The first question that I am going to answer: Describe your typical creative process… (Thanks Andy M).

As I do mainly cartoons I will describe the cartoon creation process in a diagram and then broken into stages:

These are the stages I go through when doing a cartoon. I will say more about them another time.

Thinking of the idea
This is the most difficult part. If you mess this up the whole thing will be a disaster.

Doing a rough version
This is the most tricky aspect. If you botch this up the whole thing will be a fiasco.

Pencilling it in
This is the most challenging phase. If you muck this up the whole thing will be a catastrophe.

Inking it in
This is the most demanding stage. If you foul this up the whole thing will be a calamity.

Scanning it and editing it using the computer
This is the most arduous step. If you bungle this up the whole thing will be a debacle.

Posted by Dave at 9:50 pm on June 23, 2011 and filed under Cartooning.

8 Comments

Report from cartoon talk: The crowd was really quite small, but people seemed to quite enjoy themselves and everyone was kind and lovely. All in all a very good evening. The preparation didn’t go terribly well though – nothing at all to do with the fact that I didn’t get on with doing it early enough. Anyone following me on Twitter yesterday will have heard me moaning about my computers, which really didn’t behave well (dull technical details below), but I’m sure it is just me being inept in one way or another. I really enjoy the actual talking, but the lack of functioning technology and the fact it takes me forever to prepare means that I have no further plans for more public lectures at the moment.

Sorry not to have done anything visible with your marvellous questions yet. I am intending to do so soon.

—–
[Incredibly boring technical details: Using OpenOffice Impress because it means I can switch between PC and Mac. Unfortunately the normal very reliable OpenOffice (it might be called something else now) doesn't work well when it comes to creating presentations with large numbers of images. On the PC the pictures kept dropping out of the presentation for no reason whatsoever, whilst on the Mac you can't just drag in the image icons like you can on the PC as it doesn't work. So there is lots of messing around trying to get the images in and drag them into being the right size and being central, and my Mac can't cope. The Mac is a lovely computer to use in many ways, but very often falls down on the details. Give me file sizes when I search for an image so I know which is the high res version, for goodness sake. Sorry, nearly began to rant there. I know, lots of you think I should switch to Linux or somesuch, but I don't have the time and energy to do such a thing at the moment. Using Keynote means (I think) that, having no Mac laptop, I'd have a problem being compatible with church computers in the places I go to do these things.]

Posted by Dave at 7:42 am on June 22, 2011 and filed under Cartooning.

13 Comments

On Tuesday I’m doing a talk about my work in Westcliffe, Essex (how to come along). It would help me in my preparations if you could ask me any questions you might have about my cartoons, cartooning, or indeed about anything. My idea is that I will draw some diagrams based on these questions, which I will use in my talk and also post here on the blog. I won’t promise I’ll answer every question or draw something on absolutely every question asked, but I’ll do my best to do as many as I can.

Posted by Dave at 2:31 pm on June 17, 2011 and filed under Cartooning.

24 Comments

Cartoon by Dave Walker, all rights reserved, all infringements frowned upon, other legal speak, etc etc.

In the past I have done a Christmas message. I thought I’d do another this year, but don’t read it unless you really don’t have a lot to be doing. Here is a summary of my cartooning year. I have made some of the dates up as I can’t remember them.

In January I did my tax return. I advise leaving it until the last minute.

In February an iPhone app was made. I think some people still use it, and it was, I am told, the thing that gave the Methodists the idea to do theirs.

March was spent booking to go to the Spring Harvest camp for enthusiastic Christians, which we went to in April. We came away terribly enthusiastic if I remember correctly.

In April I also did my 2011 calendar Church HQ, the deadline being March. I was pleased with this calendar, and go on about this to anyone who will listen. My favourite cartoonist William Heath Robinson was the inspiration, so if you like the style of this particular calendar you might like his style as he thought of it first. One of my 2011 ambitions is to go to Pinner, where there is a house being done up in his memory. I have never been to Pinner. I have fairly low ambitions.

In May I put together my book ‘the Exciting World of Churchgoing‘, the deadline being April. This has been popular, being in the Church Times (note italics – I italicise for a living now) top 10 for four months in a row. This is largely due to bribery and family members buying in bulk.

Sometime around then I moved into CartoonChurch HQ, my office in the heart of industrial Basildon. Then I moved into a different office that was smaller but with the same number of walls. I don’t know whether this has been a success or not. I’m not about to move out of it though owing to the effort I went to to put together the various items of DIY furniture. Please come and see me there. I have coffee and often a choice of biscuits.

Also at some point I started work doing the Church Times website. I enjoy going into London on Wednesdays and Thursdays and being a commuter and seeing human beings. I like doing the job, and I have made good friends at the Hymns Ancient / Modern.

In the summer I stood up and showed some diagrams in the Greenbelt comedy ‘Last Orders’ show. I don’t know whether I’ll do more of that kind of thing or not. It was fun, and people seemed to think it was quite good, but I used up every idea I’ve ever had.

