Just to say that I’m taking a break from doing cartoons for the Church Times. Starting this week, possibly for a month.

Not a lot more to say than that at the moment, but I thought I’d pass on the information.

Posted by Dave at 4:59 pm on September 27, 2011 and filed under Cartooning.

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I’m selling five cartoon canvasses. They are the final five that I own that I drew to be exhibited at the Lambeth Conference in 2008 (all of the others were disposed of by various means or given to Archbishops).

The five cartoons are as follows (images at the end of this post):

1. Bishops’ meetings (original cartoon) Start price: £20 + £10 P&P (UK only)
2. How Christians can work together across the divide (original cartoon) Start price: £20 + £10 P&P (UK only)
3. Ordinary Anglicans (original version not currently available unless to are a Church Times subscriber – see here) Start price: £20 + £10 P&P (UK only)
4. The church kitchen (original cartoon) Start price: £29.99 + £10 P&P (UK only)
5. The peace (original cartoon) Start price: £29.99 + £10 P&P (UK only)

The auctions are on Ebay UK and will run for 10 days, so will end on the evening of Thursday 29 September.

The canvasses themselves are originals in the sense that I drew them, but they are not the original originals in that they had already been drawn on paper for the Church Times, etc. They have been stored since 2008 and are not in absolutely perfect condition (sample blemish), but they are pretty good. I’m happy to sign on the front if required, and/or sign with an inscription on the frame on the back. I will write your choice of words but reserve the right to edit text (always have to say that now…).

All funds raised by these auctions will go towards the work of Esuubi, a charity working with children in Uganda. Read more about it here and follow on Twitter here: @esuubi. I’m very pleased to say that a special fund at my church, St John’s and St Mary’s Langdon Hills, will match the money raised by these auctions.

Click ‘read a bit more’ to see the images in more detail.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Dave at 9:39 pm on September 19, 2011 and filed under Cartooning.

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Each of my usual cartoons takes me approximately a day to do. This includes thinking, talking to people, honing the idea, pacing up and down, thinking of a layout that works, wrestling with the exact wording, researching how things look (I know, you wouldn’t have thought it), having a crisis and deciding I am giving up cartooning for ever, pencilling, inking in, scanning, and finally editing on the computer. Any other professional cartoonists reading this will be amazed that I make a living. Yes, I know.

The image above, on the other hand, took perhaps 30 seconds. I suppose it might have taken up to a minute, depending upon the frequency of seagulls. It is from a notebook of cartoons I was looking at this evening which I did a number of years ago. There are another 75 pages of drawings in the notebook, none of which have been scanned or seen by anyone other than my wife. Most of them will probably never will be seen by anyone else. There are a number of reasons for this. Many of them made sense in the context they were drawn but would make rather less sense to the general public now. But another reason is my fear of having less than perfect work seen by the world. I’m terrified that you might not like it. But in fact these days I have a fear of even doing less than perfect work – it is a long time since I did a notebook of spontaneous drawings like the one above.

This is something I need to get over. At the very least I need to start to draw more and have fun doing it. I have found, and I suspect I am not alone, that it becomes harder to have fun doing something once the stakes are higher and you are being paid for it. Some people manage it, but I find it very difficult. I’ve known this for years, but my hope is that by telling you about it I might be able to beat it.

This rather self-absorbed blog post really isn’t intended to be me digging for compliments or doing myself down, by the way. I know I can be good at what i do. I’d rather hear how you deal with anything similar, if you you do. How do you remain creative under pressure? How do you cope with the fear of [insert name of occupation here]. How does one draw a seagull*? That sort of thing.

* I will get into trouble from my ornithologist friends for using the word ‘seagull’, I know. Sorry.

Posted by Dave at 9:39 pm on September 15, 2011 and filed under Cartooning, My problems.

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I have one cartoon t-shirt to give away. It is a standard issue black Hymns Ancient and Modern Greenbelt Bookshop 2011 staff t-shirt, size medium. It has this cartoon (but white on black background) on the front and the word ‘STAFF’ on the back. When worn by a someone like me it looks something like this. It is unworn and in original wrapping. I’ll throw in a few small cartoon bits and bobs too.

All you have to do is post in the comments below by 9am on Friday 16 September (36 hours time) and I’ll choose one person at random using some kind of method involving cutting up tiny pieces of paper and throwing a hat at them (or similar – method to be decided). If you wanted to post a cartoon idea as your comment then that would be lovely, but anything will do.

The ruler in the picture is to show what a wrapped t-shirt looks like when placed next to a NON-SHATTER ruler. Yes, I do have the word ‘RULER’ written on my ruler.

One entry per person. Judges decision final. No cash alternative. Sorry there is only a medium, but that’s all I have – you could give it away to a medium sized person. I reserve the right to think up other rules as I go along.

Posted by Dave at 8:40 pm on September 14, 2011 and filed under Quizzes and competitions.

94 Comments

I have had a month or two of blissful non-connectivity owing to breaking my ‘mobile’ telephone. As of 12 September 2011 I once again have a telephone I can use to browse online things whilst out and about. Is this a good thing? Probably not.

