Herne Bay Cartoon Festival 2019 – Bumper bonus photo album!
August 9, 2019 in Events, General, News
The traditional festival team photo at the start of the day.
Last Sunday saw the annual live drawing event on the Herne Bay pier as part of the Cartoon Festival which this year was themed around the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Our chief PCO paparazzo Kasia Kowalska was dispatched to record that one small step for cartooning kind.
We open with some seaside postcard humour as The Independent’s Dave Brown displays his Boris (ooh err missus)
An effigy of him would be set upon by angry crowds later in the afternoon (Boris, NOT Dave Brown)
Cheeky painting by Martin Rowson.
Christopher Burke resurfaces the moon.
Kathryn Lamb’s big board lift off.
Sarah Boyce embarks on her premier Herne Bay space mission.
James Mellor, another big board debutant, tackles Earthexit.
Guy Venables also dipped his toenails into the Herne Bay Cartoon Festival for the first time.
Festival veteran – but still VERY young – Zoom Rockman drawing Skanky Seagulls.
My only criticism of the festival this year was that some of the boards had HUGE holes in them! I’m impressed by the way Des Buckley got round this by incorporating them into his drawing.
Royston Robertson showing that two heads are better than one in solving a nation divided (Photo trickery by Royston)
Nathan Ariss and Sarah Mann on the moon selfie. Ideally there should’ve been another hole for people to put their camera arms through.
Tim Harries questions the theory of spatial dimensions and relativistic physics.
The Surreal McCoy cunningly saves the moon theme for the final frame..
The FT pocket cartoonist Jeremy Banx doing a VERY large pocket.
PCO Treasurer Amy Amani and our Chair-moon (gerrit?) Clive Goddard proving their business acumen – get your board done and flog stuff.
Steve Way was quick off the launch pad in an attempt to be ready for kick off in the Charity Shield cup final.
Pete Dredge and Alex Hughes filling in their festival expenses forms while pretending to do some caricaturing.
Andrew ‘Dancing’ Shoes’ Birch, about to launch.
The man couldn’t stop dancing. Here he is on set at the fake moon landing location shoot pictured with dance partner local artist Gill Wilson.
Cecil B DeMarshall directing his movie epic (you can tell I haven’t got much real work on at the moment) aided by clapper board intern Ace Rockman and in the background festival organiser and soundtrack penny whistle foley artist Sue Austen.
Martin Rowson summoning the gulls to eat chips out of his balloon filled Boris…the lack of takers proving the seagulls of Herne Bay have their limits.
In scenes resembling Zombie Apocalypse members of the public then set about tearing apart the defenceless Mr Johnson!
In cahoots with festival honcho Steve ‘The Dry Iceman Cometh’ Coombs, Rowson then tried to entice the gulls into eating his Dominic Cummings saveloy.
Cummings was eventually devoured by festival regular Teddy the dog.
The customary end of day cartoonists carousel ride. Dredge, Rockman & Banx (sounds like a local accountancy firm)
Chris Burke, Dave Brown, Alex Hughes and Royston Robertson on their mounts.
That man Birch again plus Steve Coombs and Nathan Ariss in traditional cartoonists stetsons.
An out take from the earlier group shot where we tried to get Señor Birch to stand still for a second.
…not easy.
All photos by and copyright of Kasia Kowalska unless otherwise stated.
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by Glenn Marshall
Noel Ford 1942-2019
September 30, 2019 in Comment, General, News
Noel with daughter Sara at Nottingham’s Big Grin Cartoon Festival 2003. Photo © Pete Dredge
Pete Dredge writes:
It’s a cruel irony that it is only when someone passes that the outpourings of love, praise and acknowledgement spill out from friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Such has been the response to the sudden and unexpected death of ace cartoonist and one of the founders of PCO, Noel Ford , who died on September 27th after a cruel return of the kidney cancer that was first diagnosed two years previously.
I suspect Noel would have been, on the one hand, hugely embarrassed, but on the other, quietly delighted by the tributes that have been pouring in on the forums and social media, not only for his cartooning skills but also to the nature of the man.
One of Noel’s many Punch covers.
Noel was a modest chap, never one to blow his own trumpet but was someone who would go about his business with the supreme confidence of knowing that he was, and had been for many years, on the top of his game. His game, of course, was cartooning, particularly gag cartooning and, at his peak, was producing double page spreads and covers for Punch magazine with audacious regularity.
Punch original from the recent ‘London Cartoon Show’ exhibition.
It’s pointless listing Noel’s professional credits, there are far too many to mention, but one of his many gifts was his ability to rally, organise and deliver cartooning projects. A professional cat herder, if ever there was one. I’ve seen Noel’s patient diplomacy, wisdom and common sense work effectively at close hand on many occasions when others’ egos, intransigence and misconceptions – no names! – would lock horns and all it would take was a few choice words from Noel to smooth over troubled waters. Such was the respect that his fellow professionals had for him. Take Noel out of the equation and many of these initiatives would never have seen the light of day.
A digital drawing for the PCO ‘GAGGED’ censorship exhibition currently on display at Saint-Just-le-Martel cartoon festival.
The Cartoonists’ Guild, College of Cartoon Art and, most successfully, the PCO had all benefitted hugely from Noel’s vision, perseverance and professionalism. Add to this his invaluable committee work on the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival and The cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain, Noel certainly put in much more than he took out from these extra-curricular calls of duty.
Clipping from ’80s magazine, either Weekend or Tit Bits (via Davey Jones)
Noel was born in Nuneaton on 22 December 1942 and apparently displayed early signs of his future calling, drawing cartoons in chalk on the pavement outside the front door of the Ford family house. After leaving school it was at the Birmingham College of Arts and Crafts where Noel received the oft repeated advice we have all probably received, to “forget about any ambitions of becoming a cartoonist. You’ll never make a living that way”. The rest is Noel Ford cartooning history. Sadly, today, that lazy, dismissive piece of advice is probably more pertinent that it would have been in the 1960’s and 70’s. More’s the pity that today the markets for showcasing Noel’s and other’s superb gag cartoon craft have all but disappeared.
Caricature of Noel by Bob Monkhouse and a picture of Bob drawing it (via Royston Robertson)
Noel was irritatingly multi-talented. Not only was he a superb draughtsman, he was also a gifted musician, writer and an early pioneer of the digital art platform as well as being a fine exponent of the Argentine Tango (check this.Ed).
Cartoon from the exhibition at the ‘Music’ themed Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival 2014.
It has to be said, Noel enjoyed the good things in life. Good food, fine wine, a good book, comradeship, country living, dogs and, above all, the love of his family and friends.
Noel demonstrating his equestrian skills at Herne Bay Cartoon Festival 2017. Photo © Karol Steele
I’ll miss his mischievous twinkle and Muttley-like chuckle when something, invariably, would tickle his proverbial fancy.
Noel at one of the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival ukulele-thons. Photo ©The Surreal McCoy
With deepest sympathy to Margaret, Sara and family from all your friends at PCO.
Tags: cartoonist, cartoonists, Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain, CCGB, College of Cartoon Art, Herne Bay Cartoon Festival, Noel Ford, PCO, Pete Dredge, Procartoonists, Punch, Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival, Shrewsbury International Cartoon, The Cartoonists’ Guild 5 Comments »