Category — Bloghorn UK cartoon news

The Kyoto International Cartoonist Congress has organised an exhibition from which proceeds will go to victims of the Japanese tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

The Kyoto International Cartoon Special Exhibition features 300 cartoons from 127 cartoonists in 41 countries, including, from the UK, Martin Honeysett, John Jensen, Ken Pyne and Ross Thomson.

A detail from John Jensen’s drawing has also been used for the cover of the catalogue, above. The caption: “I’ve found our good luck charm. It’s not even cracked.”

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

Rob Murray writes:

Hergé’s most controversial Tintin book, the infamous Tintin in the Congo, has come under fire again, with a Belgian court being asked to ban the comic book on the grounds of racism.

Political cartoonist and PCO member Steve Bell has been busy on the party conference circuit over the past few weeks for the Guardian, which has posted a selection of his sketches from this week’s Tory get-together in Manchester.

Maus, the Pulitzer-winning graphic novel by underground cartoonist Art Spiegelman, is 25 years old. In a new book, MetaMaus, he tells the story of how he created his epic Holocaust allegory. NPR has a 30-minute interview with Spiegelman here.

US satirical cartoonist Peter Bagge – who received advice from Spiegelman early in his career – has been interviewed by Reason, the libertarian magazine for which he has been a contributor since 2003. Bagge talks about his political views and how they have affected his comics work – watch the video here.

Ahead of an exhibition of magazine illustrations by Edward Sorel at the School of Visual Arts in New York, the cartoonist and illustrator has been interviewed by The Atlantic about his long career. You can read the article here.

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

The Bloghorn is always interested in drawing that makes the presentation of knowledge more fun.

Our friends at The Comics Grid hit both of these nails when they asked Emily Goodhand, copyright and compliance officer at the University of Reading, to review a graphic novel on a subject that can make grown cartoonists scream.

Emily told us:

Copyright is not an easy subject to convey via any medium, given that it deals with intangible (unseen) property rights. So what about using drawing to help people learn about copyright?

Well, we live in a visual world; a picture often says more than a paragraph of text. And the simpler aspects of copyright translate well to images.

It is unlikely though that copyright education could ever be delivered by images alone, but it’s certainly an avenue worth exploring further — especially as it’s high time copyright broke free of its rather dull stereotype.

The Bloghorn says: go read Emily’s review of Bound by Law.

Attributed to Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins under a Creatie Commons Sharealike License

Does anyone want to make a UK version, following the recent Hargreaves review of copyright which we noted here?

You can downaload the full comic from here.

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

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

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

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