YouSaid · the spoken record

Ann Telnaes

lines on the record: 35
first: 2025-08-25
most recent: 2025-08-25
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, not just that, but also just the whole stuff. There were all kinds of people, artists that were banned and forced to leave and arrested because of just different art, just doing it differently than what they saw as German proper art. And I just am horrified by this because it's continuing. I mean, it's hilarious on one level because his style and his tastes are basically low-level Las Vegas. But, you know, it's horrifying on a different, on another level.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, you know, I think because we're artists, this whole cultural Smithsonian Kennedy Center stuff. This is so horrifying to me. It's like it's the same level as book banning. It's like, I mean, I've read, I've gone back and read a lot about, you know, the Nazis, how they control the German people. And, you know, that's what they did. They took over things. And I see it.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“My head just above water, I suppose. You know, I'm just hanging on. I did that in his first administration. This one seems a little bit more urgent, obviously, because of the democracy issue. I'm just kind of just plowing ahead and trying to keep up. I think editorial cartoonists are just doing that, frankly. I don't think anybody has a plan.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I occasionally have people who obviously geeky readers that kind of notice certain things. The one thing that I've noticed always, it seems like my worst drawings are always the one that go viral. It's always those horrendous sketches of tech titans on their knee”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no, I used for my line instead of the brush and ink. I used a Prisma color black, soft pencil, so scribbles, not a one line all the time, right? And then for the color, I just went to real watercolors. So I don't even do, except for scanning it in to get it ready to go and correct spelling mistakes, which I always seem to be doing, then that's all I do on the computer now.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I use it pretty sparingly, so it's not like oversaturated. But yeah, so I just thought, you know, just the way he's behaving and the way his administration is going, I needed to just kind of scribble it out. So I switched. I went to Prisma Pencil, which is a very soft pencil. You can grip. And watercolors was so immediate. And I don't know how to use watercolors, frankly. And it'll just go off on its own. So you can't control it very well. So it just seemed to be the right way to do Trump.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, like I said in my earlier work when I first started editorial cartooning, I was using a brush and ink. And the reason for that was because I started out doing cartoons cross hatching like every other single editorial cartoonist did in the old days. And I realized I couldn't do them fast. And you have to work fast, you know, Alison mentioned that you got to do a new one. And I discovered, well, you know, I knew how to use a brush and ink because I had done licensing art for Warner Brothers as a matter of fact. And I was really good at it and fast. So that's why I use that. So that's where the look came, right? But once Trump got into office, I just, I don't know. I had to change. I had been doing a little digital color because of the animated pieces. You know, I still drew by hand the line art and scan it in, but, you know, because there's so many drawings in animation, I use digital color, which...”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, it was like, you know, obviously with the AI used was the fact that in my earlier work I used a pen and brush, I'm sorry, a brush and ink. So it's very clean lines kind of Hirschfeld-like, you know. That was my earlier work. So what they did is they created this piece of art that had very clean lines and women that were like profile and black and white. And I'm like, well, and not even close. So yeah, it just, it's, and it's lazy. It's cheating. I always say it's theft when you're using AI because it's coming from somewhere. It's coming from another artist. Right.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And it's not just the whole personal part of your work, it's also, you know, art is something that you have to learn. I mean, you have to learn if you really do want to draw well and compose well. It's something you learn in school. I mean, we had a cal arts, we had basic classes even before they let us animate a thing, you know, and that was before computers. I see now them putting people on computers, you know, in their first year, which I think is crazy because you have to learn the fundamentals, frankly, in order to do anything like that. And I'm with Ellison. I think you're kind of losing. I mean, doing art is a constant thing. You have to keep working at it. I mean, I still take life drawing classes because I want to keep my skills up.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. Okay, because since you do create such personal art, how do you feel about AI in art? Because it's all about you, right? It's not, it has to be your experience. It has to be how you feel, you know, what you've done in your life. It's not just about prompts, right? So tell me what you think about AI.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I have actually thought about it. Editorial cartoonists don't tend to do personal stuff in their work, obviously, because we're dealing with policies and political issues. But I've lived long enough now that maybe I would. I mean, it's, I have to say, I'm very, I admire the fact that Allison can do these long form. I mean, that's a lot of work, you know. I mean, years sometimes people take. But yeah, I've thought about it. I mean, I've created before during COVID, I created an idea for a COVID-related but human story as an animated short, which of course nobody was interested in because nobody wanted to talk about COVID. But yeah, I do try to, I would like to do some more personal work. Unfortunately, I was going to do that full time until Trump became.