Cartoon drawn for fun

I was approached to draw a cartoon recently for an event called the Whitstable Museum of Fun. They put out a call on Twitter asking for suggested themes for the cartoon.

Many, as you might expect, were about local issues relevant to Whitstable residents, but someone, apparently in New Zealand, said "How about a penguin sword fighting a unicorn?" Well, how could I say no?

The result is above. Click the image to enlarge. It was pinned up at the event and kids, who hopefully weren't too traumatised by the impaled penguin, use it as a jumping off point for their own "random" cartoons, drawn on Post-it notes (see below, click to enlarge). All good fun!

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book, one of which has a penguin on the cover!

Arachnid chuckles and comics festival fun

I've never really been one for Halloween or cartoons about it, so please accept this cartoon about spiders instead. They're a bit scary, aren't they? This can be seen in the current issue of Private Eye.

Here's a massive one I spotted in the house we stayed in when I visited the Lakes Comic Art Festival with the Cartoonists' Club a couple of weeks ago.

I probably should have blogged about the event really and posted photos other than one of a spider, but never mind. It was very good and I sold lots of cartoon books, cards and prints. And I chucked the spider out of the window.

Here's me, left, drawing with Tim Harries on the Cartoonists' Club stall (from this LICAF page).

And here's a cartoon I drew there, which you'll probably only get it you go to these sort of events, to be honest.

Greetings card cartoon: Here we row again

This cartoon, which was in an exhibition at last year's Henley Regatta, is now available as a greetings card. It will be sold in the shop at Henley this year.

It costs £2.50, with proceeds going to the Stewards' Charitable Trust, which works with schools across the country, encouraging young people to learn to row. Even Trenton Oldfield can't complain about that.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Cartoon for Henley Regatta exhibition

Those of you interested in boating matters may like to know that there's a cartoon exhibition at this year's Henley Regatta, which starts today and runs until July 3.

I've got two cartoons in the show, and as I know nothing at all about rowing they are both Owl and Pussycat jokes! The one above, which was in Private Eye, sold when it was exhibited at the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival this year. So a different version will be on display at Henley.

So if you're at the event, and it's "Pimm's o'clock", don't forget to wander over to the art gallery behind the Members' Grandstand to have a look and a few laughs. There's more on the exhibition over at the Bloghorn. Chin chin.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Recession cartoon from the Foghorn

"Sorry lads, but times are tough – I'm going to have to let one of you go."

Is it too late for a recession cartoon? I keep hearing on the news that we're coming out of it, the crunch is over. Doesn't feel like it from where I'm standing, so here's the cartoon anyway.

This is featured on a page of gags by me which you can see in the latest edition of the Foghorn, the magazine of the Professional Cartoonists' Organisation. You can read an archive of the Foghorn online, just click the button on the right-hand column of this blog (scroll down).

To buy a print subscription to the mag, which comes out six times a year, go here.

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Five years as a full-time cartoonist

"Excuse me, could I have five minutes of your time?"

Today marks five years since I became a full-time freelance cartoonist. Friday 30th July, 2004, was my last day of salaried employment, then I had the weekend off to think, "Argh, what have I done?" before starting work on Monday 2nd August by staring at a blank piece of paper.

It's been an up and down few years, as most freelance work is, not helped recently by the recession. But the wolf has been kept from the door, even if he has sometimes got worryingly far up the garden path. And I have really enjoyed it.

I've developed far more, in terms of drawing and writing, than I would have if I had not had so much time to dedicate to cartooning. (The cartoon above, which appeared in Private Eye, was drawn not long after I went full-time, I think my style has developed a lot since then.) I have also had more time to get involved with cartoon organisations, events, festivals etc.

Anyway, I'll celebrate with a tipple tonight, and will drink to the next five years.

Help keep me in gainful employment by buying my cartoons!

Rowing cartoon: Size matters

Getting the right size and shape for gag cartoons can be tricky and can require experimentation. Increasingly, I find I'm drawing them in a portrait shape, but with some jokes you have to go landscape.

