Ding-dong! Roughs are here. All of these were drawn Thursday, August 19, and Friday, August 20, except for…

…except for this cartoon. This cartoon was drawn today, Saturday, August 27. I wrote this cartoon this morning and spent a long time writing it, then lettering, changing things up as I went along. And right after I sent it to my two proofers…got a better idea. So, I sent the better idea to Laura and Hilary, the proofers, and they both agreed the new idea was better. So, I scrapped this, shoved it aside, and did the better idea. I published that cartoon Saturday afternoon.

Even though I spent a long time lettering this cartoon, I wasn’t indecisive about pushing it aside to draw the other cartoon, despite it being after 1 p.m. on a Saturday. I knew I was doing the better cartoon and didn’t mind the lost time.

I like this while not being in love with it, though I do love riffing from Peanuts.

This one is interesting as this is how it started, and then I realized the cartoon should be simpler, so I took nearly everything out except Liz and Kool-Aid and zoomed in. You probably already saw it. The official version was a big hit with several of my clients publishing it. The Week made it their Editorial Cartoon of the Day on Facebook.

When I was at this point in the cartoon, I thought to myself, “Who is really good at cutting to the chase with an idea?” And, I thought of Lalo Alcaraz. So I thought to myself again, “How would Lalo do this?” And that’s what I did. He doesn’t know it. Anyway, hat tip to Lalo.

Instead of combining both issues into one cartoon, I removed the Trump bullshit and made it entirely about the teachers. Maybe you saw it too. The pen setting was still in blue from my last cartoon, and I left it there because I was kinda digging it.

This one didn’t go anywhere.

This one didn’t go anywhere either.

I drew this up and before I could make it official, I saw a few other cartoonists make the same association and point. So I let it go.

I was still thinking about this one a week after sketching this out until my colleague Nick Anderson (who lives in Texas) did one on the very same issue with a catapult. I emailed him this rough with a “yousonofa…” He said he liked mine better while I liked his better. He also thought it was funny we both went for catapults, but I think that might have been obvious to both of us when we were coming from the same thought process. That thought being of just how cruel and vile this is to human beings just for some political profit. I still want to do something on this issue.

I drew a similar image fairly recently so if I was going to draw this, I’d probably change the layout. I may still draw this one. I think some of my newspaper clients would like it. I think if I do it, it’ll just be for the 70s T-shirt.

I thought this was a great point to make…

…But this version was funnier. It became a real cartoon too. Plus, I had been wanting to work “woke sausage” into a cartoon.

And this became a real cartoon. But, I was kinda disappointed at the lack of reactions to it on social media, especially after spending five hours on it. Disappointed. Was everyone asleep when I published it last Saturday? Actually, today’s Saturday cartoon performed less than expected. Do my readers on social media not read on Saturdays?

This became last Sunday’s CNN cartoon and it went over like gangbusters, receiving over 500 shares on Facebook. My only regret is that I couldn’t send it to my newspaper clients because they would have eaten it up faster than Oz eats up crudites.

Yeah, this one didn’t go anywhere. It’s not very good but I did like Rudy having a martini glass with him.

Which of these are your favorites?

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.

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