Posts from — May 2009

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 29th May 2009.

One: Richard Jolley in Private Eye. If shoplifters had the same rights as MPs …

Two: Andy McKay NAF in The Spectator: “I’m worried my husband finds out I’m not gay.”

Three: German cartoonist Rainer Hachfeld on nukes in North Korea

Four: And Dave Brown of The Independent on the same subject.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
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Bloghorn asked our Artist of the Month, Ken Pyne, what was his advice for anyone wanting to be a cartoonist.

Hot tips for wannabes? Just because an editor tells you your cartoon isn’t funny doesn’t mean to say it is unfunny. Never think people turning down your work may have a point – just get angry with them. Also, bear in mind that most people working on national newspapers these days have had their sense of humour surgically removed.

And the future in the digital age?

We can only pray.

Our thanks to Ken – and there will be a new artist of the month appearing here next Friday.

The segment starts at 8 minutes into the iplayer show.

The exhibition celebrating the life and work of the Daily Mail cartoonist Leslie Illingworth was opened on Tuesday evening at the Political Cartoon Gallery in London by celebrated cartoonist and artist Ralph Steadman.

Leslie Gilbert Illingworth (1902 – 1979) was perhaps one of the last great practitioners of penmanship to take up political cartooning. This book is not only a biography of one of the twentieth century’s most important cartoonists, but also a visual and detailed chronicle of thirty years of history through roughly three hundred cartoons that were originally published in the Daily Mail.

The Political Cartoon Gallery is open Monday to Friday 9am – 5.30pm and on Saturdays between 11am – 5.30pm. Phone Dr Tim Benson on 01923 242769 for further details or email him at info@politicalcartoon.co.uk

UPDATED: Christian Adams has a write up of the opening night here

The cover of The New Yorker magazine was drawn by Jorge Colombo’s finger which manipulated an iPhone application in the fashion shown above. Good on them and him.

PCOer Alex Matthews has published a book of cartoons with the rather unlikely title of Crystalline Structure Friday. It brings together dozens of single-panel “Alexander” cartoons from magazines such as Private Eye and Prospect, along with previously unseen work.

Bloghorn is amused by Alex’s twisted and surreal view of the world, so we cornered him and asked him some questions.

You’re relatively new to the world of magazine cartooning, why did you decide to do a compilation of cartoons at this stage?
I felt that the first stage of my cartooning career, where I was learning how to write gags, developing a style, and trying desperately to get my first cartoon published, was over. I also had a lot of good gags that had never seen print, so I stuck the best ones in there. It’s a really good thing to be able to give potential clients a book of your work. Better than scribbling down a website address. They’ll remember you.

What’s with the title?
I wanted a title that would make people go “What?” And then, when they’ve read the cartoon that the title is taken from, they get it. And are perhaps a little disappointed. It fits with the black cover and general feel of the book, I think.

As well as being a cartoonist, you teach art and design in Moscow. How do those two things complement each other?
Teaching keeps my mind lively and explaining ideas about illustration helps them to become clearer in my mind. And because my Russian is so bad, I am more isolated than in England. That actually helps in thinking up ideas. I’m less distracted by other people, TV and things. People say Russia must give you so many ideas, but it doesn’t really. My gags are more about having job interviews with pelicans and stuff like that.

Crystalline Structure Friday: A Collection of Cartoons by Alexander is available from lulu.com, priced £9.10

Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 22nd May 2009.

One: Christian Adams in The Daily Telegraph on defences over MPs expenses

Two: Mac (Stan McMurtry) in The Daily Mail: “Bad news, Joanna Lumley has called a snap election.”

Three: and Tim Sanders in The Independent on bureaucracy.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine

Welcome to the Bloghorn’s continuing interview with Ken Pyne, our current Artist of the Month. We are showcasing one of Ken’s caricatures for Private Eye magazine above.

Bloghorn asked Ken which other cartoonists he liked.

The other cartoonists I admire, that are still alive, are the ones too good to get published as much as they should, Mike Williams & Martin Honeysett especially. Oh, and Clive Collins too…

For the topical single column newspaper gag ideas Nick Newman is out on his own. I think, Steve Bell is the only true political cartoonist working at the moment.

You can catch up with our Artist of the Month archives here.

The world’s largest comic page was unveiled earlier this month as part of the Brussels 2009 BD Comic Strip Festival (BD being short for bande dessinée). The 672 m² image was a page from Hergé’s Tintin (specifically, page 42 from Destination Moon) and was also chosen to tie in with the forthcoming release of the big screen adaptation of Belgium’s most famous comic export, directed by Stephen Spielberg.

Sadly, the page was only there between 7-10th May, but the comic festival continues all year, and includes this comic strip tour (map) around Brussels featuring 31 comic-based murals – of which there are many pictures on the Birmingham Mail Speech Balloons blog.

Word reaches us that caricaturist Gerald Scarfe will be featuring in television’s The Apprentice this week. Bloghorn hopes he gets to do Alan Sugar good and proper.

We are sad to see the opinion of Margaret Mountford from show (copied below) about what the contestants know of Scarfe, but, ahem, that’s partly why Bloghorn is here.

As usual, the victorious team is given a treat. This week it involves the cartoonist Gerald Scarfe – although, judging by their blank expressions, I’m not sure that any of the winning candidates had even heard of him.

While we are in the world of the live action moving picture, we should also say that a team of our finest pencil points are nearly ready for public broadcast after their appearance on the Eggheads quiz show. We now know their outing will be broadcast over the summer, so watch this virtual space for more details.