THE NEW CARTOONIST JAN/FEB 2026

ISSN: 2977-6368

NUMBER 9 JAN/FEB 2026

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH COVER STAR DAVID ZIGGY GREENE

BORN TO DRAW

thenewcartoonist.co.uk

£2.50

BEHIND THE MUSEUM WITH BETH BRYAN

POLITICAL CARTOON AWARDS THE WINNERS

CIRCUS CARTOONS A THEMED SELECTION

DUCK SOUP LOOKING BACK TO THE EIGHTIES

160 DIFFERENT CARTOONS INSIDE!

PLUS: N MARK WINTER ON SHEPARD N TNC MEETS A NEWBIE IN MY NEW BOSS N BILL PLYMPTON STUDIO NTHE GUARDIAN PROCESS N PROPHETICAL MILDRED HOROSCOPES

CONTENTS PAGE 4

NEW YEAR, NEW EWE!

BEHIND THE MUSEUM WITH BETH BRYAN

PAGE 12

HEAD LINES DAVID ZIGGY GREENE PROFILE

PAGE 20

POLITICAL CARTOON AWARDS

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LOOKING BACK AT DUCK SOUP

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THE GUARDIAN PROCESS

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THE 3 S’S CONTIUED MARK WINTER ON SHEPARD

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OBITUARY

PAGE 40

CIRCUS CARTOON SPECIAL

PAGE 50

MY NEW BOSS WITH RUBY LEE

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HOGARTH STAIR

PAGE 54

PENS DOWN BOOK REVIEW

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ANIMATION - BILL PLYMPTON

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THE CARTOON MUSEUM

PAGE 70

THE DIRECTORY

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HOROSCOPES & CAPTION COMP

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PARTING SHOT

WANNA BE IN IT? GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS AND CARTOONS AND WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO PUBLISH THEM!

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GET YOUR HOROSCOPES FROM PROPHETICAL MILDRED p81

CIRCUS CARTOONS p40 !

CHECK OUT ALL THE TOONS

DUCK SOUP!

TAKING YOU BACK TO THE 80 p36

Ed’s Welcome A very Happy New Year to all our readers!

I hope 2026 is treating you better than Trump is treating Greenland!

FFS! As my wife says a lot when I have endless news on the TV ,“They’ve let Grandad out again”. And yet the 24 hour news channels drop everything just to catch his scatter-gun speeches for the long suffering viewer. Words really do fail me! However as I try and call myself a political cartoonist, I often have to draw the great big orange man-baby, which brings its own challenges. Not only is he actual death to satire, you also often find yourself having an idea ready for a deadline first thing in the morning, only to find a completely opposite view or ideology has drifted into his ear overnight. Trump 1 Cornflakes - 0.

THE MAG

On to matters TNC, and 2026 is going to be a pivotal year for the magazine. I’ve spoken a lot in the past about my troubles with ISSUU, and this year there will have to be some movement away

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from that platform and on to something more stable. Where that might be is still up for grabs; it could be a new and improved website, another ISSUU type platform, maybe Patreon or Substack.

Whichever route is taken, I’ll communicate it all across socials so everyone is aware in advance.

When I started this magazine I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but thanks to all your support and the contributions you give, it has managed to keep going as a real hub for cartoonists.

Thank you!

NUMBER NINE

So what’s in the first issue of 2026? Well we have the wonderfully talented cartoonist and illustrator David ‘Ziggy’ Greene on the cover.

We have a great Q&A in ‘Behind the Scenes at The Museum’ with the brand new Director of The Cartoon Museum in London, Beth Bryan.

We take a look at a bizarre night at The Political Cartoon Awards, and yours truly tries to give an insight into the Guardian Opinion page process from a cartoonist’s perspective. There’s a trip back

to the eighties with a look at the publication ‘Duck Soup’, and Mark Winter further extends his three S’s series, exploring the timeless work of Ernest Shepard.

There’s a great bunch of your ‘Circus’ themed cartoons in and out of the centre-spread.

Dy meets up with budding cartoonist Ruby Lee in ‘My New Boss’, and there’s a look at two Hogarth masterpiece murals at London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

Bill Plympton’s animation studio and life make an appearance, and the latest events from the Cartoon Museum are all covered.

David ‘Ziggy’ Greene’s new book gets a review in ‘Pen’s Down’, and the most accurate soothsayer in Greater London, Prophetical Mildred, returns with your horoscopes. Finally, there’s a tale of a dramatic sea ‘rescue’ in ‘Parting Shot’.

Enjoy!

EMAIL PETE THE EDITOR

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BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE CARTOON MUSEUM

... AND IN WITH THE NEW

TNC CAUGHT UP WITH THE DIRECTOR OF THE CARTOON MUSEUM IN LONDON BETH BRYAN PETE SONGI poking and probing

Congratulations on the new role. You’ve made quite a move; from the hugely historic Hogarth House in Hounslow to the likely broaderfeeling Cartoon Museum in Fitzrovia.

The transition must have been an interesting one?

NEW DIRECTOR ALERT Beth outside the main entrance in Fitzrovia.

inherent relevance; they are a snapshot in time of current affairs and public discourse. They truly are an underutilised primary source in historical research. While the methods, names, and styles Hogarth’s House holds incredibly fond memories change and evolve over time, conversations and formative experiences for me and is surely about inequality, hypocrisy and challenging one of the standouts of my career those in power are evergreen.

After working in more strategic roles in larger cultural and support organisations in more How does it feel to be the keeper recent years, I was looking forward to coming of the spiritual home of the UK’s back to caring directly for a heritage collection.

I feel this role is a mosaic of every aspect of Cartoonists? my CV – programming, collections, strategy, It is an immense privilege and I recognise my financial planning, operations – being a Director duty to to continue to inspire, engage and care of a small independent museum certainly is for more than 300 years of cartooning heritage, all encompassing. I look forward to utilising which has a unique significance and influence my wide range of skills and learning from the within British history. I am grateful to have such expertise within the team a knowledgeable team and trustees with me in taking up this baton.

I am already learning so much about different Where did it all start for you? corners of the cartoon, caricature and comic Have you always had an interest world through the breadth of our collection. in cartooning and history?

Like many small museums, our collections Museums have always held a special place in storage isn’t ideal. One of my priorities for 2026 my heart - Indiana Jones’s ‘this belongs in a is to secure more appropriate and accessible museum’ is the motto of my own crusade storage so please do ‘watch this space’ on this What I love about cartoons and particularly one. the earlier aspects of the collection is the

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Credit: Joe Sullivan

Where do you go to view a collection of over 6000 original cartoons from the 18th century to the present day?

Well, The Cartoon Museum in central London of course! It’s a great hub for learning, with its library of over 8000 comics and books documenting the history of British comics, and has many fantastic exhibitions throughout the year. Now in its 20th anniversary year, the museum has recently been on the hunt for a new Director after the departure of Joe Sullivan in November 2025.

TNC grabbed a moment between pencil sharpeners and ink blots with newly appointed Beth Bryan, to find out all about what 2026 and beyond holds for The Cartoon Museum.

The Cartoon Museum has an amazing catalogue of political cartooning history within its walls, and puts on some very popular exhibitions. What plans do you have for 2026? Any exciting ‘Nights at the Museum’ planned?

Can you tell us what events and new displays we can look forward to?

We are hard at work planning our 20th anniversary celebrations, which will kick off in March and run for a full year. More details will be published on our website soon, but as a teaser we’re planning a gallery trail, special events and Friends of the Museum exclusives.

Outside of these celebrations, we are also planning to curate more short-run In-Focus displays, animate our monthly Museum Lates and create seasonal What’s On guides to ensure our visitors have ample opportunities make good use of our 12-month unlimited re-entry passes.

Do you have any other ideas for the museum that you’d like to share?