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know what I mean? It's like I did a long form piece about, you know, especially after Charlie Ebdo, when the conversation went from, you know, just sui, Charlie, to, wait a minute. You know, they shouldn't be doing that, those kind of cartoons. Who decides what is the red line? So I guess I'm a little bit more on the side that let the idiots talk, but that doesn't mean you can't challenge them. As long as somebody isn't threatening to kill you, that's different. You start talking about killing me, then yes, you should be”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I have found that all I do is I just repost what people are sending to me. And I say, have at it. And, you know, it's sort of like, yeah, I think it's a very good way of doing it because I think that rather than trying to shut people up, because the one thing that I have a problem with about limiting content is who decides that?”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, first of all, I mean, I have editorial cartoons are very used to getting criticism. I mean, it all started with, you know, letters and calls to the editors, and then we went into emails. But boy, once we had the internet access, I have never received so much misogynistic crap as I have actually over that cartoon, the Ted Cruz cartoon. Having said that, I do think that it's better to let these idiots talk When the Ted Cruz thing happened, I was still working for the post. I didn't respond. I see that differently now. I respond. I also let my readers respond.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It doesn't. And it's the same thing with the Danish cartoonist. You know, there were no American newspapers, I think, except maybe one or two that actually printed those cartoons that everybody was having a big old fit about. How do you discuss this How do you sit there and argue what is appropriate and what isn't if you can't see them?”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It kind of goes back to the way I think about free speech. If you don't know what you're arguing about, then how can you argue?”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Just say shitty stuff and they pop up once in a while. But the thing about Allison's experience, I think it's important on two different levels is one, obviously, you know, the banning of the book, which I think is horrific historically, as we all know, who else banned and burned books. But on another level, it's also an attack against free speech because you're silencing voices, you know, and if you're banning these books and nobody has exposure to a different opinion or, you know, just your fellow man that you know nothing about, fellow human beings, excuse me, you know, then that's dangerous. That's dangerous on a lot of different levels. And I think the book banning is, I mean, I don't have children. So, you know, I'm not coming at it from that point of view. But, you know, I just don't understand how.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, yeah, I mean, just through email, you know, because, yeah, I actually have had good conversations with conservatives, but this is all prior MAGA stuff. You know, this was a while back. I mean, and I have no problem. I think for me, it's just the time element. It's really kind of hard to put aside so much time when you're working to have these back and forth. Nowadays, I just get trolls. I get a ton of trolls. And they just say.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Allison, just real quick. I think just because of the historical. How did you feel personally when one of your books was being banned?”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I do believe that it's not a big leap to go from satirists, not just cartoonists, but satirists in general stand-up comedians being silenced through either the businesses that support them, or just by people threatening them and self-censoring. And I think that's where the danger is going. I think eventually, I mean, we've seen it happen. We're all older, but, you know, it happened in East Germany. People were reporting on neighbors. For saying things they didn't think they should be saying. So I could see that happening. Yeah. Look how much has happened in the eight months since he's become president.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah. Because at the time they didn't use photographs in newspapers. They basically put that editorial cartoon on the front page. And that's actually how he was apprehended and jailed, by the way, is because somebody recognized him from the caricature. So, yeah, but I just think I agree, there is a lot out there. And, you know, there's always the competition for eyeballs. But, you know, as I said, we're the image people. We're not the words people. I think that's where, and we can reach, you know, across countries now with, you know, the internet, we can go all over the place, which of course creates problems sometimes. But yeah, I just think, and cartoons, everybody loves to look at cartoons.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think, like she said, it's something that maybe people will follow up and read something afterwards. But image, I mean, it's pretty simple. Cartoons are images. Everyone likes to look at cartoons. It's not just, can you read or can you not read? It's, you know, the rich, the poor. Everyone liked to look at cartoons. And they can be impacted by them.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm like Allison. I don't follow it all the time. I've only seen sporadic stuff. But yeah, good for them. They were at Comic-Con in San Diego and they basically said when somebody asked them first about that first episode, they said, oh, we're really sorry. I'm very sarcastic. I thought, oh, good for you. I mean, the only criticism I have of them is their Christy Gnome is not mean enough.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that's all we can do. I'm not here to fix the country's problems. I think that's a big, deep-seated problem. I mean, I have all these plans to do long-form pieces that are going to explain why we are, where we are. Because I've been doing this, I've been doing it at tour cartoons from the early 90s, published ones. And, you know, things started then. If you remember all the way back, you know, we had the religious rite and, you know, the Ralph Reeds and all that. And we had the so-called moderate Republicans not speaking out. And they're still not speaking out. And, you know, we are where we are because of things like that.