Cartoon advent calendar:Day 11. Taking a break

Here's an oldie from a few years ago, when they first brought in the smoking ban in England and Wales.

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Cartoonists rejoice! The ash cloud is back

"I'm afraid I can't make it in today because of the ash cloud."

Yes, before you can say Eyjafjallajökull, it seems we have another volcanic ash cloud from our friends in Iceland. It's a different volcano this time, and probably not as serious, but it's still a gift for cartoonists. Here's one I did last time round, combining it with another theme favoured by cartoonists, the smokers' huddle.

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Still hanging around: Volcanic ash cartoon

OK, enough politics* already, there's another story in the news that doesn't seem to be going away.

I thought this cartoon on the volcanic ash cloud, which I drew for a local paper a few weeks ago, would have a limited shelf life, but the infamous plume appears to still be with us. So I thought I'd give it another airing here.

And it seems there is still life in the "smokers' huddle" cartoon too, one of the great contemporary clichés of UK cartooning!

(*I spent Election Night with a group of other cartoonists at the Groucho Club in London. You can read a short report on this at the Bloghorn)

Art cartoon: The smokers' huddle

The smokers' huddle is very much a modern British cartoon cliche, much used particularly since the smoking ban came into effect. I've done a few myself, see here, and here.

And as I like to do cartoons about art, see here, here, and, indeed, here, it seemed like a fun idea to put the two together.

This is another one of those gags that I sold to The Spectator but which ended up being transported to The Spectator Australia. I guess they must have smokers' huddles there too. Bit warmer for them, at least.

The paintings are, left to right, Van Gogh's Self Portrait with Pipe, Cezanne's The Pipe Smoker, Magritte's The Treachery of Images (aka "Ceci n'est pas une pipe") and an early Van Gogh (again) called Skull with Burning Cigarette. I had a postcard of the latter on my wall when I was a student. As if that is of any interest to anyone.

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Smoking cartoon: Not big or clever

Here is yet another snowman cartoon, just as the ice is melting (around here anyway.) This can be seen in the current issue of The Spectator.

Someone asked me if that's an underage smoker at the front. He does look a bit small. I think I just ran out of snow. I drew this last summer so there wasn't much around. Either that or it's conclusive proof that smoking stunts your growth.

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Dalek cartoon: The director's cut

This cartoon is in the current edition of Private Eye. The Dalek cartoon was popular a few years back, notably during the lengthy period that Doctor Who was off air. Here I've combined it with a current popular obsession among cartoonists: outdoor smokers.

Private Eye added a sign reading "Stage Door" on the left hand side of the cartoon. I had considered putting in a sign saying "BBC" when I submitted the gag, but I thought it might be over-egging the joke. I don't think a sign is needed really.

Apart from anything else, I thought that rather than actors smoking inside the Daleks, maybe this takes place in the Doctor Who universe – the Whoniverse, if you will – and these are Daleks taking a break from conquering the human race. Well, whatever the interpretation, it's smoking Daleks, what more do you want?

It's not the first time I've had a Doctor Who gag in Private Eye. Here's one from 2005, just before the series was relaunched.

In actual fact, having been a big Doctor Who fan as a child, I was really looking forward to the new series, but sometimes you have to play Devil's Advocate as a cartoonist. There had been an excessive amount of hype surrounding the series (that seems to have been maintained!) and the media kept falling back on the old "get ready to hide behind the sofa" cliche, hence this cartoon.

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