Masoud Ziai Zardokhshi is a cartoonist and caricaturist from Iran. He was born on 4 February, 1965 in Abadan. He has achieved 135 national and international awards from domestic and foreign festivals. He was a member of the jury for more than 35 national and international Contests and he has received many awards from domestic and foreign Compettition. Here you can find an interview with him:

Recently you have been the referee of the 10^th Young Iranian Cartoon and Caricature Festival, what is your assessment of the festival selected works?

- It was a good festival and it had a good and different theme. It was also received relatively well, and the quality and attitude was also interesting and considerable.

Why did you decide to be a cartoonist?

- I have been painting firstly, and my first cartoon experience was to see cartoon works in Keyhan Caricature and then I interested in it.

What was your first cartoon you did? Do you remember it?

- No, I’m sorry.

When and where your first work was published?

- It was about 30 years ago, and it was published in Cartoon and Comic magazine.

What was your childhood wish?

- I didn’t have any special dream.

Now what is your dream?

- I wish health and happiness for all people around the world.

What was your first awards?

- Porto Alegre, Brazil.

And what is your last awards?

- I haven’t attended in contest for some years. I think, it was three years ago, Turhan Selçuk in Turkey.

Do you work digitally or manually?

- Mostly I work manually.

What tools and applications do you use?

- I use color pencils and watercolor.

Is it possible to teach cartoon or caricature?

- Yes, of course.

And what about cartoon or caricature idea?

- Yes.

Which is more important for you, the idea or technic?

- Both of them, but simplicity is more important for me than work with complex forms.

How do you form an idea in your works?

- Something that impresses me or my personal technic or keywords.

How do you choose a technic and how is your idea formed?

- Usually I work simple and linear.

Have you ever trained for cartoon or caricature?

- No.

You have attended in many contests and festivals and you have achieved many awards, in your opinion and other experts, what the main features or lucky break of your work in terms of form, implementation and contents are?

- Poetry and simplicity

How much time usually you spend to create a work?

- 2 – 4 hours. The time you spend to make an idea is more than design it. However now it isn’t.

Is the simplicity or complexity of a form related to the simplicity or complexity of an idea?

- No it’s not. It’s a part of human personality.

- How effective is it in promoting your artistic output, when you received awards and attended in international or national festivals?

- Festivals, press and publications are effective. The awards are important too but today social media can be more effective. Or a cartoonist can release his work independently and without attending in a festival and it has an output.

If we don’t consider form and implementation, what are the functions of the caricature, cartoon and animation for you? And how do you exhaust the subjects?

- Its function for me is informational and media uses and it’s not decorative.

In your opinion, how much an artistic work should be relied on the form and the idea and how much content it should have?

- An artistic work is dependent on both of them. It can have no content and could be decorative. Or it could be fun or joke. Art needs both of form and content.

Do you prefer one of this argument to another?

- No, I don’t believe that the art should be committed. An artist should be free and he could draw whatever he want freely. So it can have some contents or not, it can be conceptual or fun and joke.

What is the relationship between the form and the content in a cartoon in term of association?

- Form must be at content service. Content is not necessarily a concept and it is possible on the contrary.

What imagination and ideas do you have about association, convergence and synergy of these two categories for creating some great and valuable works?

- When a form is at content service, it can be understandable fast and audience doesn’t hesitate to understand the content.

In your opinion, who is the best foreign caricaturist?

- Yuri Kozobokin

Which Iranian artist works do you like?

- Kambiz Derambakhsh

What is the best film have you ever seen?

- “Cow” in Iranian film and “Papillion” in foreign film.

In your opinion, who are the best foreign and Iranian actors?

- Iranian actor:”Behruz Vosughi” and foreign actor: Antony Queen”.

What is the best book have you read?

- “Boufe Koor” Written by Sadegh Hedayat.

With Which Iranian artist you are in touch?

- Abbas Naseri

What is your opinion about Iran Cartoon Website?

- It is very better and it has a considerable format.

And what would your last words be?

- I wish you all the best.

Thanks a lot for your kind attention and  for your time.