Sun-Times cartoonist at home in Clarendon Hills

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: Sun-Times cartoonist at home in Clarendon Hills : October 22, 2009 : By AMY DEIS | Pioneer Press : Jack Higgins knows Mayor Richard Daley's face like the back of his hand. : "I could draw him in my sleep," said Higgins, a lifelong Chicagoan who now lives in Clarendon Hills with wife, Missy, and five children, Tommy, Brigid, Rose, Jackie and Brendan. : The nationally acclaimed editorial cartoonist for the Chicago Sun-Times is one of several artists, writers and musicians being featured at the Irish American Heritage Center's books, art and music celebration called iBAM! on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. : Higgins, who has won numerous awards including a Pulitzer for his editorial cartoons, is a second generation Irish American whose grandparents emigrated from County Kerry, Ireland in the late 1880s. : His mother's great-great grandparents also immigrated to the U.S. in the 1830s from Ireland. : Higgins will be doing a cartoon demonstration and signing copies of his book, My Kind of 'Toon, Chicago Is, at the celebration from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 31 and from 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 1. : Higgins grew up in Chicago's Ashburn neighborhood on the South Side where politics was as popular as sporting events. : He grew up with his boss at the Sun-Times, Tom McNamee, and Dennis Gannon, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor. When he was 7 or 8, Higgins said Gannon recruited him and McNamee to hand out palm cards outside the polls to endorse one of Gannon's relatives who was running for state office. : "We felt like we had a hand in the victory," Higgins said. : Higgins attended St. Thomas More School and then St. Ignatius College Preparatory before going on to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. and earning his bachelor's degree in economics. : Higgins took a few art classes but it was Paul Szep's work as the editorial cartoonist for the Boston Globe that sparked his interest in pursing editorial cartooning as a career. : "I thought this is exactly what I want to do," he said. : Knowing he needed clips to get hired, Higgins started drawing editorial cartoons for the Daily Northwestern in Evanston before freelancing with the Sun-Times in 1981 and finally getting hired in 1984. : He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1986 and a winner in 1989. His other awards include Illinois Journalist of the Year in 1996, Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award in 1988 and 1998, and the Scripps Howard Editorial Cartooning Award finalist in 2000 and 2004. : Higgins starts his day before 5 a.m. when his ideas are the freshest by reading the newspapers and watching the news on TV. He attributes his early rising to the days he had a paper route as a boy. : "I got used to doing things early," Higgins said. : A cartoon can take him anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours, but sometimes he'll revamp a cartoon in the afternoon if it's not quite right. : Over the years, Higgins learned to grow a tough skin when people criticized his editorial work, especially his recent cartoon from Oct. 14 showing President Barack Obama wearing nothing but his medal covering his private parts. : "People didn't get the analogy of the Emperor's New Clothes," he said. : For three years, his cartoons were syndicated but a love of local politics and news brought him back to Chicago's issues. : "Politics is one of the six sports; you have football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer and politics," he said. : Creating new caricatures of Chicago politicians takes time and practice but Higgins said they evolve over time. : His favorite character to draw? The mayor himself. : "Mayor Daley gets mad because he says I draw him too short," Higgins said. : For more information or to buy tickets for the Irish American Heritage Center's iBAM! celebration, visit www.ibamchicago.com.

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