Photo: My cartoon is due to reappear in the Church Times again next week. Yesterday I spent a few hours sitting in the CT / Hymns Ancient and Modern production department, mainly doing some drawing, but also discussing how the cartoon will appear in the paper. These are mock-ups of possible font positioning, colouring and size for the title. I’m thinking blue Gill Sans Light aligned right, but no final decision made. The plan is to drop the ‘Guide to the church’ label, thereby giving me a bit more scope to draw other things.

Posted by Dave at 10:31 am on January 19, 2013 and filed under CartoonChurch progress, Cartooning, Photographs.

6 Comments

I’m pleased to be able to announce that I’m going to return to doing a weekly cartoon in the Church Times newspaper.

Hopefully I should start again in a week or two – quite possibly the 25 January. The plan is for the cartoons to cover a slightly broader range of subjects than they have until now, so although some will be on my usual ‘things that go on in churches’ theme there will also be some more topical ones too. That is the idea anyway.

I was in two minds about it, I must admit. Doing the weekly cartoons wasn’t doing me any good, and I thought, for various reasons, that the series might have run its course. But on the other hand there are people who do really enjoy them, and I think I might still have one or two things to say. And in any case I really can’t do anything else.

I’m going to need quite a lot of help if I’m to avoid collapsing into a miserable heap like last time. Talking to other human beings in actual real life is the main thing that helps my creativity, so I need to find new ways to do so. Perhaps meeting up with people individually or in a group for a chat, I don’t know. Though receiving ideas though electronic means helps too. Suggestions as to ways I can do this welcome.

Thanks to everyone reading this blog for your support.

Posted by Dave at 2:31 pm on January 11, 2013 and filed under CartoonChurch progress, Cartooning.

25 Comments

Good news! Two of my cartoons are now available in tea towel form from Canterbury Press. I’ve posted images of the two cartoons, ‘The church kitchen’ and ‘The discernment process – how to be selected as a member of the clergy’, below. The tea towels are £5.99 each and are available from Church House Bookshop at the following links:

• The church kitchen
• The discernment process – how to be selected as a member of the clergy

They are also available at Church House Bookshop at 31 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BN – directions here. I would telephone first (020 7799 4064) if travelling specially though.

You can find all of my Canterbury Press books, t-shirts, cards, and now tea towels on their Dave Walker page.

[Minor note: the second image looks lighter than the first here. It isn't on the tea towel itself.]

Update: I’ve been asked whether these can be sent overseas. Yes, they can. I have copied and pasted delivery charges below.

Orders in the UK
£2.50 for orders under £25.00
£5.00 for orders between £25 – £75
Orders over £75.00 are despatched post free

Overseas Orders
All overseas orders are dispatched by either airmail or courier.

Western Europe
(Andorra, Austria, Azores, Baleric Islands, Belgium, Canary Islands, Corsica, Denmark, Faroe Is, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Iceland, Irish Rep, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Maderia, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Spitzbergen, Sweden, Switzerland and Vatican State City)
£0.00 – £9.99 £3.00
£10.00 – £19.99 £5.50
£20.00 – £49.99 £8.00
£50.00 – £79.99 £12.00
£80.00 – £99.99 £20.00
£100.00 – £149.99 £28.00
£150.00 – £199.99 £45.00
£200.00 – £299.99 £60.00
£300.00 – £100,000.00 £80.00

Rest of Europe/Rest of World
£0.00 – £9.99 £5.50
£10.00 – £19.99 £7.50
£20.00 – £49.99 £12.00
£50.00 – £79.99 £20.00
£80.00 – £99.99 £35.00
£100.00 – £149.99 £50.00
£150.00 – £199.99 £60.00
£200.00 – £299.99 £75.00
£300.00 – £100,000.00 £100.00

Posted by Dave at 4:25 pm on November 16, 2012 and filed under CartoonChurch progress.

5 Comments

My Greenbelt Festival t-shirts are now available to buy online from the Church House Bookshop site. Please note that these are the ‘Campsite-Talks-Beer tent’ design in adults sizes, and the ‘late night guitar player in children’s sizes.

