John Jensen | Procartoonists.org

You are browsing the archive for John Jensen.

Cartoons as figures of speech

October 4, 2012 in Events, General, News

Cartoonist and Procartoonists.org member John Jensen has long characterised the connection between words and pictures in his work for Writing Magazine. His new collection – Figures of Speech – will now be launched at the UK Cartoon Museum next week. John kindly agreed to share some of the work from the book below.

John Jensen: Figures of Speech: heightened_impression @ procartoonists.org

Figures of Speech © John Jensen_Glaring_Omission_at_procartoonists.org

Figures of Speech © John Jensen @ procartoonists.org

Further details available from here.

John Jensen A Shriek from Figures of Speech @ procartoonists,org

Tags: best British cartoonists, Figures of Speech, John Jensen, Procartoonists.org, Professional Cartoonists Organisation, Writing Magazine 3 Comments »

by Royston

Talking about Bateman

June 20, 2012 in Events, News

H.M. Bateman by H.M. Bateman

The cartoonist and Procartoonists.org member John Jensen is to host a talk on H.M Bateman at the Cartoon Museum in London next week.

The Early Bateman is held in conjuction with the museum’s exhibition The Man Who Went Mad on Paper. In the talk, on Wednesday 27 June at 6.30pm, John will explore the beauty and subtlety of the artist’s early work.

On Wednesday 11 July, Anita O’Brien, the museum curator, hosts An Unlikely Revolutionary, a talk looking at the impact Bateman had on 20th century cartoons in Britain and overseas.

The Man Who Went Mad on Paper runs until July 22 and is a must-see for anyone interested in cartooning. After that the museum hosts its summer exhibition, Animal Crackers, featuring cartoons and strips with a zoological angle. That opens on July 25. It is followed in the autumn by a show celebrating 75 years of The Dandy. We’ll have more on these exhibitions nearer the time.

For more details on exhibitions, talks and other events, visit Cartoonmuseum.org

Tags: Anita O'Brien, cartoon exhibitions, Cartoon Museum, cartoon talks, H.M. Bateman, John Jensen, The Man Who, The Man Who Went Mad on Paper No Comments »

by Royston

The Illustrators 2011

November 14, 2011 in Events, News

The Illustrators 2011 opens at the Chris Beetles Gallery in St James’s, London, this weekend, and runs until January 7.

The gallery’s annual winter show features more than 85 much-loved and respected illustrators and cartoonists from 1837 to the present day.

Contemporary cartoonists in The Illustrators 2011 include PCO members Jonathan Cusick, above, and John Jensen, alongside Christian Adams, Peter Brookes, Matt and Ronald Searle.

Also featured is work from big names from the past such as John Tenniel, Beatrix Potter, E.H. Shepard, H.M. Bateman, David Low, Donald McGill, Rowland Emett, Thelwell, Vicky, Giles and Larry.

The grand opening is this weekend, November 19 and 20, 10am-5.30pm, and as usual it is a selling exhibition. Original cartoons and illustrations are one-offs, so it gives the public the chance to buy genuinely unique Christmas presents.

Accompanying the exhibition is a 384-page catalogue, with more than 600 full-colour illustrations and many new biographical essays. This is available from the gallery. For more details visit the Chris Beetles Gallery website.

Tags: Chris Beetles Gallery, John Jensen, Jonathan Cusick, Procartoonists.org, The Illustrators 2011 No Comments »

by Royston

Exhibition in aid of tsunami victims

October 12, 2011 in 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

Tags: Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, Japanese earthquake, Japanese tsunami, John Jensen, Ken Pyne, Kyoto International Cartoon Special Exhibition, Kyoto International Cartoonist Congress, Martin Honeysett, Procartoonists.org, Ross Thomson No Comments »

by Alex Hughes

Mocking the twits of the 21st century

June 23, 2011 in Comment, News

Master Cartoonist John Jensen wrote to Bloghorn about the stories of criticism for the one year postgraduate study into Comics and Visual Communication recently launched by the University of Dundee. We publish his letter below.

Tom Harris is an MP whose hobbies include astronomy, science, fiction, cinema, karaoke and tennis. He was a journalist before he became a politician. His activities, particularly his wide range of hobbies (how does he find the time?) suggests a broad interest in the world around him.

Fiction or, if you want to be up-market, literature deals in words, whilst the cinema deals in pictures and they both, at their best, deal in ideas. So do comics, which deal in all these things.

The history of comics is itself a wonderful journey through time and many talents (admittedly some of them terrible!) but modern comics and graphic novels are revelatory. Countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy publish works showing the wide differences, and occasional resemblances, between each other. The United States and Japan share the comic experience but manga and its storylines is different from the storylines and violence found in Marvel Comics or in DC publications.

