More cartoon adventures in space

Having drawn the cartoons for the Adventures with the Wife in Space blog, in which the Doctor Who superfan Neil Perryman subjected his long-suffering wife Sue to every episode of the original series, I have now drawn one for its sequel.

Adventures with the Wife and Blake, will see the experiment repeated with every episode of the cult 1970s sci-fi show Blake's 7. It won't take anywhere near as long but it could still be grounds for divorce. The project is being launched using Kickstarter and fans can pledge to support it here.

Meanwhile, I've drawn the front and back covers for the Adventures with the Wife in Space book which is published by Faber & Faber in the autumn, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. More on that nearer the time.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 19. Modern Santa

Today's advent cartoon is another cartoon drawn for a company Christmas card, a marketing company in this case.

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Fortune teller cartoon: Size matters

"You are going on a short journey ..."

This is the original version of a cartoon which appears in this week's Private Eye. The magazine was concerned that the shopping list on the man's hand might not be readable when printed, so I drew a "close-up", single-column version.

It's important to bear in mind print size, particularly when the drawing contains a key detail, as this one does. In most magazines these days cartoons are usually printed quite small. The new drawing works fine but I still prefer the original, and as it looks OK online I've used that one here. Plus, of course, on the internet there's always click to enlarge.

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Website cartoons: More politics

Here are more examples of political cartoons, for this election week. These are part of a series drawn for the Taxpayers Alliance, which ran on its site for about three years, illustrating various pages.

Of course, the TPA is at a very different point on the political spectrum to the Green Party, proving that I am a shameless mercenary who goes where the money is. But you can't always do work that reflects your political viewpoint. As George W. Bush once famously said, a man has to put food on his family.

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Financial cartoon: More caption fun

One of my clients, the financial website This is Money, asked me to provide a cartoon from my files, with wording removed, for an online caption competition. Previously they had used a stock photo.

This is different in format to the Reader's Digest caption contest (which I am in this month) as readers simply add their captions to the comments underneath the cartoon, then the site picks the best one. The prize is a copy of Avatar and a Sony Blu-ray DVD player.

It's interesting to see the captions come in (they're just over 300 at the time of writing) though it's fair to say they're a mixed bag. Also, This is Money is a Daily Mail website so many are from, er, a certain political perspective.

Click here to see the competition

Financial cartoons are not overdrawn

Here's a selection from a bunch of icon-style cartoons I drew for a financial website. They appear on the site even smaller than you see here, so it was a new experience for me to produce cartoons that work in that space.

I was given a list of subjects to illustrate: pensions, tax, mortgages, banks, debt, internet shopping and so on. The first thing I learned was that less is more. On the first few I'd put in detail that simply couldn't be seen when I reduced them down. So I had to start throwing things out.

In the end, I found that as so little detail was required I could create them entirely on the computer, rather than drawing on paper, scanning and colouring on screen, which is the way I usually work. There was no need to worry about line and certainly no space for elaborate composition.

Ironically, considering financial matters are not my strong point, I found this to be a fun job.

Royston's portfolio website

DIY cartoon: Fun with flat packs

Here's proof that even old, tired, neglected and rejected cartoons can find a happy home, somewhere in this big ol' world of ours ...


Thank you Dr Flat Pack! He's in Australia, wonder if he's a flying flat-pack doctor?

Royston's portfolio website

Cartoon markets: Writing the right gag

Like any job, you have to wear different "hats" as a cartoonist. Ordinarily, if asked to to a cartoon about Damien Hirst I would probably come up with something a bit sarcastic (as many cartoonists have done!). But when it's for a profile of said artist on the Artyfacts section of the Children's BBC website, something just plain silly is the order of the day.