Technology cartoon: Lightbulb idea

"This never used to happen in the old days."

Anyone who looks in regularly here will have noticed I've been on a bit of a blogging break. In the manner of these things that's probably known as a blogiday or something equally annoying. Anyway, here's a cartoon from last month's Saga magazine.

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Family cartoon: Saving energy

"Don't disturb your father when he's in stand-by mode."

I drew the cartoons for the Money pages of the new issue of Reader's Digest. Here's one of them, which illustrated an article on energy-saving devices.

This doubles as a word of advice to my own children, who often see me on stand-by when we watch kids' films at the cinema, especially ones involving lots of CGI animals. I can feel my eyelids going heavy just talking about it.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 20. Scrooged

"You can't have more coal for the fire, Mr Cratchit -- this firm is committed to reducing its carbon emissions."

Ebenezer Scrooge would do well if he was around today. He's committed to austerity measures, keeping costs low and running his business on as few staff as possible, and his "make do and mend" approach is also good for the planet.

This cartoon appears in the current edition of The Jester, newsletter of the Cartoonists' Club, which has a Dickens theme to tie in with the Dickens at 200 celebrations.

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Environmental cartoon: No glow area

Seems like a while since we've had any colour on this blog, so here's one of the two cartoons by me that you can see in the June issue of Reader's Digest.

I'm not against low-energy lightbulbs in any Jeremy Clarkson kind of way, we have them throughout our house, it's just that, well, they're a bit crap aren't they? When I sit reading a book I try to console myself with the fact that I'm helping to save the planet as I tilt the page towards the light.

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Recycling cartoon: Climate change is such a laugh

I "do my bit", as they say, in terms of recycling, composting, re-using stuff, using public transport, etc, and I certainly believe that climate change is a problem ... yet I find that it's so much easier to make jokes about "Green enthusiasts" than about the climate-change deniers. Above is an example, which appears in this week's Private Eye.

I read an article in the Guardian last week about whether it's possible for comedians to do jokes supporting environmentalism, or whether they just end up sounding preachy. I've certainly seen the latter with some comedians who have tackled the issue. But maybe I'm just being lazy and should attempt some pro-environmentalism gags. Watch this space.

Appropriately, the joke in this cartoon was originally written for a commission but it was rejected by the client in favour of another option. So I "recycled" the joke by drawing it as a cartoon to go out with an on-spec batch.

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Christmas cartoon: With apologies due

When an cartoonist copies the artwork of another artist, as part of the joke or to make a point, it's customary to provide a credit saying "After ..." or "With apologies to ...". When I sent this cartoon to a local paper here in Kent, where I have a regular slot, I forgot to put that on the cartoon.

So I've rectified that here and send double apologies to Mr Briggs! Hope he doesn't sue ... especially as we recently bought a DVD featuring both The Snowman and Father Christmas, and it's on heavy rotation in our house thanks to my kids.

I must admit though, every time I watch it and that live-action intro from David Bowie comes on, with the Thin White Duke wearing his best Christmas pullover, I do wonder WHAT were they thinking?

For any international readers who don't know what I'm talking about, The Snowman animated short is a Christmas TV institution here in the UK. You can find it on YouTube. There is a version with a more subtle opening, featuring Raymond Briggs himself I believe, but it's also worth checking out the Bowie one for a laugh.

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Getting the cartoon idea straight away

It's rare as a cartoonist to come up with the right idea straight away. Normally there's lots of scribbling and frustration. But it does happen. I was asked to draw a cartoon to accompany a newspaper story about a prison with an excellent recycling record. Being a cartoonist, the very first thing I thought about was a convict's suit with arrows on it. Which led immediately to this:



Note: the number on his suit is today's date!