Political cartoon: Fat cat takes us for a ride

This cartoon appears in the Kent Messenger newspaper this week. Apparently, the number of Kent County Council staff earning more than £100,000 has nearly doubled in a year, and chief executive Peter Gilroy earned £255,000 last year, making him one of the wealthiest council bosses in the country.

I usually draw pocket cartoons for this newspaper group, i.e. straightforward gags accompanying a story, but this was a chance to do something a little different for me, and I joined the ranks of cartoonists currently employing the "fat cat" motif! The steed being flattened by this moggy of mammon is the Invicta horse, usually seen in a more proud position on the KCC logo, thus:

Animal cartoon for Shrewsbury festival

"It's not as if that's all I do. I write poetry. I'm very much involved in charity work ... why single out that one thing?"

Here is another of the four cartoons I submitted for exhibition at the 2009 Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. The festival takes place from April 23-26, though the exhibitions will open before that.

The original version of this cartoon appeared in Private Eye in February 2005. As the Shrewsbury organisers were looking for cartoons on the subject of science and nature, to tie in with this year's Charles Darwin theme, it seemed like an appropriate one to submit.

As the original artwork sold shortly after it was published, I drew a new version and added watercolours. Usually I colour on-screen with Photoshop, so previous colour cartoons that I've exhibited at Shrewsbury have been signed prints, but I thought it'd be fun this year to break out the paints and submit only original artwork. Here's another one, which I put on the blog back in February.


My cartoons were submitted for an exhibition now titled Boffination which is at the Bear Steps Gallery from Tuesday (April 14) and runs until after the festival has finished.


The anteater cartoon also appears in the new edition of Foghorn, above, the magazine that showcases the best of British cartoon talent and is published by the Professional Cartoonists' Association. You can read more about the new issue here.

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Cartoons appreciated by their subjects

"It may surprise you to hear that, actually, morphine is the best medicine."

This old cartoon is to be reprinted to accompany an article written by, wait for it, a clown who works in hospitals, voluntarily giving his time to cheer up patients.

It's not often that someone who is effectively the subject of a cartoon gets in touch to say how much they appreciated it, but it's great when it happens.

Here's another example: This Reader's Digest cartoon was used in a lecture on black holes by a professor who is an expert in that field.


"I'm afraid there's a black hole in our finance department."

And here's my favourite example. Unlikely though it sounds, the original of this cartoon, which appeared in The Spectator, was bought by someone whose work involves Health and Safety regulations pertaining to fairground rides.
"Damn those Health & Safety guys."

If only this kind of thing happened with every cartoon, we cartoonists would be a lot richer!

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Cosmetic surgery cartoon, more on "Keep Calm"

"Of course, there's a possibility that you are a swan, but do you want to take that risk?"

This cartoon is in the April issue of Reader's Digest. I referred to one of my kids' nursery rhyme books to get that sad-looking "ugly duckling" right.

The repeated caption, by the way, is for the benefit of those looking at this site on phones, who tell me that sometimes the words on the cartoons are not readable. I may go back and laboriously add all the other ones, when I have a spare couple of days ...



Talking of feedback, thanks to everyone who who emailed asking for a copy of the cartoonists' propaganda poster I posted here a couple of weeks ago, and everyone else who made nice comments about it, online and off.

It was really only intended as a joke, a riff on the original Second World War poster, I never intended it to be a "motivational" poster, as such. But it seems to have touched a nerve, and some people even found it inspiring, it seems.

Particular thanks to the following for linking to it: Jason Chatfield, Tim Harries, Mike Lynch, Chichi Parish, Cathy Simpson, The Surreal McCoy, and my PCO colleague Matt Buck who put it on The Bloghorn.

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Looks familiar

As a freelance cartoonist and father-of-two, I can really relate to the scenario in this Jack Tippit cartoon. I hope this guy has bought stuff that's going to last! This is from the always excellent Mike Lynch Cartoons blog.

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From the archives: A Spring cartoon

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, so here's a colourful cartoon from the archives featuring some cute bunnies!

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Propaganda poster for cartoonists

The Keep Calm and Carry On World War Two propaganda poster is proving to be a big hit, as a result of the economic downturn, according to the Guardian. So here's my version for cartoonists (above, click to enlarge).

It's not hard to see why people love the 1939 government poster, they're embracing the "Blitz spirit", refusing to let the credit crunch get them down. Here's the original:


But, as a cartoonist friend said to me recently, "Your whole life's a credit crunch when you're a cartoonist!" Like many self-employed people, cartoonists do find it tough-going sometimes, recession or no recession. You may not be selling enough gags, maybe not getting enough commissioned work ... it can get tough.

