Flashback to 2002: National Cartoonists Society (NCS) New Media Award Nomination

In 2002, I received a National Cartoonists Society nomination for the Reuben Awards in the New Media category. At that time, cartooning was beginning to move beyond the printed page and editorial newspapers, stepping into the fast-changing digital landscape. For me, this recognition was not only an honor, but also a milestone — acknowledging that the work many of us were doing in interactive and online media was finding its place within the larger cartooning tradition.

The Reuben Awards are an annual highlight for professional cartoonists and animators. At that time, cartooning was beginning to move beyond the printed page and the newspaper editorial, stepping into the fast-changing digital landscape. For me, the recognition was not only an honor, but also a reminder that the work many of us were doing in interactive and online media was beginning to find its place within the larger cartooning tradition.

Sham Multimedia and the Early Digital Frontier

A large part of my journey toward that nomination came through my work as Creative Director at Sham Records Multimedia in Santa Monica. Between 1999 and 2001, we were building what we believed to be a new kind of entertainment platform — an immersive online world complete with fictional bands, album covers, animations, and interactive storytelling.

This was before social media, before streaming, before platforms like MySpace or Facebook. We were experimenting with Shockwave animation (the forefather of Flash), building spaces where users could create their own pages, and inventing characters and narratives inside the Sham Records universe. Looking back, it was years ahead of its time — and although the project was eventually shelved shortly before release for internal reasons, it remains one of the most ambitious and forward-looking ventures I have ever been part of.

The First Google Doodles

While at Sham, I also began an unexpected collaboration with Google. In April 2000, I illustrated the company’s very first Google Doodle — an April Fool’s Day joke called MentalPlex. I became the first official Google Doodle Artist and over the following ten months, I created every Doodle on the homepage, from the serialized Alien Abduction sequence to the Olympic kangaroo “Kangaroodle” character design I designed for the Sydney Summer Games.

Those drawings helped set the tone for what would become one of the most recognizable visual traditions on the internet. They were playful, human, and designed to connect directly with millions of people logging on around the world each day. The experience was formative for me, showing how editorial illustration and cartooning could translate into this new, rapidly expanding medium.

In Distinguished Company

It was both very exciting and humbling to see my name listed in the New Media category alongside colleagues such as Mark Fiore and Bill Hinds — and to be part of an awards program that, in the same year, also honored remarkable creators across many fields. The roster included Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away), Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch), Matt Groening (The Simpsons), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Drew Friedman, and Stephen Hillenburg (SpongeBob SquarePants).

Among them was also Jerry King, a gifted cartoonist whose support I will never forget. Jerry was the person who first recommended me to Google — a gesture of generosity that changed the course of my career.

And then there were the moments outside the official program: enjoying a Bloody Mary at the hotel bar, just the two of us, with one of my childhood artist idols, Mad Magazine cartoonist Jack Davis, remains one of many unforgettable highlights of that weekend.  A true gentleman and exactly as amazing as you would imagine him to be.

One of my daughter Joanna’s (4 at the time) favorite moments of the awards weekend was our visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. She was thrilled by the recreated studio where Schulz drew Peanuts, the Snoopy ice rink (“Snoopy’s Home Ice”), and most of all, meeting some of the directors and animators responsible for her favorite Pixar films (and playing with their assorted children).

Still at it

Looking back, I remain deeply appreciative that the National Cartoonists Society nomination recognized the emerging field of new media at such a crucial moment. It affirmed that digital work was not a novelty, but a meaningful extension of the cartooning tradition. More than two decades later, I continue to work at the intersection of illustration, storytelling, and technology — from explainer videos and business illustrations to logo and mascot design and editorial artwork. Explore more recent projects and case studies at marsdenillustration.com.

The tools and platforms have changed dramatically since 2002, but the spirit of curiosity and experimentation that led me to Sham Multimedia, to Google Doodles, and to that NCS nomination still drives my work today. You can explore my most recent projects at marsdenillustration.com.