Festival poster illustration © Wilbur Dawbarn
It’s only a few weeks now until the transport-themed Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival alights and this year it really is international with cartoonists shipped over from Belgium, Germany, Australia, the USA and Ireland.
Drawing in the crowds at last year’s festival.
The main event is the popular live drawing in the town square on Saturday 21st April. Cartoonists will be delivering up big boards and caricatures. There will also be opportunities for visitors to join in.
On Friday 20th, at 7pm there’s ‘Cartoonists in Conversation’ with PCO members Jeremy Banx, Wilbur Dawbarn, The Surreal McCoy and Royston Robertson hosted by BBC radio presenter Alex Lester. They’ll be addressing questions like: Can cartoonists find humour in anything? What’s a typical day? Do the times we live in affect the cartoons we get? Afterwards there’ll be a Q&A where you can put your own esoteric questions to the panel.
Venue: Wightman Theatre, 14a The Square, Shrewsbury. Tickets £5 (+booking fee). You can book here.
There are several workshops running over the weekend including:
© Tim Leatherbarrow
Tim Leatherbarrow on how to get movement and energy into cartoons.
© Helen Pointer
‘Introduction to Caricatures’ with Helen Pointer,
© William Rudling
and the intriguing ‘Make Your Own Giant Paper Plane’ piloted by Will Rudling.
There are also exhibitions a-plenty:
Are We Nearly There Yet?
Over 100 cartoons on the theme of transport.
10th-28th April
Bear Steps Gallery, St Alkmund’s Square
Shipped From Abroad
American cartoonists’ take on our ‘Transport’ theme.
4th April-27th May
Theatre Severn
More Belgium Imports
17th-28th April
VAN Gallery
Irish Cartoonist Wendy Shea (Irish Times)
Participate Gallery, Riverside
32-34 Riverside, Raven Meadows SY1 1PJ
April 7th-28th
11am-5pm
More detailed information on all events can be found on the festival website, Facebook page and twitter.