All you can do is keep calm and carry on, as the poster says, and hope that something turns up. It usually does. So in that spirit, I created my own version of that poster for all you cartoonists out there.

If you would like a non-watermarked version of my poster for your own use, contact me and let me know. You can put it on your blog or print it off and stick it on your wall ... stiff upper lip chaps and chapesses, noses to the drawing boards, we'll get through it!

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Comic Relief T-shirt

As today is Red Nose Day, my son was required to dress up for school. Like most six-year-olds he's really into drawing dinosaurs, so I traced two of his creations on to a white T-shirt and added some red noses. It was my wife's idea, so all in all it was a real family effort!

The dinosaurs are, of course, a T-Rex and a Brachiosaurus. Let's take a closer look. Raaaar ....
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Boardroom cartoon: The doodle bug

"I've no objection to doodling during meetings, but it must be within reason."

You may have seen a story in the news recently reporting that boffins have declared that doodling is now officially A Good Thing. A business publication I draw for regularly wanted a cartoon on this subject, with reference to board meetings (above).

As you might expect, I am a compulsive doodler. I often doodle a lot when I'm thinking up cartoon ideas. Sometimes they can help develop the joke, if you keep within the themes you're thinking about, but often I just end up drawing funny looking blokes. And clowns, lots of clowns. Here are some of my doodles (click to enlarge, should you wish to).


My cartooning pal Tim Harries is the master of the odd-looking bloke doodle. So much so that he's turned it into a regular feature on his blog, called Strange Looking Bloke Wednesday.

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Cartoon inspired by Watchmen, it turns out

"No, I can't make it next Friday. How about a week Tuesday?"

I recently re-read the graphic novel Watchmen, partly to remind me of the story ahead of the release of the forthcoming film adaptation (particularly in case it turns out to be rubbish!) but mostly just because it's a brilliant book.

Watchmen is the superhero comic for people who don’t like superhero comics. I have never been a fan of the genre myself but in 1988 I was urged by a friend to read Watchmen, so I did. And I’ve read it several times since.

A key part of Watchmen's appeal is its humour. And as I read it this time, it occurred to me that I may have subconsciously pinched a joke from it, namely the one in the cartoon above, which was published in a, ahem, men's magazine four years ago. In the graphic novel there is a character who carries an "End is Nigh" sign who always thinks Armageddon is due today, yet makes a point of ensuring that a news vendor puts aside the following day's issue of his favourite newspaper.


It's certainly a similar joke. Still, if you are going to steal, subconsciously or otherwise, they do say that you should steal from the best.

Watchmen image © DC Comics 1987

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Cartoons on any subject you like

I will draw cartoons on any subject a client can think of ... as long as as it's legal and they are willing to pay me the appropriate fee for it. It's all part of the "cartoonist for hire" side of the job. Above is a cartoon for a car-trade magazine. Below is an excerpt from a strip for a finance company's intranet (click to read).



Recently I was asked to come up with six cartoons on the subject of "anaerobic digestion". That, as I'm sure you know, is the process of turning waste products into bio-fuels. I've asked around, and no cartoonist I know has so far come up with anything more odd as a commission! Clearly, it's not an obvious subject for humour, but it can be done (and was).



The key is not to get bogged down in jargon and detail. The cartoon should be quick and simple, a humorous counterpoint to the serious stuff. And it can be very serious: the above is from a book called The Business Impact of Enterprise Asset Management.

Here's a random selection of some other subjects I've been commissioned to draw cartoons about over the years: planning regulations, the Lord Mayor's Show, NHS governing boards, accountancy, tourist guiding, the London Local Authorities Act, curry (and rice), health and safety, life in medieval times, careers, grammar and punctuation, golf, caravanning, IT marketing ... I think you probably get the point.

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Coming soon: Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival

The Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival website has been updated, with details of this year's events. The festival takes place from April 23-26, with various exhibitions in April and May. There's more at The Bloghorn.

This will be my fourth time at the festival. Here's what I got up to last year, and in 2007 and 2006. Or click this link for all my Shrewsbury- related posts.

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Family cartoon: Life imitates art

When this Reader's Digest cartoon was published last summer, I showed it to my son as it had been inspired by playing Hangman with him. After I explained the joke (he is only six, after all) he suggested that we play a game of Whole Life Tariff! So we did.

