Drawing for RD at the V&A

Much fun was had last Sunday at the Battle of the Cartoonists, part of the launch of this year's Big Draw, at the V&A in London. That's me, centre, above, with Steve Way, left, and Rob Murray, working on the Reader's Digest banner. Also on our team were Simon Meyrick-Jones and Nathan Ariss.

We were assigned the Raphael cartoon The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, so we drew a bunch of characters around an approximation of it – thanks, Steve! – some reacting to it, some not so much.

As usual, the drawing surface was horrible and the pens were smudgy, but the results have a certain scruffy appeal. Here's a few of the bits I drew.

Yes, I drew a Dalek, purely to appeal to the kids! It seemed to do the trick. And I make no apologies for the Salvador Dalek groaner.

See lots more post-Big Draw stuff at the Procartoonists.org blog here, here, and here.

Afterwards we ate, drank and got a little too merry, as is required at these things. Oh, and we didn't win. Private Eye won. Private Eye always win.

(Thanks to Ger Whyman and Nikki Harries for the photo).

Going into Battle once more

This Sunday I'll be taking part in the Battle of the Cartoonists at the launch of The Big Draw at the V&A in London at 2pm.

I took part, on the Procartoonists.org team, in 2008, at St Pancras International, and in 2010, above, at the Hays Galleria. I had planned to sit this one out but at the last minute another team was needed so Reader's Digest was asked to form one and I was asked if I wanted to take part.

The full list of teams is: Private Eye, Reader's Digest, The Sun, The Telegraph, The Guardian/Observer, Big Girls Drawers and Procartoonists.org. The seven teams will be tasked with coming up a comic response to seven cartoons (the non-funny kind) by Raphael. And we don't know which one we'll get until minutes before we start!

See the full list of cartoonists taking part here. To see more about the launch, which this year is called Big Draw, Big Make and runs from 11am-5pm, go here and download the programme. Come along and, er, nod approvingly ... apparently there's no clapping or cheering allowed in the Raphael Room!

Photo courtesy of Denis Dowland

Battle of the Cartoonists 2010

Well, the PCO/Foghorn magazine team put together a cracking banner for the Battle of the Cartoonists at the Big Draw on Saturday, but we were pipped at the post in the "cheer-o-meter" by Private Eye.

I've written a full report on the day's fun and games over at the Bloghorn. Pictured above, with the banner, are, left to right, Cathy Simpson, Ian Ellery, myself, Robert Duncan and Nathan Ariss. Thanks to Denis Dowland for the photos.

The theme was "Make your mark on the future", and here's one of my cartoons:

Royston's portfolio website

Page three cartoonist

Look, I wasn't going to mention it again, but they've only gone and put me on page three of the local paper. Shame about that grimace. Click to enlarge or read it here: Your Thanet

Update 6.11.09: Here's another cutting, click it to enlarge. This appeared in today's Kent Messenger. More egg-based wordplay!


Royston's portfolio website

Big Draw a huge success

I went along to the Big Draw launch at the Idea Generation gallery in London on Saturday with my son. We both had a brilliant time, with his prolific drawing output putting me to shame.

The icing on the cake was the fact that our team won in the Battle of the Cartoonists! I've written a full "match report" on that over at The Bloghorn.

Don't forget that the drawings in the gallery's Now We Are Ten show, including mine, above (click to enlarge) and banners from previous Battles, are to be auctioned at 7.30pm this Thursday (September 17). All proceeds go to the Campaign for Drawing. For more details click here, and to see artwork and place bids online click here.

Royston's portfolio website

Big Draw exhibition opens

The Battle of the Cartoonists banner (click images to enlarge) which I helped to create last year, as a member of the PCO team, is now on show at the Big Draw exhibition "Now We Are Ten".

The show opened yesterday at the Idea Generation Gallery, 11 Chance Street, London. This drawing is also in it.

The exhibition includes work by the likes of Steve Bell, Gerald Scarfe, Quentin Blake Tony Husband and Posy Simmonds. Illustrious company. I guess I'm one of the cartoonists described in the blurb as "up-and-coming". I wonder how long you have to be up-and-coming before you get there?