This cartoon (click to enlarge) appears in this week's Private Eye. Originally the Owl and the Pussycat were rowing with no supplies. After the magazine took the gag, they contacted me to say that the characters were not easy to make out at the size the cartoon would be printed, and they suggested the honey pot to make it more clear. Works OK, I think.

In fact, I wasn't really thinking magazines when I drew this. It was originally drawn on-spec for an exhibition of rowing cartoons that a cartoonist colleague is hoping to stage next year, which is probably why I went for the "wider canvas". I'll let you know the details of the exhibition if and when that goes ahead.

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Cartoons that keep on going

Article from The Weekly News, click to enlarge

It's always amazing to me how some cartoons seem to take on a life of their own. My leopard on a psychiatrist's couch cartoon, which was first published 11 years ago (albeit as a different, black and white version) is a case in point.

Thanks to The Jester, newsletter of the Cartoonists' Club, I've just found out that it was picked for a preview of the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival in Scotland's Weekly News (above, click to enlarge). That's it in the bottom, left. Shame they cropped the signature. The BBC also used it in a Shrewsbury piece.

I don't get paid for these PR uses, but the cartoon has already been published, I sold the original, and I've sold it for re-use many times, so that's OK. I'm happy to help promote the festival and it's good to know that the cartoon is still out there, hopefully making people laugh.

Incidentally, I normally cringe a bit at the attitude shown in this article i.e. "We're all wacky, zany cartoonists here to cheer you all up with a chuckle!" but at the moment it feels quite appropriate, like a genuine public service.

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Evolution cartoon: The missing link

"Let's all do the Conga, let's all do the Conga, la-la-la-la ..."

Three out of the four cartoons I submitted for exhibition at the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival can be seen in the Boffination show (which is at the Bear Steps Gallery until May 9) but this is the one that got away.

I always knew this one would have an outside chance, because with the theme being Darwin-inspired they were bound to get lots of "Ascent of Man" cartoons. And they did. But once I had the idea of them do-do-doing the Conga, I just had to draw it up. Makes me chuckle, anyway.

Talking of Shrewsbury (as have been doing quite a lot on this blog lately, don't worry it'll stop soon) I was alerted today to the fact that the BBC picked one of my Boffination cartoons to illustrate an article on the festival. Excerpt below.


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Tweeting and warbling at Shrewsbury

Well, Shewsbury 2009 has been and gone, or #shrews09 as us cutting-edge Twits call it. Yes, this years Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival, the sixth, was the first to be covered live online, by Matt Buck, Alex Hughes, and myself, for Bloghorn.

Alex and Matt did most of the really technical stuff, uploading video and audio clips, while I wrote some words, took quite a few photos (such as the one of the rather impressive queue for caricatures, above, which remained constant throughout the festival) and asked silly questions like, "What the Tweet is the difference between using the hashtag and the at-symbol?" It was a steep learning curve, luckily I managed to cling on.



It wasn't all new media though. Here's me doing some old-style drawing, roughing out a contribution for the Humurals. These large cartoons decorated the Darwin Shopping Centre (the great man was born in Shrewsbury, hence the enthusiasm for marking his bicentenary at this year's festival). Thanks to Duncan Bourne for taking this photo ... I'm glad I haven't evolved a bald spot yet.

I drew a cartoon involving a couple of Galapagos Island tortoises in a credit crunch scenario. Here's the cartoon on display, bottom left, followed by a close-up.



"Times are hard, I've had to take in a lodger."

No Shrewsbury Festival would be complete without a bite to eat and a few drinkies for the cartoonists, followed by some raucous singing and the obligatory drawing on tablecloths.


Here I am trying not to get stuck in "Stuck in the Middle With You", helped considerably by Noel Ford on guitar. Tim Harries, out of shot, also provided acoustic guitar and reminded me when to come in and what notes to sing.


And that's me fourth from the left, immortalised by the genius that is Martin Honeysett. He's famed for drawing highly unattractive types for the likes of Private Eye and Punch, so he had plenty to work from with us lot. Thanks to Gerard Whyman for these last two pics.

