Eric Shansby
{{short description|American cartoonist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eric Shansby
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1985
| birth_place =
| death_date =
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| alma_mater = Yale University
| occupation = editorial cartoonist, illustrator
| known_for = "Below the Beltway"
| awards = Scholastic Press Association's 2002 Gold Circle Awards
The Freedom Forum's Free Spirit Scholarship
Maryland Scholastic Press and Quill & Scroll Society/National Newspaper Association's editorial cartoon awards
| website = {{url|https://www.ericshansby.com/}}
}}
Eric Shansby (born 1985) commonly known as Shansby, is an American cartoonist and children's book illustrator.Weingarten, Gene. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2004/02/08/whats-mightier-the-pencil-or-the-keyboard/663f0a5c-52fd-40ab-8fac-5d1558030fed/ What's mightier, the pencil or the keyboard?] Washington Post Magazine. February 8, 2004.[http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2014-09-18/gene-weingarten-eric-shansby-comedy-and-collaboration Gene Weingarten & Eric Shansby on Comedy and Collaboration]. The Kojo Nnamdi Show. September 18, 2014. His cartoons appear in American news outlets, most prominently in The Washington Post alongside columns by humorist Gene Weingarten.
Early life and education
Shansby grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. His mother was a librarian. He was interested in art from a young age and would trace the images in the library books his mother brought home to him. He drew caricatures of his classmates and teachers in elementary school.
Shansby published his first comic strip in his sophomore year of Montgomery Blair High School, where he was the art editor and a cartoonist for his high school newspaper.{{Cite web |last=Gonzalez |first=Susan |date=April 23, 2004 |title=Freshman cartoonist illustrates Washington Post column |url=http://archives.news.yale.edu/v32.n27/story2.html |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=Yale Bulletin and Calendar}} He created both editorial cartoons and a strip OxyMoron.{{Cite web |title=Silver Chips Online |url=https://silverchips.mbhs.edu/ |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=Montgomery Blair High School |language=en-US}} There, he met Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten when Weingarten gave a guest lecture in Shansby's journalism class.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304205451/http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/16429042/profile-teen-cartoonist Profile of a Teen Cartoonist]. Literary Cavalcade (February 2005) vol 57, no. 7, p. 5. via EBSCO, accessed May 25, 2022.[http://yaledailynews.com/weekend/2007/01/19/eric-shansby/ Eric Shansby]. Yale Daily News. January 19, 2007. When Weingarten first saw Shansby's work, he noted it was "breathtaking stuff."{{Cite web |last=Gardner |first=Alan |date=2005-11-29 |title=Eric Shansby Success Story |url=https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2005/11/29/eric-shansby-success-story/ |access-date=2022-07-08 |website=The Daily Cartoonist |language=en-US}}
For his work in high school, Shansby won The Freedom Forum's Free Spirit Scholarship and the Maryland Scholastic Press and Quill & Scroll Society/National Newspaper Association's editorial cartoon awards. At the 2002 Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Circle Awards, he placed first in art/illustration portfolio, comic cartoons, editorial cartoons, and sports cartoons.{{Cite web |title=Local High School Publications Receive Awards |url=https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?pagetype=showrelease&id=998 |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=Montgomery County Public Schools |language=en}} In addition, he came in second place for his cartoon portfolio and third place for editorial cartoons. He graduated from high school in 2003.
Shansby studied philosophy at Yale University, graduating in 2007.{{Cite web |title=Yale Bologna Festival Information | Yale, MI |url=http://www.yalechamber.com/page-bologna.html}} At Yale, he was a member of St. Anthony Hall and was also a political cartoonist for the Yale Daily News.
Career
While in high school, Shansby drew editorial cartoons for the weekly Montgomery County Sentinel.{{Cite web |date=2004-09-18 |title=Fewer pens, more swords |url=http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/8508902.htm |access-date=2022-07-08 |website= |publisher=Lexington Herald-Leader |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040918105645/http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/8508902.htm |archive-date=18 September 2004 |url-status=dead}} His political cartoons covered AIDS, environmental issues, gay marriage, human cloning, public education, and the Iraq War. Once in college, he continued submitting to the Sentinel. His work was also published in Young D.C. and The Report Press Law Magazine.
In 2004, Gene Weingarten asked him to illustrate Below the Beltway, his weekly humor column in The Washington Post Magazine. Shansby began contributing to Below the Beltway while he was a freshman in college. He also had a regular feature on the KidsPost website.
Shansby illustrated the 2014 children's book Me & Dog, a parable on atheism written by Weingarten.[http://www.onthemedia.org/story/me-and-dog/ On the Media: Me and Dog]. WNYC. October 3, 2014.
In September 2018, Shansby left Below the Beltway as part of the redesign of The Washington Post Magazine.{{Cite news |last=Weingarten |first=Gene |date=September 27, 2018 |title=An exit interview with my longtime illustrator |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/gene-weingarten-an-exit-interview-with-my-longtime-illustrator/2018/09/24/03ede1a6-b21c-11e8-a20b-5f4f84429666_story.html |access-date=2022-05-26 |issn=0190-8286}} Wiengarten stopped writing the column in 2021.{{Cite news |last=Weingarten |first=Gene |date=September 23, 2021 |title=Gene Weingarten: I won't humor you anymore |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/gene-weingarten-i-wont-humor-you-anymore/2021/09/21/8c6e2ce6-0bf8-11ec-aea1-42a8138f132a_story.html |access-date=May 25, 2022}}
Personal life
On the Kojo Nnamdi Show, Shansby identified himself as a “culturally Jewish, American atheist.”
Publications
= Books =
- Me & Dog. Simon & Schuster, Simon & Schuster, 2014. Written by Gene Weingarten and illustrated by Eric Shansby. {{ISBN|9781442494138}}{{Cite web |title=Eric Shansby |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Eric-Shansby/411252455 |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=Simon & Schuster |language=en}}
= As Contributing Artist =
- Compleating Cul de Sac. Thompson, Richard, et al. Team Cul de Sac and ComicsDC, 2015.
- Failure by Design: The Story Behind America’s Broken Economy. Bivens, Josh. Cornell University Press, 2011. {{ISBN|9780801461132}}
- World Politics in a New Era, 4th Edition. Spiegel, Steven L., et al. Oxford University Press, 2008. {{ISBN|0495007595}}
- Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2007. Brooks, Charles (Ed.). Pelican Publishing, 2007. {{ISBN|9781589804593}}
- Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2006. Brooks, Charles (Ed.). Pelican Publishing, 2006. {{ISBN|9781589803978}}
- Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2005. Brooks, Charles (Ed.). Pelican Publishing, 2005. {{ISBN|9781589802841}}
- Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2004. Brooks, Charles (Ed.). Pelican Publishing, 2004. {{ISBN|9781589802001}}
References
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Category:People from Silver Spring, Maryland
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:American illustrators
Category:American editorial cartoonists
Category:American children's book illustrators
Category:Jewish American atheists
Category:American newspaper editors
Category:American comics artists
Category:American comic strip cartoonists
Category:Jewish American comics artists