Today's jpost.com cartoon

When the Likud merged with Yisrael Beytenu, most people thought this would guarantee a strong showing in the polls. Instead, the numbers showed the new combined party getting less seats than they did separately, with a good chunk of those missing votes apparently going to Naftali Bennett's Habayit HaYehudi. Several negative ads aimed at him and his party were then aired. Turns out Israeli voters don't really appreciate such tactics, as the Likud has continued to drop as low as 35 seats in the polls (their current strenth is 42) while HHY has risen as high as 15 (up from 3(!)).

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm roller tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

My Google cover photo

Hadn't viewed my Google profile for a while, but when I did I relaized that I could add this new content besides my profile photo, so I did. I originally wanted the pics within it to progress right-to-left in order of creation, but I changed that when I realized that a lot of the right side would be obscured by my incredibly handsome mug, so this is a bonus for you so you can see What Lies Beneath (answer: Tefillin Man, pre-DCNu characters playing darts in the afterlife, Ragman eating matzah, and the Drama Llama).

Drawn using:
Adobe Photoshop CS3

Today's J. Post cartoon

What an absolute bag of crock. The SAO investigates Avigdor Liberman for a dozen years, finally gets around to announcing that it will indict him--and then says it's delaying the indictment to do a bit more investigatin'. Freaking abysmal.
I decided fairly quickly that I had to do a cartoon on this with a sloth, tortoise, snail and moss-covered rock; deciding how to structure and phrase it took a bit longer. I am extremely with the results however.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

I knew for a while that I wanted to do something pithy about the 21/12/2012 hysteria. My first instinct was something like me sitting at a drawing board in a field full of sunshine and flowers and whatnot with a caption saying something like "Yup, still here" and an annotation saying that it was drawn before said date. However, I don't use a drawing board and the weather here's pretty cloudy and windy and gloomy, so that was scrapped.

This final product was drawn on December 21st itself, and it pokes fun at the notion that just because the Mayan calendar cycle ended some nutters thought that this meant that everything else would end as well. Because the Mayans were clever enough to predict Armageddon right down to the exact day but couldn't foresee their own civilization's destruction. Yep, that makes sense.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

Hurrah for bipartisanship! It means I can mock both sides at once!

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

I will not lie, this is a riff on the same general theme that I covered a while back for Pesach: no matter what our enemies throw at us, we're still here--maybe beaten, maybe bloodied, but not broken.
Chanukah same'ach.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

UPDATE: I'm not saying this cartoon has been reposted, like so many others, on La Boucle d'Occam... wait, that's exactly what I'm saying.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

United States, Canada, Israel, Panama
The Czech Republic, Nauru
Micronesia, the Marshall Islands
And also Palau
*needle scratch*

Nine countries. That's how many voted against this. Nine countries.
I'm going to look for an oven to stick my head into.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

The title just came to me in a flash of inspiration. First the talking heads deliberate and pontificate while the situation deteriorates, then there's a burst of action and violence, and then it abruptly ends without achiving any meaningful way to prevent the cycle from starting all over again.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

Remember when we used to win wars in six days? Now we give up on military operations after a week and change.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

The sketching process behind my cousin's bar mitzvah table-cards

Feeling bored today, so here's a behind-the-scenes looks at the creation process behind this set of drawings.
First things first, we had to agree on how the caricature should look: cartoony, realistic, detailed, etc. These are the sketches I did based on some photos of him, done roughly in order from left to right:

Eventually the style in the top right was what was chosen. Then came the quick thumbnail sketches of each individual drawing, whose content had been agreed on ahead of time:

In this case, my "client" (ha ha ha) had no editing requests, and so matters continued apace until their inevitable conclusion.
So... yeah, that's how it all went down. Toodles!

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Blue ballpoint pen

Today's J. Post cartoon

For the record, each time the Iron Dome system intercepts a rocket, it fires two missiles at $40,000 a pop. No wonder Mr. Fischer (head of the Bank of Israel) looks so distressed.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's jpost.com cartoon

As if he doesn't have enough on his hands, Bashar Assad's also making belligerent noises at both Israel and Turkey. Not a very wise idea, bub...

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Blue 0.7 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's jpost.com cartoon

For the GOP, it's time to play the waiting game again...

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

A full week after it first appeared online and a mind-boggling nine days after drew it in the first place, this take on the Lucasfilm sale finally saw print. Because that's fresh news, right?

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm needle-tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

I really, really messed up the perspective on this one.
Stay warm, East Coasters, you've got another blizzard coming your way...

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Blue 0.4 mm pilot pen
Blue 0.7 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's jpost.com cartoon

A theoretical mega-party combining all the country's top center-left politicians has been bandied about in the media recently, despite the ridiculously slim chances of this ever happening (and by "top politicians", I mean a failed ex-prime minister who has already been indicted and still on trial for other stuff, a failed ex-Kadima leader who accomplished nothing and isn't currently in the Knesset, a failed current Kadima leader who's leading his party down to the threshold level in the next elections, and a completely politically inexperienced journalist/screenwriter). When Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely dismissed the idea as "science fiction", a terrifying idea was hatched in my mind:

Behold! Ehud Olmert as the man with more closed criminal investigations against him than any other Israeli politician! Tzipi Livni as the super-pessimist who blames Binyamin Netanyahu for everything! Shaul Mofaz as the unaccomplished political laughingstock! And Yair Lapid as the dogged nice guy completely out of his depth! Together, they are the CENTER-LEFTERS. And I am not even sorry

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

With Muslim riots at a fever pitch thanks to the dissemination by persons unknown of The Muhammad Video and several Westerners already dead, French newspaper Charlie Hebdo (a leftist satirical weekly) decided it would be a good time to put a cartoon of His Prophetiness on the front cover. I admire their courage, if not their intelligence. (Apparently they're unfazed by what happened the last time they published a Muhammad cartoon.)

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's jpost.com cartoon

Venerable Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv seems to be failing fast and may soon go the way of the dodo. "Ma'ariv" is also a Hebrew word with the same root as the one for "sunset". Frankly, this was just too good to pass up.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

Sadly, despite the writing on the wall, this remains an idealized imaginary outcome instead of what's actually happening, which is the Jews of Europe for the most part staying despite such attacks on freedom of religion as a Dutch bill banning religious slaughter that has already passed in the Lower House of Parliament and a German appellate court declaring brit milah a criminal offense.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's jpost.com cartoon

Godspeed, Mr. Armstrong. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, your "one small step"--etched not in stone, but in lunar dust--should last undisturbed to infinity and beyond.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Blue 0.7 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

To appease Republicans who view him as too moderate, Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his running mate--and may have overcompensated.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

Expanding on the idea of Nero fiddling while Rome burned, here's America leading the rest of the world in very pointedly not doing anything of consequence to help the situation in Syria.
UPDATE: Another repost via Brave New World. Let's hope this becomes a trend!

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Alien businessman

Here's one that's slipped through the cracks: one of my earliest drawings for a freelance bid (unsuccessful).

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Blue 0.5 mm needle tip pen
Serif PhotoPlus

Today's J. Post cartoon

Just because I'm a religious right-winger doesn't mean I can't make cartoons lampooning or criticizing those of my own ilk. Behold, the shortsighted stupidity of the bad apples who make the whole barrel smell rotten!

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

"A Financial Guide To Aliyah and Life in Israel" sample illustration

Written with the working title "Aliyah: A Financial Guide", Baruch Labinsky's AFGTAALII is now on sale, with illustartions such as the one above by yours truly! So if you're thinking of making aliyah, buy this book and get ready to be both educated and entertained!

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen

Today's J. Post cartoon

Well, this is certainly a precedented achievement... and by "precedented", I mean having the Post print a cartoon of mine three days in a row for the first time in three years.

And what a cartoon! This is one of those cases where all I have to do is let the actual quotes speak for themselves without embellishment, because there's no way I could make them more ridiculous than they already are*. (And in case you're wondering, yes, the Iranian ambassador to the UN actually said this, apparently with a straight face. The mind boggles.)
*Okay, so I clipped/altered words here and there to form two complete sentences, but these are essentially straight quotes.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

Congratulations, NASA! (And congratulations to me, too, for having the Post print my cartoons in back-to-back issues for the first time since November.)
UPDATE: Further congratulations are now due: this is my first-ever cartoon to be tweeted by the Post itself.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

While it may have been most appropriate to draw this prior to Tish'a BeAv, this is sadly all too true all the rest of the year as well.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Kaitus: The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Magician

I did this for the cover of a book that's a retelling of a story by Janusz Korczak. It's on sale now at Amazon as an e-book, and may or may not get printed as an actual book--I'll have to check about that.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Adobe Photoshop CS3

Washing hands

Done as part of a series of illustrations for an app to help learn gemara.

