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by Alex Hughes

Cartoonist Idol shortlist announced

October 24, 2011 in News

Cartoonist IdolThe Surreal McCoy and Rob Murray, both members of the PCO, which runs the Bloghorn, have made the final in the strip cartoon section of the i newspaper’s “Cartoonist Idol” competition.

They feature alongside strips by Phil Merchant, Trumble & Warr, and Geoff Thompson on pages 26 and 27 of the i today.

The PCO also features heavily in the “pocket” cartoons section: you can see The Surreal McCoy, Bill Stott and Rob Murray on pages 7, 11, and 25 respectively, alongside James Whitworth on page 3 and Peter Allwright on page 21.

You can also see the cartoons online and a comment from the editor here. News of the “landscapes”, or editorial cartoons, is promised for tomorrow’s paper, along with more pocket cartoons. The Bloghorn sends congratulations to all those featuring in the finals.

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

Tags: Bill Stott, Cartoonist Idol, i newspaper, Procartoonists.org, Rob Murray, the i, The Surreal McCoy No Comments »

by Blog Team

Opinion: The Sun drops editorial cartoons from weekday editions

November 7, 2013 in Comment, General, News

Rome Burns © Andy Davey for The Sun @ procartoonists.org

© Andy Davey for The Sun @ procartoonists.org

Andy Davey writes:

After more than 40 years, The Sun has cut editorial cartoons from the weekday editions of the paper.

The paper has boasted a roster of excellent cartoonists to poke fun at the political shenanigans of the day. Names such as Stanley Franklin, Dave Gaskill, Keith Waite, Paul Rigby, Posy Simmonds, Tom Johnston, Bill Caldwell, Bernard Cookson and Charles Griffin have all served on the super soaraway paper. But recently, circulation of printed publications has sunk, taking with it into the deep briny blue a huge wad of advertising revenue.

I write as the most recent regular incumbent and my cartoons have now been dropped. No reason was given to me, but it seems likely it was a financial decision. Cartoonists, together with many journalists and photographers, are apparently too expensive for these times. It’s much more cost effective to fill the editorial page with a splash headline and a crowdsourced free or cheap image.

The paper will still run editorial cartoons by another PCO member, Brighty (Steve Bright), in the Sun on Sunday and in Trevor Kavanagh’s Monday editorial column.

Traditionally, papers have run editorial, gag and strip cartoons but this has begun to change over the past few years.

The loss of daily editorial cartoons from The Sun is significant but it is not alone in ditching its cartoonists. Last month, The Sunday Times cast off several long term freelance cartoonists. The Mirror dropped daily editorial cartoons years ago and The Observer had a clear-out recently.

Alongside this, rates of pay have been cut. In 2011, The i newspaper, sister to The Independent, decided it needed strip, gag and editorial cartoonists to make its content shine. Instead of hiring cartoonists at a standard industry rate, it ran a competition in the oh-so-fashionable form of a “Cartoon Idol” to find new talent. The pay was so derisory that only one cartoonist could afford to take up the offer.

We at Procartoonists.org may be biased, but we think cartoons are still loved and appreciated by readers. It is a shame to see them disappearing at a time when humour and satire is desperately needed.

Ed adds: Procartoonists.org thanks Andy for sharing his thoughts here.

Tags: Andy Davey, best British cartoonists, newspapers, PCO, Procartoonists.org, Professional Cartoonists Organisation, The Sun 18 Comments »

by Matthew Buck

Young Cartoonist of the Year 2013

October 3, 2013 in Events, General, News

 

Will McPhail cartoon @procartoonists.org

© Will McPhail cartoon @procartoonists.org

We are particularly pleased to say that one of our members has won the annual award although none of our membership were too surprised.

Hearty congratulations go to Will McPhail who secured the under 30 years prize from our friends at the British Cartoonists’ Association and The Cartoon Museum.

Harry McSweeney carried off the under 18 years prize for this natty observation on the human condition.

Cartoon: Harry McSweeney Young cartoonist of the Year 2013 @procartoonists.org

© Harry McSweeney Young cartoonist of the Year 2013 @procartoonists.org

Harry told us:

He was especially chuffed that he had beaten such a lot of entries and the £250 was the icing on the cake. The congratulations letter from Martin Rowson really appealed to Harry’s sense of humour. He was made to feel very special at the awards ceremony and he enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame. He appreciated the advice he received from the professional cartoonists, mostly  to keep on drawing! He especially took on board the advice from Will McPhaill who having made it as an artist/cartoonist which would be Harry’s dream job. They shared a comedy moment on the podium with a mix up with winners certificates (Harry feeling he had the better deal receiving the Under 30 certificate which will last him another 16 years!)

This whole experience has definitely boosted his confidence and encouraged him to keep on drawing.As one former Punch cartoonist told him getting in to bother at school for doodling, never did him any harm! 

It’s good to see our fine old trade being renewed in this way and so we also tip our hats to the Spectator magazine which has also dipped a toe in the murky waters of running cartoon competitions. This undertaking is supported by John Lobb, the bootmaker which may be handy in the event of an online kicking.

If you would like some evidence about the challenges of running a public competition, you can read all about Cartoon Idol of recent years past or some lively public comment about the Spectator’s latest prize offering over at the public forum of the Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain.

