artoons, whether in animated or print form, are a part of the daily lives of millions of people throughout the world. They encompass a broad range of subject matter that can be humorous or serious, realistic or fanciful, purely entertaining or bitingly satiric. People of all ages and backgrounds enjoy some form of cartoons.
A cartoon is a single drawing or series of drawings that makes a point or tells a joke or story about such subjects as human activities and habits, political and historical events, fads, fashions, and sports. Cartoons are closely related to caricatures, which are drawings in which a person or an action is depicted with exaggerated or distorted features. The Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci is often credited with having developed the caricature form in the 15th century.
Until the mid–19th century the word cartoon referred to preliminary drawings made by artists in developing their plans for paintings, mosaics, and tapestries. The English humor magazine Punch, first published in 1841, is regarded as the catalyst in expanding the definition of cartoons to include drawings of humor, wit, satire, and parody.
Today, the two main forms of cartoons are either those that appear in printed periodicals (newspapers, magazines, and comic books), or the animated cartoons of motion pictures and television. Common forms of print cartoons include editorial cartoons, comic strips, and gag panels. The editorial or “opinion” pages of newspapers and magazines often feature editorial cartoons, which are usually single-panel drawings that portray the cartoonist’s view of current events, prominent personalities, and public issues. Although many editorial cartoons are humorous, most of them also make a serious point about their subject. The comics pages of daily newspapers feature both gag panels and comic strips. A gag panel tells a joke in a single drawing (called a panel), whereas a comic strip consists of two or more panels that tell a joke or present an episode in a continuing story.
Animated cartoons are a series of drawings filmed and projected as motion pictures. Newspaper cartoonists J. Stuart Blackton and Winsor McCay are credited with having pioneered the form with their animated short films of the early 1900s. Since then, animated cartoons have become a hugely popular form of entertainment. They are also used in television advertising and to present instructional materials in schools, industry, and the armed forces.