We are currently drafting a new five-year forward strategy to secure the museum’s

WITH BETH BRYAN

DIRECTOR... sustainable future. We are not immune to the challenges the culture sector and our audiences are facing and this has catalysed us to think differently. We have previously focused primarily on the creation of cartoons, which will remain a core pillar of the Museum, but do expect us to broaden this out to include programming on the consumption and engagement with the medium as well. We hope this will engage a wider audience, open up new partnerships and unlock more opportunities within the treasure trove of our collection.

Political cartooning has such a rich heritage in the UK. Do you fear with the arrival of AI that it might become obsolete? How does The Cartoon Museum guard against artificially generated artwork?

AI is, at least for the moment, still struggling with creative tasks and humour. With innovative satire and comedic wit holding significant value within the medium, this isn’t what keeps me up at night yet. That isn’t to be flippant about its impacts on cartoonists. Like any career or period in history, we are called upon to adapt and evolve. With cartoonists being some of the

most creative and clever people I have met, I believe in their survival. What I do have concerns about is the ethics of AI learning and would be keen to see an updated version of the Hogarth Act to safeguard artistic intellectual property across the board..

The Cartoon Museum champions new up and coming Cartoonists with its Young Cartoonist of the Year award. Any more plans in showcasing new talent?

The awards and recognition for young and emerging BETH DRAWS! talent such the Young Director and Her Dog Cartoonist Awards in partnership with the British Cartoonist Association unprecedented challenging financial landscape. are exciting and engaging aspect of the Museum’s work and most certainly will remain Visiting our galleries and events, partnering with us, following us on Instagram, donating and so. I am particularly excited to revamp the becoming a Friend of the Museum are all great In-Focus displays; one of the three rotating ways to get involved, be a part of the community pillars of the programme will be to spotlight and support the Museum, as the home of British an emerging artist engaging a new or cartoon heritage, to thrive into our next 20 years. target audience. The cartoon and comic art The best way to keep up with the latest is to sign up world is vast, with many different corners for our e-newsletter at cartoonmuseum.org. and evolving spaces that we don’t want to overlook; this way, we can better serve new audiences and emerging artists alike. We are still in the planning stages establishing the selection criteria and funding model, but we hope to re-launch In-Focus in Summer 2026.

And how can Cartoonists – of all ages - get involved in the Museum?

Cartoonists remain a core audience for us and while we aren’t a publisher, we hope our rotating programme of special exhibitions, events and Friends of the Museum exclusives will satiate curiosity, peak interests and spark inspiration within the community.

It is an exciting time for The Cartoon Museum but we are facing an

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Finally TNC believes everyone was born to draw. Can you draw us a cartoon?

(Gag or political - we are not fussy!).

And I thought this wasn’t a hit piece! Here is my remix of William Hogarth’s Painter and His Pug titled Director and Her Dog.

The Cartoon Museum 63 Wells St, London, W1A 3AE VISIT HERE

@thecartoonmuseum

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NEWS & POLITICS

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NEWS & POLITICS

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NEWS & POLITICS

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HEAD LINES

A PORTRAIT OF DAVID GREENE

GETTING ZIGGY WITH IT...

TNC CAUGHT UP WITH THE WONDERFUL ILLUSTRATOR DAVID ZIGGY GREENE

You may have enjoyed those whimsical dog caricatures, admired his illustrated reportage in Private Eye, or been entertained by many of his cartoon strips.

Whichever route you take, you will find nothing but talent along the way.

David Ziggy Greene (a middle name born from his parents love of Bowie) came to professional drawing quite late. He was in his 30s when he started to illustrate for a living.

Based in West London, Ziggy creates his rubbery caricatures in a cosy independent studio space near home. He remains incognito.

Where did it all begin for you? Were you drawing toons from a young age? Did you know you wanted to be a cartoonist/ illustrator from the outset?

You know, I really don’t remember. I know that I was obsessed with drawing Garfield at school when I was about 8 years old. There was a class project where each kid had to design their own flip calendar. Each month had to be a different a comic book artist. I started making terrible themed art piece. Every page of mine was Marvel rip-off comics like Thudd, basically The Garfield doing something different. I remember Hulk smashing through walls for 20 pages. I’ve his face being the first thing I’d mastered how never really lost the desire to draw that stuff. the lines worked. That and the way Donald I haven’t read many superheroes comics for Duck’s bill was drawn so the tip gave depth years, but I still find the style of the genre very Then a few years later I remember reading energetic and dynamic. If my drawing muscles little novel-size collections of cartoon strips like are stiff, I often scribble some silly superhero to Clavin & Hobbs and Hagar The Horrible. loosen up. It’s anatomy in the stupidest way.

Those are the earliest memories I have of addictively reading comics or cartoons.

Which cartoonists or publications inspired I don’t think I knew what a cartoonist really you? was. My childhood home was not a bookish or Ooof tough question. I’ve never really been artish place. I had a uncle who was an illustrator deeply inspired by illustrators or publications. doing some commercial commissions and that I think the closest I became inspired by is was the only exposure I had Asterix or the Akira manga. Those are to drawing as a thing or always the ones that I think set a profession. quality benchmark of what I am At some point in inspired to reach (although it’s my early teens, my impossible). I always ask what grandmother was inspiration really means. Am volunteering in a I inspired to sit and pick up charity shop and one a pencil? And I inspired to day she brought me be praised by other people? a big pile of Marvel Am I inspired to have a huge comics that someone body of work? I’m not sure donated, and they the answers to these questions didn’t know what to do ever come from illustration or with in the shop. From publications. then I really wanted to be DRAWING CHALLENGE!

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A classic Farage

CARTOONIST IN SITU! David ‘paw’sing for thought in his studio

I’m far more inspired to vent my energy through creativity by other mediums like music or film or literature. In fact, if I need to draw then I consume as little illustration as possible. I actively avoid being influenced. Not seeing other people’s work brings out a truer originality. If I was in a band making music I wouldn’t listen to much music and I’d probably read comics more.

I think, instead, it’s about being influenced not inspired. It’s far easier for me to say who I’m ‘influenced’ by. And that lists is huge and depends on what mood I’m in.

In 2011 you created ‘Scene & Heard’, a regular reportage in Private Eye which became very popular, and which I in particular enjoyed.

How did that come about?

Weeeell in a spontaneous way. I fell out of interest with drawing when I was about 20. Then for more than a decade I expressed creativity through music and making/editing films. Stuff like that. Trying anything out. I almost never picked up a pencil again until I was about 30-31.

I started making silly short comics and putting them together in little zines with no real plan.

But people liked them and I started doing more.

I tried selling them in the UK but nobody here liked them. I was told so many times that my work had a more European feel. (I absolutely don’t analyse my work enough. Almost

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HEAD LINES

everything has evolved from the feedback of others.) So, I used my love of French comics and films and turned my attention fully to getting seen in France. Within a year or so I was doing comic festivals in France and getting regular tiny magazine work there. Through a series of random events, I became great friends with a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist called Luz. After about a year or so, he calls me one evening to say that Charlie Hebdo wanted to do an article on the student occupations that were happening around the 2009-2010 period. They wondered of I would go to a university the next day and interview some students and then draw how the student were living. What their lifestyles were like. As I do, I didn’t think about it and just said yes because it felt right. Within 24 hours, with no idea how to do it properly, I was sitting in the student flats of random strangers and taking sketches while asking questions.

After that report was published (as a full newspaper page) they asked for a few more on things they were interested in. It was the era of St Paul’s occupation, the death of Amy Winehouse

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and few other big things.

I thought it was cool stuff to be doing but literally nobody here in the UK had any real understanding of what I was doing. Plus nobody was getting access to it.

After about 18 months I wondered if it would be the sort of thing that Private Eye would publish. I knew full well that the UK doesn’t do illustrated reporting, but it was worth emailing them some samples of my French reports.

Pretty quickly I got a call (as I was literally amongst the tents outside St Paul’s) to pop into the magazine’s office to chat with Ian (Hislop) about giving the reports a go.

I did the first one for the magazine about the occupation. I thought it would be a one-off or, like Charlie Hebdo, very few months but within days I got a call to ask what the next report would be about because they’d be in every issue from then on!

