Cartoon advent calendarDay 9: A bit flaky

I think you can be cynical in Christmas cartoons, but you can't be downright misanthropic, which is probably why nobody went for this slightly odd cartoon.

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Cartoon advent calendarDay 8: Life's a riot

"I can assure you, officer, we are not looters."

This is one from last Christmas, when the memory of the riots across England was still fresh in the memory. I like the fact that the wise man on the left does look quite guilty.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 7. Board silly

"I realise that you are new to the board, but we do not refer to non-executive directors as 'little helpers' ..."

Here's todays advent cartoon, one from my series of boardroom cartoons, drawn for a business publication.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 6. Good health

"I'm making sure I get my five daily portions."

Here's an old one that was in a Christmas issue of Reader's Digest. Slightly cheekily, it was a riff on one of my own cartoons.

The cartoon is four years old and there were a few elements I was unhappy about with the original drawing, so I have tinkered with it digitally, like a cartooning George Lucas.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 5. Faking it

"Is that real or artificial?"

Here's today's advent cartoon. This one is so far unsold, but I had fun drawing the absurdly artificial Christmas tree.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 4. Still hacked off

"Perhaps you could tell us how you know if we've been bad or good?"

We all like to enjoy a few old favourites at Christmas so here's one from last year. It was topical then and remains topical, as Lord Justice Leveson delivered his report on the media just last week.

It can be seen as part of a round-up of Leveson cartoons at the Procartoonists.org blog here. (And there are more Leveson cartoons here.)

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 3. Light humour

The Christmas lights and decorations in Canterbury and Herne Bay are, apparently, a bit rubbish, and lots of people have complained about them. I was asked to draw a cartoon about this to illustrate a local paper article. Bah and, indeed, humbug.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 2. A stable upbringing

"It's not a stable, it's a pop-up hotel."

Here's the second entry in my cartoon advent calendar. Or, if you're on Twitter, my #Twadvent cartoon, which almost sounds a bit rude but, what the heck, let's run with it.

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Cartoon advent calendar:Day 1. Doing it again

"Happens every year – I can never remember where I put the tree decorations."

Last December I posted a festive cartoon every day up to Christmas Eve, as  a kind of cartoon advent calendar. It proved quite popular so I'm doing it again this year.

There will be old ones and new ones, published and rejected, some from magazines and others commissioned. There might be one or two I posted last year, but we all like a few repeats of old favourites at Christmas, don't we?

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Family cartoon: Saving energy

"Don't disturb your father when he's in stand-by mode."

I drew the cartoons for the Money pages of the new issue of Reader's Digest. Here's one of them, which illustrated an article on energy-saving devices.

This doubles as a word of advice to my own children, who often see me on stand-by when we watch kids' films at the cinema, especially ones involving lots of CGI animals. I can feel my eyelids going heavy just talking about it.

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Not Yet Sold: Ceiling groovy

"There's an app for that."

One from my rejection pile, which I like to ironically refer to as the "Not Yet Sold" pile. You can see more NYS cartoons here.

I wrote something longer than a cartoon caption

I saw a message on Twitter last week asking if anyone wanted to write about the easiest novels to finish for Sabotage Times, the website run by James Brown, who launched and originally edited Loaded magazine. I ended up telling them about a book club I joined a few months ago: You can read it here.

Stars on Canvas charity auction starts

The Stars on Canvas 2012 charity auction begins today and runs until December 2. That's my contribution above, which is in the Illustration section. You can bid for small canvases by cartoonists and illustrators as well as dozens by famous names from the worlds of sport, music and entertainment.

It is in aid of the Willow Foundation, which works with seriously ill 16 to 40-year-olds. The charity arranges special days and experiences to allow for a break from the difficulties of diagnosis and treatment.

The canvases will be sold online and will be exhibited at Maddox Arts, a London gallery that has donated the space. For details on how the auction works, visit the Stars on Canvas website.

Fairytale cartoon: Dressing up

"Once I'd tried on those clothes at your Grandmother's, I knew there was no going back.

This cartoon is probably very "wrong" on many levels. I apologise in advance. This could be a sequel to this cartoon except Red appears to have got younger. From the current Saga magazine.

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Snow joke, it's that time of year again

I drew one of the Private Eye Christmas cards this year. You can see it by taking a magnifying glass to the bottom right-hand corner of the above promo image. Yes, it's another snowman cartoon (I'll post it here nearer the time). You get the pack of 12 cards when you subscribe, but they're also available to buy. Visit the Private Eye website.

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Technology cartoon: Case closed

"It's tough to admit that now I will never own a bookcase which swings open to reveal a hidden room ..."

I'm avoiding the whole e-books revolution, primarily for this reason.

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A cartoon for Halloween

"I miss the angry mob – they must be at home criticising you on Twitter again."

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Law cartoon: Court and antisocial

This was drawn to accompany an article in a law magazine, one of my regular jobs. I thought I'd throw in a topical reference to Judge Dredd, as the new film had just come out, and was pleased, and a little surprised, that they went for it.

See more law cartoons here.

Film cartoon: Oompa Loompa do-ba-dee-do

This is one for fans of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the original (and best) version of Roald Dahl's much-loved story.

It was fun to draw, and the famous Oompa-Loompa song ran through my head as I did so. The cartoon appears in the current issue of Saga magazine.

I considered writing "Royston tan cartoon" as the headline for this post, because whenever I Google myself (we've all done it) I get some results for the Singaporean film-maker Royston Tan, and I thought it would be funny if people searching for him find me instead. It may happen anyway now ... so hello Royston Tan fans!

In other news, a local paper, the Isle of Thanet Gazette, wrote a profile about me this week. Here's the picture they took. As you can see, I can draw three cartoons at the same time while balancing a bookshelf on my head. Read the interview here.

In case you're wondering what that small white thing is in the top right, it's a key from an old computer keyboard. Sometimes I press it.

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Cartoon postcard: How to be a carer

Sometimes my work is about cartoon illustration, rather than joke cartoons, as in this promotional postcard drawn for Crossroads Care in Greater Manchester. Click here to find out about commissioning custom-made cartoons.