Cartoonist Steve Bell, who curated the current Ronald Searle show at the Cartoon Museum writes here about the experience. You can read more of Bloghorn’s coverage about the three Searle shows currently on in London here.

Whilst some other Sunday newspapers are cutting back on their cartoons, the Sunday Times has expanded its cartoon content with the inclusion of 101 Uses for a Celebrity.

The regular  feature will appear in the Style section and is drawn by The Surreal McCoy, a former Bloghorn Artist of the Month and a member of the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation (the group which makes this web site).

Surreal tells us;

I had originally drawn a cartoon with a couple of old ladies sitting in a car parked in front of Thora Hird who was balanced sideways on 2 traffic cones. One old lady was saying to the other ‘‘Oooh, isn’t that Thora Hird?’’ and the caption read ‘Celebrity Roadblocks’. I soon started wondering to what other uses could celebrities be put? Then to find out who was flavour of the month it was a matter of reading as many celeb magazines I could lay my hands on, whilst using that great excuse ‘‘its for research purposes, no really’’, and drawing them in all manner of undignified poses. This was a few years ago and of course they did the rounds of editors’ desks, dutifully returning each time with the usual ‘‘we really liked your idea but don’t have the money/space/imagination/etc’’ rejection note. Until the art editor at the Sunday Times’ Style magazine had a look at the PCO’s website, chanced upon my portfolio, visited my site and offered me the gig. Joining the PCO has got to be one of my better decisions.

Bloghorn thinks a lot of publications, print and digital, could benefit from the skills, fun and entertainment that people like this can bring to developing and keeping readerships.

Bloghorn asked this month’s featured artist Robert Duncan, what would be his best tips for aspiring cartoonists?

My main tip for wannabe cartoonists is to be original, and don’t be scared to do something ridiculous – even if no one else quite gets it. That’s better than copying someone else’s idea and bending it around a bit.

I just love drawing – always have done from a very early age – and consider I am still improving. So the tip there is keep at it. Be inspired by others to start with, and you’ll soon develop your own unique style.

Oh… And keep looking out for new places to sell your stuff, and constantly think how everything you read and see could benefit from your work…

The last part of our interview with Robert will be here next Friday. You can, of course, check out our archives of previous featured artists here and here.

It looks as if a criminal legal case will be brought against the artist who made the ‘Hope’ poster of Barack Obama (below). The New York Times reports Shepherd Fairey is now facing both a civil and a criminal case for his representation of, or from, an original Associated Press photograph which became famous during Obama’s successful presidential campaign. Shepard’s response to the news of the likely criminal case is here.

It is a fact universally acknowledged that a supermarket retailer in possession of the No1 spot is in want of a commercial wheeze – such as this one.

Of course, Bloghorn says you’d be better off buying the real thing with a personal caricature from people who can draw like this instead of relying on a computer filter to do it all for them.

Perhaps Tesco might even start to employ cartoonists to do this work live in store?

Bloghorn’s Artist of the Month, cartoonist Tim Harries, gives his tips for would-be cartoonists:

• Keep practicing. Nothing wrong with copying other people’s work for practice if you want to learn, as long as you don’t try to pass it off as your own. You’ll find your own style as you progress.
  
• If you’re aiming to become a professional cartoonist, you’ll need to get yourself a web site and get yourself advertised. If you want to be taken seriously put your best stuff on there, not some sketches you did for Auntie Flo when you were 10. You can save that stuff for your inevitable blog
  
• Nearly all work is done via the internet these days – receiving and answering enquiries, sending roughs and final art, invoicing are all expected to be done online, so be prepared for this.
  
• Don’t miss deadlines. Clients don’t like it and probably won’t use you again. Simple!
  
• Develop a thick skin. If you’re sending cartoons anywhere speculatively, be prepared for rejection somewhere along the line.
  
• Also be prepared to diversify – there is work out there, but if you’ve got your heart set on just working in one field of cartooning “Right I’m only going to draw gag cartoons… about Aardvarks!” it may be a struggle, so the skills you learn producing gag cartoons, comic strips and humorous illustrations can be used in all manner of work – greetings cards, calendars, advertising, comic books, trade mags. Some may not be the glamorous ‘high profile’ gigs you’d like but they pay the bills.

Bloghorn will have one more week of thoughts from Tim next Friday, in the meantime,you can enjoy our Bloghorn Artist of the Month archives whenever you want.

Bloghorn’s Artist of the Month is freelance cartoonist Tim Harries. We asked Tim how he produced his cartoons.

Nearly all my work is done digitally these days. I say nearly, since I still produce my daily strip using traditional methods (in my case – pencils, Staedtler Pigment Liners, Pitt brush pens and a nice bit of paper!). The strip is something I could do digitally, but I quite like ‘keeping my hand in’ with actual pen and paper. It’s a good backup if the computer ever dies on me!

All my other work is done (technophobes look away now!) on Photoshop with my PC and Wacom Cintiq, which I upgraded to recently from the Intuos tablet. The Cintiq is a great piece of kit, well worth the cost if you’re serious about digital cartooning. After all these years of PC use, I’ve finally bought my first Mac, the 13in Macbook Pro, so will be eager to see how it performs.

There will be more from Tim here at the Bloghorn next week. Remember, you can enjoy our Bloghorn Artist of the Month archives at any time.

Bloghorn would like to highlight this unmissable piece of visual nostalgia from British Pathé. We are fascinated because Bloghorn and Foghorn are made by the current UK Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation. We do have a slightly more gender balanced membership nowadays.

A lecture on the Power of the Cartoon given at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in London in autumn 2009. The talk is delivered and performed by PCOer Martin Rowson. Editor’s word – this lecture does contain some strong language.

The Chris Beetles Gallery’s annual illustrators show opens in London this weekend (November 14 and 15).

More than 1,000 original pieces of original artwork, from 1800 to present day, will be on display in The Illustrators 2009. Many of the artists included in the selling exhibition are household names, from Arthur Rackham to John Tenniel to E.H. Shepard to Quentin Blake.

The exhibition includes many cartoonists, such as John Jensen, (Old Flame, 1954, from Lilliput magazine, above) Matt Pritchett, Peter Brookes, H.M. Bateman, Rowland Emett, Giles and Gerard Hoffnung.

A major addition to the roster this year is the work of caricaturist Robert Sherriffs whose stylish line work, seen in the above cartoon of Clark Gable, was commissioned by Punch to bring the excitement of Hollywood film to readers during the 1950s. The exhibition also includes a new selection from the estate of Norman Thelwell.

The gallery is hoping for a big success with the exhibition in the run-up to Christmas, pointing out that this is an accessible and affordable sector of the art market, as more than 80 per cent of the pictures on sale cost less than £2,000.

Accompanying the exhibition will be a catalogue with 200 pages of essays and notes, and more than 400 full-colour images. It will be available from the gallery for £15 plus £3 postage.

The Chris Beetles Gallery, at 8 and 10 Ryder Street, St James’s, London (nearest Tube Green Park or Piccadilly Circus) is open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5.30pm. The gallery’s website can be found at www.chrisbeetles.com