A selection of editorial cartoons depicting events from the last 12 months; graphic expressions, both textual and pictorial of an eventful year. They were predominately produced for the New Zealand print media.
The editorial cartoon is intended to make you think, not necessarily laugh. It is not a comic strip. They are usually placed on the publication’s editorial page where ‘opinion’ dominates. The editorial cartoonist has a number of devices at his disposal – caricature, irony, ridicule, satire, stereotypes, symbols, analogies, among a raft of conventional and unconventional codes.
Humour is only one of the tools available. As pictorial chroniclers of history, we encompass the full spectrum of current issues, both controversial and comical, serious and otherwise. An effective editorial cartoon combines a number of layers of meaning – both intended and those open to the reader’s interpretation.
If you’d like to use any of the cartoons below, please purchase via Cartoon Stock.
Today I woke up to the sad news that Robin Williams had passed away. I was lucky enough to meet him a few times and he was always kind and obliging with autographs and photos for fans.
So, instead of posting one of my drawings today, I’ve decided to post one of his. Here’s Robin Williams’ sketch of Einstein’s Theory of Relatives, a quick doodle for a collection of celebrity drawings I compiled for a book for Koru Care, a children’s charity in New Zealand.
Athletics star Mohamed “Mo” Farah is targeting a third triple gold at next month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The double World and Olympic Champion will make middle distance running history if he wins the 5,000 and 10,000 metre events.
‘The Mobot’, his signature victory celebration, was suggested by TV presenter Clare Balding on James Corden‘s A League of Their Own. It represents the ‘M’ in Mo inspired by the Village People’s YMCA. Virgin Media then promised to donate £2 to the Mo Farah Foundation for every YouTube video uploaded with someone doing The Mobot.
I missed getting Mo to sign my sketch as he passed through Greenwich. Mind you, at the time he was running his first London Marathon, not the most appropriate time to ask for a ‘graph. He was mobbed at the BAFTA TV Awards at Covent Garden, so I missed him there too. I sent it to his London agent and third time lucky…. here it is! Go Mo for the triple!
Nearby my hometown of Invercargill, New Zealand, there’s a small town named Bluff, right at the southern tip of the South Island.
Every year they celebrate their world class oysters with the Bluff Oyster & Food Festival. Every year (almost) the weather is wild and wet, and this year it was so stormy that the festival was forced to close early.
Inspired by Abstract Expressionism, and following in the footsteps of ‘Jack the Dripper’ I created this cartoon to mark the event. Unfortunately, it wasn’t published. But I had fun doing it. The published specimen is here:
The Gladiator himself Russell Crowe was in fine form at the Noah premiere in Leicester Square yesterday. He spent more time than usual walking amongst the gathered throng.
This cartoon I did for The Southland Times – relating to his failed attempt to get Pope Francis to see the film – brought a smile to his face and the Sharpie to paper.
A couple of my latest editorial cartoons reflecting the situation with Russia and the Ukraine.
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