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28 September 2012updated 04 Oct 2023 10:04am

Undercover: behind the scenes of our Labour Special Issue

How Ben Jennings's cartoon of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls made the front page of the New Statesman.

By Helen Lewis

Hello, and welcome to the second instalment of “Undercover”, where I try to explain a bit about how we put our covers together. For the Labour party conference special issue, we decided to try a young cartoonist, Ben Jennings, who won last year’s Political Cartoon of The Year award.

I wrote last month about the New Statesman‘s incredible history as a breeding ground for cartoonists (Martin Rowson, Will Self, the Telegraph’s “Matt” and Peter Brookes all got a start here) so it’s nice to continue that tradition by giving Ben the cover.

We asked him to draw Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, riffing on the former’s focus on communities and patriotism and the latter’s ferocious reputation. Here is his initial sketch:

Like last week, we have a flap, so this gives a “reveal” when you lift that up – who is Ed Milband trying to restrain? There are also a couple of small touches, such as Ed Balls’s “Butch” collar and Ed Miliband’s “predistribution” tattoo. 

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Here’s the coloured version:

One of the things that’s great about Ben’s style is the sense of movement you get from those extra lines. The sampled textures in the background are also something of a signature of his (and are usually done on a computer rather than by hand).

Anja Wohlstrom, our art director, and I talked about this, and while we loved the positions, and the expressions (and, in my case, Ed Balls’s hair), we felt that it was a bit too red. Not that red isn’t a lovely (and Labour-ish) colour, but with a red masthead too, it could all get a bit monochromatic.

So Ben produced a final version, with a park in the background:

Just the place to take a Labour attack dog for a walk. 

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Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
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