As photography advanced to the point that it could be used regularly, drawing for news was quickly pushed to concern the realms of farce and fiction. However all hope was not lost!Thomas Nast is a person I find quite fascinating. He revitalized drawing for news by converting his complex, highly truthful style -- which won Harper's New Monthly Magazine many viewers during the American Civil War-- into a somewhat simpler style which incorporated satire and symbolic characters that survive today. These characters include Uncle Sam, Santa Claus, and the Democratic Donkey and Republican Elephant.
Thomas Nast helped really start the world of editorial cartooning and comics. Without him, drawing would be stuck in the sector of children's books and fiction for a great deal longer. I have found that political cartoons are a particularly appealing way of expressing one's feelings about current events and politics. It provides a more "fun" way to look at such things, perhaps "cartoons for adults."
I find it rather tragic, however, that Thomas Nast died of yellow fever when he arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador in December 7th 1902 after President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him consul of said place in Ecuador in his honor.
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