The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-10
THE CARICATURISTS ART
HOW CARTOONS IN THE FUNNY
PAPERS ARE PRODUCED.


jects Suggested by Facial Outline.
Selecting the subjects.
From the Neto York Her0Id.
Fame and fortune do not prevent the
caricaturtst having his troubles no less than
the rest Of US. Now and thsn good sub
ject for his pencil is nominated for an i'm
portant Office or otherwise brought before
the public eye, but this is only now and
then. In the main the men who command
popular attention are not good subjects 70 T
caricature in pictures,
If you could call all the caricsturists of
this country together and get a frank ex-
preston of their views they would doubt
less tell you that President Harrison Is a
mighty mean man for having made up his
cabinet entirely OF men who cannot be sue
cessfully caricatured. And as for Postmas-
ter General Wauamaker, he Is the very
worst OF them all. M. Blaine was the best
but ne was never regarded as a very good
subject Nothing but his extraordinary
prominence in affairs caused him to be
pictured at all. One Ben Butler is worth
more to the caricaturist than all the mem
bers of the present cabinet
asked Joseph Keeper. the prince OF
caricaturists, why this Is 80.
KELLY THE BEST.
"Well, )" said he. "a mau Is a good sub
ject according TO the number of things his
face or his character suggests. Some men
can be made into anything. They have
faces which suggest ev erything from a man
to a bullfrog. Gen. Butler is the best one
now living in this country. John Kelly
was the best one ever saw. l could draw
him In any guise, as a man, bull, an owl,
anything almost, and yet preserve his like
ness. There was great deal OF the animal
In his face. That accounts for II. E"
Perhaps it is worth while here TO tell how
Mr.. Keppler does his work, the manual part
of it, before touching upon the interesting
mental phases of it. First, then, he makes
q charcoal outline on piece of paper, the
merest skeleton of the pictures he intends
to produce in colors on the Autographed
page. This drawing has no detail in 1t,
aud is so devoid of even form that a layman
would be unable TO say whether it is plot
ure Of a man or of a tree.
| It is drawn merely to aid Mr.. Keppler in
getting at the size of the picture to be
made When he has measured it upon a
photographic stone and found Ii fitting TO
page or double page of Pack be lays the pa
per upside down upon the stone and pats it
lightly. Thus some of the charcoal is made
to adhere to the stone-a mere faint sug-
gestion Of the size the picture Is to be, II
there are to be five coiors in the picture he
repeats this process on five stones. When
this Is done and each stone bears the same
faint outline he begins making the pictures
IN colors directly upon the stones. Let us
suppose he is 60 make a picture OF man
with a red necktie. black hat and coat, yell
low trousers and green gloves. First he
makes the necktie upon one stone, then the
black hat, coat aud boots upon another, the
yellow trousers upon another, the green
gloves upon another and then the flesh tint
of the face upon another. In other words,
he puts all the black things upon one stone,
| all the red things upon another and 90 on,
only one color on a stone.
THE MECHANICAL WORK.
Tho Photographic stone Is a product Of
| Germany. 1t lie peculiarly porous. The
drawing upon it Is done with q greasy
crayon, aud this grease prevents water
from penetrating the stone at those points
where the color is laid on. The stone after
being thoroughly saturated with water is
ready for the press, for the ink is OF such a
character shat IL will adhere OHly 60 the dry
| or greasy portions Of the stone, 30, Of course.
| nothing shows upon the printed page save
| what MIR. Keppler has drawn with his
| orsyon upon the stone. Mr.. Ksppler al
| ways attends personally to mixiag the col
ors Of ink for his pictures.
Ii usually takes him about two days 10
make y kuu page OF QOuOle page piCbufcs
How do you get your ideas for car
toonsi" asked OF him.
"There are three of us here" said he.
"who read all the daily newspapers Of Ne Y
York. l read the Herald and Post and the
others divide up the rest Of the papers be-
tween them. In the morning we meet at
the office, and by comparing notes deter
mine what is the most important topic Of
the day-that ia 70 say, what will be the
most important topic a week hence for our
paper goes to press a week ahead of iss day Of
issue on account of the time it takes to
print it.
THINKING WITH A PENCIL,
''Wheu we have chosen the topic the
next thing is TO settle upon the treatment of
it. This Is accomplished by thought and sug-
Restions. Sometimes we hit upon the right
idea the first thing, but oftener we begin
with one idea and end with another 80 diff
ferent that nobody would recognize a trace
of the first suggestion in it l do most of
my thinking with my pencil. l cannot
think things out any where 80 well as right
here at my table with my pencil in my hand.
Frequently | start in to draw one picture
and so insignificant thing as a stray line
will give me suggestion so that | will
change the whole idea.
Sometimes, too. when take up my penS
Gil, and even before have made a mark
VIII IL, Gdu sec hpOoSAhiAlLI Vi plO-
icing an effect which q moment before
had regarded as a perfectly easy thing to
do. You know drawing is very different
from describing thing in words. In one
case you can see building, for instance,
from all four Sides but IN the other you
have only side to work on. and yet you
must make that one side carry q suggestion
of the whole"
GETTING PORTRAITS.
"How do You get your portraits of mem"
| asked.
"It is much easier nowadays than il used
to be-" said Mr.. Ksppler. almost every
body of importance is photographed now,
but few years ago it gave me no end Of
trouble to get likenesses Of people. Very
few men we're willing to sit for me, OF
course, and yet there were some who really
wanted to be caricatured and would help
me in every way they GOULD. But most Of
them would keep out OF my sight IL they
knew me.
IT remember one man, a banker in this
city, whom chased for long time trying
to get his picture l followed him into
restaurants and all sorts of places, but he
always managed very adroitly to keep bis
face from me- OF cou 90 l did not wish to
be too ru ie about it, But at last | had TO
have his portrait. so l made fiinasy ex-
cuse for calling on him at his bank and
managed to get into his private office with
out sending In my card. Being once inside
could not very well be put out, though l