Fresh Face

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday December 6, 2003

Alan Moir, Cathy Wilcox, John Shakespeare, Rocco Fazzari, Michael Fitzjames

Alan Moir

Once or twice in a lifetime someone is placed upon this Earth for the sake of cartoonists. His looks match his personality. He has ready-made ``props" in his glasses, muppet hair, bulbous nose and high forehead. I start a drawing with his nose, then mouth (usually open), hair and forehead, finishing with his glasses, slightly lopsided, and two dots for that intense stare/glare. I wouldn't quibble with him over a taxi charge.

Cathy Wilcox

The first thing that strikes me about Mark Latham's head is its inflatable quality. Which is ironic, given the reputed substance of the man. No matter how high I draw his forehead, it's not high enough. And while hair can frame a face, in Latham's case it sits jauntily on top, a lick, a mere gesture to the idea of hair. The strong chin is a good feature to reflect his determined nature and saves him from giving the impression of having no neck. Inflatable yet substantial? Watch this space.

John Shakespeare

For the head-kicking messiah he's touted to be, he certainly doesn't look it more like lower management at the local bank. Which is perfect for his manifesto he actually looks like someone who's been denied a few rungs of the ladder. However, if Howard can make it looking like a stamp-collecting accountant who's never had a girlfriend, anything's possible.

Rocco Fazzari

Mark Latham is basically a putty head. Give a child a lump of putty, he or she will roll it up, flatten the top (1), pinch out the pieces that will become two ears (2), then roll up a smaller piece for a nose then poke two holes on either side for eyes (3). This should, of course, all be executed without any degree of polish.

Michael Fitzjames

That bursting forehead with the sprouting hank of hair, those short, angry eyebrows narrowing to a point between the wide-screen specs above an undistinguished everynose which nevertheless has the potential of bulbing at the end over the cupid's bow upper lip, which rarely meets (mouth breather?) the pouting, sulky, aggressive lower lip, ably supported by a big thrusting chin on a solid thick neck. Excellent!

© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald

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