Borgman on drawing Portman, Schmidt

Today marks Jim Borgman's 30th anniversary as an editorial cartoonist for The Enquirer. In a story in today's paper, the Pulitzer Prize-winning artist talks about which politicians are the hardest to draw - and which ones are the easiest.

In his words...

Hardest person to draw: Rob Portman. He has a distinctive face, so I don't know what's making him so elusive. I also had a hard time with Charlie Luken. Usually, people whose features are in really good order are the hardest to draw. People who are traditionally handsome or pretty are hard to capture.

The easiest person to draw is: Someone with odd characteristics that become their signature. Like Bill Clinton's big strong chin, pink nose and porcupine hair. He always looked like he had had a bad night's sleep. Dick Cheney has a wealth of eccentric features. President Bush (George W.) has those bushy eyebrows, eyes that are too close together and mouth that drops.

Ronald Reagan was so expressive and had that pompadour and strong jaw - he came together easily. I was post-Nixon but I have had the occasion to draw that ski nose, those jowls and those shifty eyes.

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory is kind of angular and has those distinctive thin glasses, unique eyes and that moustache. I don't know if I am quite nailing him yet but I felt from the first day that I had a sense of him.

Women are: Harder to draw than men. In our culture, women are more adept than men at looking attractive. Men still don't get it and their faces say so much. Also, it's still a man's world, so I find myself drawing men more than women.

Still, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice have been pretty easy - and Jean Schmidt, well, she's a gift.

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