Eric Shansby

Eric Shansby (born 1985) commonly known as Shansby, is an American cartoonist and children's book illustrator.

His cartoons appear in American news outlets, most prominently in The Washington Post alongside columns by humorist Gene Weingarten.

Shansby grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland.

His mother was a librarian.

He was interested in art from a young age and would trace the images in the library books his mother brought home to him.

He drew caricatures of his classmates and teachers in elementary school.

Shansby published his first comic strip his sophomore year of Montgomery Blair High School, where he was the art editor and a cartoonist for his high school newspaper.

He created both editorial cartoons and a strip OxyMoron.

There, he met Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten when Weingarten gave a guest lecture in Shansby's journalism class.

When Weingarten first saw Shansby's work, he noted it was "breathtaking stuff."

For his work in high school, Shansby won The Freedom Forum's Free Spirit Scholarship and the Maryland Scholastic Press and Quill & Scroll Society/National Newspaper Association's editorial cartoon awards.

At the 2002 Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Circle Awards, he placed first in art/illustration portfolio, comic cartoons, editorial cartoons, and sports cartoons.

In addition, he came in second place for his cartoon portfolio and third place for editorial cartoons.

He graduated from high school in 2003.

In 2004, Gene Weingarten asked him to illustrate Below the Beltway, his weekly humor column in The Washington Post Magazine.

Shansby began contributing to Below the Beltway while he was a freshman in college.

He also had a regular feature on the KidsPost website.

Shansby studied philosophy at Yale University, graduating in 2007.

At Yale, he was a member of St. Anthony Hall and was also a political cartoonist for the Yale Daily News.

While in high school, Shansby drew editorial cartoons for the weekly Montgomery County Sentinel.

His political cartoons covered AIDS, environmental issues, gay marriage, human cloning, public education, and the Iraq War.

Once in college, he continued submitting to the Sentinel.

His work was also published in Young D.C. and The Report Press Law Magazine.

Shansby illustrated the 2014 children's book Me & Dog, a parable on atheism written by Weingarten.

In September 2018, Shansby left Below the Beltway as part of the redesign of The Washington Post Magazine.

Wiengarten stopped writing the column in 2021.

On the Kojo Nnamdi Show, Shansby identified himself as a “culturally Jewish, American atheist.”