Cartoons that speak for themselves

These text-free cartoons go beyond brevity, are tough to execute and distinct in style, writes Rasheed Kappan

A cartoon showing a distraught lovestruck girl trapped inside a heart-shaped cage by Italian cartoonist Marco de Angelis.

A four-frame cartoon strip by Gujjar, created for the Kannada daily Prajavani.

Verbosity might be a writer’s perennial crutch to massage his insatiable ego. But why should a cartoonist fall flat for this indulgence straight out of the world of letters? Wedded to his craft, why can’t he stick only to his lines and nothing more? In the twisted, satirical world of acid punch, they call it the ‘captionless cartoon’.

These works of art are beyond brevity. One glance at the cartoon, and you know the cartoonist is hell-bent on making you take a closer relook. No text bubble will guide you. Not even a word, as you make sense of the cartoonist and his/her intent. Riveted to the work, you are forced to build a context, spot the satire and let the brain do the rest.

This obsession with interactive indulgence comes out dramatically in the works of Marco de Angelis, Italian cartoonist with a very pronounced designer flourish. Trapped inside a heart-shaped cage made of barbed wires, a lovestruck girl is left distraught. The irony in that work displayed recently at Bengaluru’s Indian Cartoon Gallery didn’t require text for articulation. Like a picture, it had a thousand unlettered words to unleash.

For decades, one of India’s cartoon legends had struck an uneasy balance between his art and text. But his easily recognisable lines had to rely on verbose captions to make sense. It was but his style, quite unlike a contemporary, a master illustrator called Mario Miranda. Mario’s distinct drawing style inspired a million mimics, often without a word uttered.

Captionless political cartoons often demand a context, without which you would be left scrambling for Google. Marco obviously knows that, and opts for global themes. A battle-hardened soldier with his gun pointing to a lone surviving leaf on a war-zone tree is deep in its visual impact. This work of Marco, quite characteristically, transcends boundaries of region, language and letters.

Deep into visual jugglery himself, cartoonist Gujjar is in total agreement. “By removing those barriers, a cartoon minus captions boosts the accessibility of the work. Indeed it is extremely tough to make one, but the satisfaction as an artist is immense,” he says.

Distinct in style, standing apart in execution, Gujjar’s emphasis on enhanced drawing skills has a strong base of experience. Years back, he himself had faced that skill test, crafting four-frame cartoon strips for the Kannada daily Prajavani sports pages. The editor’s dictate was clear: No captions. “Getting the idea is the toughest part. A lot of thinking goes into that,” Gujjar recalls.

The execution had to be sharp. “It was terribly difficult, because you have to tell a story through facial expressions, and body language. The quality of drawing has to be extremely good. Otherwise it can fall flat. In captioned cartoons, you mostly concentrate on the text and the message gets through.”

Gujjar’s choice of strip cartoons helped him create a purely visual narrative. “A strip can help you tell a story or episode in stages. It is similar to graphic novels, where several frames can go without a single word. I used to do four frames, and love doing it since your creativity can be fully explored.”

Powered by a strong sense of visual story-telling, many European cartoonists have completely skipped text for years. Not so with most Indian artists of the genre. “Our cartoonists should experiment more,” notes V G Narendra, a veteran with years of experience curating shows at the Indian Institute of Cartoonists.

“We are still stuck to captions and text balloons. Text caters to the brain, we need to bring the heart in as well. Indeed, it is challenging, but involving the heart in the creative process makes cartoons more engaging,” he points out.

Key to good execution is developing the art through constant practice, as Gujjar puts it. The easy route, as Narendra says, is simply copy what an R K Laxman did, and any other traditional cartoonist fixated with text.

The standout feature is this: A captionless, neatly composed work can proudly stand by itself. A verbose cartoon is dependent on text, and the caption could easily do without the accompanying art. But then, it would be just a joke or a telling commentary, not a cartoon.

Climate change, environment, traffic woes, poverty, rising costs. Apolitical but grave, these social and everyday themes could trigger a thousand cartoons, totally divorced from punch-lines or caustic one-liners. But text-less political cartoons, as Narendra reminds, might find it hard to send out a message with mirth. Explaining a context through images alone can get tough. But then, a caricatured politician need not utter a word.

Knowing that too well is Panduranga Rao, a veteran of over 300 global cartoon competitions. “Worldwide, captionless cartoons have become the dominant trend since they transcend multiple barriers of accessibility. I have been exposed to such cartoon styles from around the globe since 1995, when I first sent my work for a competition,” says Panduranga.

He quickly learnt the ropes. “It does take time to think and execute since you have to make everyone understand your work. Doing this, you need to maintain the cartoon’s quality, and this can get challenging.”