Marzieh Tajizadegan is a cartoonist, caricaturist and animator, and graduated from Soore University. Over the past years, she has won significant awards by attending various festivals, including awards of the 12th Fajr Visual Arts Festival and the first prize of “Tehran’s Heart” award.
Image of Marzieh Tajizadegan and other winners of the cartoon and caricature section of the 12th Fajr Visual Arts Festival and their artworks
Making the animation “Inversion”, Tajizadegan has participated in several prestigious foreign films and has received awards. Tajizadegan recently talked to ILNA news agency about her activities, style in cartoons and animation, the importance of cartoons and similar genres, its commercial market and the lack of academic major for this field:
"We can see animation is in progress in terms of software, and it seems that is more important to artists and audiences than cartoons and caricature, but it is not true, cartoonists and caricaturists are still working for newspapers, weeklies, and monthly magazines, of course are paid less attention than before.
Another reason for this inattention to cartoons and caricatures is the lack of specialized educational and artistic resources. Not so long ago, humorous magazines, comics and cartoons gave a special beauty to the newsstands, which is not the case now! As a result, the artists’ activity in the field of cartoons and caricatures have changed for several years, and only one or two sites provide news about the activities of artists and existing works.
However, holding festivals and special events in the field of visual arts has become more serious over the past one or two decade, and artists working in various Visual Art fields usually attend them. Holding group and solo exhibitions is also another option that has been affected by Corona Virus. At the beginning of the outbreak of the virus, virtual galleries attract the attention of organizers, but did not last for a long time."
You have studied animation, what is a difference between animation, cartoon and caricature?
There have cases in similar, but if I want to name the most significant of them, I must say “narrative”. For example, cartoon criticizes human society in one frame, and animation achieves this with millions of frames, depending on the filmmaker’s opinion.
?What these fields have in common
Exaggeration in form and content. Depending on content, subject, artist’s idea and attitude, the result maybe appeared in one frame (cartoon) or in an animation
A work by Marzieh Tajizadegan, winner of the first prize of "the first Nafas (breath) Visual Arts Festival" in the illustration section
One of the significant problems of art fields is that there is no academic major for them. Is it correct in the case of cartoon, caricature...?
I am afraid so.
Which items do you care more about in your work?
Narration, and having a different view about the subject. I use cartoon for some cases due to its less time consuming.
Have you been familiar to cartoon before entering the college?
Yes, I practiced it seriously, I made three animations before that but being college student changed my view into a more professional.
some
What is your achievement after becoming professional?
“inversion” animation is one of the achievements that received prestigious national and international awards.
Cartoon and caricature are different, but most people and even the artists mistake cartoon for caricature. What are the differences?
A cartoon is a visual narrative with a critical and humor view, but a caricature is an exaggerated portrait of a person's face (character) based on his/er personality and attitude. In my opinion, it is a common mistakes made by media.
One of the features that distinguishes cartoon from other arts is the variety of social and subjects. Given this issue, to what extent it has been taken into consideration by cartoonists?
Despite all the extreme difficulties and subtleties of performing cartoons and caricatures, the most important advantage of these two is that these can be performed in one page, and can be presented through all kinds of media. So it makes the cartoonists more interested in.
What about the marketing, how cartoonists and caricaturists earn money?
They can earn money based on their clients’ order, including the media and private organizations. The public sectors mostly have removed cartoon and caricature columns, and just a few selected cartoonists work for them. Shortly, their financial status is not good.
The removal of cartoon by the public sectors is correct. But it seems artists are not also interested to cooperate with them?!
As I said, it is common throughout the world that the cartoonists and caricaturists should use the media, but perhaps the biases, conservatism of a number of media outlets and their unprofessional interference in ordering works are the reasons.
Do you follow a certain style in the two fields of caricature and cartoon, and which of the old artists have had the most impact on your work?
In any case, I have tried to have my own style and be known for this important thing. In general, the cartoon of Mr. Mohammad Rafi Ziaei have influenced me.
You have a work in the form of a miniature in which three men play polo and use a gearwheel instead of a ball. According to your attitude towards the composition, explain to what extent Iranian arts such as miniatures and other types allow the artist to use the combination technique?
Combination became a common technique, but one can use it to the extent that s/he take the significant factors into a consideration in a way that the result won’t be vague. However, depending on the concept intended by the artist, it is possible to use combination in cartoon. In another work entitled "Resistance Economics" I utilized Persian miniature, because the subject was related to Iran, and also Persian miniature came to exist in Safavid era which was a good economic period too.
What is the key for your success in different contests?
Reading and raising the awareness about your work.
Finally, please tell us about your recent work.
I am still studying and it is important for me to be aware of written works related to cartoons, caricatures and animation, and more importantly, to study those books that raise my awareness of life, which is always important to me and I pay attention to it.
some works by Tagerzadegan:
