I drew a lot of roughs last week, plus…I’m tossing in three more from over a month ago.

This is from last week after Vladimir Putin announced sanctions on several American politicians. Hillary Clinton was one of them and she was honored. I would be too if he sanctioned me.

One of the people he did NOT sanction was Donald Trump. Gosh, I wonder why. Funny thing is, he might be the one politician Russian sanctions might actually hurt. I might return and draw this cartoon later if sanctions become a big item in the news again.

This rough is from January when Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement and President Joe Biden reiterated his campaign promise of nominating a black woman. This cartoon was in the maybe folder and officially dead after President Biden made his pick, and I probably could have posted it here then, but I forgot this was in the maybe folder.

This was drawn in late February when President Biden nominated Judge Jackson to fill Breyer’s seat. I saved it for the hearings and placed it in the maybe folder, though I knew it wasn’t a maybe and I was definitely going to do it. I showed this to my friend Karen when I first roughed it out and she loved the “touch your hair” line. Karen is of mixed race and is so unlike a “Karen.” I added a few more text bubbles to the cartoon but the “touch your hair” line was the most popular with readers. Some famous people tweeted it out where it got tens of thousands of retweets, shares, and it got me a lot of new followers. Oddly enough, it didn’t get any major reprints. It wasn’t touched by The Washington Post, Politico, or The Week.

This was also drawn in late February and saved for the hearings. It got a lot of online love and The Week did publish this one. I changed it from elephants to several of the actual senators. Today, a friend shared with me a post on Facebook where someone had drawn poop stains around the mouths of the Republicans. That angered me, not because they were disrespecting the Republicans but because they had altered my artwork. Cartoonists hate that. Now, there are thousands of the manipulated version being shared and reshared without people even knowing it was doctored. You might think something about my cartoons needs to be improved, but they’re not yours to improve. Leave them alone.
I complained to a person who shared the manipulated version, which got over 100 reshares, and then she blocked me. Steal my work then block me when I complain about it. Nice.

Excuse me while I get on a soapbox: This is why I care so much about ethics in the business because, without them, we’re telling readers and editors not to respect us. From American cartoonists working for Russian state media to Daryl Cagle syndicating an “anonymous” cartoonist, to cartoonists placing clipart into their work hoping to trick people into thinking they drew it, to cartoonists who trace photos instead of caricaturing, we ourselves are saying we shouldn’t be held to any standards. Fuck that.

I think I did the official cartoon from this rough last weekend.

I have to warn you that the rest of these roughs are not very good. This is from last week. This one is OK.

I liked this one too but my editor didn’t want us to focus on Trump with this issue. I agreed.

OK, maybe they’re not all bad as I kinda like this one too. What stopped me from doing it was that there have been so many Putin Reaper cartoons since the war began. I’ve drawn one as well.

Ugh, I forgot this Reaper one was in here. I think I was the first cartoonist to put a “Z” into a cartoon about the war, and now everyone’s doing it. Also, sunflowers. There have been so many sunflower cartoons.

Now, they’re all going to suck from here. this one isn’t good because these two topics aren’t that closely related.

I don’t know what I was going for here. Did you know back in my performing days, I used to host open mics. And, they usually got worse than the Putin stand-up comedy in the cartoon.

Bleah. Me no likey.

Ugh. I don’t like this either. I did see a lot of no-fly zone cartoons featuring flies this week.

I did do a Putin/Kanye cartoon last week, but it wasn’t this one.

Then, I was going for a comparison of how large Zelensky is in stature to Putin. To be honest with you, I had a hard time feeling it. So, this is where the roughs really start to suck. This concept was requested.

No.

No.

Another no.

I think this was the best from the stature ideas, but it wasn’t chosen.

This just flat-out sucks.

This idea led to the next one.

This last one is the cartoon CNN chose for last week’s newsletter. Honestly, I don’t love it but it did OK in getting some online love from readers. So what do I know?

Which of these are your faves? I know…it’s “touch your hair,” isn’t it?

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are 19 copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402.

Watch me draw: