So, the other day I got this idea stuck in my head about drawing an abortion political cartoon. Don’t ask me why, maybe saw something online or in the news, you know how it is. Seemed like a challenge, and I like fiddling around with drawing sometimes.
Getting Started – Or Trying To
First thing, I grabbed my tablet. Okay, what’s the message? That’s where things immediately got sticky. This whole topic is like a minefield, right? You take one step, and boom, someone’s mad. I wasn’t trying to start a war, just kinda wanted to sketch out a thought.
I tried a few rough ideas:
- Maybe something with scales of justice, but that felt kinda boring and overdone.
- Thought about using symbols, like a coat hanger or a medical instrument, but geez, that felt way too aggressive, almost like shock value for its own sake.
- Tried focusing on the “choice” aspect, maybe hands pulling in different directions? Looked clumsy.
- Then I thought about the legislative side, like politicians messing with things they don’t understand. Sketched some old guys in suits tangled up in red tape. Kinda cliché, though.
Hitting a Wall
Every angle I tried felt… off. Either it was hammering a point too hard, making one side look like pure evil, or it was so vague nobody would get it. It started feeling less like creating something meaningful and more like just picking a team jersey. You draw this, you anger group A. You draw that, group B comes after you. It’s exhausting.
I looked up some existing cartoons on the subject. Man, it’s a rough landscape. A lot of them are just really angry, really loud. Very few seemed to even try for nuance. It’s all slogans and symbols bashed together. Felt like looking at two brick walls yelling at each other.
Why It’s So Darn Hard
Thinking back, I remember talking with friends, family even. People I know have really complicated feelings about it. It’s not always some clear-cut political stance for everyone. There’s personal stuff tangled up in there, real-life situations that don’t fit neatly into a protest sign or, well, a cartoon panel.
Trying to capture that complexity, the messy human part? In one single drawing? With all the political baggage already attached? It felt pretty much impossible. You’d need like, a whole graphic novel, not a single cartoon square.
So, What Happened?
In the end, I just kinda… stopped. Stared at the half-finished, messy sketches. None of them felt right. None of them said anything useful or interesting that hadn’t already been screamed a million times. I just closed the drawing app. Maybe some folks are good at boiling this stuff down, but honestly, it felt like trying to hold water in my hands. Messy, frustrating, and ultimately, I didn’t achieve much besides realizing how incredibly charged and difficult the whole thing is to even touch visually. Maybe it’s better left to words sometimes, I don’t know. Or maybe I just wasn’t the right guy for that particular drawing challenge.
