Micro cartoon exhibition at micropub

Pic: Brian Green

I have an exhibition of cartoon prints, which runs throughout July, at the Four Candles in Broadstairs, Britain's smallest brewpub.

Rather conveniently, the micropub (they're very small but big in Kent) is at the end of my street, so it's easy for me to drop off framed prints that have sold and oh go on then I might as well have a quick one while I'm here.

This is not the first time I've worked with the Four Candles. I designed a label for the beer Voter's Choice, during the snap general election of 2017, and I drew a large cartoon board describing the brewing process when the pub first started making its own beer in 2015, which is still on display alongside the casks.

It's not cartooning but I even drew a new version of the pub sign when the old one became too weather-beaten. This was created digitally (there is literally no need for me to be up this ladder, pic by Brian Green again) so when it fades or wears out a new one can be printed. 

Sales of prints in the micro exhibition have been good and I've managed to raise a few quid for Macmillan Cancer Support, which the pub regularly supports.

Unsurprisingly, this major cultural event made it to the Thanet Extra (below, click to enlarge) and the Isle of Thanet News.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon books

Bumper cartoon selection!

Here's a bumper selection of cartoons published in magazines such as Private Eye, The Spectator and Prospect over recent months. In other words, it's the obligatory "I haven't updated this blog for ages" post!

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon books

Cartoons from The Spectator and Private Eye

"I knew I shouldn't have bothered with this internet of things nonsense ..."

Here's a bumper selection of recent gags from The Spectator and Private Eye, to make up for the fact that a whole month went by without me posting anything here.

"Stay! Sit! Be mindful!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty old school."

"We've liberated the city at last! I'm sure it's around here somewhere ..."

"D-minus? No way! This is fake news."

 Want more laughs? In a handy portable format? Click here to buy Royston's cartoon books

It's another Winnie

"We need to address the heffalump in the room."

A recent Spectator magazine cartoon that is, oddly enough, not my first Wiinie-the-Pooh-based cartoon this year.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon books

Spectator cartoons

Here are a couple of recent cartoons from The Spectator. One on over-sensitive university students closing down debate (which is proving to be a rich seam for joke cartoonists ...)

And one about a recent high-profile crime ...

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon books

Fairytale cartoon: How to rework a joke

"You wake up after 100 years and the first thing you do is check your phone?"

Sometimes, though not very often, it's possible to write a new caption for a rejected topical cartoon. This one was originally about #wakeupcall selfies.

Remember that craze? I wouldn't be at all surprised if you didn't. It was billed as the new #icebucketchallenge but unlike that craze it seemed to fall out of fashion just as my gag was hitting the desks of cartoon editors. So it was dead on arrival.

However, I decided it could be reworked as a more general joke about the way we use phones and off it went again. It appears in this week's Spectator.

I also removed a "with apologies" from the signature, because although the drawing is clearly based on Disney's Sleeping Beauty, the fairytale is not an exclusively Disney thing and it felt like that was getting in the way of the joke somehow.

It is, of course, yet another cartoon about technology. You can see lots more in my book Cartoons on Demand.

Cat cartoons

I've always drawn a lot of cat cartoons, for some reason. Possibly because I like cats. This is one from the current Reader's Digest.

Below is one from the current issue of The Spectator. I've always drawn a lot of psychiatrist couch cartoons, though I can't say I particularly like psychiatrists.

"I want you to be open and honest and to not leave any hairs on the couch."

Also in that issue of Reader's Digest is this, a rare win in Beat the Cartoonist:

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Christmas cartoon: Media interest

Time for another  Christmas cartoon, this time from the bumper festive issue of The Spectator, which is out now.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Spectator cartoon: Masked humour

I drew this months ago but coincidentally it appears in print (in the current Spectator magazine) in the same week that I saw a film screened live in a cinema for the first time.

The joke is a dig at your typical noisy mulitplex customer, but they're unlikely to be seen at a play so in fact it was very enjoyable (it's just the old cartoonist cynicism at work again). We saw the National Theatre Live screening of The Audience, with Helen Mirren. Of course, it'll never match the experience of the real thing, but if you can't make it/afford it, it's the next best thing. Sadly, during the performance we saw she did not berate any gay drummers.

Here's another "theatre masks" cartoon from a couple of years ago.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

The Spectator meets The Walking Dead

"Zombies! The worst kind ..."

Here's a cartoon about zombies that appears in the current issue of The Spectator. It's not a show that usually inspires cartoon ideas, but I came up with this after watching an episode of The Walking Dead.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Cartoon advent calendar: Day 16. Him again

Here's another new one, from this week's Spectator Christmas issue, but clearly I was riffing here on a favourite theme ...