From that moment on it’s mostly a blur of me trying to work out the best techniques and practices as I was hitting deadlines.

Each report took roughly a week to research, prepare, attend, draw and finish. If I was lucky.

Some took less than 48 hours depending on the event or topic I was covering. There were many, many mad turnarounds where I didn’t sleep for 2-3 days to hit deadlines.

It’s the body of work I’m most deeply proud of. Not just for the improving art but the fact I managed it.

It’s been about 5 years since the last report and I still to this day get messages or people come up to me to talk about the reports. In the 9 years I did them, I had absolutely zero idea of the impact they were making on people.

It’s worth saying that the reports came to an end when lockdowns stopped me having anything to

report. The magazine and I agreed that it was fine to take a break while society was on hold.

When I stopped, I was overwhelmed with how tired I was from making them and the hiatus has just continued. I may return to them one day when I get the energy back.

You have a beautiful style which is characterful and lends itself to many different genres, including comics, caricature and political satire. I remember your Farage from the lockdown got a lot of love at the time. Where do you find yourself sitting most comfortably when it comes to your work?

Oh no, I’m never comfortable! In fact, it’s the discomfort that is probably the only thing that keeps me drawing. I think if I ever became comfortable, I would stop drawing completely.

I have a borderline phobia of settling into one thing. I did the illustrated reportage for 10 years and for the last few years I was dealing with a great sense of unhappiness at the comfort of it. How comfortable I’d become doing them and how comfortable other people were with seeing them. I started to dislike that. From a publishing point of view I get why it’s good. I get why the magazine would want them in every issue for so long. Readers want that comfort.

But it was all people expected of me. I’d became sick of pitching around for extra work and just being asked to do more reporting for other publications or giving talks at universities on reporting etc. I couldn’t get any other kind of drawing work other than reporting and personal pet portraits.

So…. I guess I’m most comfortable when I’m not comfortable. I like to jump from one thing to another that even I don’t know what’s coming.

When I get approached to do projects, I’ll do the

A PORTRAIT OF DAVID GREENE one that I and other people are least expecting.

This approach kills your career as nobody know what to hire you for but it’s more fulfilling to me.

It’s also good to note that probably like everybody, I’m not really that thrilled with my style. We draw with an idea of what we want.

And no matter how we try, we don’t really ever get there. Most of being an illustrator is a compromise with yourself. You learn to accept what you are capable of doing and if you are happy to live with that.

I suffer from a crippling inability to accept what I’m capable of. So I don’t really ever get comfortable with my work. I find it quite difficult to deal with it, to be honest. I’m not very prolific mainly because my mountain to climb is quite steep. I spend most of my time negotiating with myself what I can tolerate showing other people.

You also have a gift for illustrating animals, but in particular dogs; so much so that I have a signed copy of your ‘Walkies’ book on my shelves! How did that all start?

Very organically and within the Scene and Heard reports. I’ve always loved dogs. They have a personality that is extremely easy to capture in drawing. We’ve bred them to be expressive in almost every way.

As far as my memory remembers, I did a few early reports that featured dogs or had a dog in it. Then people started commenting on the dogs and how they started looking out for my dogs in the reports. Then if I could, I would include a dog for my own enjoyment too.

I ended up doing specific dog reports because of the demand. As soon as I’d suggest doing a report from a world record attempt of the number of dogs in Christmas jumpers in a park, there was no doubt from the magazine that it would be one of the most popular things I’d have drawn.

During Covid lockdowns, I needed something totally easy and silly to draw to counter the non-fiction teen book I was illustrating about the Holocaust (Frtiz and Kurt). I had a rescue Greyhound at the time so going on walks gave me the idea of a kids book about the different kinds of dogs going for walkies. The Walkies book came out of that. It was so nice to do, that it took me 2 weeks from idea to ready to print Finding a publisher during the pandemic was a whole different challenge though. But it got out there and was really loved by people, which was nice.

Everyone seems to be switching to an iPad these days as it’s so quick and easy to use.

Have you tried it out? Or is it all pencil, pen and ink for you?

I’m strictly a pencil and ink-loving Luddite. I use

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a PC for colouring, design layout and prep but my original drawings are pencil sketch then tighter pencils then pen inks.

A part of it is down to the fact that I got swept up into a professional workload almost immediately and my style and output was developing under the pencil technique. I never found the time to be able to stop and start a whole new way of working.

Plus, one of the first things Tony Rushden, the old Private Eye art director did was to ring me up to advise that readers like to buy original art so I should consider having originals.

(I ended up never selling originals despite requests. Another weird thing was wanting to keep it all.)

Now that I don’t have such crunching magazine deadlines, I could try drawing digitally but it just really doesn’t appeal to me at all. I enjoy being around paper. Paper gives a nice vibe. If you see a pile of paper next to your desk you know you’ve done a good amount of work.

You can see it. Having a tablet with 500 files in a folder feels soulless to me. In a way it’s like greeting cards: we still give paper greeting cards because it’s nice to give something physical.

Sending an e-card is convenient but where’s the soul in it? It’s cold to me.

I draw very slowly too and when I first started drawing for magazine deadlines, one or two people that know me questioned whether my very slow, heavy-handed way of drawing would work for fast production. I added to the problem by insisting on paper and ink. I know a tablet would have been so much faster and easier to do corrections, but the simple answer is I’m a stubborn bastard who doesn’t feel satisfied unless I’ve done something the hard way.

Cartooning & illustration is a difficult job to get into. What advice do you have for anyone starting out in these uncertain times?

The whole thing of ‘do it for yourself’ and ‘stick to making what pleases you’ stuff is bollocks. If you want to do it for fun, then that works. But if your question is about doing it as a job then you must do what you think others might like.

You have to please somebody, so try to do that. You’re appealing to editors and art commissioners and clients.

Ideas are more important than drawing well.

Ideas will get you places more than a technically perfect drawing style.

Look at what is being done already then look at what’s not being done. Then find a spot in between.

What I mean by that is….I’ll make up an example…. You like rugby…. You know, understand it and have a good idea of where you could find work in the rugby world. Look at what’s being published (mags or online). Maybe match day programmes! Rugby podcasts! See where is using illustration or cartoons. If there are places using illustration, then what type?

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HEAD LINES Maybe they are sympathetic to using illustration and therefore open to new ideas. They might like using illustration as an editorial piece, but they’ve never considered using a gag cartoon too. Maybe worth pitching to them. It’s always great to offer something new and unique too.

I’ve used this approach so many times. The Scene and Heard reports came from thinking ‘where in the UK uses cartoons but not illustrated reportage but might be up for trying it?’

You set up the independent ‘Jam Bookshop’ and were in a location not far from Columbia Road in London before going online. Can you tell us more about that?

Oh boy. Nothing too much too this. As we came

out of lockdowns, I was lost. The high street was lost. I decided to open a bookshop. I don’t give too much thought to projects otherwise I would never do any of them. I crowd-funded enough to open a tiny bookshop on a tiny budget. The idea behind the bookshop was for it to be 50% literature and 50% comics, graphic novels, cartoon books etc. But I marketed it as just a bookshop because that’s what I believe it was. I consider it all books. From that aspect it was a great success. Sales were 42% comics and illustrated books. People really loved the shop. I’ve been told that people within the book industry saw it as ahead of its time. Within a few months it was name-dropped by the Evening Standard as one of London’s bookshops to visit. In terms of what happened to the

bookshop…well it’s still rather painful to think about. Let’s just say that landlords can be utter bastards and are more than happy to see new businesses close than keep rents reasonable.

I was also let down greatly by most of the UK comic and small-press scene. I’d hoped they would be behind the idea, but they showed little interest. Whereas the cartooning world really got behind it. The support and shop visits from cartoonists were great. I’ll always appreciate that greatly.

I seriously enjoyed running the small gallery space I had in the shop too. I used that as much as I could to promote and hang cartoon art. We had so many cartoonists on the walls. I even scattered cartoons on the walls amongst the books and loved hearing customers giggle as they spotted them. I held a Tony Husband exhibition within weeks of his death too, which was very cool to do.

