Times-Advocate, 1988-03-09, Page 2Adv
Randy Jones puts the world on a drawing board
By Mark Bisset
"They pay you to be clever...the
more irreverent you are, the better
sometimes." -- Randy Jones.
Four of us stand in the foyer of a
writer/musicians apartment some-
where in New York City -- an illus-
trator from Israel, costume designer
Susanne Jones, cartoonist Randy
Jones and myself . Members of our
host's band file in at a steady pace,
depositing their cased instruments
in a pile beside us, nodding polite-
ly, and continuing into the hub of
CANADA -U.S. FACE OFF -- That's the title of this cartoon penned by Randy Jones. Jones is an art direc-
tor for United Features syndicate, the company responsible for cartoons such as "Peanuts" and Garfield".
,
the party in the main room.
Imported Molson Golden in hand,
Randy slips into the role of the sto-
ry -teller. He tells us about the time
he was at a party crammed with
politicians. Asked what he did for a
living, (you have to imagine a slow
grin spreading across his face)
Randy explained that he was a po-
litical cartoonist.
He spent the rest of the evening
completely alone, surrounded by a
kind of force field -which cleared po-
litical revelers ow of his path when
he tried to mingle.
As he tells the story, you notice
the gleam in his eyes andjou know
that he takes great pleasure in rock-
ing the boat ever so gently whenev-
er he gets the chance.
* * *
Susanne and Randy Jones live in
exactly the kind of place you would
expect a cartoonist and a costume
designer to live in New York -- an
old brownstone building nestled in
a row of old brownstone buildings
close to Greenwich Village.
Their apartment -- one long, nar-
row succession of rooms --Is like a
curiosity shop which begs to be
browsed through. On the walls are
framed cartoons and illustrations
from various publications. Carv-
ings, clay models and pieces of pot-
tery are arranged wherever a.flat sur-
face presents itself. A dress -maker's
form, complete with wide brimmed'
hat, stands in a corner beside one of
two drawing tables.
There is actually only one draw-
ing table in the apartment. As he
takes me on a tour of the place,
Randy explains that the second
drawing board, covered with a cur-
rent project, is usually their kitchen
table. His work load has been heavy
recently and, needing space to
spread out, the table was pressed
into service.
There is a couch in the kitchen.
Randy strikes you immediately as
a comfortable man who enjoys not
just what he does for a living, but
everything he does.
As a cartoonist, he has been pub-
lished all over. North America, as
well as in Europe, Japan and the
Far East. The New York Times car-
ries his drawings on a regular basis
and he has had cartoons in Time
Magazine, Newsweek International,
Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Busi-
ness Week, Money Magazine, Na-
tional Lampoon ("Put that one near
the bottom- of the list," he in-
structs), as well as top notch news-
papers across the United States --
the Washington Post, The Boston
Globe, The Chicago Tribune, etc.
etc. etc.
Randy, the son of Ted and Donna
Jones, was born in 1949 in Exeter
where he went to public school. Be-
cause no art courses were offered at
the Exeter high school at the time,
Randy _attended Beal -Secondary
School in London where he received
his only formal art training.
After Beal he found work in To-
ronto doing classical illustrations
for the University of Toronto
Press, but when work became
scarce, Randy headed for New York
City where opportunities were ap-
parently limitless.
That was in 1973.
With an impressive portfolio,.
Randy found it easy to break into
the newspaper field, but he did have
a driving force behind him.
"It was easy (to break into the
business) because you get motivat-
ed when you have to eat," he says,
grinning.
In 1980, Randy and 11 other art-
ists formed a syndication group
called INX but, plagued with too
many conflicting interests, the
group faltered. In 1983 the remain-
ing members of INX ("Inksters", as
Randy refers to them) went to Unit-
ed Features Syndicate.
United Features, one of the larg-
est operations of its kind, distrib-
utes comic greats such as Peanuts,
Garfield, Marmaduke and Nancy.
Today, Randy is an art director
for the company.
* *
*
On a back street tour of New
York City, we stop at one of
Randy's favourite stores. Inside, a
manwith purple hair takes our
packages and gives us a numbered
ticket, then we pass through a
shop -lifting detection gate into a
pulsing melee of plasma lamps and
lunar models.
