Creating Joe Biden Political Cartoons: A Practical Guide
Political cartoons of Joe Biden are editorial illustrations that appear in newspapers, magazines, and online publications to comment on current events, policy decisions, or his public persona. They range from mildly witty to sharply critical, and the best ones rely on visual shorthand that gets the point across in seconds. These are single-panel or multi-panel illustrations featuring a recognizable caricature of the former president. The caricature usually exaggerates one or two features — typically the jawline, hair, or hand gestures — while the rest of the drawing stays relatively grounded. The humor comes from context, not from the drawing itself. A well-placed caption or label does half the work. The typical structure involves three elements: an instantly recognizable visual of Biden, a situational setup that ties to a current news event, and a punchline delivered either through dialogue, a caption, or visual irony. The most effective cartoons skip the dialogue entirely and let the image carry the joke. Readers get annoyed when they have to read a paragraph to understand a four-panel strip that could have been one panel.
The Process: How I Make Them
Start with reference photos. I pull 4–6 images from press conferences, rallies, or official White House photography from Biden's presidency. Pick one where his expression is already loaded with meaning. A photo of him mid-gesture or squinting at something works better than a posed smile. The reference doesn't need to be perfect because you're going to distort it anyway. I sketch roughly on iPad using Procreate, though traditional ink on Bristol board works just fine if that's your thing. The key is getting the exaggeration right early. If the caricature doesn't read as Biden at a glance, the rest of the cartoon is dead. I usually spend more time on the face than anything else. The body can be simple — almost schematic. Viewers fill in the details themselves. The background needs to be minimal but telling. A Resolute Desk, the presidential seal, a flag, a podium — one or two props maximum. Cluttered backgrounds are a common beginner mistake that dilutes the message. I keep everything else empty or nearly so. White space is a tool, not a placeholder.
Tools and Software Options
For digital work, Procreate on iPad is my default. It handles line weight variation well and the brush engine responds naturally to pressure. Clip Studio Paint is solid if you're doing multi-panel strips. For vector-based cartoons with clean lines and flat colors, Adobe Illustrator still works but takes longer to get line quality right. I switched to Procreate after years on Illustrator and haven't looked back. If you're working on a deadline and need something fast, you can also use basic tools like Krita (free) or even MS Paint for rough sketches. The software doesn't matter nearly as much as understanding composition and timing. I've seen decent cartoons made in Paint and terrible ones in Photoshop.
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Common Pitfalls I See Every Day
The biggest problem is laziness in the caricature. Artists will draw a generic older white male in a suit and slap a name tag on it. That's not a cartoon, that's a placeholder. If the person isn't recognizable without the label, you've failed at the first step. Another issue is over-explaining. The caption should never repeat what the image already shows. If the drawing clearly depicts Biden tripping over a flag, you don't need text that says "Biden struggles." The joke lives in the image. Text that confirms the obvious is just padding. Polarity balance matters too. Some artists treat political cartoons as pure partisan weapons, and while that's a valid approach, it limits your audience significantly. The cartoons that travel widest are the ones that critique power from multiple angles or highlight hypocrisy regardless of which party holds it. Pure partisan fare gets shared only within echo chambers.
A Specific Problem I Hit
Once I was working on a cartoon for a tight deadline and realized the reference photo I'd chosen had Biden partially obscured by another figure in the frame. I needed to isolate him cleanly for the caricature. Rather than spend an hour trying to clean up the image digitally, I traced over the visible portions onto a new layer, estimated the obscured features based on the visible anatomy and lighting direction, and built the rest from there. The finished result looked like a proper reference and saved about forty minutes. It's a workaround I use regularly when press pool photos are imperfect. Official government photo archives at the Library of Congress and White House Historical Association have extensive Biden-era photography. Reuters and AP Images provide editorial-use reference shots. For publication-quality downloads, you'll need licensing through those wire services, which gets expensive. For personal practice or non-commercial projects, Creative Commons licensed photos from Flickr or Wikimedia Commons work fine. Be careful with copyright. Many political cartoons get taken down because the artist used copyrighted reference photos without permission. A quick search on Unsplash or Pexels for public domain portraits, or using your own photography, avoids this entirely.
Building a Portfolio That Actually Gets Published
Publication editors look for consistency in style and a clear voice, not just technical skill. They want to know within three drawings whether you have a point of view. I spent about eight months producing one cartoon per week on a loop of rotating topics — foreign policy, domestic issues, personality-driven pieces — before any major outlet picked me up. Consistency matters more than volume. Submit to places like The Washington Post's local edition first. Their political cartoon submission page accepts unsolicited work. The Chicago Tribune, LA Times, and a growing number of regional papers also have open submission policies. Smaller outlets mean faster feedback and a lower barrier to entry. Timing is everything. A cartoon about a speech takes three days to plan and execute. If you miss the news cycle, it's worthless. I keep a running calendar of major events — State of the Union, Supreme Court announcements, foreign leader visits — and pre-sketch concepts during the window when I know something big is coming. This cuts the production time from hours to minutes when the actual event happens.
