Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Here's my Christmas card for this year. Have a great one and don't overdo it like this chap.

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Season's greetings ...

This cartoon is one of Private Eye magazine's Christmas cards this year. Throughout December I have been posting Christmas cartoons old and new on my Twitter page.

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Merry Christmas to you all.

Cartoon advent calendar:Day 23. It's the thought

"A tangerine and a packet of crisps in a shoebox? You really shouldn't have."

Today's advent cartoon appears in the Money pages of the December Reader's Digest, where it accompanies an article about making your own Christmas hampers. I can't imagine I'd get much further on that project than the bloke above.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 6. Good health

"I'm making sure I get my five daily portions."

Here's an old one that was in a Christmas issue of Reader's Digest. Slightly cheekily, it was a riff on one of my own cartoons.

The cartoon is four years old and there were a few elements I was unhappy about with the original drawing, so I have tinkered with it digitally, like a cartooning George Lucas.

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Snow joke, it's that time of year again

I drew one of the Private Eye Christmas cards this year. You can see it by taking a magnifying glass to the bottom right-hand corner of the above promo image. Yes, it's another snowman cartoon (I'll post it here nearer the time). You get the pack of 12 cards when you subscribe, but they're also available to buy. Visit the Private Eye website.

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Boardroom cartoon: A man for our times

"Our new finance director, Ebeneezer, tells me can start immediately on identifying areas where we can make cuts."

This year seems to have been characterised by cuts, redundancies and companies banging on about cutting waste. So when I was commissioned to do a festive gag in my ongoing series of boardroom cartoons, to be used as an Christmas e-card, it occurred to me to throw Ebeneezer Scrooge in there. He'd probably be seen as an asset to most companies these days.

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Seasons greetings to all who've been reading my ramblings this year. This cartoon (click to enlarge) was bought by Prospect magazine for its 2008 Christmas card. You can also see a festive cartoon by me in the Christmas Private Eye.

I sold a few Christmas gags this year, which almost makes up for the drop-off in corporate Christmas cards, due to companies cutting costs. Anyway, 'tis the season to be jolly, so let's not fret about the Credit Crunch for a few days at least! This blog is now taking a break and will return in 2009.

Have a great one!

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Christmas cartoon: Snow fun

I've got two Christmas cartoons in the December edition of Reader's Digest. Here's one of them. Despite the fact that, as I mentioned last week, cartoon-wise it seems to have been Christmas for several months, my personal festive preparations have so far stubbornly failed to get going. So now I'm off to write some cards.

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Christmas cartoons: A long time coming

Yes, it's that time of year again: the Father Christmases are out in force and Slade are on heavy rotation. But for many cartoonists it's been a long time coming, as we've been drawing Christmas cartoons on and off since the summer.

To do Christmas cartoons you usually have to adopt a pretty cynical tone. Most people, adults at least, are quite cynical about the festive season, I find. But the terrible truth is ... I actually really enjoy it! We don't go hugely overboard on it (I think disappointment often comes when you do) but I usually have a good time. So on that note, here's an alternative Christmas song ...



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Credit crunch/recession cartoon

Here's a cartoon for these lean times, drawn recently for a regular business client. Sometimes you can just about get away with the wordy caption.

So how's your recession going? I've noticed a drop in enquiries regarding cartoon jobs lately, which I assume must be down to people feeling the pinch. I've certainly done fewer company Christmas cards than usual, with some clients saying they're not bothering this year.

Still, as Mervyn King, the Bank of England boss is fond of saying, we'll get through it! As though we have any other option. Well, I suppose we could go for the whole jumping off a tall building thing. But for cartoonists, who have depicted that scenario many times, that would be too much of a cliche.

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