their characters. We have created full-color digital illustration vignettes with a quite particular style and finish. Local politicians in Ibiza and some national level leders such as José Manuel Soria (Industry, Energy and Tourism Minister, who was also related to multiple corruption scandals). I have had the opportunity to write small monologues and extensive texts on occasions, such as the introductory letter for the recompilation comic of the earliest caricatures, that was printed back at the end of 2013 and can be downloaded from my Koji account after registering to Xátiva's newsletter: DOWNLOAD HERE. They have been published in different print and digital media such as Prensa Pitiusa, El Diario de Ibiza and the local edition of El Mundo, so that some pieces have required several different format adaptations. Some exceptional works that I have been allowed to sign as the author. Long live Caricaturesibiza!
During these 10 years we have produced a large number of cartoons to attract people’s attention and have been a critical voice that rises up to denounce the sometimes very questionable management of Ibiza’s politicians, we have joked about many public services problems, and have diffused messages on social, civic and environmental awareness. It is difficult to present the best selection of vighettes, but below we have a good sequence that alludes to the events that led to the resignation of the mayor and a series of dismissals in the Ibizan government in year 2014… We like to think that the critical media pressure exerted by Caricaturasibiza is a headache for vain politicians, a true destabilizing factor for some of them and an elegant and very artistic way to protest!
A recopilatory comic book, with pieces from the fist year of Caricaturasibiza (2013), can be downloaded from my Koji account after registering to Xátiva's newslette:
