Not Yet Sold: Yet another HMV cartoon

"I've pimped your sound system."

As regular readers of this blog will know, I've done many, many HMV dog cartoons over the years. It's like an illness. Quite a few have been published but some, such as this one, are languishing in the Not Yet Sold files.

Click here for more in this series of rejected cartoons: Not Yet Sold.

As is often the case with my rejected cartoons though, this makes an unpaid appearance in the Foghorn, magazine of the Professional Cartoonists Organisation. I even coloured it in for them.

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.

Football cartoon: Make some noise

His Master's Vuvuzela

As the England football team face their final chance in the World Cup in South Africa tomorrow, here's a topical spin on a favourite cartooning theme. Paarp!

Royston's portfolio website

Music cartoon: Taking it easy

His master's chill-out album.

It's been a while since I've had a cartoon featuring this little fella on the blog, so here's another one.

I've drawn so many variations on this theme over the years. Perhaps I should do a whole book of them and try to sell it through the HMV chain. Or maybe they would just tell me to stop.

Royston's portfolio website

Music cartoon: A surprise appearance

People often ask if I send a new batch of cartoons to several magazines at once. The answer is no, I send in rotation i.e. I send the gags to one magazine at a time, then any that don't sell I will send to the next magazine on my list. And so on. The main reason is that you'd look a bit silly if several magazines wanted the same cartoon. And the editors concerned wouldn't be too happy about it.

But there's another reason and it's this: sometimes they will print the cartoon before they've got around to telling you they're using it! Or there's some communication breakdown and you don't get the message. The above cartoon is a case in point. It is in this week's Spectator magazine, but I only found that out yesterday while browsing through the mag in in WHSmiths.

Regular readers will note that this is not the first time I've done an "HMV dog" cartoon. And it probably won't be the last.

Cartoons by Royston

Prospect magazine music cartoon is silenced

This HMV dog cartoon is in the new issue of Prospect magazine, accompanying the lead feature by Robert Sandall on the rise and fall of the record industry. (It's fascinating reading for anyone interested in music. Read it here.)


The fact that it does accompany the feature is just luck though, really. I sent the cartoon in as part of my usual batch, with no idea they were planning such a piece. The cartoon had already been declined by a few magazines. Originally it looked like this.

It stems from my annoyance at the fact that we're all supposed to jump unquestioningly on to the latest technological bandwagon. And anyone who chooses to use older technology is treated with contempt. Yes, that's right ... I'm the dog on the left. I'm no Luddite though. I did have an iPod but it packed up. My record player, on the other hand, has been going strong for 15 years. I listened to a 7-inch single of Jonathan Richman's Roadrunner on it the other day. Very loud. Wow, it sounded good. All MP3s in the immediate vicinity were quaking in their tinny boots.

Anyway, Prospect asked to run it without the caption. I wasn't too sure at first but once I'd closed the dogs mouth and made our elegant chum on the left a tad more contented looking, I felt the meaning was still clear. It's more an illustration than a cartoon really, there's no belly laugh there, but that's effectively how they used it anyway.