JAM BOOKSHOP Near Columbia Road

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DESIRE A cartoon strip in the book ‘Vintage’

You also have a new book out called ‘Vintage’, a snapshot of your interest in and history with the ’Comic-Strip’. Your work found a lot of success in France and is a wonderfully warped collection of stories. How did you come to put them all together?

Well, Vintage came from my frustration of having my stupid short comic stories scattered all over the place. I’d previously made two shorter collections in English, but I wanted a bigger one. Most of my short comics were made for France. They have tons of small publications like Viz over there and I’d done quite a few bits for them over many years.

Plus I wanted the book to be a reason to make my first comic story in about 8 or 9 years. One thing that working professionally on tight deadlines did was really suffocate my ability to work on a 12 or 16 or 20 page comic story.

A PORTRAIT OF DAVID GREENE

DAVID GREENE

QUICK FIRE!

Getting back to doing that is what I really feel like, and Vintage gave me a reason to.

I picked what I thought was my best stuff from when I was about 14 years old to finishing a comic about two days before going to print. So, it’s really a proper time-line of work that was happening while hundreds of thousands of people were seeing my reportage work.

Check out the review on p54

FAVOURITE FILMS?

American Movie.

It’s perfection. The documentary that made me want to tell real-life stories and inspired me to make documentaries before drawing.

Possibly the sole reason I agreed to draw non-fiction

Finally - what’s next for Dave Ziggy Greene?

Please send answers on a postcard.

(Though I am working on a 24-page comic for the next Still Game graphic novel.

Really worth checking out the comic book volumes of the brilliant BBC comedy. Top stuff.).

DAVID GREENE

EARLIEST MEMORY?

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A SIGNED DAVID ZIGGY GREENE COVER PRINT!

Probably meeting Darth Vader in a shopping mall promotional event or something. Thankfully cooler than remembering sitting on Santa’s lap

MOST LOVED CUISINE?

Maybe Turkish.

Or Italian.

Or custard tarts.

8 PAGE COMIC STRIP OR ZANY DOG PIC?

8 page comic strip. All leading up to a zany dog final panel pic :)

Simply email: editor@thenewcartoonist.co.uk subject: David ‘Ziggy’ Greene print competition

PIECE OF EQUIPMENT YOU CAN’T DO WITHOUT WHEN CARTOONING? My glasses

JAM OR MARMALADE?

DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES FEBRUARY 27TH 2026 Congratulations to Michelle Helliwell who was picked out of the hat from the last issue and gets a Kevin Wells signed cover print

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ENTER HERE NOW

OMG neither! Despite my bookshop being called Jam, I hate it. Too sweet

WHAT SUPER POWER WOULD YOU HAVE?

Answering questions without waffling 17

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POLITICAL CARTOON AWARDS 2025

HELLO IS ANYBODY THERE? PETE SONGI chasing the gold

Awards! You’ve got to love them, unless you loathe them...either way they serve to put labels on cartoonists’ email signatures and bits of plastic on dusty studio shelving.

This year’s event, sponsored again by Ellwood Atfield , was a much scaled down affair compared to previous incarnations. The lead up to proceedings had been hit with delays and sponsor issues meaning there was quite a venue switch. Gone were the illustrious surroundings of Smith Square Hall in Westminster, or even a cramped conference room in a soulless office building. Nope! This year we were upstairs in pub!

A good pub though, and situated a stone’s throw away from the aforementioned hall in Westminster. In fact the same pub which whose walls contain many stories from past Awards, as it’s generally the after-party venue.

Free drink was available in the form of a large tab, so who are cartoonists to complain?

Whynge? What, Cartoonists? Pah!

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Pic s Credit: Mark Winter

Thursday December 18th 2026 was a pretty wet and windy affair in London, and with it being just a week away from Christmas, attendance was always going to be a bit of a problem. It’s also the time of year that flu hits, and family commitments fill the diary. However as Editor of TNC I have a duty to report on it, so I ventured out on the Jubilee line and arrived early to soak up the atmosphere.

I headed up to the space provided at 6pm, to be greeted by bar staff who’d only been informed that there was a “Sophie Boyle” event, so a great deal of confusion ensued, and it wasn’t the best of starts in terms of signage.

I counted 12 Cartoonists in attendance including, Guy Venables, Dave Brown, Jess Judge, Jeremy Banx, Mark Winter, Royston Robertson, James Mellor, Graeme Bandeira, Glenn Marshall, Rob Murray, Chris Williams and yours truly. The numbers were boosted by plus ones and the usual gathering of ‘media types’ in a corner.

Sadly no big guest speakers this year, again very unlikely given the venue and festive time frame, so the awards were introduced by Tim Benson in quick fashion (see opposite for all the winners). The confusion wasn’t ended however as some of the winners weren’t announcecd and trophies were left behind, with the final list being confirmed a week later. So hardly a night to live long in the memory, and I guess not the

A WET ONE!

night that was envisioned at the start of 2025

by Ellwood Atfiled, but I’m sure once the dust is settled and the hangovers have cured we will all take something away from it. Personally it’s still great to catch up with what other Cartoonists who are up to and sharing a story or two over a few drinks. It’s what these events are really about I think. The awards are open for voting, so can be swayed by social media campaigning, and some people are better at that sort of thing than others. However it’s great to get a win and tell the publisher you work for how marvellous you are! And how lucky they are to have you ha ha - but essentially as Mark Winter says, “It’s free Heineken night”.

So thumbs up to Tim Benson for continuing to put on a night out. Next year has been promised to be back in the great Hall, and I will very much look forward to that!

WHO?

MORE HAPPY CARTOONISTS! Rob Murrary, Graeme Bandeira & Dave Brown

HAPPY CARTOONISTS! James Mellor, Chris Williams & TNC’s Pete Songi

Pic s Credit: Mark Winter

THE BIG CHRISTMAS MINGLE!

RUNNER UP! Dave Brown WINNER! Graeme Bandeira & Cartoon below

I DREW IT LIKE THAT! Cartoonists debate it

ROYSTON TOON Gets the win!

THE LATE STRAGGLERS With no home to go to

POLITICAL CARTOON AWARDS 20 WINNERS & RUNNER UP

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POLITICAL CARTOONIST OF THE YEA Pic Credit: Theresa Smith

R: MORTEN MORLAND RUNNER-UP: DAVE BROWN

POLITICAL CARTOON OF THE YEA

R: GRAEME BANDEIRA

POCKET CARTOONIST OF THE YEA R: MATT RUNNER-UP: NICK NEWMAN

POCKET CARTOON OF THE YEAR: RO

YSTON ROBERTSON

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LOOKING BACK

A HISTORY OF DUCK SOUP IT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 80s...

DUCK SOUP A recollection Duck Soup was published by a group of cartoonists who felt that editors regarded their work as being there just to fill in the spaces between the words.

The founders believed that cartoons should respected as an art form, as in other countries in Europe, and wanted a publication that would give them that respect.

It was first published from Covent Garden from the offices of cartoonists David Austin, Tom Johnston and Kipper Williams. Judith Walker, who had a studio downstairs, was involved in the first issue then went to do postgraduate studies in New Mexico, (following which she was on the fringes of the first publication).

It cost 30 pence and was distributed in London only by Thames New Services & Forbidden Planet (Titan). In its first incarnation it ran for five issues from September 1979 until January 1980,

THE EIGHTIES

Following a hiatus, Duck Soup was revived in 1985, with a more professional approach. David Austin and Tom Johnston were joint editors along with Judith Walker as managing editor (Judith had returned from the States and began to contribute cartoons under the name Judy Walker). Judith had also gained experience in working on the business side of publishing for Fred and Judy Vermorel and Hot Press music paper. The new version of the magazine was published from Judith’s studio in Borough Market.

Financial backing was provided by Barclays Bank, Hampstead. The manager at the time, Brian Kemp, had been a supporter of cultural projects and had made money available for the film The Wall. Advertising came from friends and supporters, who had the cartoonist of their choice draw the relevant ad.