I can’t really account for the autumn months. I think I went to several Christianity and Advanced Computing courses, and appeared live at a craft exhibition and a Christmas humour night.

As I may have said before I feel incredibly fortunate to have been given the chance to do the things I do. Therefore I try not to moan about how difficult it is, as my life is not difficult. That said there follows one paragraph in which I moan about how difficult my life is (kind readers may see it as being honest).

The cartooning has got a lot more difficult this year it seems. I can’t think up the ideas well enough and doing so takes forever and causes a lot of anxiety. I am determined to keep doing it because I know I can do it and really do enjoy it when I do it well, and I don’t want to let people down. Also I can’t do anything else. In 2011 I need to find better ways of working if I am to survive with sanity more or less intact.

I must of course thank many people. My wife, who thinks up all of the ideas, and my friends who help in their various ways. My regular clients who pay me to do diagrams, and the commenters on this blog who are creative and invaluable. Also the many people who give me material, intentionally or otherwise, and those who send kind messages. Thanks for putting up with nonsense, of which there is quite a bit, and slackness, which has been occasionally known.

I’ve just noticed that this is more of a newsletter than a Christmas message as it is all about me. Sorry about that.

In summary thanks everyone for your support and have a very happy Christmas.

Posted by Dave at 4:49 pm on December 24, 2010 and filed under Cartooning.

18 Comments

Last night I did a bit more of my sit down comedy (like stand up but seated) at the event that I mentioned a week or two back. It went quite well I think. I showed a mixture of new cartoons and (mostly) old drawings dredged up out of the depths of the archives. The idea is basically that the images are projected and I read out the captions.

This is one of the new diagrams that was included. It is part one of a couple of cartoons entitled ‘Understanding the age-old symbolism behind modern Christmas activities’.

This is an additional cartoon included at no extra cost:

I’ll post another one tomorrow or thereabouts.

Posted by Dave at 2:24 pm on December 16, 2010 and filed under Cartoon stand-up, Cartooning, Cartoons.

5 Comments

Idle diagram done tonight to remind myself that I still quite enjoy doing them. Tomorrow and over the weekend I have a lot of drawing to do, and will be using many of the ideas that you have given me.

I hope you will remember this picture every time someone says ‘you couldn’t make it up’ and that it will provoke debates as to whether you could, in fact, make it up.

Please reuse this cartoon on personal blogs and social networks. If you could post a link that would be ideal.

Posted by Dave at 11:05 pm on December 9, 2010 and filed under Cartooning, Cartoons.

4 Comments

[Cartoon unrelated to content - for illustration purposes only]

Here are this week’s notices:

Thank you
Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed to my ideas post. There are many brilliant ideas that I will be able to use, along with some sent by e-mail. Please do continue though if you think of anything else. Now all I’ve got to do is a bit of drawing.

Interview
To read an interview with me in which I talk about this and that see the Big Bible site. The interview is mainly to do with this website. Big Bible is all to do with the Big Read, a campaign encouraging people to read the Bible during Lent 2011. My friend Bex runs the website. Whether the introduction of ‘Big Bibles’ is part of the plan I have no idea. These would be for those who like to share a Bible with several friends or who find smaller print irritating. I may well suggest it.

2011 Calendar about to sell out
I have it on good authority that stocks of next year’s calendar will run out very soon – over 90% of the stock has now been sold. Last year they were on sale after Christmas as they didn’t sell out, but the same won’t happen this year. Various shops may have stock – otherwise you can order via Canterbury Press here.

Book not about to sell out
As long as people are sensible about it and form an orderly queue there will be enough copies of The Exciting Word of Churchgoing to go around. Thanks to everyone who has been buying it – it has made the Church Times Top 10 for a third month which I’m very pleased about.

Essubi
Finally, if you’re looking for a small charity to support this Christmas may I recommend Esuubi, which works with children in Uganda providing education, medical care etc. My friend Kate set it up and I can vouch for the people involved. Some of my family may be getting some alternative gifts from there (please don’t tell them if you see them).

Posted by Dave at 5:40 pm on December 8, 2010 and filed under Blogging, Books, Cartooning.

3 Comments

Every now and then I have a bit of a cartoon ‘ideas appeal’ here on the blog. I’m currently working on a couple of Christmas cartoon projects and would dearly appreciate a small amount of help from anyone who has a minute to spare.

There are two subjects I’m working on:

1) The Parish Christmas tree.
What is hanging on it, and who has hung it there?
Examples: The bell ringers have hung a bell. The parent and toddler group has hung an irritating squeaky toy. You get the idea.

2) Christmas questions.
Which Christmas-related subjects baffle you?
Example (cartoon above): Who thinks up the playlists that get played in shops?

[Any ideas welcomed. They don't have to be good or funny. I may not be able to use all ideas and can't promise any reward. Many thanks in advance.]

‘Playlist’ cartoon originally appeared in my 2005 Advent calendar.