Many studies, either useful or just plain interesting, are to be found in those little story-telling boxes. The University of Dundee is offering a one-year Masters degree in comic studies: one year, not three. Probably too many students will try to enter what they see as an easy option, but someone perceptive and genuinely interested in the juxtaposition of words, pictures and ideas will not be wasting their time or ours – except, of course that of Tom Harris MP. After a hard nights karaoke, taking in a serious study of ‘the relationship between international comics cultures’ would be just too tiring!

Bloghorn thanks PCOer John Jensen for his thoughts and invites you to share yours in the comments below. If you are interested in the local reaction to the comments of Tom Harris and the issue you can read them at the Dundee Courier.

Tags: best British cartoonists, Bloghorn, DC Thomson, Dr Chris Murray, Dundee, John Jensen, PCO, professional cartoonists, Professional Cartoonists Organisation, Tom Harris MP, University of Dundee No Comments »

by Alex Hughes

Foghorn magazine – Issue 49

March 4, 2011 in News

Spring has nearly sprung and so has the latest issue of Foghorn, the cartoon magazine of the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation. In keeping with this issue’s musical theme, the magazine features an operatic cover by PCO’s Chichi Parish and is available to subscribers for the very merry annual price of £20 for six full colour issues.

What’s inside?

Noel Ford reminisces about his time as a guitarist in the Stormbreakers
Fellow guitarist Roger Penwill tells of his love for the instrument
Tim Harries has a less than relaxing spa break
John Jensen gives us his musical memories
And you’ll find a full page of cartoons by the Surreal McCoy!

Plus…

…all the regular features - Buildings in the Fog, The Critic, The Foghorn Guide to…, The Potting Shed, Andy Davey‘s ‘Foggy’ strip and many more random acts of humour crammed in wherever we could find room.

You can read older issues of Foghorn online here, right up to our most recent issue.

[issuu layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml backgroundcolor=FFFFFF showflipbtn=true documentid=110304141312-bf362aed660a48a79878b5b9b9326745 docname=foghorn48 username=Bloghorn loadinginfotext=Foghorn%20-%20No.%2048 showhtmllink=true tag=bloghorn width=420 height=296 unit=px]

Tags: Andy Davey, Chichi Parish, Foghorn, Foghorn cartoon magazine, John Jensen, music, Noel Ford, Professional Cartoonists Organisation, Roger Penwill, Surreal McCoy, Tim Harries 1 Comment »

by Alex Hughes

Cartoon contest is no laughing matter

January 25, 2011 in Comment

PCO cartoonist John Jensen takes a look at a Turkish cartoon competition:

Turkey recently staged its 27th Aydin Dogan International Cartoon Competition and a 255-page catalogue was released, beautifully printed throughout in colour, with text in Turkish and English.

There’s a long list of successful exhibitors – 44 countries are represented – and a much longer list of entrants who did not get past the judges.

There are 127 Turkish cartoonists and a random count reveals that Serbia is represented by 35 entrants, China by 53 and Iran by 122. Four UK cartoonists participated but only Ross Thomson has survived, to exhibit two drawings.

The three UK cartoonists, who did not make it are Houmayon Mahmoudi, Stephen Mumberson and Alexei Talimonov. Maybe they didn’t draw enough brick walls and prison bars, of which there were plenty.

The first-prize winner, by Turkish cartoonist Ahmet Ozturklevent, is pictured above.

There is an overall sense of stifling bureaucracy while the threat of violence, usually implicit, is a common theme. There are few, if any, English-style jokes. Even Ross Thomson succumbed to drawing a couple of tanks, but at least they are not avoiding daisies.

In the exhibition there are messages galore for mankind – which mankind will almost certainly ignore.

The quality of much of the draughtsmanship is undeniable. The contestants can think, they can draw and they can be very witty indeed, but English-style humour, they would claim, is not part of their job description.

Tags: Aydin Dogan International cartoon Competition, cartoon competitions, John Jensen, Ross Thomson 9 Comments »

by Royston

John Jensen on wit and wisdom: Part 3

February 18, 2010 in Comment

In the final part of his series on wit and wisdom (read part one here and part two here) PCOer John Jensen argues that sometimes cartoonists get better results on a smaller canvas

International cartoon exhibitions should be encouraged and they will continue throughout the years. The symbolic stone walls, barbed wire and the dying doves will still be there, awaiting to be transmuted into the pure gold of a beautifully drawn idea.

