by Royston
July 13, 2009 in General
There’s an effective use of cartoons going on at the BBC’s Technology website, where artist Sydney Padua explores the role of Victorian inventor Charles Babbage in the birth of computers.
You can click through the images for a tongue-in-cheek, but nevertheless informative, take on the work of Babbage. (Via Forbidden Planet.)
by Matthew Buck
Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 10th July 2009.
One: Christian Adams in The Telegraph on the chase for the pink vote
Two: Hector Breeze in The Spectator: “It is suggested that one reign for a bit without pay.”
Three: And finally, Peter Brookes in The Times on trouble at No. 11
The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
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by Matthew Buck
July 10, 2009 in Events
Bloghorn’s Artist of the Month for July is John Roberts. John specialises in caricature, gag cartoons, humorous illustration and has been a highly successful on-the-spot caricaturist for the last ten years.
He is also one of the founders and organisers of the annual Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival.We asked John how he had become a cartoonist.
Believe it or not I wanted to save my sanity. In a previous life (good salary, company car, expenses etc etc) I found that if I didn’t change tack then I’d lose my marbles and so I had to have a major re-think.
I knew that I could make a living out of drawing so I decided to try to make it as a cartoonist. In the very early days I sent some caricatures to the Guardian and believe it or not they wrote back saying they’d like to use me and to ‘stand by’ for the phone call. At that time I was working flat out (24/7 as the dudes say these days) so I wrote back saying that that would be difficult in my present situation and so I turned them down! Probably the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life……
I eventually put a decent portfolio together and remember showing it to the late John Witt (cartoonist extraordinaire who used to have a cartoon studio in Chester) who took one look and said “Ever thought of doing ‘live’ caricaturing?”. Over the years I’ve often thought about John and what he had said and wondered if he suggested live caricaturing just to hack off his studio colleague and old friend Tim Leatherbarrow (caricaturist extraordinaire, of no fixed abode) but alas, caricaturing has been the mainstay of my work.
There will be another chat with John about his work next Friday.
by Alex Hughes
July 8, 2009 in Comment
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.
by Royston
July 6, 2009 in General
With the 2009 Ashes series fast approaching, the Chris Beetles Gallery in London is set to stage A Celebration of Cricket: From Ashes to Zooter
The exhibition runs from July 15 until August 8 and features cartoons, illustrations and watercolours from 200 years of cricket.
More than half the show will be devoted to cartoons. From Sir Len Hutton to Shane Warne, few cricketers of note have escaped the hawk-eye of the cartoonist. The show will feature Glen Baxter, above, Mark Boxer, Tony Husband, Jak, John Jensen, Larry, Nick Newman and many more. It will be opened by Sir Ian Botham, with 10 per cent of all opening night sales going to the charity Leukaemia Research
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
by Alex Hughes
Bloghorn spotted this great work during this week ending the 2nd July 2009.
One: Jonathan Pugh in The Times on teacher re-training
Two: Peattie and Taylor from Alex in the Daily Telegraph on forward thinking
Three: …and Bloghorn‘s own Royston Robertson in the Readers Digest on student hijinks
The PCO: Great British cartoon talent
Subscribe to The Foghorn – our print cartoon magazine
by Alex Hughes
July 3, 2009 in General
We are taking a break from our artist of the month feature this week, but you can look back through our archive of some of Britain’s best professional cartoonists. The Bloghorn is made by the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation.
by Matthew Buck
July 3, 2009 in News
We are taking a break from our artist of the month feature this week, but you can look back through our archive of some of Britain’s best professional cartoonists. The Bloghorn is made by the UK’s Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation.
by Alex Hughes
July 1, 2009 in Comment
In an article for the Times, legendary Beano cartoonist Leo Baxendale recalls how in the space of seven months he created the classic strips Little Plum, Minnie the Minx and, most famously, the Bash Street Kids – and that a lot of the inspiration for the strips came from a regular game of office keepie-uppie.
A larger version of the artwork and article can be seen here – thanks to the Forbidden Planet International blog. Previous coverage of the Beano in Bloghorn can be found here.
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by Alex Hughes
Cartoonists in peril
July 15, 2009 in Comment
In Honduras recently, cartoonist Allan McDonald (interview) was detained for 24 hours, had his studio ransacked and cartoons and drawing materials destroyed following the publication of several cartoons supporting ousted president Manuel Zelaya.
Similarly, in Mexico cartoonist Mario Robles was recently given the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning by the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) after a cartoon mocking a crackdown on public demonstrations led to death threats and an assualt.
In Iran, cartoonist Behzad Basho is being held in prison following the recent post-election uprising, and fellow Iranian Nik Kowsar is currently living in exile in Canada following arrests and death threats.
These threats and assaults are nothing new – in 1987 Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali (previously in Bloghorn) was murdered outside the London offices of a Kuwaiti newspaper. A collection of his cartoons, A Child in Palestine, has recently been published in the west for the first time.
Tags: A Child in Palestine, Allan McDonald, Behzad Basho, Bloghorn, Cartoonists Rights Network International, CRNI, Honduras, Iran, Mario Robles, Mexico, Naji Al-Ali, Nik Kowsar, Palestine, political cartoons, professional cartoonists No Comments »