Posted by Dave at 2:23 pm on October 22, 2012 and filed under CartoonChurch progress.

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Hello. Yes, I’m still here, despite appearances to the contrary. So much that this website was recently described on another blog as ‘more of an archive site’ (ouch… but I can’t really argue). So, what has been going on whilst I’ve been away from the Church Times and cartooning generally? Well, I’ve been trying (and, to be honest, mostly failing) to sort myself out. Sorry, I know this is vague, but it is as much as I’m comfortable writing here. I haven’t entirely given up yet, hence this blog post. So, a progress update, in no particular order:

Merchandise. First of all, some good news. My marvellous publishers, Canterbury Press, are keen to sell some of my cartoon bits and pieces. To start with, the t-shirts that were on sale at the Greenbelt Festival are now available online – but I will post the link in a separate post if that’s OK. There are more items with cartoons on planned.

Finding the right place to work is continuing to prove a challenge. I’d like somewhere that isn’t home, reachable from home (I live quite near Laindon station, SW Essex), where I can have my own space and equipment (computer / scanner mainly). Ideally with other people. I will pay the going rate. Friends have very kindly offered space in church offices, but for various reasons none of the options quite fits the bill thus far. I’ve been to see a number of offices on industrial estates, but again, nothing that would be quite the thing. I know, I’ve mentioned this subject a thousand times, but once more can’t hurt.

Bicycles: Apologies for those who had been looking forward to great things from my new Cycling Cartoons site and have seen nothing. I shouldn’t, in hindsight, have been so hasty to launch it. My own advice to myself, ‘just go for it’ turned out to be, as is often the case, exactly the wrong thing to do. But hopefully there will be some new material very soon.

A tiny announcement: there will be some cartoons added to CartoonChurch over the next few weeks. A reminder that we’re very much still open for business. If you felt any sort of urge to sign up for a licence to use my cartoons in your church then, well, that would be lovely.

A small matter relating to this: the PO box that I’ve been using for the last 7 years hasn’t been renewed, as cheques were being returned to people undelivered. This happened before, and the Royal Mail said they had fixed it, but as it has happened again it appears as if they have stopped trying, so I’ve stopped paying. If you’ve sent me a cheque and haven’t heard anything and or the cheque hasn’t been cashed, then (1) please let me know, (2) huge apologies. For the time being paying by Paypal is the most straightforward method, but you can still send a cheque if that is easier – please send me a quick email and I will tell you the appropriate address to post the cheque to. I should, at this point, mention Renou, who has improved efficiency of the CartoonChurch admin operation by several hundred percent (contact her here). If you sign up now you get a personalised licence that you can print off and everything.

Thanks for all encouragement, particularly from those who post in the comments on this blog and on Twitter. It is a strange thing, the internet. A lot of days this new media world in which we live makes me utterly unhappy, but the right thing said at the right time can make the world of difference.

Posted by Dave at 8:29 am on October 22, 2012 and filed under CartoonChurch progress.

10 Comments

I’ve been continuing to work hard on this website. Since last week:

1. I’ve changed the site to fixed width. If this means nothing to you then don’t worry, it isn’t that important.
2. The tiny cartoon thumbnails have gone and been replaced by larger cartoons, meaning for the first time the cartoons don’t have to be viewed one by one.
3. The lines on the cartoons have been made bolder and hopefully more readable. Possibly to do with my Aunty Aliasing (technical joke). However, this does now mean that the image sizes are larger.
4. All manner of minor changes to all manner of pages, wording, menus, new images, this and that.

I think these changes are all a good thing, but please do tell me if not. If anyone had the time to click a few pages and tell me what they think it would be greatly appreciated. In particular it would be useful to know whether the larger file sizes are a problem, for instance for those browsing with 3g, 2g 1g or any portion of a g. Also any display issues to do with going to fixed width for those with small screens, mobile screens or no screens.

