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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Christmas cartoon: Private Eye card 2013

"I think UKIP have got to him."

This was one of the 12 Private Eye Christmas cards this year. Yes, it's another spin on the "naughty and nice" theme!

I could be wearing a look of dismay similar to that elf in 2015 as there's a real possibility that the UKIP leader Nigel Farage could become my local MP! There is also a rumour, however, that he may stand in nearby Canterbury. Here's a cartoon I drew about that earlier this year.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 10. Broken Britain

"I can't believe none of us are working this year."

Another one on a recession theme, I've been drawing those for several Christmases now!

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 2. A stable upbringing

"It's not a stable, it's a pop-up hotel."

Here's the second entry in my cartoon advent calendar. Or, if you're on Twitter, my #Twadvent cartoon, which almost sounds a bit rude but, what the heck, let's run with it.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 1. Doing it again

"Happens every year – I can never remember where I put the tree decorations."

Last December I posted a festive cartoon every day up to Christmas Eve, as  a kind of cartoon advent calendar. It proved quite popular so I'm doing it again this year.

There will be old ones and new ones, published and rejected, some from magazines and others commissioned. There might be one or two I posted last year, but we all like a few repeats of old favourites at Christmas, don't we?

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Cartoon advent calendar: Day 24.It's the taking part

Here's the final advent calendar cartoon. This was my Christmas card this year, and like the drawing from day one, the gag was in the Christmas issue of Reader's Digest.

I picked this as the final one as it looks forward to 2012. Thanks for reading and a merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all!

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 12. The nativity

"If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this drama ..."

Here's today's advent cartoon. This was a Private Eye Christmas card cartoon last year.

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Cartoon advent calendar: Day 11. Hello kitty

"Since that trip to the vet, these were the only baubles that Pickles would be playing with this year."

I know what you're thinking ... that's not a cartoon! But I did write the caption for this Christmas photo card.

A few years ago, I drew a Christmas cartoon for a card company that also sent me some photos to write captions for. They picked this one. It's a peurile joke, I know, but it all puts turkey on the table. I dedicate this to our cat, Mike, by way of apology. Normal service will resume tomorrow ...

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

"If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this drama ..."

Here's the Christmas card I drew for Private Eye this year. Click the image to enlarge.

I very nearly didn't send them this one because the caption, which you will surely have heard at the end of many a gritty TV drama, has been used in other contexts in cartoons. But I hadn't seen it applied to the story of Jesus, and as that concerns teen pregnancy, homelessness and child murder, it seemed appropriate.

I'm taking a blogging break until January, so all the very best of the festive season to you.

Private Eye Christmas cards

'Tis the season to be thinking about how near Christmas is getting, and Private Eye is on the case with its usual pack of festive cards for sale. And this year one of them is by me.

That's mine second from bottom on the right-hand side. I'm not putting it on here just yet, but you can see it on the site or, better still, buy sets of 12 cards online.

And if you'd like me to draw a Christmas card for you, it's probably a good idea to start thinking about it. Annoying, I know, but true!

Snowman cartoon: Who's that?

Apparently, lots of people here in the UK have snow today. People in London appear to be getting particularly excited about it on Twitter. As usual, there is none here on the tip of the Kentish coast, so I have to make do with snow cartoons instead.

This one can be found on a Christmas card in a gift shop near you (I sold the card company this and a slightly rude caption for a photo card). It can also be seen as a full-page cartoon on the back of the latest edition of 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.

In other news: There's an interview with me over at a US blog called David Wasting Paper. David is a self-confessed cartooning geek and has put the same questions to a whole load of cartoonists and comics artists, including Bill Griffith, Nick Downes, Dave Coverly, Chris Browne and Larry Gonick. There's lots to read there, well worth a look during the inevitable festive period down-time.

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