The launch party was at the Hippodrome nightclub, which did not really have the right atmosphere for Duck Soup, but there were wonderful editorial parties at the Market Porter pub in Park Street, Borough Market (then a declining wholesale fruit and vegetable market). These were attended by all the best UK cartoonists of the time, some of whom had already made their names and others who were

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PUBLISHED FROM BOROUGH MARKET Featuring Britain’s funniest Cartoonists

yet to become famous.

Lots of hopefuls sent in cartoons but there wasn’t time to look at all of them so they tended to be rejected. One of these was the young Martin Rowson.

The magazine was designed by Simon Bishop who worked for Time Out, doing much of the work in his office in the evening (sometimes all night).

Great fun was had with the letters page when famous writers were invited by Judith to send in articles which would be the right shape to fit

between the cartoons. Some got the joke and sent in material, but others did not see the funny side!

It was distributed nationally to retail chains by Argus, through specialist outfits by Forbidden Planet/Titan, and by an eccentric one man band who carried bundles of comics around and looked like a tramp. The Argus MD at time, Ted Hurworth, was a big cartoon fan took a personal interest and helped to develop the distribution, as a result of which sales were good. WH Smiths took it on trial for six issues and had to see every

JUDITH’S STORY...

one before it went to the printers, then pulled the plug as they were unhappy with the content.

This deprived the magazine of its major outlet, so Judith Walker had to advise other directors that that they would start losing all their money if continued. A decision was made to fold the magazine while there was enough money to pay off the bank loan. At the same time the careers of the cartoonists involved were taking off, and they decided to devote their time to working for other publications.

Cartoonists John Glashan, Larry, Banx, Nick Baker, Clive Collins, Ed McHenry, Caroline Holden, Tom

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Johnston, David Austin, Judy Walker, Michael Heath, Steve Bell, Nick Newman, Kipper Williams, Larry, Nick Newman, Martin Honeysett, Peter Dredge, Duncan, Holt, Dave Chisholm, Birkett, Francis Boyle, McLaughlan, Tony Husband, Brian Reading, Ken Pyne, Bill Scott, Jay, D Ledwich, Frank Dickens, Flokes, Cluff, Wendy Hoile, and Peyton.

Writers included: Dave Dalton on comedy, Stan Hey on sport, Jim Evans on music and Richard Smith It ran for six issues between April 1985 and Sept 1985, cover price £1.

Judith originally trained as a fine artist at Central St Martins School of Art, London, but has worked as a cartoonist alongside her fine art practice since the early eighties (originally under the name Judy Walker) She worked on the cult cartoon magazine Duck Soup – which provided an early break for some of the most influential cartoonists of their generation – originally as managing editor involved in the start-up of the publication, then contributing her own cartoons.

This led to an approach from The Sun to produce a regular strip for its women’s section from the late eighties to early nineties entitled Men! Her brief was to make fun of male Sun readers and it appeared under the page 7 feller!

She was later an editorial cartoonist to New Humanist magazine for the seven years up to 2013, and acted as its cartoon editor.

Alongside her regular work she has contributed cartoons and illustrations to many other books and publications, and been a cartoonist in residence at University College London Hospital in 2015. For the latter she had privileged access to shadow the hospital’s doctors and the cartoons were exhibited in the hospital and used alongside events.

In 2017 she was featured in an exhibition of British female cartoonists, The Inking Women, at The Cartoon Museum, London, and in the book The Inking Women published in 2018.

She felt honoured to be included in this history of 250 years of the best British female cartoonists!

In 2017 she started working on combining her fine art and cartoon practice by subverting the traditional format and expanding the art of the cartoon to create large cartoons on canvas.

In 2020 her work was included in the eBook Drawing Coronavirus which was published in order to raise funds for the Cartoon Museum.

In 2016 - 2022 Judith started to perform stand-up comedy as another outlet for her joke writing skills.

JUDITH WALKER

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IN PRINT

THE GUARDIAN PROCESS

WHAT HAPPENS? HOW LONG DO YOU GET? HOW DO THEY CHOOSE? QUESTIONS ANSWERED...

PETE SONGI doing the Graun 2025 was good to me in terms of slots on the opinion pages of the Guardian, and it led to a few cartoonists asking me how the process works. Here is my take on it all.

The opinion slot, for those who are not already aware, is a large space in the printed Guardian newspaper, 5000x4000 pixels - or the actual size you’re looking at is 215mm x 170mm (150-200 DPI for newsprint). Although these cartoons also appear online, they are not to be confused with the digital only (non-political) slots that appear regularly on the Website on a Saturday. This gig is primarily a print one.

Your task if you’re lucky enough to get asked is to inhale the political stories of the day and take aim! There is a prism to do this through though; always punch up, not down and it is famously a left-leaning Newspaper politically. Although it’s your opinion and your big space to cartoon, you obviously need to use it with the greatest respect for the readership.

The Guardian has x4 contracted ‘Opinion Cartoonists’ on its payroll; the wonderfully gifted quartet of Nicola Jennings, Ella Baron, Martin Rowson & Ben Jennings, however there is occasional a space for a few trusted freelancers, covering for holidays etc. And that’s where I fit in.

my 1st January suggestions opposite). After a brief confab with the Opinion Editor of the day, the ‘Starmer Resolutions’ toon was confirmed.

The deadline for the finished work is between 3-4pm. Some push that to the limit, but my style and M.O. tends to be quite speedy, so I’m always done before 2pm. This gives the Opinion Editor plenty of time to feed back if there are any issues, and for me to THE SLOT make any requested modifications.

The commission email you get from the So you configure your file for meta Guardian is always a welcome one. As a data, and then it’s off in an email for a freelancer on The Guardian I’ve learned over final check. This can require legal and the past year to say ‘yes’ to everything. This can subs, so it’s not a sure fire thing at this mean anything between nothing or four goes stage. You have to remember that for national in a month, and can of course include a public newspapers, many of the Subs are on differing holiday. There is no rhyme or reason to it; you shifts , so for some this might be their first view simply work when you’re needed, so when an of your work. However the Opinion Editor has the offer to work on Jan 1st 2026 was presented, final say, and eventually you’ll get the nod. Tools I duly accepted, although it meant working down! through a predicted hangover.

The cartoon always goes live online first Preparation is key for me, and with such a long anytime after 4pm, and then I guess if you want time to think about it over Christmas I already you can blast it around social media. I tend to had a few roughs sketched out by Dec 31st. wait until the printed issue is out before I go Others work differently of course. The hugely down that route, as in my mind that’s what I’m talented Steve Bell for example never did roughs, drawing for; the actual newspaper. and others outline their intentions in a short For me, the opportunity to draw for The paragraph. Personally I get lots of ideas and Guardian is always very welcome. It’s a fantastic want to get them across so that I’m providing publication which values all its contributors a good range of viable options, so to this effect including its Cartoonists, and I’m always I supply around 5 roughs by 8am. (See 4 from delighted to be offered a slot!

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IN PRINT Finished toon in the Guardian

Drawing Trump!

Check out the Ella Baron & Martin Rowson draw off here

THE WORKINGS OUT Roughs on January Sales, Russia, Threatening weather & Stranger Things...

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THE THREE S’s (EXTENDED) A CARTOON ICON SERIES

THE STELLAR SHEPARD

TAKING A LOOK BACK AT AN ICON OF BRITISH CARTOONING MARK WINTER reflecting “Mother always encouraged my drawing and although she had little talent herself, would show me how to use my paints. We made plans together for when I grew up and become an artist myself. After her death, I missed her companionship terribly and was determined to justify her faith in my talent.”

E.H. Shepard, ‘Drawn from Life,’ (1961).

Ernest H. Shepard published his first two cartoons in ‘Punch,’ the quintessential British satirical weekly in 1907 and became a staple for the magazine for almost 50 years. It’s Cartoon Archive describes him as, “Undoubtedly one of the greatest illustrators of all time.” Few could argue with that. The premature death of his beloved mother in 1890 was a traumatic turning point that profoundly affected the ten-year old Ernest and from then on he felt a deep need to honour her belief in him. Given his long and distinguished career spanning ten decades as an artist, informally known as ‘Kipper,’ illustrator and cartoonist, he more than fulfilled that commitment.