The icing on the cake for me was that my sperm and egg cartoon, which I've never managed to get published anywhere (I blogged about that here) was bought by a festival-goer who saw it in the Boffination exhibition. See, I knew it was a good 'un! I've got three cartoons in the show, which can be seen at the Bear Steps Gallery until May 9.

As well as being a chance for us all to meet up and have a laugh, there was something of a support group feeling at this year's Shrewsbury. Few industries are immune from the recession, and many cartoonists are feeling the pinch, with a drop in offers of work. Most people remained upbeat though, and we hope we can do it all again next year in a better economic climate.

In the meantime, we'll do our best to promote the noble and ancient art of cartooning online, as long as I can tell my at-symbol from my hashtag.

Royston's portfolio website

Preparing for the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival

"You have got to WANT to change."

Getting my stuff together for the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival, which I'll be heading off to later this week.

Here is another of the cartoons I submitted for the exhibition "Boffination", which can be seen at the town's Bear Steps Gallery. It runs until May 9.

This cartoon is a new version of one of my earliest published gags. The original appeared in the fondly remembered Journal of Silly in 1998 and a slightly different version in the similarly defunct Times Metro supplement in 1999. It seemed an appropriate one to revive as an exhibition watercolour, as it fits in with the evolution/Darwin theme. And, of course, recycling cartoons is good for the environment.

I'm not doing a Big Board at the festival like last year and the year before but I will probaby get involved in other stuff such as the "Humurals", a mural of cartoons on the festival theme, and I will be reporting on the festival for the PCO's Bloghorn along with Matt Buck and Alex Hughes.

I don't know if I'll get the chance to put anything on this blog, but I'll aim to do a few Twitter updates from my phone (as I learned how to do that a few days ago!) so they will appear in the column on the right.

I was delighted to find out today that one of my exhibition cartoons has sold already. No idea which one yet, but I'm chuffed as that will pay for travel and a few beers at least. Cheers!

Twitter cartoon

"This is progress for you, social-networking that does not involve lamp-posts."

Here's a cartoon about Twitter, which was drawn to accompany an article about a dog that has its own Twitter feed. No, really! OK, maybe the owner had something to do with it.

I set up a Twitter account recently. I was very sceptical about it at first, as I couldn't see the point of it. But as with all these sites, you really have to try them out to see what it's all about. I can use it in a social-networking way or to point people in the direction of this blog and my portfolio site.

I find that it's a lot more instant than Facebook and it's also good fun. There are a lot of very funny people on there, such as ace comedian Peter Serafinowicz and the comedy writer Graham Linehan, sharing thoughts and links.

My Twitter updates now appear on the right of this blog (though obviously some of the links would just send you back here!) or you can follow me at twitter.com/roystoncartoons.

Royston's portfolio website

Animal cartoon for Shrewsbury festival

"It's not as if that's all I do. I write poetry. I'm very much involved in charity work ... why single out that one thing?"

Here is another of the four cartoons I submitted for exhibition at the 2009 Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. The festival takes place from April 23-26, though the exhibitions will open before that.

The original version of this cartoon appeared in Private Eye in February 2005. As the Shrewsbury organisers were looking for cartoons on the subject of science and nature, to tie in with this year's Charles Darwin theme, it seemed like an appropriate one to submit.

As the original artwork sold shortly after it was published, I drew a new version and added watercolours. Usually I colour on-screen with Photoshop, so previous colour cartoons that I've exhibited at Shrewsbury have been signed prints, but I thought it'd be fun this year to break out the paints and submit only original artwork. Here's another one, which I put on the blog back in February.


My cartoons were submitted for an exhibition now titled Boffination which is at the Bear Steps Gallery from Tuesday (April 14) and runs until after the festival has finished.


The anteater cartoon also appears in the new edition of Foghorn, above, the magazine that showcases the best of British cartoon talent and is published by the Professional Cartoonists' Association. You can read more about the new issue here.

Royston's portfolio website

From the archives: A Spring cartoon

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, so here's a colourful cartoon from the archives featuring some cute bunnies!

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Animals cartoon: What's in a name?