Posted by Dave at 10:32 pm on December 7, 2010 and filed under Cartooning, Ideas appeal.

33 Comments

I’m doing a comedy gig in London next month. I will be one of a number of performers at ‘Happy Birthday Jesus!’, organised by the people who do Last Orders / Happy Hour at the Greenbelt Festival. It is on Wednesday 15 December at All Hallows On The Wall, 83 London Wall, EC2M 5ND from 7.30pm. Tickets £5 on the door.

There is a Facebook Event page where you can say whether you want to come along or not. Do I need to invite you? I’ve no idea. Also the Greenbelt Blog: Happy Birthday Jesus! The Sketch Show.

I realise it’s a school night, but if you wanted to come along then that would be lovely.

I have, if you remember, done one or two gigs like this where I show some cartoons and talk. Mainly read out the captions. It sounds like it wouldn’t work, but it seems that it does. I call it cartoon stand-up. (Note that it may be performed seated for comfort reasons.)

Here (above) is a picture of me doing this in front of 3000 people at Greenbelt (Thanks Bex for the photo). I am turning around to look at the screen in an unattractive manner. Also I wasn’t convinced by the pink hair – you could have cut the ice with a stick at my meeting with the colourist.

Anyway, at this London gig it will be all to do with Christmas and that kind of thing. And a little bit longer than I did at Greenbelt. And there will be new material. There are some brilliant people taking part doing sketches and this and that. Sarah Dean, who is ace, is behind it, then you’ve got Tom Wateracre and Rev Gerald Ambulance and others.

Posted by Dave at 10:32 pm on November 16, 2010 and filed under Cartoon stand-up, Cartooning.

5 Comments

This morning I went to St John the Evangelist church in Moulsham, Chelmsford, for an unusual assignment.

It was a young people’s ‘Big Brother’ style event, in which a number of housemates have been shut in an upstairs church room and are remaining there for 24 hours doing fun tasks and interviewing special guests. They were looking for a celebrity to take part, but couldn’t find one, so I was asked instead. It was great fun – I got to go up in dramatic style in the disabled lift to meet the four remaining housemates, who interviewed me about cartooning and had to find out some specific information in order to get points so they could have lunch.

The picture shows my friend Ruth, and the youth worker, (we’ll call him David), talking to the housemates in a Big-Brotherly kind of way. The screens show what is going on in the house, and people can come in and watch whilst buying cake for charity. I think that is a correct assessment of what was happening anyway.

If ever you can’t find a celebrity for your event and think that I might do please talk to my agent.

[Advertisement: Agent required. Apply within.]

Posted by Dave at 2:55 pm on November 6, 2010 and filed under Cartooning.

5 Comments

There has been some interest in the choir hats discussed in my previous post. However, I am sure that these are not the most innovative choir hats that we could, as a group, come up with. I am therefore opening up the pages of this blog to your choir hat designs. If you think you can design a superior choir hat please do so and sent it to me, and I will endeavour to post all submissions on a future blog post. (Obviously were I to receive a huge number of entries I might have to be selective.)

The design can be sent in electronic form via the e-mail address on this page (or any other I’ve contacted you on) or via post to the PO Box address on the same page. Or you can post them on your blog and I will link. Shall we say by a week’s time, Tuesday 9 Nov? That way you can devote the weekend to the task. Non-UK readers might be best scanning or photographing their submissions. I can’t return artwork without an SAE (this is sounding a bit like Take Hart).

This is just a bit of fun rather than a competition, so there aren’t any prizes. That said if you were to include an address… you just never know. There is no requirement for the hats to be pointy.

If there are some good suggestions I may taken them along to General Synod and show them to anyone who will listen. The Queen will be there one of the days, so there is a small chance you could end up supplying choir hats by Royal Appointment to HM’s Choirs.

If there are no submissions I will do some myself, add fake names to them, and then post them to myself.

Posted by Dave at 7:09 pm on November 2, 2010 and filed under Art, Cartooning.

8 Comments

Important footnotes
This diagram is not for one moment supposed to be me complaining about how difficult my life is. I am fully aware that my life is not difficult and that I am very lucky to have my own office, a radio etc.

It is, perhaps, a commentary on the plight of the creative freelancer, balancing ‘the need for stimulation against the need for isolation’ (tweet by Hugh @gapingvoid).

I find I get a lot more done during the two days a week I now spend at the Church Times offices surrounded by newsroom sounds and goings-on, but were I to be there all the time I doubt I’d ever draw any cartoons.

I was thinking of doing a little video showing the exciting features of my HQ – I nearly did it today, but it feels a bit strange talking to oneself. Well, actually it feels quite normal, but I don’t usually do it on video. Let me know if there’s any aspects you have a particular interest in, such as the ‘antique’ wooden dresser in the kitchen or views of the corridors.

Posted by Dave at 5:25 pm on October 8, 2010 and filed under Cartooning, Cartoons, Starting a Business.

3 Comments