Tags: 2013, British Cartoonists’ Association, Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain, Procartoonists.org, UK Professional Cartoonists' Organisation Portfolios, Will McPahil, Young Cartoonist of the Year 6 Comments »

by Alex Hughes

Cartoonist talent search continues

October 25, 2011 in News

Congratulations to Steve Bright, one of our members, who has also made the final of Cartoonist Idol at the i newspaper. Steve provides the delightful shark drawing we use in our masthead here from time-to-time. He will be competing against Ben Jennings, Mark Thatcher, John Kennedy, and Chris Shipton for a job with the paper.

There is also a new set of jokes from the pocket cartoonists we named in yesterday’s post. You can still see the cartoons online, whereas today’s batch can be seen here. The Bloghorn sends congratulations to all those featuring in the finals and encourages you to get to know the best cartoonist folios here.

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

Tags: best British cartoonists, Bloghorn, Cartoonist Idol, PCO, Procartoonists.org, professional cartoonists, Professional Cartoonists Organisation, The I Paper No Comments »

by Glenn Marshall

Eaten Fish talked

April 10, 2019 in Events, General, News

Eaten Fish with broadcaster Libby Purves

The Surreal McCoy writes:

With great emotion and delight PCO welcomed Ali Dorani (Iranian cartoonist aka Eaten Fish) to Westminster Reference Library last Friday. Our patron, the wonderful Libby Purves, was there to host the event.  She later remarked on her Twitter feed “He is astonishing. Fragile but warm, an original thinker, self aware and witty.”

Artwork © Eaten Fish

In front of a full and captivated house Ali told his story, illustrated with the cartoons he drew whilst in the refugee camp and afterwards. He described how it felt to see the #addafish shoal drawn by cartoonists he had idolised as a child – they gave him heart that the world hadn’t forgotten about his plight – and thanked the PCO for spearheading the campaign.

Artwork © Eaten Fish

Ali also talked about how Edvard Munch’s ‘Scream’ had always resonated with him, especially in the worst times of his ordeal on Manus. Ali commented that little did he know he’d end up in the country of Munch’s birth.

Ali was brought over for the event by International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) who were key in getting him out of Manus Refugee Internment camp. He is currently an artist in residence in Stavanger. He’s really interested in film making and it’s something he’d like to explore in future. Ali told about his obsession with the film of ‘Lord of The Rings’ when he was young; he watched it over and over again. When he was interviewed by Australian immigration he said one reason he wanted to come to Australia was he hoped to meet Peter Jackson. The officer said ‘that’s New Zealand not Australia’, Ali responded ‘yes but he does have a big office in Melbourne’.

The PCO is looking forward to working with Ali on other campaigns in the future, we’ll keep you posted!

You can follow Ali on facebook

 

Tags: Ali Dorani, Eaten Fish, Edvard Munch, ICORN, International Cities of Refuge Network, Libby Purves, Manus Island, scream, The Surreal McCoy, Westminster Reference Library No Comments »

by Blog Team

A poke in the i

January 25, 2012 in Comment

You may have seen the above in this week’s edition of Private Eye, in the Street of Shame column, which focuses on the misdeeds of British newspapers.

When “Cartoonist Idol” was launched, there was much discussion behind the scenes at the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation (Shurely shome correction – Ed) on our members’ forum.

There was a great deal of scepticism, as professional cartoonists have all seen this kind of attempt to get work using competitions before. What we did not see, however, were any terms and conditions for the promised employment. Until we knew the outcome of the contest we gave the i the benefit of the doubt. Many professionals, members of the PCO and otherwise, decided to give it a shot.

Here on the Bloghorn, where we try to be positive about cartooning rather than negative (difficult though that can sometimes be) we reported the shortlisted cartoonists, noting that many were PCO members.

Once the winning PCO members told us what they had been offered, however, we wrote to the i and that led to a conversation with the paper. The conversation was amicable, but the i wasn’t budging.

While we expected that the money offered would be poor, the PCO could not accept the demands made on copyright and exclusivity. We approached Private Eye as we thought they would find it an interesting, if depressing, story. They agreed and we hope you do too.

Tags: cartoon competitions, copyright, icartoons, Procartoonists.org, Street of Shame Comments Off on A poke in the i

by Blog Team

The young guns

December 12, 2011 in Comment

If the average age of cartoonists is generally at the high end of the scale, as mentioned by Private Eye in its 50th celebrations, there a couple of young guns currently working to change that.

Ben Jennings Alistair DarlingBen Jennings, 21, and PCO member Rob Murray, 30, have been chosen to draw cartoons for the i newspaper in the new year. It announced the result of its Cartoonist Idol competition today.

Ben who is in the final year of an illustration degree at the University of Westminster, has also been given the Gillray Goblet for political cartoon of the year at the Political Cartoon Society Awards. He won for the above cartoon, which appeared in the Guardian in August.

A suitably startled Ben was presented with the goblet by the former chancellor Alistair Darling, at the awards ceremony last week. (Photo by Colin Dodds.)

He will draw political cartoons at the i and Rob, who writes regularly for the Bloghorn, will be drawing pocket cartoons. Rob is also fairly new to the cartooning game, but has already been widely published in magazines such as Private Eye and The Spectator.

Edited: 14th December 2011

Peter Brookes of The Times won best Cartoonist of the year and Steve Bell of The Guardian was runner up in the single cartoon competition.

Tags: Procartoonists.org, Young Cartoonist of the Year No Comments »

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