Cartoons to the rescue!

Cartoons can be used to lift any subject matter that is complex, serious, dry or any of the above. Here is a selection of recent cartoons from business publications that cover insurance, law, technology, corporate finance, waste management and the health service.

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And here's an excerpt from some live drawing during a talk at a business conference. The subject here was cyber-security, another potentially tricky one ...

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Referendum cartoon

Click to enlarge. Just because a cartoon is for a magazine about waste and recycling, doesn't mean it can't be about the EU referendum! From the May issue of Skip Hire Magazine.

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Christmas cartoon: Strips and skips

The cartooning life is not all about the, er, glamour of Private Eye, The Spectator and the like. Here's a festive cartoon from what is referred to on Have I Got News for You (and has featured on that show) as "this week's guest publication" ... Skip Hire Magazine.

I've been drawing a strip for the monthly mag since February. People think it must be difficult to draw for specialist publications but provided the mag has a sense of humour (which Skip Hire with it's regular "skip chick" and "skip hunk" features most definitely has!) I don't find that to be the case.

This has turned out to be a fun job. It's basically a straightforward workplace strip with regular characters. Like Dilbert with skips!

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Snow cartoon: A load of rubbish

Why does everyone insist on saying "Blimey, a bit of snow and the whole country grinds to a halt!" as though that's a bad thing? We need more grinding to a halt. Surely it's time to petition the Government for an officially recognised National Grinding to a Halt Day?

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Desert island cartoon: A personal milestone

The desert island is probably the most well-worn gag-cartoon scenario. I've drawn a few over the years, though not that many. But I think this is the first one to appear in a newsstand magazine, which must be some sort of personal milestone, I suppose.

It is one of three cartoons by me in the November issue of Reader's Digest. I was surprised to see so many used in the one issue, though obviously I was also pretty happy about it!

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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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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!