Why does no one want to be a cartoonist any more? The lack of new blood doesn’t bode well for the industry’s future
Written by Nick Newman for (and courtesy of) The Spectator with bonus cartoon content. ‘Nightmare!’ is how The Spectator’s cartoon editor Michael Heath has been describing cartooning for at least 30 years, but it’s truer now than ever. Eighty years ago, cartoonists were so celebrated that waxworks of Low, Strube and Poy were displayed in […]
How to draw a virus: spare a thought for the Covid-19 cartoonists
Written by Guy Venables originally for The Spectator (with a smattering of bonus content cartoons): While stumbling the 30 yards from bed to work, the freelance gag cartoonist is usually trying to decide which of the hundreds of news stories to draw a hilarious cartoon about that day. It used to be one of the […]
Noel Ford 1942-2019
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 […]
Hector Breeze RIP
Cartoon from Private Eye – A Cartoon History Rupert Besley writes: The sad news of the passing of Hector Breeze not long after celebrating his 90th birthday, has, unsurprisingly, brought in a flood of tributes from fellow cartoonists, all recognising the greatness of the man along with the warmth, charm and wit of his cartoons. […]
John Jensen 1930-2018
John with a ‘selfie’ which he did for an exhibition at the cartoon archive, Kent University. Photo © Pat Jensen Sadly, it has been reported that John Jensen has passed away at the sprightly age of 88. John was a well respected and fondly thought of member of the cartoon community. He was a supreme and very versatile draughtsman. John […]
Opinion: The curse of Management
In a somewhat acrimonious departure, Richard Ingrams has resigned as editor of The Oldie. In this opinion piece, Bill Stott sees echoes from the latter days of Punch magazine and hopes that cartoonists will not see history repeat itself. Whilst it might sound uncomfortably like a medical examination, there’s interesting stuff coming out of The […]
The Round-up
A recent New Yorker cartoon by Mick Stevens, above, led to a temporary ban on the magazine’s Facebook page this week, because it apparently broke the social network’s decency rules. Bob Mankoff, the New Yorker’s cartoon editor, looks in detail at the supposed offence on his blog. The latest collection of Punch artwork focuses on […]
More than Pooh and Mr Toad
E.H. Shepard is still best known for his illustrations for the Winnie-the-Pooh books and The Wind in the Willows, but a new exhibition aims to show that there was a lot more to his work than those much-loved drawings. The Other E.H. Shepard, which is at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London from this Wednesday […]
Remembering Ronald Searle
The Chris Beetles Gallery is hosting the exhibition Ronald Searle Remembered, in memory of the cartoonist who died in December. The show, which starts today, features more than 400 works by Searle, who is widely regarded as the greatest cartoonist of the 20th century. It runs until June 9. It includes some of the clandestine […]