Ernest Howard Shepard was born in St John’s Wood, London on December 10, 1879.

His father, Henry was an architect and his musical mother Jessie was the daughter of renowned watercolourist, William Lee. Creativity was prominent on both sides of the family.

Unsurprisingly, with that artistic lineage and encouraging environment, the young Ernest showed early signs of his impressive talent.

A happy Victorian childhood dramatically changed when his mother became seriously ill and died. He and his older brother and sister moved in with their aunts, Henry’s four maiden sisters, until their father saved enough money to buy a house for them all in Hammersmith. “It was years before the cloud seemed to lift,” Ernest recalled.

PUNCH ALMANACK COVER 1937

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THE BEGINNING

granddaughter of wood-engraver Ebenzer Landells, one of the founders of ‘Punch.’ Small Displaying “some promise” in drawing at St world. She continued to comment on Ernest’s Paul’s School, Ernest enrolled in the Heatherly efforts, “Your drawing is much better than your School of Fine Art in Chelsea for a year before painting.” Such smooth talking did it, providing being winning a scholarship to the Royal the ideal basis for courtship and eventual Academy Schools where he was the recipient of marriage. Both graduated from the RA Schools both the Landseer Scholarship and the British with major prizes. institution Prize. It was there that he met fellowErnest’s friendly personality, fondness student, three years ahead of him, Florence for practical jokes and love of the theatrical Eleanor Chaplin. While in the earned him the nickname painting studio, ‘Giddy-Kipper,’ shortened copying a PUNCH: 4TH MAY 1921 to ‘Kip’ which remained Velazquez, she with him for the rest stood watching of his life. He married him work. “I think Florence, who he called you’re frightened “Pie,” in 1904 and after of it,” Florence initially living in London, remarked. “Try settled in Shamley Green, painting more Surrey, painting together thickly. The and raising two children, drawing’s all right, Graham and Mary, but don’t be afraid both of whom became of going over the illustrators. edges.” Turns Despite having two out, Florence was paintings accepted the talented Indigant Lady ‘Orace, I’d awe yer know this is the upper to the Royal Academy circle, not the gallery - bananas if you like, but oranges - no’

Shell bursting in Zillebeke Lake (November 2017)

WAR SKETCH 1915

‘RED SKY AT MORNING’ PUNCH 18 JULY, 1945

Summer Exhibition (one selling for £100- no small amount in those days) and the Paris Salon in the same year he graduated, The prolific painter Ernest was still insecure, considering himself “no good’ at oil painting and finding it difficult to handle the medium. He turned, his attention to illustration, pursuing a professional career, working as a book illustrator on publications such as ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays’

by Thomas Hughes and Charles Dickens’ ‘David Copperfield.’ He also submitted illustrations and joke cartoons to several periodicals and journals, including ‘Punch.’ One of its cartoonists, Linley Sambourne noticed his work and recommended he continue to send in his work. He did just that, two or three times a week, until a couple of drawings were finally accepted. By 1907 Ernest had become a successful illustrator and a ‘jobbing’ cartoonist for ‘Punch,’ where his sharp wit and observational humour were perfectly suited to the publication’s style. He was a great admirer and strongly influenced by editorial cartoonist, comic pioneer and illustrator John Tennial, a respected contributor to ‘Punch’ for

WORLD WAR ll SKETCH

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Ernest saw action in three major theatres on the Western Front-Somme, Arras and Passchendaele, before serving with distinction in Italy. He survived virtually unscathed, which was extraordinary since he did spells as a forward observation officer on the frontline, whose survival time was typically measured at under an hour. He unwittingly gained the reputation for being lucky to the extent that superstitious comrades began to stick close to him. This was in stark contrast to his older brother and close childhood companion Cyril, who was sadly killed, leading a charge on the first day of the COMBAT Somme campaign. Ernest was stationed nearby When World War 1 broke out, Ernest, now at the time, but only heard about his brother’s married and in his mid-thirties, wanted to death through letters sent to him by his sister enlist, but only single men under 30 were Ethel, his wife and Cyril’s family. He immediately initially accepted, much to his frustration. He visited his grave just south of Mametz. Ernest was eventually commissioned as a Second did hundreds of sketches, unpublished at Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery, assigned to the 105th Siege Battery. He crossed the time, capturing the harsh realities of the war alongside glimpses of camaraderie and, to France in May 1916, heading straight into resilience. Despite the hardships of the trenches, action at the Battle of the Somme, before he continued to regularly mail his wartime providing sketches of the combat areas for contributions back to London for publication the Intelligence Department. A year later, the in ‘Punch, often highlighting the ‘lighter side’ gunner and unofficial of the war, depicting the muddles of army life, war artist, as acting Captain during the Battle contrasting with his more personal and sombre sketches that offered a poignant counterpoint of Arras, was awarded to his satirical work. In 2015, James Campbell, the Military Cross in recognition of “exemplary the overseer of the E.H. Shepard artistic and literary estate for The Shepard Trust (and gallantry during active married to Ernest’s great granddaughter), operations against the collated ‘Shepard’s War,’ featuring hundreds of enemy on land.” The unpublished WWI drawings from Ernest’s own citation included “As wartime notebooks and diaries. Two leading forward observation ‘Punch’ illustrators were WW1 veterans. Ernest officer he continued to and Kenneth Bird (Fougasse), who was seriously observe and send back wounded at Gallipoli and went on to become valuable information, in the first cartoonist to edit ‘Punch’. The war spite of heavy shell and ended and Ernest returned to Blighty in 1918, machine gun fire. His dreaming of a full-time position at ‘Punch.’ courage and coolness was conspicuous.”

over half a century and the first cartoonist to receive a knighthood. His most notable work was illustrating Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ (1865) and ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’ (1871). Ernest’s own political cartoons for ‘Punch’ often included specific references and literary allusions to Tenniel’s famous works. He admitted he was not as adept at caricature as Sir John, who was known for his more ‘grotesque’ style compared to Ernest’s more ‘sketchy’ gentle humour approach.

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THE THREE S’s (EXTENDED) A CARTOON ICON SERIES

PUNCH COVER SKETCH, INK, CRAYON AND PENCIL CHRIS BEETLES GALLERY

PUNCH

In 1921, at the invitation from the editor Sir Owen Seaman, Ernest became a permanent member of the landmark publication’s staff, joining the ‘table,’ producing political and beautifully-observed social cartoons. He succeeded Leonard Raven-Hill as second cartoonist in 1935 and was promoted to chief cartoonist, after Sir Bernard Partridge retired in 1945. The term’ cartoon’ to refer to comic drawings was first used in the magazine in 1843.

Until then it was used to describe a preliminary drawing. ‘Punch’ humorously appropriated the term to refer to political cartoons. That is where Ernest met Alan Alexander Milne, a frequent contributor and later an assistant editor. In 1923, ‘Punch’ staffer Edward Lucas suggested Ernest illustrate some of A.A. Milne’s child nostalgia poems that he was writing for the magazine, but the writer was unimpressed with his work. “What on earth do you see in this man?

SHEPARD’S WAR 2015

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SKETCH FOR POEM ‘FORGOTTEN’ IN THE BOOK, ‘WHEN WE WERE SIX’, 1927 V&A COLLECTION

hailed from Winnipeg, Canada and ‘Pooh’ after a recalcitrant pet swan whom Christopher Robin He’s perfectly hopeless,” Milne said to Frederick had christened ‘Pooh’ because he never came Townsend, the art editor, after he was shown when called), Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga the first set of tentative pictures drawn by and Roo, set in the fictional ‘100 Aker Wood’.