The drawings will be auctioned at 7.30pm on September 17 at the gallery. All proceeds go to the Campaign for Drawing. For more details click here, to see artwork and place bids online click here.

The 2009 Battle of the Cartoonists, along with cartoon workshops, takes place this Saturday (September 12) at the Idea Generation gallery. The event kicks off at 2pm with the workshops, and the Battle gets underway at 3pm. It goes on until 5pm when the banners are put to the public vote.

I'll certainly be going along to show my support for the PCO team. And my son, who is seven and loves drawing, will be coming along to take part in the workshops.

Royston's portfolio website

Big Draw banners up for auction

Remember the Professional Cartoonists Organisation banner which we created at the Big Draw back in November? Well, the Campaign for Drawing, which runs the event, has put it up for auction on eBay.

The other "Battle of the Cartoonists" banners, by the teams from Private Eye, The Guardian and The Independent, are also for sale. All profits go to the Campaign for Drawing which, like any small arts charity, is always in need of extra funds.

In a press release, the campaign says:

"Six for the price of one! Individually signed cartoon strips by the brilliant Pete Dredge, Robert Duncan, Royston Robertson and Kipper Williams. A series of cartoon scenes on over-sized train tickets look at the painfully funny side of travel. There are six classic jokes with great appeal for all who have suffered on British public transport. Irresistible to cartoon fanatics, train spotters – anyone with a sense of humour!"

So get your credit card out. You'll need a pretty big bank balance as well as a big wall though!

Royston's portfolio website

Big Draw at very big train station

Another Big Draw has come and gone. This time at the revamped (and very large) St Pancras International in London.

My role this year was to be one of the four cartoonists drawing a banner for the Professional Cartoonists' Organisation, on the theme of "Transports of Delight". We were competing in the Battle of the Cartoonists against teams from Private Eye, The Independent and The Guardian. So we were up against such well-known cartooning names as Steve Bell, Martin Rowson, Dave Brown and Ken Pyne.

My team-mates were Pete Dredge, who draws The Directors in Private Eye, greetings card maestro Robert Duncan (that's Rob and Pete holding the banner above) and Guardian business cartoonist Kipper Williams. We had two hours to draw the banner and it was the fastest two hours of my life. We came up with a series of single-panel gags where the frames were drawn to look like train tickets.


Left to right: Kipper Williams, Robert Duncan, myself and Pete Dredge

Voting was by members of the public, on a "who can cheer the loudest" basis and sadly we did not win. That honour went to the Independent, which was nice as the Guardian usually wins. We did get a lot of good feedback from the public though. The design of the banner was much admired, particularly as we were the only team that didn't go for the motif of a train careering off the tracks filled with politicians and City fat cats ...

Here are my gags from the banner (click to enlarge). We had planned to do one each but when we saw the banner we realised it was bigger than we thought! So we had to improvise and do one and a half tickets each, the second being a version of one I posted here just a few days ago.





See the full banner at the PCO blog

Royston's portfolio website

The Big Draw: Transports of Delight

Transports of Delight is the theme for the main cartooning event in the 2008 Big Draw campaign, which this year takes place at St Pancras International Station in London on Saturday (October 18).

The Big Draw is an annual, month-long campaign designed to get the nation drawing. I've taken part in the cartoon-based Big Draw events for the past two years, at Somerset House and Covent Garden respectively, and they're always fun.

This year, for the first time, I will be taking part in the ever-popular Battle of the Cartoonists, where four teams slug it out to produce the best 12ft cartoon banner. I'm on a team of four representing the Professional Cartoonists Organisation (PCO). My team-mates will be captain Pete Dredge, Kipper Williams and Robert Duncan. We'll be up against teams from The Guardian, The Independent and Private Eye.

The Battle of the Cartoonists runs from 3pm-5pm. The winning team is decided clap-o-meter-style – i.e. via vocal public approval, so please come along and shout for us!

There will also be workshops for all ages run by PCO members between 10am and 5pm. So that's the place to be if you want to learn how to draw cartoon characters, caricatures or comic strips.

Activities will take place in The Circle – second side entrance on St Pancras Rd and opposite the Gymnasium. I'm told that the dedicated area will be marked out with artificial grass and picket fencing so you can't miss us.

The Big Draw: Get involved

Royston's portfolio website