Drawn using:
Adobe Illustrator CS3

Today's J. Post cartoon

The White House press secretary actually said that Mitt Romney was "ignorant of history" when he called Jereusalem the capital of Israel. Mr. Secretary, you can stand on your hand and hold your breath till you're blue, but history--actual, real-world history--carries much more weight than a few piddling decades of don't-rock-the-boat foreign policy. (If you think this motif looks familiar, you're right.)
UPDATE: Another reposting at VVvI.
UPDATE 2: My first double-double! This time LBdO gets in on the fun as well.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Chef slicing cucumber

Drawn using:
Adobe Illustrator CS3
Adobe Photoshop CS3

Today's J. Post cartoon

Thought up this joke off the top of my head during a conversation on this subject a couple of weeks back, finally put it to use here.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

Remember how during the last Winter Olympics they spontaneously decided to hold a moment of silence at the opening ceremonies in memory of the Georgian luger who died on a training run? Yeah. But for the Munich Eleven, oh no, it's not even worthy of consideration. (Are we bitter? You bet we are.)

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Amp Cellular/Eichler sticker

Sticker done to be placed on back of phone.

Drawn using:
Adobe Photoshop CS3

Kitchen room background graphic

Just a bit of messing around with patterns and whatnot.

Drawn using:
Adobe Illustrator CS3
Adobe Photoshop CS3

Today's J. Post cartoon

The much-vaunted unity government coalition is now in jeopardy, with both major partners eying each other mistrustfully: who will will be the one to pull the trigger?
UPDATE: Daniel Dagan strikes again!

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

Yes, this was pretty much the reaction of Ehud Olmert and his supporters once he was partially acquitted of corruption charges, charging that some sort of nefarious cabal of conservative American Jews was behind everything. Hypocritical much?
(On a side note, drawing Haim Ramon in a Puritan costume was much more fun than it had any right to be.)

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Angry bull

Adult male bull, 3/4 front view, ready to charge.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen

Today's J. Post cartoon

Look, they've both got to do with tunnels, okay?

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Cross-Posted Classics: A Mockracy (7/7/09)

This marks the end of the Cross-Posted Classics; as of now, all of my Post cartoons are now available on this blog!

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad commenting on the arrogance of his Iranian subjects.

I guess everything old really is new again, innit? This depiction of Iranians protesting the hotly contested 2009 election results calls to mind the later "official" Arab Spring riots--including a striking (and unintentional) similarity to one I drew this past November.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.7 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus 6.0

Princess drawing

Here's a princess and a (pet?) dragon standing in front of a castle.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Black 0.7 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus SE

Today's J. Post cartoon

With the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare, I had the opportunity to do a follow-up to my original take on it that I'm sure you all remember from three Septembers ago. The cobwebs are gone, the doctor is constitutional, and Charlie Republican is about to pay through the nose. Why's Snoopy there? Heck if I know.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

In today's presentation of literal metaphors, we bring you the chasm between the IDF and the chareidim about the army draft, with neither side displaying willingness to budge on the issue.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Cross-Posted Classics: Crossbones (6/30/09)

Barack Obama is making peaceful overtures to Syria's Basher Assad. Yeah, that's smart...

Boy, some things never change, do they?

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black ballpoint pen
Serif PhotoPlus 6.0

Today's J. Post cartoon

Behold! A complete and total butchering of Vladimir Putin's face! Why yes, I drew it from memory and without referencing any actual photos, why do you ask??
UPDATE: Reposted as the "Weekend Cartoon" on Brave New World.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Today's J. Post cartoon

It's all about priorities, people.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Cross-Posted Classics: Snakebit (6/24/09)

When Mahmoud Abbas releases Hamas-affiliated prisoners from PA jails to spite Israel and the US, he's running a bit of a risk...

It's amazing how crude the caricatures of these three look to me now.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black ballpoint pen
Serif PhotoPlus 6.0

Today's Jerusalem Post cartoons

In print:

While most Western countries are ramping up their economic sanctions on Iran, one country noticeable for its lack of "enthusiasm" in this field is Switzerland, Iran's best trade partner in Europe. One hopes that they come to their senses soon.
Online:

Here's a very simple rule to follow: if you say you're going to vote in favor of a bill even if it means you'll be fired from being an committee chairman or cabinet minister, then don't #@^$&%*?ING backtrack. So very, very simple... and if any of these five losers think no one will remember this, then they can just think again. This one absolutely makes my blood boil; the alternative to drawing this was scrawling "COWARDS COWARDS COWARDS" sll over the page. Urgh.

Drawn using:
No. 2 pencil (sketch)
Black 0.4 mm pilot pen
Black 0.5 mm pilot pen
Serif PhotoPlus Starter Edition

Amp Cellular banner ads

Internet ads done for a Jerusalem-based cellphone service provider.

Drawn using:
Adobe Photoshop CS3