Micro cartoon exhibition at micropub

Pic: Brian Green

I have an exhibition of cartoon prints, which runs throughout July, at the Four Candles in Broadstairs, Britain's smallest brewpub.

Rather conveniently, the micropub (they're very small but big in Kent) is at the end of my street, so it's easy for me to drop off framed prints that have sold and oh go on then I might as well have a quick one while I'm here.

This is not the first time I've worked with the Four Candles. I designed a label for the beer Voter's Choice, during the snap general election of 2017, and I drew a large cartoon board describing the brewing process when the pub first started making its own beer in 2015, which is still on display alongside the casks.

It's not cartooning but I even drew a new version of the pub sign when the old one became too weather-beaten. This was created digitally (there is literally no need for me to be up this ladder, pic by Brian Green again) so when it fades or wears out a new one can be printed. 

Sales of prints in the micro exhibition have been good and I've managed to raise a few quid for Macmillan Cancer Support, which the pub regularly supports.

Unsurprisingly, this major cultural event made it to the Thanet Extra (below, click to enlarge) and the Isle of Thanet News.

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Surprise role as wedding cartoonist

Recently I did day of live drawing at a wedding held at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate. Between the ceremony and afternoon drinks the guests had a chance to view the works on display, which allowed for a few art-based jokes (above).

This was not the typical kind of job cartoonists do at weddings (i.e. live caricatures). Instead I drew a series of cartoons telling the story of the day -- much as I would do at conferences and workshops -- from the arrival of guests, through the ceremony and afternoon reception and up to the first dance in the evening.

Here are a couple of excerpts. Each page was drawn with a cartoon frame, to go with the gallery location, and I used yellow and grey, the wedding colours, so they fitted right in.

The cartoons got a great reaction (even the magician was impressed and he does magic) and certainly added something a little bit different to the day. A fun job.

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Going live: Cartoons in front of an audience

Drawing live at conferences and events is something I've been doing more of over recent years, producing a memorable cartoon summary of speeches, workshops and discussions.

The process is variously known as graphic recording, scribing, sketchnotes, graphic facilitation, visualisation ... I tend to just call it live cartooning. The subjects can be many and varied, though this one, held last month, was something of a gift: a conference called Comedy on Stage and Page.

It was held at the University of Kent by the newly established British Stand-Up Comedy Archive (BSUCA) in association with the British Cartoon Archive. The photos are copyright BSUCA, and you can see more here.

Below is one of the finished pages. I completed eight by the end of the day's events. Get in touch if you have an event that could benefit from this kind of cartooning.

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The Four Candles Guide to Brewing

This was a fun commission. Mike Beaumont, landlord of the Four Candles micropub here in Broadstairs, which is my local, asked me to come up with a large cartoon poster on the brewing process.

It was drawn to mark the fact that the pub recently started making its own beer on the premises and is now officially Britain's smallest brewpub.

The idea was to show how ale is made -- where and when the hops and barley are added, timings, temperatures etc -- in a humorous way, while including daft comments from many of the regulars. I am a regular in the pub, so I know you get a lot of daft comments in there!

Here's some detail from the board:

Once finished, we had it printed on a 107cm by 193cm Foamex board and laminated, because it has been placed by the stillage, where all the casks go, so it's sure to get splashed a lot.

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Live drawing: Love Them or Loathe Them

I did a live-drawing project last weekend as part of the Summer Squall arts festival in Ramsgate. It was called Love Them or Loathe Them and I drew a series of 3ft by 3ft cartoons of well-known divisive figures, such as the artist Tracey Emin, below, a local Margate girl ...

These were then pasted up on to the "Great Wall of Ramsgate", a hoarding around an empty building site which is itself the focus of local hate as it used to be the Pleasurama leisure park, was then supposed to become flats and is now a derelict eyesore.

The passing public were asked to give their views on the individuals depicted. We had ink pads saying “Love” or “Loathe” but they didn’t work very well, so instead people were invited to add comments with marker pens. And they didn’t hold back ...

Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence party was particularly divisive. He has since been confirmed as the Ukip candidate for the area at the general election next year, so this proved to be a poll of local opinion. I counted 15 against, 7 for and 3 undecided ...

Here are the rest of the drawings. The Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans ...

Once I'd added the blood to the teeth of the footballer Luis Suarez, below, I realised I probably shouldn't have bothered with the "Barcelona" on his shirt. But as the public had to match the cartoons with the names on the poster (top) I wanted to leave no room for doubt ...

Pop star Lady Gaga ...

Boris Johnson. Another one seeking election next year ...

TV "controversialist" Jeremy Clarkson ...

Former MP/writer/TV personality Ann Widdecombe. One of the last ones I drew, hence no comments yet ...

The comedian and wannabe revolutionary Russell Brand ...

X-factor judge and record company boss Simon Cowell. I might have pushed this one a bit far, he looks a bit like Kim Jong-un. The Kids got this one no problem, though ...

Toothsome journalist and TV personality Janet Street-Porter ...

The last one I drew was Alan Sugar and I freely admit that the likeness is not really there. Looks a bit too thuggish. However, I had a get-out clause with the speech bubbles ...

It was a really fun job and the public reaction was great. Many thanks to Jeni Butler for sorting out the logistics of the job beforehand and Sue Martin for her help on the day by, particularly by helping me with the wallpapering!

UPDATE: I neglected to take pic of all of the cartoons but thankfully @standuptoUKIP were on the case (posted on Twitter by @StopFarage). Looks like more comments have been added, and someone has tried to remove Suarez! Click image to enlarge.

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Keeping busy

Here's me with fellow cartoonist Simon Ellinas and a wall full of cartoons at a recent live-drawing event in central London. It has been a very busy month cartoon-wise, hence I've not updated the blog for a while. I'll redress the balance next month when I post a load of Christmas cartoons. In the meantime, here's a recent one about gnomes.

"My son ran away to join the Terracotta Army."

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