[Minor point. I'm in London and am approximately 45% busier than normal, so please forgive me if it takes a while for any comments to be moderated.]

Posted by Dave at 7:34 am on June 28, 2012 and filed under CartoonChurch progress, Cartoons, Technical.

4 Comments

I avoided calling this post ‘Back to CartoonChurch Sunday’ by a small margin, but there wasn’t much in it. But anyway, I’d like to welcome people who have come back to CartoonChurch.com after a bit of an absence.

Let me explain. Over the last month there has been a considerable amount of work and general toil taking place, partly on this website, but most especially behind the scenes. Here is what has been going on and things that have changed:

30 new cartoons uploaded. I’ve been posting them here on the blog, on Twitter and on Facebook, but if you missed any the cartoons section has them all. There will be more to come, particularly as a new bookful of cartoons is on its way.

Improvements to the cartoon licensing process. This is really the big thing that has involved the most work, but to an onlooker it may not be very apparent. Let’s just say that things have been made a lot more efficient. People who would like to use the cartoons in their churches who sign up from now will have an actual licence they can print (gasps of amazement) and communication should be much improved. This is due to the new ace admin department – about which more in a moment.

100* minor tweaks to make the website more usable and attractive. There is more that could be done I’m sure, but the site does, I hope, look a bit better than it did a month ago. I suspect I’m the only one who will notice (for instance) the new shade of blue, new header image and removal of out-of-date information from circa 2005, but hopefully additional features such as the ability to select a random cartoon (try it) and a CartoonChurch favourites section will prove useful. *Made up figure.

A new occasional CartoonChurch newsletter. Part of getting the databases sorted out has involved laying the sturdy plinth necessary for the sending-out of a new CartoonChurch newsletter. It will be for those who’d like to hear about the latest cartoons and other developments by email. There may also be exclusive content. You can sign up here (note that not all newsletters will be personally delivered by a bishop).

I’ve written to former licence holders, mostly people who have previously used my work in their local church, to come back and take a look at the extra cartoons and the updated website, and to renew licences if they’d like to. Hence this post. If that is you: welcome! I hope you enjoy looking around, and please keep in touch.

A huge thank you needs to be said at this point to Renou Um, who I’ve been working with on the admin side of CartoonChurch things over the last month. Without Renou, and her new company, All May Have, (see also: Twitter / Facebook), the licensing / newsletter / database side of things wouldn’t have happened. A huge amount has been achieved very quickly, which is marvellous. Thanks too to everyone who has posted kind comments in all manner of places whilst I have been adding the new cartoons. It has been much appreciated.

Posted by Dave at 7:31 am on June 15, 2012 and filed under CartoonChurch progress, Cartooning.

1 Comment

Some good news! I’m very pleased to be able to announce that my next book, to be called ‘Peculiar Goings On‘, will be published on 31 July by Canterbury Press.

It contains a selection of my cartoons from The Dave Walker Guide to the Church in the Church Times. Am I allowed to say that I like these cartoons better than the earlier ones? No, probably not. But anyway, subjects analysed in this volume include:

• Successful strategies for rich pickings at a bring and share lunch
• How to defend the church car park from non churchgoers
• The perils of over-zealous church cleaning
• The hierarchy of biscuits
• The periodic table of churchgoers
• People you might encounter at the vicarage
• …and that cartoon: Liturgical dance: how to nip it in the bud

Here is where you can find it:

• At the Greenbelt festival in August. I imagine there may be some kind of signing or somesuch.
• Local bookshops. If you need to quote an ISBN to order it the one you need is 9781848252363
• Church House bookshop
• Amazon UK
• Amazon.com

Other stockists are available of course. Oh, should mention that the cost is of the book is £6.99.

The books page contains links to all of the books of my cartoons if you don’t want to loiter waiting for this one.

Posted by Dave at 7:45 am on June 14, 2012 and filed under Books, CartoonChurch progress, Cartooning.

2 Comments

Well, hello everyone.