I spent an inordinate amount of time deciding on the names for the animals in this cartoon, which can be seen in the October issue of Reader's Digest. Click the image to enlarge it.

They had to be fairly ordinary names, the type that people have, rather than the names people give to animals. Yet it still took time deciding which one would be Pete, which one Trish, etc. Thinking up names for characters in single-frame cartoons is always tricky because they have to work just once. You can't come up with a name that the readers will get used to over time, as with a comic strip.

By the way, if I know you personally, and you have the name of any of the animal characters above, please don't take offence! Any similarity to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental. I just thought I'd better point that out.

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Animal cartoon: One from the archives

Time for another dip into the archives. Here's another of my early Private Eye gags, this one from ten years ago this month.

Not sure the joke is still relevant. The era of reality TV and makeover shows has enabled ITV to sidestep its inability to make funny sitcoms, and it seems to make very few these days, funny or otherwise.

Drawing wise, it's not too terrible I suppose! This is from the pre-Google image search days ... so they look nothing like hyenas. They're more wolfish. And that awful "rabbit ears" aerial on top of the TV is something I would never draw now. It's a sort of "cartoon shorthand" that I used to use a lot, like mortar boards to indicate schoolteachers. I'm not sure I've even seen an aerial like that, and I've certainly never seen a teacher wear a mortar board. So I stopped doing that. I do like the picture on the wall though, of the hyenas in happier times.

One thing I do remember about this cartoon is that it originally said "second part" rather than "next episode", but the Eye suggested the change – the thinking being that "second part" is more relevant to a drama show, rather than a sitcom. Ah, the subtleties of gag cartooning. And you thought these things were just thrown together.

Cartoons by Royston

Cartoonists' party time

It's that time of year when even cartoonists emerge from their hovels to attend Christmas parties. And so it was that last week I went along to a party thrown by Reader's Digest (cartoon from the Christmas issue, above) at the restaurant at the top of the Harvey Nichols store in Knightsbridge, London.

Much champagne was quaffed and canapes nibbled, while chatting to other cartoonists, illustrators, writers and Digest staff. There was the usual complaining about the cartooning business, as is traditional, and marvelling at some of the bizarre canapes. One of them looked like tomato soup in a small, thin glass and turned out to be, er, tomato soup in a small, thin glass – a kind of Harvey Nichols version of Cup-a-Soup.



Here's me, on the right, with cartoonists Ger Whyman, aka "Ger", left, and Ian Baker, aka "Ian Baker". Ger's not really cross, I think he's pulling a comedy face. Thanks to Clive Goddard for the pic. Afterwards several of us retired to a charming, tiny pub nearby for a fine pint of ale. A good start to the festive season and particularly welcome as most of us have been drawing flippin' Christmas cartoons since August.

Cartoons by Royston

Reader's Digest cartoon: Funny bunnies

Here's a gag from the October Reader's Digest. I don't do that many cute animal cartoons, but they're usually popular so I suppose I should. Captionless gags are often popular too, I think because the reader sometimes has to work a bit harder to get the joke, so when they do it's rewarding. I personally find them more difficult to come up with though.

Cartoon book: Laughing All Over the World

I have several cartoons in a new kids' joke and cartoon book which is out this month and is sold in aid of the Kings World Trust for Children. The Trust was founded in 1993 to provide a caring home, an education and skills training for orphan and homeless children in developing countries. Its work is focused in India, which has the largest percentage of orphan and homeless children in the world.

Children, celebrities, comedians and cartoonists from the UK and overseas have contributed rib-ticklers, one-liners, anecdotes and cartoons to the book. Most of my cartoons are animal gags. Here's one of them:


See more on this book at laughingallovertheworld.com

Cartoons: You love them!

There's no doubt that there are significantly fewer markets for on-spec gag cartoons these days, hence we all have to branch out into other areas. But it's good to see Reader's Digest keeping the faith.


On top of the usual selection of gags there's an extra section in this issue, which includes a couple of mine (above). The contents page reads: Cartoon Bonus: You love them. Here's more. Music to the ears of any cartoonist, so amen to that!