Topical cartoons: A look back at 2012

I don't know about you, but I'm a little "review of the year" fatigued, so I'll spare you a look back at my cartooning highlights of 2012 and offer instead some topical gags from the past 12 months.

We had the usual winter weather ...

Followed, of course, by a hosepipe ban ...

Britain celebrated the Queen's Diamond Jubilee ...

... amid more extreme weather events in the summer ...
 

But the Olympics was the story of the year ...

There was a new addition to the London skyline ...

 

A government minister prompted a fuel panic ...

There were teething problems with technology ...

A new Archbishop of Canterbury was chosen, via a long and drawn-out process ...

We said farewell to The Dandy comic in printed form after 75 years ...

 

And, as ever, there was some very strange stuff that came out of nowhere ...

Have a happy 2013, everyone!

Not Yet Sold: Just say no, kids

Look, it made me laugh, OK?

It appears that I was probably alone though, hence it is currently dwelling in the file marked Rejected, er, I mean Not Yet Sold. You can see more here.

New cartoon business card

I decided it was time for a new business card, as my existing one has an old email address on it and I'm fed-up of crossing it out.

So I've just knocked this together, with a cartoon that appeared in Private Eye in the summer. Its shape allowed me to design the card in a vertical shape rather than the more traditional horizontal layout. This means I can get a lot more information in, so this card includes the address for this blog as well as my portfolio site.

Once they're back from the printers I will no doubt thrust one into your hand, reader, should we meet. If you can't wait until then, feel free to print this off and attach it to some card from a cornflakes packet.

Drugs cartoon: Keeping it simple

"Mother, are you sure your marijuana use is purely medicinal?"

This cartoon appears in the current Private Eye. Often, with gag cartoons, when you first come up with the idea you want to throw everything including the kitchen sink into the joke, and then you find you have to simplify it.

With this one, the old lady was originally going to be holding a Bob Marley LP, and I even considered putting her in a "Legalise it" T-shirt, complete with cannabis leaf logo! In the end the Rasta hat and slightly stoned expression seemed to be enough.

There was a time, I think, when I think a cartoon like this would have been considered racist, as it plays on black stereotypes. Thankfully, we've moved on. The fact is that a lot of humour, particularly cartoons, plays on clichés and stereotypes, and as long as they're not used to incite hatred, I don't think it's a problem. This TV sketch, for example, may not have been aired a few year ago. But it's not racist, it's just funny.



Royston's portfolio website