*clears throat*

I haven’t been doing very well at cartooning recently. I’m not going to go into the details, but let’s just say I need a bit of help. So, I’ve set up a small experimental website for discussion of ideas. It may or may not work, but it’s worth a try. To find the ‘Cartoon lab’, go to http://cartoonlab.wordpress.com/.

The idea is that I will post ideas which need a bit of work to turn them into something I can use for a cartoon. Any replies / contributions will be much appreciated, and hopefully the process will be fun too.

I’m hoping the technical side of it all works. Let me know if you make a comment and it doesn’t show up. First comments will need to be moderated I think. If you are a WordPress.com user or know what you are doing you might find that a ‘Gravatar’ icon shows up in the same way it does on this site. But no one really knows for sure. I decided not to use this blog, by the way, so that only the people who specifically want to join in with these discussions would see it. I decided not to use Facebook or Twitter so that people who don’t use those sites can join in.

Thanks in advance for any contributions. I do of course still welcome cartoon ideas via the usual methods: email, stopping me in the street, etc.

Posted by Dave at 1:17 pm on April 27, 2012 and filed under CartoonChurch progress, Cartooning, Ideas appeal.

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Happy Incredibly Belated New Year everyone.

News:

1. I have been continuing with my activities.
2. I joined the Professional Cartoonists Association. I have a profile here. I intend to be more professional from now on.
3. A new website on its way. It will be for non-church-related cartoons.
4. An upgrade to this website is on its way. There will be some improvements.
5. A relaunch of my licence system is on its way. There will be some improvements.
6. I have been beset with problems (technical). Problem a: inability to make any printer / scanner work using my main computer (Mac). Problem b: I tried to make my mobile telephone take photographs in pure black and white (no grey like the one above) and failed. Problem c: My cascading style sheets are in a knot.
7. I still don’t really have anywhere to go and work during cartooning days (diagram above) but I have learnt to deal with this.
8. I was going to learn to make newspapers, but it didn’t happen.
9. New year’s resolution: to draw in notebook every day. There have been quite a few days when I have not failed at this.
10. It is dull when people say they intend to blog more, but I do. There may be some shorter updates with less academic depth, etc.

Posted by Dave at 7:08 pm on January 24, 2012 and filed under Blogging, CartoonChurch progress, Cartooning.

11 Comments

A few items of news:

Cards
My greetings cards are now available from Church House Bookshop and can be found on their page of my various things. This means that after a couple of years of them not being available they are now once again available. There are five designs that can be bought – the sixth (‘My life in segments’) has now more or less run out owing to the plumbing incident of 2006. The ‘orange juice’ design (above) will be the last to sell out.

Calendars
The 2012 calendar can now be bought with a special 2 for £12 offer. This is ideal for people with a friend, or those who are likely to lose their calendar through spilt tea / negligence / weakness / own deliberate fault.

Grandiose project report
1 Some small progress made, not completed
2 Some small progress made, not completed
3 Some small progress made, not completed
4 No progress made whatsoever
5 Some small progress made, not completed

Other news (vague)
It is likely that I will be doing rather less cartooning (were such a thing possible) in the coming months owing to various developments. I have no immediate plans to stop any of the regular cartoons I do, but I’ll be spending more time in London doing other things and less time at home trying to be a cartoonist and undertake grandiose projects.

Posted by Dave at 9:31 am on November 18, 2011 and filed under CartoonChurch progress.

4 Comments

1. Making the t-shirt website that I have begun to work on actually work so that people can buy t-shirts and everything.
2. Finding a person who lives in my vicinity to do some admin work for me so that things are a bit less of a disaster.
3. Approaching churches near me with a mind to being their cartoonist in residence. The idea being that they provide me with a bit of space to draw diagrams and people flock in through the doors to see what is going on.
4. Actually doing something vaguely useful at my church. And in life generally.
5. Undertake new cartoon project, the nature of which I cannot divulge in case someone else steals my ideas. It involves making a new website and someone with WordPress skills.

Please nag me continually about these things.

Posted by Dave at 8:25 pm on November 6, 2011 and filed under CartoonChurch progress.

15 Comments