Cartoonist Rich Williams: If I could make HDPE funny, my powers would be limitless

Could you say something funny — and different — about the plastics industry every week for a quarter century?

For the past 25 years, Rich Williams has been a fixture in the Plastics News staff box, and on our editorial page. Rich “speaks” to our readers in his editorial cartoons that accompany our Viewpoint columns. But he's never had the chance to really talk about his work, until now.

Editor Don Loepp talked to Rich about his work for our 25th anniversary issue.

Q: How did you get your start as an editorial cartoonist?

Williams: When you hang at the table long enough, someone tosses you a scrap. As a freshman in college, I poked around the Ohio University Post until they offered me a shot at their political cartoons. That work led to a full time cartoonist job at American Greetings Corp. in Cleveland. I was grateful, but still found myself spending an occasional lunch hour at the Cleveland Plain Dealer to shoot the breeze with the older editorial cartoonists there. When one of them got wind that Crain Communications was starting Crain's Cleveland Business and looking for a freelance cartoonist, he threw me that bone. That gig led to this one at Plastics News, and I've been doing it ever since.

Q: You've been with Plastics News since the first issue in 1989. How did you get the gig?

Williams: Lowell “Chris” Chrisman, former publisher at Crain's Cleveland Business, left to start Plastics News and along with Bob Grace invited me aboard. My thanks to them.

Q: At the time, what did you think about doing editorial cartoons for a plastics trade newspaper?

Williams: I never hesitated at the opportunity, and saw it as another pro-business platform for my work. Plastics wasn't necessarily in my wheelhouse at the time, and definitely a challenge. I saw it as a test. If I could make high density polyethylene, thermoplastic elastomers and blow molding funny, my powers would be limitless.

Q: Other than Plastics News, where else do our readers see your work?

Williams: Crain's Cleveland Business and various greeting card racks throughout the fruited plain.

Q: You often capture the industry's sentiments about important issues. We see your work in PowerPoint presentations and on plastics company bulletin boards all the time. How does that feel?

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Williams: That's why I'm in the editorial field. I fully appreciate all forms of cartooning, but for me I always found more satisfaction in editorial work. I find great value being involved in a cause — triggering discussion, bringing attention to issues relevant to an audience. 

Q: You have a few characters who pop up in quite a few cartoons. What's your inspiration for them? Do they have names?

Williams: Just general stereotypes that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent (‘fat cat CEO' and ‘prim & proper secretary' my most recurrent faves).

Q: We get a kick out of it when you do caricatures of Plastics News staffers in your cartoons. How do you feel about using “real” people in your cartoons?

Williams: I can only hope my victims understand I strive for humor, not realism. I haven't had many complaints. Most have a good sense of humor.

Q: You've worked in a home office for all 25 years that we've been around. In fact, I doubt you've been in our newsroom more than 25 times in your entire career! What's it like working from home? Is there someone you bounce ideas off?

Williams: The only thing bouncing in my studio is my forehead banging off my drawing board. Deadlines do that to you. Fortunately I always get good feedback from the staff if a concept is too vague or strays too far from the message.

Q: In the early years, we had to call and tell you to turn your fax machine on to receive our weekly column, and you sent the draft cartoon back by fax, and the finished version by courier. How has technology changed your work? Is it for the better?

Williams: Oh, the agony … punching that speed dial, watching the thermal paper crawl for that thirty second eternity.

We all saw the Internet changing everything. Instant communications and delivery. As far as the creative process, it saves time and ink. I'm old school enough to still draw by hand, then scan that to my computer … but I'll fill in the large black areas, reverse black lettering to white, or rework items with a simple click of the mouse. Unfortunately when people request originals of a cartoon, I have to explain that they aren't as they appear in print, often not even legible on paper, but they're pleased with the finished digital version.

It would be crazy to not take advantage of the tools we now have. That's all they are, no more than tools. Whether with pen, brush or cursor, ultimately I draw by hand. The creative process of coming up with a concept and staging it within a blank rectangle remains the same. The skill set of draftsmanship stays with you, but I do worry sometimes that younger artists do not have as much call to develop their manual skills. I think it's way too early to tell. In some applications the initial excitement of computer graphics has waned, and visuals are trending back toward the human touch.

Q: You're based in Medina, Ohio, and I think of northeast Ohio as a hotbed for good cartooning. Do you have any favorite cartoonists, either locally or nationally?

Williams: Of course, Jeff Darcy and Chip Bok are in northeast Ohio. Nationally, political cartoonists I'm watching at the moment are Mike Ramirez, Mike Lester and Glenn McCoy. For sports cartooning, Mike Ricigliano at the Baltimore Sun. For syndicated comic strips, Bill Watterson's “Calvin and Hobbes.”

Q: What cartoonists have influenced your work?

Williams: I go back to artists who revolutionized their genres at the time — Pat Oliphant for editorial cartooning, B. Kliban and Gary Larson for humor.

Q: Do you like doing political topics? Where would you put yourself on the political spectrum?

Williams: I favor the free market over government, understanding the business sector must guide itself by ethical standards. A little caveat often forgotten on both sides.

Q: On very rare occasions, we've heard from readers who were offended by something in a cartoon. How do you deal with complaints?

Williams: Complaints are appreciated. When I feel they are justified, I've responded with an explanation from my point of view. When they have correctly called me out, I apologize. I admit there have been instances when I've crossed the line of good taste. Fortunately my editors reign me in before almost all of those reach press. I sometimes underestimate or fail to anticipate the ways some may take offense or even have an entirely unexpected interpretation. In my eyes, they're just harmless doodles.

Q: You've never missed an issue of Plastics News in a quarter century. Don't you ever take a vacation — or get sick?

Williams: Life's a vacation, and cartooning is my sickness. Pretty much sums it up.