SSC Selection Post 2022 PYQ — Question 8

Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
What writers struggle to express through numerous newspaper columns, the cartoon
manages in a pointed one-liner. Little wonder then , that the first thing most of us like to see
when we pick up a newspaper is the cartoon. Simple though it may seem, making a cartoon is
an art that requires a combination of hard work , training and a good sense of humour.
Cartoonists say that the cartoons that make us laugh the most are in fact the cartoons that are
hardest to make. Even celebrated cartoonists like RK Laxman admit that making a cartoon is
not a piece of cake. Laxman says he has to wait for over six hours , which includes spending
a lot of time scanning newspapers and television channels before any idea strikes him.
So how does one become a cartoonist? Which one of us has the talent to make it? How can
we master the rib-tickling strokes and the witty one-liners? How can we make people smile or
laugh? There are few colleges or schools for cartoonists. Most cartoonists come from art
colleges, while some learn the craft on their own. Most established cartoonists are of the view
that no institute can teach you to make a cartoon. “You can pick up the craft, you may learn to
sketch and draw in institutes , but no one can teach anyone how to make a good cartoon,”
says Uday Shanker, a cartoonist with Navbharat Times. While basics , like drawing and
sketching can be learnt in an art college, and are important skills, these alone , do not make a
good cartoonist. Because it’s a question of one’s creativity and sense of humour; two qualities
one simply may not have. The advice that established cartoonists give is that just because
you can sketch, don’t take it for granted that you will become a successful cartoonist.