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, absolutely. It was a surprise that I could actually make a living doing this. But, you know, I also had the benefit of having a cartoon go viral. I have a lot of colleagues on SubStack, and I think they're doing okay, but I don't really know if it's a viable way to make a living. It is a platform. You know, I've been through various platforms. Twitter used to be my home. You know, obviously it's not anymore. So I'm not waiting to see how this works out. I think right now it's fine. I do not invite comments. I don't open my comments. It's the one thing I give my paid subscriber. I figure they get to talk. You know, I have enough trouble dealing with people that find me elsewhere. So that's the only thing that I really do different in terms of limiting my audience. I'm kind of with Allison. I don't really know how you bridge this. And I'm not trying through my cartoons. I'm just speaking what I believe.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's a great tie is a gift to cartoonists. You can do anything with that thing. You can, like, I saw somebody else use the tie as, you know, the Putin carpet that he just came in on. I've used it to try to basically hang him. You know, that kind of you can do great stuff. It's funny, my readers are the ones that always point out to me because I never notice I'm changing every time. They're like, okay, he's starting to look like a big mouth bass now. And I'm like, okay, I can go with that. Or, you know, they say he's a pig. And I'm like, well, I like pigs. Don't tell me that, you know. So, you know, like I said, it's just really, I try to find out, I'm trying to show you what I think the insides of that person is more than the outside.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, that's the thing's the thing, and I think Allison has kind of hit on it, is I just do what I feel. And I think those are the characters that are the best. So Trump, yes, he's, you know, obviously always in my cartoons. He's ever present. He also changed the news cycle for editorial cartoonists. You know, prior to that, you could kind of figure you're busy, especially when Congress is in session. But one big story a week, maybe. You know, during summer, we were doing stupid cartoons about reading lists on beaches because Congress was out of session and nothing was going on. When Trump got in the first time, it was 24-7 news. And it's again, I mean, I find it incredibly difficult to keep up with everything that's going on. And I think that's a tactic. That's what they do with that.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lis Well, yeah, I mean, you know, we're all caricature is a big part of editorial cartooning. You can say a lot through a caricature. My characters have never really been about how the person looks. I mean, I always feel like my best characters are if I can portray how the person is deep down inside.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And it wasn't, by the way. Yes, no. Yeah, it wasn't an excuse because I went back and read that column that he also explained to me why. And I said, you know what? That's not a column criticizing the tech titans. It's a column warning them that Trump is going to stab him in the back.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that's a really good point, Alison, because that was something that I didn't think of at the time. But, you know, I've had a few months to kind of reflect on it, is, you know, why did that create such, you know, a viral reaction? Because it went not just in the United States, it went in other countries. And I think it's because cartoons are images, you know, and then people, of course, have been feeling, you know, they've been feeling pressure about what was going on with the democracy in the United States and of course the non-endorsement for the Washington Post readers. But I honestly think the reason it went viral wasn't because of my particular cartoon. It was because it was a cartoon And it illustrated the fact that the free press was being challenged and in danger. And I think that's why”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Pretty much. Yeah. I mean, I thought, you know, about could I continue on? And then I thought, how could I do that? I mean, how do I know he's not going to do it again? You know, and also I have to speak to my colleagues about why I'm still there if they're rejecting what I'm trying to put out. So, yeah, I mean, essentially, yeah, I basically made the decision right away.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Took him a couple hours to figure it out, but they did do it. So it wasn't like I was expecting them to not to reject a cartoon idea. So when it happened, I was taken back, taken aback, and I didn't have to think too long, but I realized you said.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, no, no. I didn't plan this at all. No, I, you know, I was just doing my job. I was frankly surprised when I was told I couldn't do that cartoon because, you know, the way that I work is I choose the topic. I've always chosen the topic. Different editors work differently with editorial cartoonists, but I give them one rough. And then usually, you know, they'll come back and say, oh, you know, can you kind of, it's kind of fuzzy. Can you clear it up? Can you, that image is making me uncomfortable, which seemed to happen a lot with this editor, you know, and then, but I wouldn't go back and choose a whole different topic. So this was a surprise. Now, having said that, you know, a couple of months prior to that, we had the non-endorsement happen. And, you know, I was part of the opinions section.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, I taught a class about Edshore cartooning, and I have to tell you, all those students were, of course, readers of graphic novels. And all of them did their, because I gave them the freedom to do their final project any way they wanted. They could do a traditional one-panel cartoon. They could do animated because this was an animation school, or they could do long form, and everyone picked long form because that's what they read.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, whenever I speak about my work, I always start by explaining the difference between an editorial cartoon and other comics and cartoons. And basically the thing is that our cartoons have to have a point of view. Now, it doesn't mean that we can't be funny. There are plenty of funny editorial cartoonists. But if there's no point of view, it's not an editorial cartoon. So we are part of journalism. We are, even though editors maybe don't want to admit that. And that is our primary role is to have an opinion, but through visuals.”
2025-08-25 · On with Kara Swisher · Cartoons, Capitalism & Censorship: Alison Bechdel & Ann Telnaes on Politics in Art · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT