Posts from — September 2011

Asterix artist and co-creator Albert Uderzo has decided to retire after 52 years of drawing the famous Gaul – and is handing the reins to an as-yet unknown younger artist. The BBC has more on the story here. Over at the Guardian, Samira Ahmed argues that Uderzo’s departure means Asterix should retire as well.

In India, a caricature depicting the Gujarati chief minister, Narendra Modi, has led to the arrest of the newspaper cartoonist who drew it. Meanwhile, a Turkish cartoonist is to be put on trial for renouncing God via one of his drawings.

An interesting-sounding panel discussion has taken place at the International Press Institute’s World Congress in Taipei this week, under the title ‘Innovations in Political Cartooning’. The session touched on censorship and free speech, as well as the continuing need for cartoonists to reinvent themselves and stay current. The IPI has a detailed write-up here.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

An exhibition and sale of work by the cartoonist Simon Pearsall, who draws the regular First Drafts cartoon for Private Eye, opens in London next week.

The Wilderness Years: 1963 – 2011 is at the 3 Bedfordbury gallery, which is at 3 Bedfordbury Court, logically enough, Covent Garden. It starts on Tuesday 4 October and runs for one week.

Bloghorn is pleased to report the recent Margate cartoon postcard exhibition will be back on display in the British Cartoon Archive Gallery, at the University of Kent, from 24 September. This time it will run for six weeks.

The original exhibition ran for only ten days but will get a longer run in nearby Canterbury.

Details here and you can read the original report on Bloghorn here.

Rob Murray writes:

Following the overthrow of Col. Gaddafi, artistic Libyans have painted caricatures of the dictator on walls throughout the country.

A Swedish cartoonist who has received death threats for depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog was the target of a foiled attack last month, according to the Telegraph.

Cartoonist and New Yorker cover artist Chris Ware is embracing new technology, having just released an iPad-only comic.

In some ways, though, the streamlining of technology is making the cartoonist’s job harder. So writes comic artist and illustrator Tom Papparlardo, in an entertaining entry on his blog.

Timed for the Liberal Democrat party conference this week, Gerald Scarfe caricatures Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg in a video clip (we’re promised his impressions of Cameron and Miliband in the weeks to come).

Finally, Irish political cartoonist Donal Casey has appealed for help in recovering a series of framed illustrations that were stolen from a train on Tuesday. TheJournal.ie has more on the story, including the relevant contact details in the event that you can help.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

Bloghorn thanks reader Chris D.Williams for spotting this entertaining piece of promotion by cartoonist David Shrigley.

We also suggest that if you are keen to use cartoon art on your own or, the body of someone else, you pick from a wider menu of options. Take a random option or try the link below.

Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

The National Army Museum may seem like an odd place for a comics exhibition, but what better venue for a retrospective on Commando?

For Commando, ze war is never over, as the pocket-sized comics have featured non-stop bashing of the Boche since 1961. The 50th anniversary has been less heralded than that of Private Eye, but it is a notable one, particularly in the volatile comics market.

Draw Your Weapons: The Art of Commando Comics, held in partnership with the publisher DC Thomson, showcases key artwork and illustrations from the comics’ history. Alongside the artwork there are original artefacts, photographs and films relating to the inspiration behind the comics – the British Army Commandos themselves.

The National Army Museum is in Chelsea, central London, next to the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The free exhibition runs until April 30.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

Rob Murray writes:

A diverse group of cartoonists and comic book artists have contributed self portraits to a new exhibition at Orbital Comics in Great Newport Street, London. The show is free to view and runs until October 15. A list of participating cartoonists can be found on Orbital’s events page.

The Chicago Tribune took the unusual step of pulling Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury strip this week, on the basis that it did not meet the paper’s fairness policy. The strip referred to allegations purportedly contained in an as-yet unreleased book about the former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The Tribune responds to readers’ comments on its decision here.

Yet more evidence that watching too many animated cartoons can be bad for you, as a new study suggests that exposure to fast-paced cartoons such as SpongeBob Squarepants hinders abstract thinking, short-term memory and impulse control in young children. ABC News has more.

Meanwhile, Kellogg’s has defended its use of cartoon characters on its breakfast cereal packaging, after the Cancer Council claimed that cartoons on cereal boxes help promote unhealthy foods to children.

But wait, there’s some good news regarding kids and cartoons. It turns out, according to the Daily Telegraph, that Scooby-Doo is the healthiest cartoon. Zoinks!

Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

The appearance of a cartoon in a newspaper or upon a website usually produces a frisson of joy for the cartoonist who made it – unless it has appeared without their permission.

The American cartoonist Stephanie Piro, who had this unfortunate experience recently, told The Bloghorn what happened – and more importantly what to do about it should it happen to you:

A couple of months ago a cartoonist colleague, emailed me to ask if the Guardian news website was a client of mine as she recognised my work there. I told her they weren’t and then followed the link she provided.

Reconstructed image of the licensing infringement

This was, of course, upsetting as it appeared to have come from here or here.

Over the years I have had several major instances of my work being used without my permission. As my website rates for a single image are reasonable, I was surprised someplace as established as The Guardian would use an image without first contacting the artist and paying for it.

I eventually succeeded in contacting The Guardian through its Readers’ Editor and sent an invoice. After more prompting, I finally heard from a woman who was in charge of the books site on the Guardian site who blamed a third-party organisation and apologised.

This was unacceptable to me. When I threatened to spread the word to the NCS (the US National Cartoonists’ Society), the PCO (the UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation) and all the professional cartooning boards I belong to … then they responded to my invoice.

This was more meaningful than a simple apology.

The Bloghorn commends this excellent example of how you should look after your work. We also credit The Guardian and their contracted third-party agency for reacting to Stephanie’s messages and by eventually promising to pay for the use of her work over the previous nine months.

If you have anything helpful to add about the best way to manage your business interests please add it to the comments below. If you are a UK-based professional cartoonist you may also want to consider applying to join the PCO.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

Private Eye celebrates its 50th birthday next month and appears to be in rude health, bucking the downward trend for magazine circulation in the digital age.

The anniversary is October 25 but the celebrations start on Tuesday (September 20) with the release of a new book Private Eye: The First 50 Years, a history of the magazine written by the Eye journalist Adam Macqueen that charts its rise from 300 copies of the first edition in 1961, below, to a fortnightly circulation of more than 200,000.

The book features interviews with key players in the Private Eye story, rare archive material and unseen photos. (There are some “seen” ones too.) And, of course, there is an abundance of the cartoons that are so central to appeal of the magazine.

You can see more of those, including many by members of the PCO, which runs The Bloghorn, when the famously anti-establishment magazine puts on a First 50 Years exhibition at the very establishment Victoria and Albert Museum [Shurely shome mishtake? – Ed]. It opens at the V&A on October 18 and runs until January 8.

Cartoons will be shown in themed sections, on politics, royalty and social observation, and there will be gags, long-running strips and caricatures. The Bloghorn will have more on the exhibition nearer the time.

Ian Hislop, Editor of the magazine, has said of the 50th anniversary: “I do not want anyone to think that this is all just a huge celebration of ourselves. Our 50th year is a chance to look back and take a dispassionate view of how marvellous we are.”

You can read more on how marvellous they are in a Media Guardian article this week and even Vanity Fair is on the case with a piece by Christopher Hitchens. Updates on the 50th anniversary celebrations will appear on the Private Eye at 50 blog.

The Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation

Rob Murray writes:

As the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 nears, around 90 US cartoonists across five different syndicates have come together to produce commemorative editions of their strips. There’s more on the story at The Huffington Post and Voice of America. Meanwhile, Daryl Cagle has also asked some of America’s top political cartoonists to reflect on 9/11.

Here in the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority has banned an advert for mobile phone retailer Phones 4u, which features a cartoon depiction of Jesus, for being ‘disrespectful’. New Statesman weighs in and asks what is more offensive: the cartoon itself or the ASA’s decision to ban it. (Bloghorn is most perturbed by the apparenty lack of originality in the image – which bears remarkable similarity to this parody from the movies)

The Malvern Gazette notes that a plaque to First World War cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather – creator of Old Bill – is to be unveiled in the village of Colwall in Herefordshire, where he lived towards the end of his life.

Finally, PCO member and fellow Bloghorner Royston Robertson has written about his recent visits to two cartoon exhibitions – both focused on the saucy seaside postcard. You can read his piece here.

Bloghorn is made on behalf of the UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation