Some of you might remember me banging on like a girly bubble-brain about how delighted I was to be contributing cartoons to the QI spin-off books a couple of years ago. Things have moved on a little, and I have now contributed some illustrations to the TV show itself. I attended a recording with a friend on Friday, and probably lost any semblance of coolness when mingling with Messrs Fry, Davies, Clarkson, and Mitchell in the green room. It’s always fantastic to find new markets for your work, and cartooning has taken me to some interesting places. And it’s always nice to deal with people who are friendly, appreciative, and creative, which the QI crowd certainly are. It was their 100th show on Friday. Happy birthday, QI. Here’s to the next 100.

QI is set to return to our screens with a new series later this year whilst episodes from previous series are being shown on BBC2 currently. The QI Annual 2010, with artwork by Adrian Teal is out now.

Updated: 31st Jan 2009. Bloghorner Steve Bell has a tribute to Levine published in The Guardian.

John Roberts is our Artist of the Month for July so we asked him which other cartoonist’s work he admired.

The cartoonist whose work I most admire has to be Holte (Trevor Holder) who I understand is now fully retired. (Why does a cartoonist retire….?) His line and colour work was amazing and I think quite beautiful. Every artist I’ve met (as well as cartoonists) has said that they wished that they could draw in a more ‘loose’ style – Holte always did this quite effortlessly. Of course there are many, many more cartoonists whose work I am in awe of but Holte has to be the one whose artwork I never tire of looking at. Not the funniest cartoonist that’s ever walked the Blue Planet but gosh that artwork…

James Gillray - The King of Brobdingnag, and Gulliver, 1803

An exhibition of classic English caricatures opened this week in Germany. The Arena of Ridicule – English Caricatures 1780–1830 celebrates the ‘golden age’ of English caricature and features the likes of James Gillray, George Cruikshank and Thomas Rowlandson and is at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg until the 27th September.

Bloghorn: Graham Fowell Red_Nose caricaturist

PCOer Graham Fowell will be drawing caricatures of all-comers for just £5 per head on Comic Relief Night this Friday (March 13).

The caricaturist, known professionally as the Hit Man, will be doing his five-hour stretch of drawing crowds at The Trent Inn on his home patch near Nottingham. Graham told the Bloghorn: “We want to raise loads of cash for Comic Relief.”

A PhD student phoned me yesterday, wanting to pick my brains. She’s doing research into politicians and how political cartoons are perceived, and emailed me a list of searching questions which she’ll be putting to me in a telephone interview in a day or so.

I’m happy to help, though she tells me she has already spoken to Steve Bell and Martin Rowson, so I’m not sure I’ll have anything more insightful and enlightening to offer than these two giants of the Comment page.

And so to confession time …

The problem is that I tend not to think too deeply about what I do – at least, not that often. Analysing the cartoonist is like taking a butterfly apart to see how it works. I don’t draw because I think I can change the world, or to destabilize governments, though it is highly rewarding to have a pop at a venal politico now and again. I draw because I have to. At 34, I can’t see myself doing anything else. It is as much a part of my life as shaving, or yawning. The actual process can be agonising, although the labour pains are usually forgotten when the artwork turns out well. Sure, I like to be praised when I do a good job, but if I’m honest, I don’t even enjoy cartooning 100 per cent of the time. I suspect most cartoonists are the same.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

PCOer Adrian Teal (click to enlarge his Daniel Craig drawing, above) discusses the neglected art of the caricaturist:

If press cartoonists are feeling neglected, press caricaturists are feeling doubly so. The PCO is pursuing an admirable policy of singing the praises of the cartoon to anyone who’ll listen. The highly specialized trade of caricature is even more threatened, however, and I humbly submit that this noble profession should be given equal standing in the campaign.

Perhaps it’s the caricaturists’ fault. The standard (and standing) of British caricature has been in steep decline since the press lost interest in it after Spitting Image’s demise, and really good caricature is hard to find these days. Unless we can show the world how potent the art form can be, we will perish, and deservedly so.

When faced with something humorous and visceral, people often overlook the care and thought which has gone into a drawing. To a large extent – and I know I’m treading on a few corns here – cartoons are the fast-food of journalism; enjoyed briefly, and then discarded. But good caricatures have a staying power, which is lacking in pocket cartoons. They usually do not have the luxury of a caption to help them along. And the sheer amount of work which goes into them can be out of all proportion to the attention (and fees) they are given.

It is this kind of attention to detail, and plain hard slog, which marks the caricaturist out as the sturdy, muscular workhorse of cartooning, and I urge the PCO to help the journalistic world recognize his worth.

Thanks to Adrian Teal. Bloghorn says: Click T for Teal

UPDATED 28th April 2008: Some responses to Adrian’s opinion can be found in the comments section immediately under this edit

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