I
started cartooning life as a gag cartoonist, submitting work
speculatively
to magazines and newspapers – not the most secure way to earn
a
living but our building
society manager had faith and still gave us a mortgage.
I
was determined to make it into Punch,
and I did after exactly
one year of submitting ten ideas a week, after which I was lucky enough
to become one of the magazine's regulary commissioned cartoonists. As
well as the usual gag cartoons, I created many cartoon features,
including double-page spreads, plus a large number of front
covers.
One
of my early breaks was to win the commission to produce the cartoons
for the Guinness
Calendar and, from there I began to spread my
cartooning
wings, gaining commisions for advertising, humorous illustration,
greeting
cards, etc. These days, my net is spread very wide indeed, as you can
see
from those clients represented in this portfolio.
For
almost a decade, I have worked entirely digitally, using a Wacom
drawing tablet and Mac computers, supplying work almost exclusively via
email.
I
have had some luck winning a few awards, too, including one from the
United
Nations (Cartoonists Against Drug Abuse), The (UK) Dog
Cartoonist
of the Year and, just recently, one of the coveted Lindsay awards,
presented
by the Australian
Cartoonists' Association.
I am a member of several cartooning
organisations, The
Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain, The British
Cartoonists' Association, The
Federation of Cartoonists' Organisations, The
Cartoonists' Guild and The
Professional Cartoonists' Organisation. In 2003 I was
elected a Fellow
of the RSA.
My
Books
In
addition to the many books I have illustrated for other others, I have
written and illustrated a large number of my own.
My cartoon books include Golf Widows
andBusiness Widows,
which were translated into several European languages, including
Swedish. Sadly, my companion volume, Cricket Widows,
failed to break the international language (not to mention, cricket)
barrier!
My other books include those written for children and published by
Penguin. These include, Nuts,
The
Lost Wag, The Greedy
Ghost, Limeroons
and Diary
of and Alien.
My latest books include two which I have co-authored for New Holland,
for publication in the UK and the USA, Draw Cartoons
(pub. 2006) and
Draw
Caricature (pub. 2007).
