Countdown to Cartoon Judgement Day

This week, our Canadian chapter of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS) will be corralling around the submissions pictured above to judge and select the winner of the 2011 NCS Divisional Award for Newspaper Panel Cartoons.

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us.

Still, I think it's tremendously encouraging to see so many entries because each one represents a professional cartoonist working at his or her drawing board (traditional or digital), creating cartoons for audiences to enjoy.

Right now, fellow NCS chapters across the United States are preparing to judge (or have already judged!) other divisions of the NCS awards, from animation to illustration, gag cartoons to greeting cards, comic strips to comic books, and more!

The nominees for all divisions will be announced sometime in the next few weeks on the NCS website. And the winners will be recognized on May 26th at the 66th Annual NCS Reuben Awards dinner (being hosted this year in Las Vegas, NV).

As current NCS president, Tom Richmond, has described:

"The Reubens have been called 'the Oscars of cartooning,' and this is exactly what they are. It's where we celebrate and recognize professional excellence in the art form, and where we show the rest of the world what great cartooning is being done in various areas of our industry."

The most prestigious of all these awards is the Reuben Award for "Cartoonist of the Year." This year, the nominees are ...

• Brian Crane, creator of Pickles
• Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine
• Tom Richmond, best known for his MAD Magazine work.

More detailed bios of each Reuben nominee can be found on the NCS website.

And so, get ready to place your bets folks! The cartoonists are getting ready to go on a roll (and have a dinner roll or two) in Las Vegas.

Special thanks to Canada Post, the United States Postal Service, and other international couriers, for their help and patience delivering all the division award entries. I can now go back to cartooning in my pyjamas.

BTW ... Tom Richmond has posted a very cool "behind the scenes" look at how he created the above Reubens poster art.

Stay TOONed!

- Mike Cope

"Unsolicited Valentine" Gag Cartoon in Reader's Digest Canada Magazine (Feb. 2012)

Happy Valentine's Day!

In honour of this special day, I dedicate my above gag cartoon to everyone who has ever had their heart broken (most especially all my fellow artists and dreamers out there).

Currently, my "Unsolicited Valentine" cartoon can be found in the As Kids See It humour department of the February 2012 issue of Reader's Digest Canada Magazine. The really cool part is that you can not only find this issue available at the usual bookstores and newsstands, but now, via the iBookstore from Apple's iTunes. Best of all, the February issue is absolutely FREE, so go steal yourself a kiss, I mean, copy while you can!

Here's a sneak peak of the Reader's Digest Canada app running on an iPad...

Gag Cartoon: "Unsolicited Valentine" in RD Canada Magazine (February 2012).

Click the above image to see more of my gag cartoons in My Selected Portfolio.

And here's my "Sweet Valentine" YouTube video of last year's cartoon being inked for your enjoyment...

Special thanks to the editors at Reader's Digest Canada.

Stay TOONed!

- Mike Cope

COMIC: "WebVoyagers in Yukon Quest" - Published in The Canadian Reader (Feb. 2012)

The February 2012 issue of The Canadian Reader is now available to subscribing schools across Canada.

For this month's WebVoyagers comic, I had plenty of fun illustrating an action-packed sled dog adventure. Students will follow Sasha (a german shepherd) as he travels through the family's magical laptop and joins the real-life Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race!

Teachers can find related lesson plan activities and worksheets accompanying every WebVoyagers comic in each issue of The Canadian Reader (or Nos Nouvelles en français).

Here's a sneak preview of the comic ...

WebVoyagers in Yukon Quest (Written by Vivien Bowers, Illustrated by Mike Cope)

About The Canadian Reader:
The Canadian Reader / Nos Nouvelles is a classroom-ready current events resource for students in grades 3 to 5. This publication, available in English and in French, combines current Canadian events and issues with geography to expand students' knowledge of Canada while enhancing their ability to read and understand informational text. Published eight times during the school year, each issue focuses on one of six key reading comprehension strategies – making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, summarizing, and synthesizing/transforming.

For more details please visit http://lesplan.com

Stay TOONed!

- Mike Cope