Ernest of the bear that was about to make him They would be stories of childhood, of learning famous. “You wait,” replied Townsend. The wait lessons, of escapism and ultimately of having to paid off. Ernest illustrated the poem ‘Teddy grow up. ‘Sussex Life’ editor Karen Pasquali Jones Bear’ for ‘Punch’ in the February 13, 1924 issue, wrote in her article ‘Celebrating 100 years of the with the first appearance of Winnie-the-Pooh, Winnie-the -Pooh books,’ that “Milne, who was then named ‘Mr. Edward Bear.’ The piece was not the easiest man to work with, recognised inspired by a stuffed teddy Milne had given Shepard’s invaluable contribution. After the his son, Christopher Robin. By the time he was success of their first collaboration together, writing his storybook, ‘Winnie-the -Pooh,’ a book of illustrated verse for children called Ernest was accepted as the artist to illustrate “When We Were Very Young,’ he quickly realised it, “I propose to write a book of such stories, that he needed to secure Shepard’s services illustrated by E.H. Shepard. Bless him,” Milne again for further books he had planned.” wrote, although, another ‘Punch’ contributor, James Dowd drew the first story using the name, Milne felt it was important that Ernest base his illustrations of the characters on Christopher’s ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ about “the wrong kind of own toys and invited him to his Chelsea home bees” when it appeared in the London Evening to see them...if only to get Pooh’s and News’ on Christmas Eve, 1925. Milne wasn’t Piglet’s likeness. The author gives happy with the look of Dowd’s bear, the reader no description of and asked Ernest to illustrate the protagonists, leaving it to his children’s book of verse, Ernest to introduce, visually, ‘When We Were Very Young,” both Christopher Robin and published later that year, Edward bear as they come containing 44 poems, down the stairs- “bump, including ‘Teddy Bear,’ bump, bump.” The result and Buckingham Palace,’ is one of the most familiar with it’s well-known lines, and best-loved of the “They’re changing the ‘Pooh’ illustrations.” Milne guard at Buckingham Palace, and Ernest met regularly for Christopher Robin went Sunday lunches at Cotchford down with Alice.” Contrary to ‘CHRISTOPHER ROBIN’S BRACES’, Farm, the Milne’s weekend expectation, the book was an ONE OF THE ORIGINAL IMAGES cottage in East Sussex to immediate success, selling over CREATED FOR HOME CHAT exchange ideas. Despite their 50,000 copies in two months.

MAGAZINE, 1928 close working relationship, Due to this, Ernest encouraged they never became friends.

Milne to write more stories “I always had to start again at the beginning about Christopher Robin and his toys, inspiring with Milne every time I met him,” Ernest once the characters Winnie-the-Pooh (named after confided. Also, Milne’s socialite wife Daphne did the black bear “Winnie’ in London Zoo who

not consider the Shepard’s suitable company.

She was acutely aware of her social position.

“The Shepards, by contrast lived modestly and had no obvious social connections,” according to Pasquali Jones The imagined world of ‘Winnie-the -Pooh,’ was a “curious fusion of fantasy and reality,” created from the real landscapes of Ashdown Forest near the farm, the basis for the Hundred Acre Wood used for the endpapers in the book. Both Ernest and Milne felt that Christopher Robin’s bear looked too gruff and unfriendly, so Ernest used his son’s teddy, Growler as the basis for the final version of the character. ‘Winnie-the Pooh’ was published to universal acclaim on October 14, 1926, selling 150,000 copies in the US and 35,000 in the UK before the end of the year.

A second collection of children’s poetry, ‘Now We are Six,’ including eleven poems featuring Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations was published the following year, garnering huge sales.

Christopher Robin and Ernest.

Before the ‘Pooh’ books, Milne was a well-known playwright, with 18 plays and three novels published. That he became famous around the world as a writer of children’s verse frustrated him in later life, thinking it overshadowed his ‘serious’ work for adult readers. He stopped writing children’s books after ‘Pooh,’ to “escape,” in part due to his “amazement and disgust” at the level of “empty fame” it brought on his young son, Christopher Robin Milne, who felt exploited and led to an estranged relationship between father and son. In a short autobiographic piece for the ‘New York Herald Tribune’ in 1952, seventyDISASTER Tragedy struck in 1927, when Florence suddenly year-old Milne wrote of his children’s books: and unexpectedly died during a routine “When I wrote them, little operation to relieve her asthma. Ernest was devastated. He could no longer live in their rural thinking All my years of pen-andcottage in Surrey and moved back to St John’s inking Wood to live with his son, Graham. The loss of Would be almost lost among his “constant artistic companion” coincided with Those four trifles for the young.” his period of greatest professional success. “The While Ernest received 20% royalties, an shadow of his personal grief contributed to his complex, sometimes ‘bitter’ relationship with his amount he later felt was minimal given his major contribution to the success of the publications, most famous work.” it did provide him with a regular income and ‘The House at Pooh Corner’ was published the resulting prestige meant he was in great in 1928, introducing new characters, Kanga, demand. It was no surprise he had mixed Roo, and Tigger, who Ernest drew with his front part slightly higher than the back and above the feelings about his involvement with the “that other animals to give the ‘bounce’ effect. “What silly old bear.” He did, however call the 1966 makes Pooh Pooh?” asked Sterling Dudley. “The Disney animated short film,”Winnie the Pooh answer lies not only in author A.A. Milne’s prose, and the Honey Tree,’ a “travesty.” Walt Disney acquired the IP rights to the beloved character but also in the quiet genius of E.H. Shepard’s in the early sixties. Milne sold the entire ‘Pooh’ original, charming and carefree illustrations.” exclusive North American licensing rights Pasquali Jones remarked, “Today, the names of to New York literary agent Stephen Slesinger AA Milne and EH Shepard are as indelibly linked in 1930, whose company signed licensing as those of Gilbert and Sullivan, Laurel and agreements with Disney in 1961. The deal also Hardy or Lennon and McCartney. included the rights to other On the page at least, theirs was characters such as Christopher a marriage made in heaven. It’s Robin, Eeyore, Tigger and Owl. unthinkable to separate Milne’s In 2001 Disney announced a words from Shepard’s images new agreement with the heirs and significantly, no other of A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard, illustrator has attempted to reportedly $350 million,,who reimagine the characters since, had exercised recapture rights with the lamentable exception under the 1998 Copyright of Disney. Hopefully no one ever Act, amidst a long-running will.” Milne left no doubt about litigation battle with the the debt he owed Ernest in a Slesinger family. The copyright short poem that begins, “When expires this year. The ‘WinnieI am gone, Let Shepard decorate the-Pooh media franchise has my tomb.” to date generated $76 billion The enormous success FIRST EDITION OF in revenue, the third highest and subsequent fame proved SHEPARD -ILLUSTRATED ever. problematic for Milne,

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‘WIND IN THE WILLOWS’ 1931

AT HIS STUDIO

Cartoon historian and owner of the Political Cartoon Gallery, Dr Tim Benson wrote in his BBC News Magazine article in March 2006, that “the biggest regret in E.H. Shepard’s life was agreeing to illustrate ‘Winnie-the -Pooh’ which resulted in the bulk of his work, even during his lifetime being completely overshadowed.” Benson curated an exhibition of Ernest’s cartoons entitled ‘The Man Who Hated Pooh’ at his gallery, the first to ignore ‘Pooh,’ concentrating on the ‘Punch’ cartoons.

2026 marks the centenary of of the first ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ book. To celebrate this occasion, James Campbell wrote the first duelbiography of Ernest and Milne, ‘The Men Who created Winnie-the -Pooh: The Lives of A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard,’ published late last year. The Chris Beetles Gallery in London has just finished a selling exhibition (December 16, 2025-January 3, 2026) from the Christopher Fyfe Collection, ‘EH Shepard, The Art of Popular Culture: From Winnie-the -Pooh to Punch,’ featuring a remarkable group of over 50 original artworks, including early ‘Punch’ cartoons and book illustrations.