More Magritte cartoons

It's probably of interest to no-one but myself, but this month now has more blog posts than any other I've done. In your face, April 2010 (15) !

Cartoon advent calendar:Day 9. The early adopter

"I thought we's go for a digital tree this year."

Back up to date, todays advent cartoon is in this week's issue of the Spectator.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Phone cartoon: Eyes down

"Let us pray."
I've taken the plunge and bought my first smartphone, so now I resemble one of the characters in this cartoon, which was in The Spectator a few months back. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon and I'll get some feeling back in my neck.

If you look at the web on a mobile phone, then you may like to now that I have now optimised this blog so it looks OK in that format. I say "optimised", this just involved me clicking something once in the Blogger control panel.

Haven't (overtly) plugged my book for a while, which features the above cartoon and lots of others, so I will now. A digital version is available but if you haven't completely embraced the virtual world, like me, you can also buy it in the dead-tree format: Click here for details

Fairytale cartoon: Health & Safety gone mad

It's inevitable, with the amount of cartoons you produce working for magazines, that you like some more than others. This one I thought was just OK, a solid enough joke but generally I'd call it a batch-filler.

So, of course, it was the only one that sold in a recent batch sent to The Spectator, and can be seen in this week's issue.

Originally, I drew it for the CCGB online cartoon contest, in one of the weeks where you have to come up with a captionless cartoon. The theme was "Hot". However, completely "silent" cartoons, i.e. with no wording in them at all, are preferred, so it didn't do very well!

Royston's portfolio website

Social cartoons: The way we live now

"This is one of the pitfalls of shopping online ..."

When I tell people I draw cartoons they usually think primarily in terms of "topical", asking if I watch the news all the time to keep up with what's going on.

Of course, topical cartoons are part of what I do, but mostly they're not "this week's news" topical, they're more about reflecting the way we live now. And often it's the little things in life that I make jokes about.

This cartoon, from the current issue of The Spectator, is a case in point. Many people who do online shopping will recognise the scenario, even if it is a slight exaggeration.

Here are some more examples of this type of cartoon. They don't shout as loudly as newsy or political cartoons because they're not about the "big" issues, but they play a part in comment on society, I think. And, importantly, they usually have a longer shelf-life.

"I like to wear loud ties at work to project my true personality."

The fountain of youth

See more cartoons at my portfolio website

Valentine's Day cartoon

"He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not ... this guy has some serious commitment issues ..."

It's Valentine's Day on Sunday, so here's my Valentine to you, as I love you all. And I mean that most sincerely. This can be seen in this week's edition of The Spectator.

Royston's portfolio website

Smoking cartoon: Not big or clever

Here is yet another snowman cartoon, just as the ice is melting (around here anyway.) This can be seen in the current issue of The Spectator.

Someone asked me if that's an underage smoker at the front. He does look a bit small. I think I just ran out of snow. I drew this last summer so there wasn't much around. Either that or it's conclusive proof that smoking stunts your growth.

Royston's portfolio website

Restaurant cartoon: Watercolour challenge

"I'll have the soup of tomorrow, please."

I've been "kickin' it old school" today, breaking out the watercolours to produce some cartoons to submit for exhibition at next April's Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival.

Here's a sneak peek at one of them. The theme is Magic, Myth and Mystery so I did a new version of a cartoon published in The Spectator and The Week last year. The colours are actually brighter than they look here. I've not quite got the hang of scanning watercolours, probably because I don't do it very often. Any tips on how to make watercolours look good on screen welcome!

Royston's portfolio website

CCTV cartoon: A new spin on an old idea

"It followed me home, can we keep it?"

This cartoon appears in this week's edition of The Spectator. "He followed me home, can we keep him?" is, of course, an old line which has appeared in many forms in gag and strip cartoons over the years. It's usually a dog or some other creature. This was an attempt to put a modern spin on the line.

Royston's portfolio website

Cartoons appreciated by their subjects

"It may surprise you to hear that, actually, morphine is the best medicine."

This old cartoon is to be reprinted to accompany an article written by, wait for it, a clown who works in hospitals, voluntarily giving his time to cheer up patients.

It's not often that someone who is effectively the subject of a cartoon gets in touch to say how much they appreciated it, but it's great when it happens.

Here's another example: This Reader's Digest cartoon was used in a lecture on black holes by a professor who is an expert in that field.


"I'm afraid there's a black hole in our finance department."

And here's my favourite example. Unlikely though it sounds, the original of this cartoon, which appeared in The Spectator, was bought by someone whose work involves Health and Safety regulations pertaining to fairground rides.
"Damn those Health & Safety guys."

If only this kind of thing happened with every cartoon, we cartoonists would be a lot richer!

Royston's portfolio website