I wouldn’t be able to do what I do were it not for the internet, and for this I am extremely grateful. Yet on a daily basis the internet is my worst enemy: I allow it to distract, to take away creative and looking-out-of-the-window-at-things time, and to stop me interacting with those around me. Generally (and there are of course exceptions) the less time I spend online the happier I am.

This marks me out as an idiot. Remind me when I next break my mobile telephone not to buy another one.

I’ll moderate any comments when I’m on the train.

Posted by Dave at 5:49 pm on September 13, 2011 and filed under Cartoons, Technical.

9 Comments

See the larger version of this cartoon here: Differing heights.

I, being towards the taller end of thingst, often feel awkward when I find myself in a central seat near the front in church (well, in truth I often feel awkward in any seat, but that is another story). This is because I’m certain I’m blocking those behind me from seeing the clip art on the overhead powerpoint. This cartoon is my attempt to provide solutions to this problem.

How about you? Are you among the blockers or the blocked? What solutions do you have to the problem? Please feel free to make any comments on this issue, one of the most pressing for today’s church. In preparation for the debate I have categorised this post under ‘in-depth analysis’.

I should mention that this, along with the other cartoons I’ve posted this week, is taken from the Canterbury Press book ‘The exciting world of churchgoing‘, now available with 10 (ten) % (percent) off.

Posted by Dave at 7:30 pm on September 8, 2011 and filed under Cartoons, Church, In-depth analysis.

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See the larger readable version of this cartoon here: Sermon illustrations – ideas for some good ones.

Information about using this cartoon elsewhere is on this page as per usual. The only problem with putting this cartoon in your church magazine is that your parishioners will have seen all of your best material. My advice would be to leave it nine weeks or so until you’ve had a chance to use all of the ideas. Those of you who use a lectionary will no doubt raise one or more eyebrows at the suggestion that the sermon illustrations can be used in the next nine weeks, but I’m sure that the determined will find a way.

Another cartoon tomorrow. Who knows, there might even be some new material at some point.

Posted by Dave at 12:57 pm on September 7, 2011 and filed under Cartoons, New CartoonChurch cartoons.

5 Comments

A new cartoon has been posted on the main CartoonChurch site – click this link for the larger version: In the vestry. Information on republishing can also be found via that page.

The cartoon is all to do with the things that happen in vestries before the service starts. I have not been allowed in a vestry before a service starts for years, so I really have very little idea what goes on. I have heard rumours that some churches even employ heavily disguised security staff specifically to keep me out. This diagram is therefore based entirely on second hand information and heresy hearsay. If anyone can enlighten me, about this, or indeed about anything, then please feel free to do so.

Some more cartoons will be posted in the next few days as it has been a while. I am also determined to turn over a bit of a blogging leaf from this point onwards. More about that another time.

Posted by Dave at 6:22 pm on September 6, 2011 and filed under Cartoons, Church, New CartoonChurch cartoons.

7 Comments

I have contributed to an exhibition entitled The Emblem of My Work, which opened in Yorkshire yesterday.

The Emblem of My Work celebrates the 250th anniversary of the marbled page (page 169) in Volume III of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne. You’ll find the book in the ‘Classics’ section. Approximately 169 contributors were asked to picture the emblem of their work on a blank template of the page (above). These 169 contributions will, over the next month or two, appear on a blog, and then be auctioned at the end of October. The names of the contributors appeared today, but, in a subtle twist, the names won’t be matched with the pictures. This is all a bit baffling, I know, but the blog or the Laurence Sterne Trust website should help to explain it and fill in the bits that I haven’t explained that well.

Others contributors include Quentin Blake, Mark Wallinger, Martin Rowson, Tom Gauld, Glen Baxter, to name a few I quite admire. The exhibition is part of Art in Yorkshire, supported by Tate. I’m hoping to make it up to Shandy Hall (15 miles north of York) at some point to see the exhibition, but no travel arrangements have yet been made.

My contribution? Well, you’ll have to work it out…

Posted by Dave at 9:29 pm on September 5, 2011 and filed under Art, CartoonChurch progress.

4 Comments

We have been away but are now back from several places.

This is just a quick blog post to say thank you for all of the really very kind things that were said to me at the Greenbelt Festival. I really do appreciate the things people say and to see my work being enjoyed every year.

I was pleased that the t-shirts (sample, above) proved to be popular. Sorry to those who didn’t manage to get one – this being the first printing the order was made cautiously, but hopefully there will be more in the future. Sorry black wasn’t available – once again, next time, all being well.

For those who were unable to get a calendar – you can get one from places listed here.

Please forgive this not especially thrilling blog post. Slight struggle to form much of a sentence at the moment to be honest (we’ll call it start-of-term blues), but I did want to write something / strike whilst the iron was at least still mildly lukewarm.

Posted by Dave at 10:32 pm on September 4, 2011 and filed under CartoonChurch progress, Greenbelt.

4 Comments