Valentine's Day cartoon

Here's a limited edition pink cartoon for all you lovers out there ...



Cartoons by Royston

Private Eye cartoons: A hit and a miss

Here are two cartoons submitted to Private Eye – a hit and a miss. The top one is in this week’s issue. Expect to see the show they’re watching on Channel Five within three years. You read it here first.

The second gag I’m posting here because it’s one of those topical ones that you can’t send on to another mag because the story is finished. (Note for international readers: Jeremy Beadle was a TV practical joker who died last week). I was pleased with the cartoon as I thought the joke was simple and funny. I thought it was in with a chance as the Eye often goes for “gravestone” gags after the deaths of well known personalities. But what do I know? They passed on it.

I also considered just the gravestone with the words “Beadle’s Not About” (after his show “Beadle’s About”) but decided against it. The following day that was the headline on the front page of The Sun, proving that my skills as a newspaper sub-editor (I was one for eight years) are still intact!

Cartoons by Royston

Caveman cartoon speak truth

The phrase "you're only as good as your last idea" certainly applies to cartooning! It's something I often think to myself, usually when facing a blank piece of paper and struggling to come up with fresh ideas for gags. In this case the phrase became a gag itself, one which can be seen on the letters page of February's Prospect magazine.

Cartoons by Royston

Business cartoon: Economic woes

Here's a cartoon from the January edition of Reader's Digest. Cartoons are often based on current phrases and cliches that we hear a lot, usually in the media. This is one of those kind of gags. It's just a play on words really, but I think you can get away with jokes like that if it offers a good visual image. I had fun drawing this one, imagining what a black hole in an office would look like.

Cartoons by Royston

Pen talk: Non-cartoonists look away now!

Here's a tip that I got from the US Wisenheimer cartoonists' forum that will be of interest to anyone who uses Faber-Castell PITT brush pens.

If you do use them you'll know that the nibs can go flat very quickly. But because they usually still have lots of ink in them, I tend to hang on to them, sometimes using them for filling in or for roughs.

But Canadian cartoonist Michael McDonnell came up with this tip: If you take a pair of tweezers you can remove the nib and turn it around giving you a brand new brush tip to work with.

I've tried it and it works a treat. And I've since found that I have about 40-odd blunt pens stashed in various drawers and jam jars around my office. They can all be used as new, which means I've saved myself about £75. Hurrah. Thanks again, Michael!

Cartoons by Royston

Movie cartoon: One from the archives

Here's my very first Private Eye cartoon, which appeared ten years ago this week. I know that because I remember that it was the week of my 30th birthday, and I've just celebrated my 40th*

Normally I cringe at the artwork when I see my older cartoons, but I think this one stands up OK. Probably because I was aping the Disney style. The idea for the cartoon came from the fact that there had recently been a Disneyfied version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, though the character designs here were based on Hercules (our hero and his sidekick, voiced by Danny DeVito, of course) which was the big Disney film of 1997.

*Here's a cartoon I drew for a 40th birthday party invite last year.



Cartoons by Royston

Health and fitness cartoon

This is a joke I've had rattling around for a while that finally found a home in a local paper cartoon this week. I like the idea that eventually every innocuous insult will be deemed "offensive" by someone!

This is for anyone who's failing to keep up with a New Year fitness regime. Keep at it, folks. Or, alternatively, help yourself to another slice of pizza. You can always start properly on Monday.

Cartoons by Royston

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

T-shirt cartoon: Polar opposites attract

My cartoons have appeared in many places throughout the world, but I must admit I never expected that they would ever be seen in the Antarctic.

The South African National Antarctic Expedition asked if they could use a cartoon of mine, which appeared in Reader’s Digest, on their team T-shirt for this year’s trip to Antarctica.

As a result, the shirt looks like this on the front ...



(Here’s a close-up of that badge)




... and this on the back!



