I was given a packet of Staedtler finerliners, which I quickly opened and played with. Half an hour later, this appeared.
Sketch: Fine lines
3
Category Archives: Cartoon
Cartoon: Knightmayors
The two most colourful mayors in New Zealand Michael Laws and and Tim Shadbolt (mayors of Wanganui and Invercargill, respectively) have had a number of colourful tiffs over the years.
I made this illustration somewhen around 2008, and Mr Laws requested the original.
Cartoon: Billy Connolly
In February 2004 “The Big Yin” Billy Connolly played a gig in my home town of Invercargill, New Zealand. I was involved in Koru Care, which was an organisation established by Air New Zealand staff to provide holidays for terminally ill children. One of my pet projects, incorporating my ‘graph-ic vice’ was asking well known people to produce a doodle using a circle. The intention was to produce a book, entitle Celebrity Circles to assist our fundraising.
Anyway, back to Billy. He’s staying at the Ascot Park Hotel. On the day of his show, The Southland Times published this toon:
I thought I would drop a copy of it to Billy to sign for me, along with a blank circle and an invitation to participate in the Koru Care project. The show was brill, and a couple of days later I received a package with my signed cartoon, and a drawing for Koru Care.
Buoyed by this success, I was spurred to try again and to ask him to write the book’s intro as well. Soon enough, this arrived in the mail, which made my day: Continue reading
Cartoon: The Eight of Clubs
A new card design for the Eight of Clubs, from a project a few years ago
Drawing: Scott Dixon
New Zealand Indy Car driver Scott Dixon had a great week, winning the last three races in the current series, including back-to-back wins in last weekend’s double header in Toronto. That was his 32nd win in IndyCar.
Indy Racing League Championship, winning in 2003 and 2008. He is currently second in this year’s standings. His most memorable victory was winning the Indianapolis 500 in 2008 from pole position.
I sent a copy of my cartoon, published in the Southland Times, to Scott at his Chip Ganassi Team HQ in Indianapolis, which he signed and returned.
Drawing: Australia Vs England Bicentenary Test
While the Ashes series clicks into gear, I recall the Bicentennial Test between the two great rivals. It was a single, one-off match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1988 to celebrate the bicentenary of permanent European settlement in Australia. It was played from 29 January to the 2 February, but was not part of The Ashes series. England were captained by Mike Gatting and the hosts by Allan Border.
The result was a draw… and by some illustrative intuition I ‘drew’ this ‘toon and made up a ‘team sheet’ sending it to the famous ground and hoping both squads members would ‘graph it for me. In those days the cricket fraternity were much more obliging, plus I used a courier who ‘knew a bloke’ on the inside. In fact, he knew a number of blokes with connections, so I used him often. Needless to say, he did manage to see a bit of sport at the same time, and you can’t rush a good delivery, as they say in cricket! It was a mutual relationship that worked well.
Cartoon: Talented!
A timeless gag cartoon about politicians that I used on the the back cover of my ‘Twink and Ink‘ collection of cartoons in 2001.
Cartoon: Heaven or hell?
A Pope ‘toon for a lazy Bank Holiday Monday
Almost the weekend
Cartoon: Russell Crowe
New Zealand-born Russell Crowe returned to his hometown of Wellington in April 2006 with his band “The Ordinary Fear of God” (TOFOG) as part of a three gig tour. His former band “Thirty Odd Food of Grunts” dissolved and evolved into the new TOFOG the previous year.
In 2002, he won a Golden Globe for his performance in A Beautiful Mind, and went on to win the BAFTA, but missed out on the Oscar when Denzel Washington pipped him for Training Day. However, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave him the Globe, but didn’t have a gong for New Zealand’s big hope, Peter Jackson’s first instalment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring.
I sent him a copy of an editorial cartoon I did back then to mark the event. He signed and sent it back – writing his name under his usual ‘Russell’ siggy, just in case I didn’t know it was his ‘graph.
ChicanePictures 