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.

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In praise of gag cartoons

Here's an article I wrote for the Procartoonists blog five years ago, when I published my first collection of cartoons:

Whenever the media spotlight is turned on cartoons it is often those of a political variety. These cartoons shout the loudest and have news impact, but I think it's time to speak up for its modest cousin: the gag cartoon.

I have been drawing gag cartoons for the magazine market for about 15 years. I love the process of coming up with new ideas and, hopefully, getting them published.

Recently I've been sifting through my drawings from magazines such as Reader's Digest and Private Eye in order to put together a book collection. I'm not friends with any famous people so I had to write my own foreword for the book and decided to to put down exactly what it is I like so much about gag cartoons as a medium.

This was the crux of piece: "The single-panel joke is a perfect, self-contained unit of comedy, an instant hit of humour that doesn't demand much of your time."

I once heard the writer Will Self describe gags as "the haiku of cartoons". That may sound a little pretentious (from Will Self? Surely not?) but I think it's true, a gag cartoon is like a poem. Or a one-liner joke, perhaps. It is a small, carefully crafted article.

It doesn't have the grandeur or the, let's be honest, occasional self-importance of the political cartoon, but it is still designed to provoke a reaction: hopefully laughter.

I have heard some people claim that the gag cartoon is in some way an old-fashioned form. This is probably because it is so closely connected with magazines, so people think of crumpled, yellowing copies of Punch in the dentist's waiting room. Also, magazines and newspapers are "dead-tree technology", and that, we are constantly being told, is on the way out.

But, when you think about it, the gag cartoon is actually perfectly suited for this age of the short attention span and sits just as easily on a web page, or an iPad app, as a magazine page.

And long may it continue to do so.

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Reader's Digest caption contest: Result

The result is in! This is from the March issue of Reader's Digest:

JANUARY'S WINNER: In a titanic battle between RD readers and cartoonist, the professional scribbler Royston Robertson won out – by just two votes. His succinct effort "Nice touch." beat off an irony-heavy challenge from Helen Martin of Gravesend, Kent: "You should have read my file. I have hayfever." Against almost a thousand entries every month, the cartoonists are manfully holding their own now, winning one in every three caption contests. SCOREBOARD: Readers 8 Cartoonists 4

So, I've now played two (this one and this one) and won two. 'Ave it! [Puts shirt over head and does a lap of the room ...]

As you will probably have heard, the UK edition of Reader's Digest is in administration, and they are looking for a buyer. The March issue is out now as usual though, so why not buy it to show your support? There's another cartoon by me in it, and some great gags from Huw Aaron, Rob Murray, Alexander Matthews, Steve Way, Peter "Pak" King, and Simon Meyrick-Jones.

And you can have a go at the next Beat the Cartoonist, which is drawn by my cartooning pal Wilbur Dawbarn.

Royston's portfolio website

Reader's Digest caption contest: update

UPDATE UPDATED (1/2/10): Voting has now closed. The winner will be announced in the March issue.

The caption options for Beat the Cartoonist are now on the Reader's Digest website. As usual, they are my original caption (anonymously, of course) along with three captions submitted by readers.

The choices are:

"Nice touch."

"Hanged for putting a plastic bottle in the dustbin. See what happens when you vote in the Green Party?"

The Britain in Bloom entry lacked sensitivity.

"You should have read my file. I have hayfever!"

The last time I was in the competition, my caption was the winner, although overall the readers are very much in the lead!