Randy picks up a package of
A JONES CREATION - -
Above is an example of the kind
of thing that issues from the
pens and and pencils of Randy
Jones, formerly of Exeter, now
in New York City. Jones' work
has been published in top-notch
newspapers and magazines all
over the world. At right, Jones
sits at his drawing table in his
apartment on East tOth Street in
New York City where he lives
with his wife, Susanne.
freeze-dried strawberries from a dis-
play of "astronaut food" and sug-
fests 1 take them along on my
light home.
We flit from the bizarre to the ab=
surd and then Randy's attention is
grabbed by a box full of moulded
plastic animals. Among then: are
gracefully shaped whales and dino-
saurs. Fascinated by their contours,
he digs through the box uninhibited
andfinds-a pair to take home to -Su-•
sanne for Valentines day.
Caught up in his comic enthu-
siasm over the figures, 1 buy a •
whale for myself.
Later, away from Randy and what
seems to be his constant quest for
interesting shapes, 1 wonder what
possessed me to buy the thing. But
when 1 unpack my bags in Exeter,
the whale turns out to be the only
souvenir of my trip to New York.
11 has since taken a place of hon-
our in my apartment.
* * *
Every Monday morning, Randy
meets with 30 artists in the Pan
Am Building in Manhattan to work
out a number of concepts for politi-
cal and social cartoons. Each week
they have to produce cartoons deal-
ing with two current national sto-
ries, two international stories plus
"generic" cartoons that will remain
relevant for some time.
"Eighty percent of the drawings
• we produce are generic in the sense
that they are about poverty or the
economy," Randy explains, noting
that Margaret Thatcher is a favour-
ite topic among the cartoonists be-
cause of her "Iron Lady" image.
"We come in blind basically," he
says of the way the group develops
concepts for cartoons. "The news
initially takes a nap over the week-
end. It's important to catch the
news on Friday because usually by
Monday it starts just like a race and
then it stops Friday and it's dead un-
less there is a major storm or a dis-
aster." -
Thc group discusses the week's
news, develops ideas for drawings
and then makes rough sketches. By
Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. the
completed drawings are on their
way to the printer.
First thing Thursday, the finished
product is on the editor's desk and
the week begins all over again.
All angles of the political spec-
trum are covered by the cartoonists
who bring to the Monday tnectings
a variety of opinions.
"We have a very wide range of
views in our group," Randy says.
"Some. arc more conservative. and
some are more liberal -- and then
we get an extremist on both ends.
"We realize a lot of our papers are
conservative out there and we do get
a lot of letters, but that's okay too.
I like to be in a position where we.
can attack racism, fascism, pover-
ty.".
Randy admits that the pace of
working under the pressure ofs`n
stant deadlines' can be exhausting: -
His work is often, subjected to
changes and corrections in order to
reflect editorial opinions or the
mood of a specific article. .
"It's challenging and it's very in-
teresting because each job is differ-
ent and you don't know where your
next job is going to come from,"
the cartoonist says.
Though he spends a good deal of
his time in the graphics department
of The • New York Times, Randy
tries to work at home as often as
possible.
"I try to•work on inspiration as
much as I can," he says. "You have
to come up with a story. It's.much
like writing -- much of my. work is
concepts."
Asked if he follows a disciplined
work pattern every day, Randy
points out that, while discipline is
important, maintaining a profes-
sional attitude toward clients is the
kcy because he never knows who he
will be drawing for.
"There is a certain discipline, but
you have to be very professional
and very punctual."
He uses as an example a current
project, the portrait of a business
executive. It is a job he doesn't like
doing on a regular basis for the
simple t+eason that it will n •ver lx
published. Cartoonists need expo-
sure in order to pick up work.
Randy hopes to soon be in a po-
sition where he can work i• differ -
cot location and send hi< .+ Ings
in to United Features. I ar I Su-
sanne have just purch- properly,
in "up -state" ::cw Yorn
They hope to build on kit and.
make it their pertn:,n • ,ven-
tually.
The carto, '+ ' ., v.orl,►ng ,n
what he hopt ' i'mc a syndi-
cated cart, .l - - a process
•whi.,h is ,, :14clilt and time-
consumin4' An art Inuit have a
year's sc; ply of comic ,:rips
(roughly 300) as well as 50 colour •,,
comic. before the series can be con-
sidu et. vindication.
*
Aahar ,renes is the skinniest dog
I have ever seen. When.I first enter
the Jones' apartment, he hobbles up
to investigate me, then returns to
his thick bed in front of an electric
heater in the living room.
Randy tells me that the old dog
a companion since his early days in
New York -- has recently developed
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