Here’s a close-up of the cartoon:



The original wording was “Well, one of us is in the wrong cartoon.” That was fine for a magazine cartoon, as it was really a cartoon about cartoons, which often feature polar bears and penguins in the same place. But the SANAE wanted it changed simply to “place”, because they’re often asked by people if they will encounter polar bears during their expeditions.

That’s me modelling the shirt in the pics by the way. I’ve not worn a long-sleeved T-shirt (well you wouldn’t want a short-sleeved one at the Antarctic, would you ...) since the early 1990s. With the lettering down the sleeve I reckon I could pass for a member of EMF.

Cartoons by Royston

Merry Christmas ...

... and a Happy New Year to you all.

The above cartoon is in the new issue of Prospect, in a prime spot on page three. Which is nice.

Cartoons by Royston

Christmas cartoon: With apologies due

When an cartoonist copies the artwork of another artist, as part of the joke or to make a point, it's customary to provide a credit saying "After ..." or "With apologies to ...". When I sent this cartoon to a local paper here in Kent, where I have a regular slot, I forgot to put that on the cartoon.

So I've rectified that here and send double apologies to Mr Briggs! Hope he doesn't sue ... especially as we recently bought a DVD featuring both The Snowman and Father Christmas, and it's on heavy rotation in our house thanks to my kids.

I must admit though, every time I watch it and that live-action intro from David Bowie comes on, with the Thin White Duke wearing his best Christmas pullover, I do wonder WHAT were they thinking?

For any international readers who don't know what I'm talking about, The Snowman animated short is a Christmas TV institution here in the UK. You can find it on YouTube. There is a version with a more subtle opening, featuring Raymond Briggs himself I believe, but it's also worth checking out the Bowie one for a laugh.

Cartoons by Royston

Cartoonists' party time

It's that time of year when even cartoonists emerge from their hovels to attend Christmas parties. And so it was that last week I went along to a party thrown by Reader's Digest (cartoon from the Christmas issue, above) at the restaurant at the top of the Harvey Nichols store in Knightsbridge, London.

Much champagne was quaffed and canapes nibbled, while chatting to other cartoonists, illustrators, writers and Digest staff. There was the usual complaining about the cartooning business, as is traditional, and marvelling at some of the bizarre canapes. One of them looked like tomato soup in a small, thin glass and turned out to be, er, tomato soup in a small, thin glass – a kind of Harvey Nichols version of Cup-a-Soup.



Here's me, on the right, with cartoonists Ger Whyman, aka "Ger", left, and Ian Baker, aka "Ian Baker". Ger's not really cross, I think he's pulling a comedy face. Thanks to Clive Goddard for the pic. Afterwards several of us retired to a charming, tiny pub nearby for a fine pint of ale. A good start to the festive season and particularly welcome as most of us have been drawing flippin' Christmas cartoons since August.

Cartoons by Royston

Private Eye cartoon: Facebook schmacebook

This cartoon is in the current Private Eye. Like many magazines they carry a lot of cartoons that are sceptical about new technology. But despite the view taken in this cartoon, I'm no luddite. I do have both a Facebook and MySpace profile ... it's just that often I'm not sure why. I signed up for Facebook because I was invited to, now I keep getting endless emails saying someone wants to discuss favourite movies with me, or has thrown a virtual custard pie at me. I ignore these to such an extent that someone sent me an email saying "You have been invited to join The Group For People Who Join Facebook Then Don't Do Anything". Naturally, I did nothing.

Bonfire Night cartoon

From one of the local papers here in Kent. Hope you had a good one last night, if you took part. For any international readers who don't know what this is all about, it's a traditional thing ... families together, a bite to eat, a few fireworks, burning the effigy of a Catholic conspirator, that kind of thing ...

Reader's Digest cartoon: Funny bunnies

Here's a gag from the October Reader's Digest. I don't do that many cute animal cartoons, but they're usually popular so I suppose I should. Captionless gags are often popular too, I think because the reader sometimes has to work a bit harder to get the joke, so when they do it's rewarding. I personally find them more difficult to come up with though.

A cartoon batch one year on ...

