news

May 200

Kal Media

Kal at The GOP Convention

I will be posting some drawings from my adventures with the Republicans in my Sketchblog. Some samples below.

KAL at the Conventions

Kal will be present at the Republican and Democratic conventions contributing a daily sketchbook for The Economist's website Economist.com. You view the cartoons HERE

KAL in the Media

For the editorial cartoonist, the US Presidential campaign is a special time. There is plenty of material for commentary being produced by the politicians on daily basis. It also brings alot of attention to our craft from television and print media as to how the visual satirist is dealing with the campaign brouhaha.

You will find here in the months ahead interviews and newstories about Kal, cartoons and the campaign season. The first, below is from the Hong Kong Economic Times... in Chinese.

Kal at the 2008 Political conventions

Kal will be at the Republican and Democratic National conventions contributing to the online and print versions of The Economist. You will be able to see his sketches at The Economist's US politics blog "Democracy in America" or at www.Economist.com.

KAL in China

Kal has returned from a fascinating trip to Hong Kong and central China as a member of an international jury of cartoonists for the annual Asian Youth comic and animation festival (AAYAC) in Guiyang. For more information please see Kal's SketchBlog.

During His visit to Hong Kong, Kal addressed the Foreign Correspondants' Club and held a interviews with CNN Asia and a variety of other media outlets.

You can view Kal's CNN interview Here

You can listen to a radio interview with Kal here ( scroll down and select Economist cartoonist-Kal).

After Kal returned from China, he joined WAMU radio (NPR affiliate for Washington DC) for a sitdown with Kojo Nnamdi for an interview. You can listen in here. (Scroll down to the third show)

New Dates fot Art of Satire

The dates are fixed for the next show for "The Art of Satire". This special cooperative effort between The Economist and the Second City visits Philadelphia Tuesday October 7 at the Kimmel center's Pearlman theater. For more information go Here.

Kal in London

The Economist is Planning a special pre-election event in London titled Campaign cartooning: How the art of satire shapes the political landscape on October 2. This event is open to the public and will feature Kal and other special guests. Details of venue and time will be forthcoming.

New Digital Puppet

The new Digital John McCain has arrived. You can expect some special animations in the months ahead featuring innovative uses of our newest character.

KAL and Motion Capture

Check out news about Kal's recent real-time satire performance in San Francisco here

Kal has teamed up with PhaseSpace, a San Francisco bay area motion capture (Mocap)company for a unique project. PhaseSpace is on the cutting edge in the race to create high quality, versatile, and competitively priced mocap systems. Kal utilised Phasespace's advanced system in his most recent animation featuring Hillary and Obama. In the film, Kal donned a mocap suit to help animate the characters. You can see a short film here that briefly explains and displays the mocap system in action.

Kal and PhaseSpace are now embarking on a novel project. They intend to use PhaseSpace's full body motion capture system in a live performance. During the upcoming "Art of Satire" event in San Francisco on June 26 Kal will unveil his new John McCain digital character who will come to life with the aid of PhaseSpaces motion capture system.

Stay tuned for more information and press coverage of the event.

Kal in Azerbaijan (Read of Kal's adventures here)

June 15-22 Kal will be giving lectures and holding an exhibition of his work in Baku, Azerbaijan as part of cultural visit sponsored by the US Embassy. Kal will be contributing daily posts to his sketchblog during his visit as well as drawing his weekly cartoon for the Economist from Baku.

Kal Summer Exhibition

A small selection of 40 Kal cartoons are on display through the Fall at the Carroll mansion museum in Baltimore. Visit their website to get more information and directions.

Kal Portfolio

The new Porfolio section of Kaltoons.com is now up and running. You can view a great collection of 150 of Kal's cartoons from throughout his career including over 40 of his covers from The Economist as well as color illustrations and editorial cartoons.

Kal comes to San Francisco

Kal will once again team up with the fabulous Second City players for the stage show "Art of Satire" presented by The Economist. The show will be in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Arts Center in the downtown Mission District. For more information log onto www.artofsatire.economist.com.

May 2008

Kal has a channel on Youtube where you can see all of his films and animations. You can view them here:

www.youtube.com/politicalcartoons

Recent additions to the page include a series of videos created by The Economist to celebrate Kal' 30th anniversary with the publication. The first three of the series tell the stories of Kal's favorite covers from over the decades and the joy and challenges of drawing Margaret Thatcher and Bill Clinton.

April 2008

Kal and Second City complete first leg of Tour

Packed audiences enthusiastically greeted shows in Atlanta and Durham of "The Art of Satire". The shows were the first in a series of appearances around the country for this collaboration between The Economist and Second City.

Kal and Second City Director Mark Warzecha were interviewed by NPR's Frank Stasio prior to the show. You can hear the interview here. The Raleigh News Observer did a nice article previewing the show.

Kal to speak at National Archives

Kal will be delivering a lecture at The National Archives in Washington DC May 8. More info Here

KALtoons webpage updated

Welcome to the newly updated Kaltoons website. In the days ahead new features will be available to visitors including plenty of news and information pertaining to Kal's new adventures in animation and his Satire tour with Second City. Books, prints and artwork will be available in his updated Bookstore. A new Sketchblog will allow Kal to post his musings and his rough concept art.

Stay tooned for more!!!

KAL Exhibition Currently on Display

Duke University School of Public Policy

Kal's celebrated exhibition fromThe Walters Art Museum "Mightier Than the Sword;The Satirical Pen of KAL" travels to Durham, North Carolina for an extended display at Duke Rubenstein Hall. The exhibiltion is currently slated to reside at Duke through the 2008 Presidential campaign. For information call:919.613.7394

KAL's most recent collection KAL Draws Criticism is now avilable in select bookstores or online here

Hear KAL

During a visit to San Francisco this past spring, Kal was a featured guest at the Commonwealth Club. He participated in an interesting panel discussion with Bay are cartoonists Tom Meyer and Mark Fiore. You can listen to the discussion HERE