I mention this now as earlier in the week I found the game on a piece of paper, while sorting through a pile of receipts. Here it is:


My son – who is not called Josh, by the way! – did not get the answer (below, upside-down of course) so the prisoner spends his life in jail. Humane, but not quite as much fun as Hangman.

Answer:
(ɥɔɐǝq ǝɥʇ ʇɐ ǝɹǝʍ ǝʍ) ɹıɐɥɔ ʞɔǝp

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My new advertising campaign

Someone told me that in times of recession you should spend more on advertising your business. So I have. What do you reckon? Oh OK, it's not real. This was created on the Bus Slogan Generator website which was inspired by the recent "No God" advertising campaign, run by the British Humanist Association.

That website address again: roystonrobertson.co.uk

Biology cartoon: It's only natural

This is one of four cartoons I submitted for the "Science of Nature" (working title) exhibition which is part of the 2009 Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. The festival takes place from April 23-26, though the exhibitions will open before that.

As 2009 is the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and he was born in Shrewsbury, the festival has a Darwin-related theme. The organisers suggested that "Science of Nature" be interpreted widely though, presumably so they weren't inundated with too many "Ascent of Man" gags.

This is a cartoon that I was touting around some months ago. It has got a great reaction from everyone I've shown it to, but the magazine editors have not bitten. I suppose it is a bit of a weird one, it doesn't look like your usual magazine gag cartoon. Maybe they don't want people to turn the page and suddenly think they're reading a textbook on sexual reproduction.

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The Massive White Horse of the South

We're getting a new piece of public artwork here in Kent, it was announced yesterday. It has been "dubbed" the Angel of the South, apparently (though when the media says something has been dubbed it's usually them that do the dubbing).

It could more accurately be described as the Massive White Horse of the South, as it's going to be 50 metres high. Of course, the knives (chainsaws?) are out already, with people complaining that it is a white, er, elephant. It costs too much, they say, it won't stay white for long etc.

I was living in the North East when they were planning the Angel of the North. Many people voiced their opposition in much the same way ... costs too much, it won't stay looking like an Angel once the vandals have had a go at it, someone will strip it for scrap metal and so on.

We all know what happened. Everyone went, Ooooh, it's a great big statue! For us! They fell in love with it and took it to their hearts. I wouldn't rule out that happening here.

Public art gets a bad press from art critics. But it's not for them, it's for the people and quite often they embrace it. Look at the John Betjeman statue at the new St Pancras Station (if you can get near it). It it such a bad thing to produce art that people can really relate to?


The Professional Cartoonists Organisation team gather by the John Betjeman statue at St Pancras Station after the Battle of the Cartoonists, part of the 2008 Big Draw. Left to right: Royston Robertson, Pete Dredge, Kipper Williams and Robert Duncan

Of course, the White Horse creator Mark Wallinger is famous for another animal-related artwork: the man in the bear suit wandering around a gallery. I'd like to have seen that 50 metres high, looming over the Kent countryside.


Here's an archive blog post on the last time there was a big art project down this way.

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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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Blogging cartoon: Now we are five

Amazingly, it's five years since I started this blog. I began it on January 31, 2004, and at first I really didn't know what to do with it. To be honest, I think I started it because it was what a lot of people were doing, and I kind of liked the idea of blogging.

So, a few months into the first year, the number of posts tailed off. And once I went full-time as a cartoonist, in August 2004, they almost stopped completely. Blogging took a back seat because I was in panic mode about being a full-timer for at least 12 months. Since January 2006, though, I've posted fairly regularly and now have a good idea of what I want to do with the site.

This is not the sort of blog where you get lots of news about what's happening in the world of cartoons. There are plenty of people that do that far more comprehensively than I ever could, and it's a very valuable service that they provide. Instead, this blog is simply about my little corner of the cartooning world.

Blogging gives me a more flexible way to talk about what I'm up to than the more static portfolio site. I look at the visitor stats from time to time, so I know that people do pop in fairly regularly. Your visits are much appreciated and I hope you continue to find reasons to come back occasionally.

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Underwater cartoon: Pretentious, moi?

Here's a cartoon from the February issue of Prospect, which is on your newsstands now. It's always nice to be in Prospect as it's an elegantly designed magazine. The cartoons are mostly in colour and are well presented.

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I met a Dalek yesterday

I've only been to BBC Television Centre once before and the only famous person I spotted that time was James Robbins, the BBC News Diplomatic Correspondent. No offence, James, but meeting this fella was a bit more exciting.

I was at the Beeb with five other cartoonists to take part in the recording of the BBC2 quiz show Eggheads. I'll put the transmission date on this blog when I know it.

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