While having a clearout of files on my computer, I found this collage from a year ago this week. The Wisenheimer, an American cartoonists' internet forum that I take part in has an occasional thread called "What's on your drawing board?" where people show their latest work. I had just put together a batch of cartoons to be sent out on-spec to magazines. So, as I didn't want to reveal the actual jokes, I just used excerpts from each cartoon. Some people put up low-res unreadable scans.

The thing that's of interest one year one, which illustrates the insanity of the gag-cartoon market, is that only one of these has so far sold! (Left hand column, one down, it was in Prospect magazine.) This, I should point out, is perfectly normal for freelance gag cartoonists! If you sell upwards of two or three out of ten that's a great result.

But all hope is not lost for the others. Some will be looked at, rejigged or reworded and sent out again. Others will go into semi-retirement as stock cartoons. Many find a home this way, though usually in not such high-profile places. For example, a gag I did about utility companies providing multiple services (it's funnier than it sounds, honest) was rejected by all the mags but has sold several times to, er, utility companies. So we keep churning them out ...

Cartoonists meet the public: Big Draw 2007

I took part in The Big Draw at Covent Garden at the weekend. The Big Draw is an annual, nationwide campaign to get people enthusiastic about all kinds of drawing.


A marquee was set aside specifically for cartooning. There were workshops on strips, caricatures etc. with cartoonists on hand to offer tips, advice and encouragement to those taking part.


Here's me doing a spot of “reverse caricaturing” (Thanks to John Stilgoe for the pic.) This is where people put their faces through a board, like the ones you see at the seaside, except it’s blank and the participants say what kind of body they’d like. Very popular with the kids: lots of fairies, pirates, princesses, animals and a couple of Bart Simpsons. I probably had to draw a few too many girls as butterflies than was strictly necessary. All good fun though. The whole event reminded you of how much people love cartoons – grown-ups as well as kids. I hope there were some art editors from magazines and newspapers taking note!

Like last year, there was a Battle of the Cartoonists, where four teams competed to produce a banner on the theme of “High Life, Low Life”. Again there were teams from Private Eye, The Guardian and The Independent, plus this year there was a team from the new Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation. The banners were put to the public vote, with those clever clogs from The Guardian, led by Steve Bell, winning again. There's more on the Battle at the PCO Blog

There are Big Draw events throughout the UK right now. See their website for details.

Caricaturist mystery: Who's Ronson?

A book dealer contacted me asking if I was in any way connected to the caricaturist who produced this:


I certainly wish I could draw hands as elegantly as that. Obviously it's not me, as this is from the 1930s! There is some similiarity in the signatures, but I think it looks more like "Ronson", with an elaborate "s", or it could be "Royson".


Google searches have failed to turn up any info on this artist, so if anyone knows anything about "Ronson" or "Royson", please let me know and I'll pass it on.

Smoking cartoon

In the UK the age at which you can legally buy cigarettes was raised this week from 16 to 18. Here's a cartoon I did to accompany a news story on this subject.


A cartoonist friend of mine mentioned in a recent letter to The Jester, the CCGB newsletter, that that there was once an agency that asked cartoonists to supply cartoons depicting smokers as happy folk enjoying a harmless pleasure. These were known as "Smokey Jokies" and the agency would place them in magazines and papers throughout Europe. This product placement system was funded by cigarette companies and would earn the cartoonist a bonus. This couldn't happen now, one would hope, and even if it still went on I'm pretty sure that this cartoon wouldn't be accepted!

Cartoon book: Laughing All Over the World

I have several cartoons in a new kids' joke and cartoon book which is out this month and is sold in aid of the Kings World Trust for Children. The Trust was founded in 1993 to provide a caring home, an education and skills training for orphan and homeless children in developing countries. Its work is focused in India, which has the largest percentage of orphan and homeless children in the world.

Children, celebrities, comedians and cartoonists from the UK and overseas have contributed rib-ticklers, one-liners, anecdotes and cartoons to the book. Most of my cartoons are animal gags. Here's one of them:


See more on this book at laughingallovertheworld.com