About

Mark Winter is an award-winning New Zealand cartoonist, designer and film maker and his pen name, Chicane, signifies a deceptive bend. The extent to which the man himself is deceptively bendy is a matter for some head-shaking debate. Since his first ventures into cartooning, for the Otago University magazine Critic in 1976, he has refined his once-detailed style to something cleaner, sharper, and more confident, often juxtaposing visual and verbal ideas. Mark (or is it Chicane) is a former New Zealand Cartoonist of the Year, having won the QANTAS Media Award for the second time in 2008.

He is currently living in London. He has a masters degree in semiotics and, to be fair, it’s still a matter for local debate whether Mr Winter’s more rarified academic studies into the science of decoding static images do more to explain his own work than being fried by a near-fatal electrical shock as a 21-year-old, when he was belted from the mains while he tried to clean a car. A few weeks later he put a fork down a toaster and got banged again. (And people call cartoonists cynics . . .)

Mark has always had a penchant for travel, which oftentimes has required him to file his cartoons from afar. He’s been a hunched audience member, penning an urgent cartoon from his underlit seat during the first act of a West End production of Les Misérables. He has found himself desperately casting around for fax machines – and finding them – from such varied places as the Empire State Building, Lord’s Cricket Ground and, for reasons that needn’t trouble us here, Lord Jeffrey Archer’s London penthouse. He has walked the streets of Paris at 2am, ending up at the Moulin Rouge explaining to “two pimps and a couple of women wearing less than a Hallenstein’s handkerchief” about his urgent need for fax.

(with thanks to Mike Fallow, who wrote the above piece as an introduction to Mark’s book ‘Chicanery’ in 2008)

Contact

Mark is occasionally available to take commissions for artwork, caricature, cartoons or illustration projects. If you would like to discuss this further please get in touch: mark [at] chicanepictures.com

41 thoughts on “About”

lilykingtaylor on April 18, 2013 at 7:32 am said:

Just thought I’d let you know I’ve nominated you for a Liebster award (a nice little virtual award from one blogger to another, telling the world that your blog is worth a visit)
http://kinglilith.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/liebster-award-passing-on-the-virtual-love/
Keep it up!

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on April 23, 2013 at 8:58 pm said:
  
  Thanks for this – great to know that you enjoy the blog. I’ll see what I can do about answering your questions.
  
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  - Janet Medeiros on October 2, 2014 at 1:52 pm said:
    
    Hi Mark, can you design a specific card for me? I left my email address below. thank you in advance. Janet
    
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  - Mark Winter / Chicane on October 3, 2014 at 6:38 am said:
    
    Sorry, your email address is incorrect.
    
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Luciana Mariano on July 2, 2013 at 8:02 pm said:

Amazing work! 😮

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on July 2, 2013 at 8:08 pm said:
  
  Thanks 🙂
  
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KentGBecker on October 25, 2013 at 8:43 pm said:

Very interesting and detailed work. Like the summaries of the people along with the autographs.

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on October 26, 2013 at 7:44 am said:
  
  Thanks. I think it helps. People are only famous as long as you know who they are!
  
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Jackie on December 21, 2013 at 11:40 pm said:

Thanks so much for visiting and following my blog! I appreciate it very much. I’ve enjoyed my visit here and look forward to following your work. Happy Holidays! 😀

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carentaylor on March 15, 2014 at 10:18 am said:

Great Illustrations and ideas! You certainly have lots of things to make people smile! Thanks for dropping by and following. I look forward to seeing more of your work 🙂

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on March 15, 2014 at 3:02 pm said:
  
  Thanks for stopping by 🙂
  
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lensandpensbysally on March 28, 2014 at 1:52 pm said:

Thanks for becoming a subscriber. I like your work as well. Happy blogging.

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Rich Green on April 14, 2014 at 12:28 pm said:

Thanks for liking a some photos on my photo blog. Best to you.

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krikitarts on April 19, 2014 at 8:47 pm said:

Mark, I am delighted and honored that you have chosen to follow my website. Your work is nothing short of amazing and inspirational. New Zealand has become an important part of my life; I’ve been to Invercargill at least a half-dozen times, and have fond memories from all of them–and I’m not Bluffing!

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on April 20, 2014 at 9:03 am said:
  
  Cheers. Haven’t been back in a while, so much going on in London
  
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Rich Green on July 21, 2014 at 11:12 am said:

Thanks for liking a bunch of my photos on my blog. Have a great day.

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bennythomas on August 30, 2014 at 1:27 pm said:

I like your sketches and reading you are from NZ I could not resist adding’ I was also there.’ I had an architectural assignment around Bay of Plenty, Papamoa Beach. Have a jolly week end,

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on August 30, 2014 at 5:55 pm said:
  
  Thanks for visiting my blog. I haven’t spent a lot of time in BOP – I’m at South Islander. I do like visiting the Netherlands, though 🙂
  
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broccolisoep on October 30, 2014 at 9:21 pm said:

Hi Mr Winter! I’m from the team behind All-Allam.com (website actor Roger Allam) We’re getting a whole new look and we are hoping to include some art. You have some wonderful sketches from him as Prospero in The Tempest and as Falstaff in Henry IV. Can we add them to our art gallery? You will get full credit and a link to your website of course, and if you want it deleted for whatever reason in the future we will do so immediately! Thank you in advance!
All the best, All-Allam team

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on October 31, 2014 at 9:41 am said:
  
  Absolutely fine 🙂
  
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Lemon on January 12, 2015 at 1:26 pm said:

Mark/Chicane,

Thank you so much for following me at Lemon’s Tree. It is gratifying that such an awesome artist likes my work. 🙂 You have fabulous style.

Have a great day,
Nancy

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claradoodles on January 21, 2015 at 10:38 pm said:

Hello 🙂 Thanks for following. I’m honoured to have you on this drawing/blogging journey of mine.I really need to blog more, but I’m a girl of few words mostly. Almost…..! Loving your work here – its so nice to see someone using traditional pen and ink, and colour the way it is meant to be used, rather than relying on pixels. *ahem*.

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on January 25, 2015 at 12:13 pm said:
  
  Thanks. Haven’t taken much to the pixels, to be honest. Keep up the blogging and the drawing! 🙂
  
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laurent domergue on March 8, 2015 at 2:41 pm said:

Soyez le bienvenu dans ma vitrine Non Conforme …!!!

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anotherday2paradise on March 8, 2015 at 7:58 pm said:

I’ve been looking through your posts, and love your sketches and stories. I’ve just bought a sketch book and pencils, but knowing where to begin is difficult, never having drawn more than a matchstick man before. 🙂 Thanks for your visits to my blog. Sylvia

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on March 8, 2015 at 8:01 pm said:
  
  Just start drawing. Start with what you see around you, but try and do something every day! Works for me 🙂
  
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anna77dennis on March 10, 2015 at 7:20 am said:

great illustrations! i look forward to following your blog!

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on March 11, 2015 at 5:58 am said:
  
  Thanks, glad you like them
  
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colin jarvis on June 4, 2015 at 9:38 pm said:

love your website and your drawings what a talent,i met you when we did not see nicola bennedetti,hope to see you around

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on June 5, 2015 at 8:43 pm said:
  
  Hey Colin, great to meet you. It was an interesting Friday evening. Hopefully we’ll catch up next time we’re stalking fiddlers!
  
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Alice on March 4, 2016 at 9:22 pm said:

Hi, I have a question. I’m doing a school project when I need a picture to a picture in a book. Your pictures are so nice and I was wondering if you would be kind and let me use one of your photos to my book that will only appear for my class. Bye(:

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Mick on December 19, 2016 at 11:48 pm said:

Who’s sponsoring you these days?

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on December 21, 2016 at 9:43 am said:
  
  Not quite sure what you mean?
  
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Warren McIntosh on January 23, 2018 at 3:04 am said:

Hi Mark

Great to see you are still living the dream!!!!

Warren, ex Silvercord Online

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on January 25, 2018 at 10:57 am said:
  
  Cheers!
  
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Peter Nelson on February 9, 2019 at 4:52 pm said:

Hello Mark, I love your work, I’m very impressed indeed. I will know doubt see you in The Office and I’m sorry for lashing it out on the balcony above your flat. Sorry!

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- Mark Winter / Chicane on February 13, 2019 at 12:22 pm said:
  
  Haha, cheers.
  
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