Continental cartoonists are happy seeking and finding wit. British cartoonists treat wit with suspicion. Fortunately, not all cartoonists are limited to generalising, tut-tutting and philosophising about Life.

Political cartoonists, even though their symbolism is also limited, have an ever-changing world on which to draw. Topicality generates excitement, which is great.

Then there are the niche cartoonists: nerd speaking unto nerd, where words can be used, thus freeing up the ideas, and ideas are more specific. On the downside, many of the ideas, like some wines, would not travel well.

The problem is that broad themes can become boring. Topicality and the occasional use of words can sometimes produce more interesting ideas. Niche stuff, limited though it is, and usually not wanted by Fleet Street, is where the some of the best cartoons are found.

Small may not be beautiful but it is often very, very funny. What’s the problem?

What do you think about John Jensen’s article? Have your say in the comments below.

Tags: Aydin Dogan International cartoon Competition, best British cartoonists, John Jensen, niche cartoons, political cartoons, the end of ideas, wit and wisdom 3 Comments »

by Royston

John Jensen on wit and wisdom: Part 2

February 15, 2010 in Comment

In the second part of his series on wit and wisdom (read part one here) PCOer John Jensen pinpoints a crucial difference between the British and European senses of humour

Cartoon competitions are a great tourist draw. In lands where overt or even covert censorship persists, an appearance is given that freedom of speech is encouraged. It isn’t.

The exhibitions are usually broad generalisations filled with visual euphemisms: there are countless brick walls, endless rolls of barbed wire, and doves of peace in need of a vet.

Words are not wanted here, so that the cartoons can speak to everyone. But not everyone appreciates the same visual language. UK cartoonists contribute to many of the exhibitions but their work is in a minority and is markedly refreshingly different to that from most European cartoonists.

Brits like humour, Europeans appreciate wit. Wit is serious stuff, humour is fun. They are two different worlds. Both worlds, the witty and the humorous, are limited by the subjects that are set: global warming, freedom of speech, pollution, sexual liberation, female emancipation, domesticity in today’s world … and on and on.

The cartoons are not only wordless, they are timeless – immediate topicality is not an option – and there must be nothing directly political. The ingenuity of the cartoonists is stretched to the limit and the limits are much the same as those felt by the surrealists: there is only so much symbolism to go around.

Eventually the terrain looks all too familiar. Beautiful draughtsmanship can’t hide threadbare ideas.

What do you think about what John is saying? Have your say in the comments below. The final part of John Jensen’s article will appear on Bloghorn soon.

Tags: Aydin Dogan International cartoon Competition, best British cartoonists, Bloghorn, cartoon symbology, cartoon symbols, John Jensen, language of cartoons, professional cartoonists, the end of ideas, wit and wisdom 6 Comments »

by Royston

John Jensen on wit and wisdom: Part 1

February 11, 2010 in Comment

In the first of a three-part series on wit and wisdom, PCOer John Jensen looks at the international language of cartoon competitions

I have just received through the post a beautifully printed catalogue of cartoons. It contains the results of the annual Turkish Aydin Dogan International Competition, with seven Brits vigorously waving the Union Jack, among them PCOer Ross Thomson who picked up a ‘Success Award’. Iran contributed 162 cartoonists.

The catalogue lists the judges and shows their work. It lists the competitors and shows their work, spread throughout 220 glossily printed pages. The quality of the draughtsmanship is, as always, varied but there is a mass of genuine talent there too.

Where once I would have been delighted by the catalogue, however, today the elation is just not there. Grumpy old man? Of course. Complaining about the new, fresh talents? Not at all. Draughtsmanship is not the problem. Ideas are.

Back to square one for just for a moment – don’t run away now, this is important. When Freud, way back when, revealed the workings of the unconscious mind there was a feeling that a new world of endless vistas had been opened up: sex, horror, fantasy, cans of worms (lots of those). Surrealism was born, but before long it died, because it became boring. There was only so much the unconscious mind can offer up. This seems to hold with some forms of cartooning.

If you are young and fresh to the game there is a thrill and great pleasure in discovering what’s going on in the rest of the cartoon world, of submitting your work to great international exhibitions.

But if you have followed the exhibitions for more than four or five decades, you realise that there are limits to the cartoon imagination too, particularly in international exhibitions.

What do you think about what John is saying? Please jump into the comments below. There will be more thinking about the end of ideas from Jensen on Bloghorn next week.

Tags: Aydin Dogan International cartoon Competition, best British cartoonists, Bloghorn, John Jensen, professional cartoonists, the end of ideas 4 Comments »