RATTY & TOAD

Fresh from his success with A.A.Milne, Ernest was approached in 1930 by Scottish author Kenneth Grahame to discuss a new illustrated edition of his children’s novel, ‘The Wind in the Willows.’ First published in 1908, to mostly negative reviews the story of the congenial

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Mole, the ingenious Ratty, the kindly Badger and the egotisticalMr Toad has since become a British literature classic. US President, Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Grahame in 1909 to tell him that he had “read it and reread it and come to accept the characters as old friends.” Grahame was often dissatisfied with earlier illustrators.

At their first meeting, he famously told Ernest, “I love theses little people, be kind to them.” It was to be a brief but warm ‘literary kinship.’ To ensure his drawings were based on the author’s ‘real-world vision,’ Ernest spent time sketching in the Berkshire countryside that had originally inspired the stories. He initially hesitated at accepting the job because he found the book “a bit of a bore” and wasn’t sure he could “make pictures for it.” However, visiting the actual locations helped him connect to the story. His depictions were to become the definitive visual representation of the characters and the most popular version, which was published in 1931.

When Ernest showed Grahame his initial line drawings, shortly before the writer’s death, he smiled, saying, “I’m glad you made them real.”

Ernest frequently stated that his illustrations for ‘The Wind in the Willows’ were his personal favourites and that Grahame’s enthusiastic response was the “greatest compliment in my life.” He continued the legacy of their partnership after Grahame’s death in 1932, illustrating ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ (1938) and ‘Bertie’s Escapade’ (1949).

An exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2000, entitled “The Man Who Drew Pooh: The Art of EH Shepard,’ was reviewed by the Guardian’s Phil Daoust. He wrote,“ EH Shepard’s unassuming ink and pencil sketches strike an odd note among the splendours of London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery. Here, beside the oils of kings and courtiers, martyrs and madonnas, fallen angels and shagged-out nymphs, a crude toy donkey floats feet-up in a river, watched by an anxious teddy bear. nearby, a frightened mole shivers his way through a snow-swept wood as night begins to fall. Hardly drama to compare to the sufferings of Saint Sebastian. Yet Shepard’s illustrations for the Winnie the Pooh books and The Wind in the Willows have shaped more consciousnesses than all the Poussins and Van Dycks, Lorrains and Murillos put together.

He is the perfect match for both AA Milne and Kenneth Grahame, just as Tenniel was to Lewis Carroll.”

Ernest based his illustrations on observation, carrying sketchbooks with him wherever he went and constantly capturing scenery, people and creatures. His distinctive style was notable for the economy of line, lively detail and a sense of movement. His preferred medium was black ink for technical production reasons, sometimes adding subtle pencil marks. He used graphic black outlines and techniques such as cross-

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WIND IN THE WILLOW ARTWORK. BODLEDIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY ONLINE EXHIBITION 2007

hatching to create shadows and depth.

Both Ernest’s children followed him into illustration. Mary produced the artwork for P.L.Travers’‘Mary Poppins’ series of children’s books. In 1937 she married poet and satirist Edmund Knox, who edited ‘Punch’ from 10321949. Graham became an illustrator and cartoonist, working for ‘Illustrated London News.’

He served in the Royal Naval Reserve during World War II, but sadly, Lieutenant Shepard was lost at sea when his ship ‘HMS Polyanthus’ was sunk by a German submarine in September 1943. Ernest married Norah Carroll, a nurse from St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington that same year and moved to Lodsworth, Sussex in 1955.

Known for his ‘quiet humour,’ which cartoonist John Jensen said had an uplifting tone even when dealing with war and political topics and distinctive, lively line work. He produced a large number of significant political cartoons during World War II. His granddaughter, the novelist Penelope Fitzgerald felt Ernest was ill-suited as a political cartoonist because “He neither found it easy to get a likeness nor could he manage the sheer indignation, which gives political satire his weight.” He handed the lead cartoonist role to Leslie Illingworth in 1949, but still remained a contributor.

When Malcolm Muggeridge replaced Kenneth Bird as the editor of ‘Punch’ in 1953, the first thing he did was sack Ernest, failing to recognise him as “the most dynamic contributor of his generation.” Muggeridge wanted to modernize the look of the publication. “There is no occupation more wretched than trying to make the English laugh,” he declared. However, in his ‘A History of Punch’ (1957), art historian R.G.G. Price praised Ernest for bringing ‘movement’ to the magazine. “Compare any of his drawings of any period with the usual ‘Punch’ drawing. He does not seem to have depended on a studio pose or diagrammatic composition. One feels the studies for the pictures were made on a wind-ruffled sketching-book...above all he was thinking of the dance. With Shepard the rest of Punch began to look static,” During his time at ‘Punch,’ Ernest contributed approximately 1,500 cartoons and illustrations in total from 19071952. An exhibition, ‘EH Shepard at Punch.

1907-1952’ ran from 16 July to 10 August, 2019 at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

After that, Ernest wrote two autobiographies, ‘Drawn from Memory’ (1957) about the eighth year of his life and ‘Drawn from Life’

‘WINNIE THE POOH’ FIRST EDITION, 1926

(1961) which covered from the death of his mother to his first marriage. A third, ‘Drawn from Experience’ was planned, but never published. The manuscript resides in the E.H. Shepard Archive at the University of Surrey along with other material Ernest donated just before his death, including personal and business correspondence, sketchbooks, diaries, photographs and drawings. He also donated similar material to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Army Museum and the British Cartoon Archive at the University at Kent.

Ernest also wrote and illustrated two children’s books of his own later in his career, ‘Ben and Brock (1965) and ‘Betsy and Joe (1966).

The original 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh Hundred Acre Wood map, which was privately owned and unseen for nearly half a century, set a world record for book illustration sold at auction, selling for £430,000 at Sotheby’s in July 2018. The previous record was also held

by Ernest. ‘Poohsticks’ Bridge, an ink drawing of Christopher Robin and Pooh playing their favourite game, which featured in ‘The House at Pooh Corner’ was sold by Sotheby’s for £314,500 four years earlier. It was the third time that the London auction house had sold the map. It fetched £650 in 1968 and £1,700 in 1970.

Although his hallmark was using black ink, producing monochromatic renderings, Ernest was commissioned in the 1970s, when he was ninety to create colour illustrations for the multiple new editions. He spent his last days in Lodsworth, West Sussex hand-colouring enlarged printed versions of his original artwork, adding the familiar yellow colour to Pooh’s fur and his red jacket.

The Paul Fraser Collectables ‘The Essential Guide to EH Shepard,’ concludes,“EH Shepard passed away in 1976 at the age of 96, leaving behind a rich, artistic legacy. His illustrations have gone beyond generations. They continue to capture the minds of both kids and adults, Winnie-the -Pooh and his Hundred Acre Wood friends are still popular. Beyond children’s literature, Shepard’s contributions to political satire and his poignant war sketches showcase the breadth of his artistic talent. He was a keen observer of the world around him, capturing its humour, darkness and everything in between with a sharp eye and a masterful pen.”

EXAMPLE OF SHEPARD’S HAND-COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE 1970S

His mother would have been proud.

SHEPARD TRUST

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MARK WINTER

PRELIM SKETCH 1928 FROM ‘THE HOUSE AT POOH CORNER’

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CATCH UP ON ALL THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS...

ISSN: 2977-6368

NUMBER 7

SEP/OCT 2025

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH COVER STAR ROYSTON ROBERTSON

BORN TO DRAW

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POLITICALLY SPEAKING WITH ADAM MACQUEEN

THE HERNE BAY FESTIVAL CARTOONS AT THE SEASIDE

LAW & ORDER A THEMED SELECTION

ROWSON MEETS ROWE CARTOONISTS SHARE A PINT

130 DIFFERENT CARTOONS INSIDE!

PLUS: N MARK WINTER ON SCHULZ N TNC MEETS A NEWBIE IN MY NEW BOSS N THE NEW ASHER PERLMAN BOOK N THE GREAT A.I TEST N PROPHETICAL MILDRED HOROSCOPES

GET THEM ALL HERE

CARTOON SUBMISSION DEADLINES FOR THE MAR/APR 2026 ISSUE CARTOONS FOR CENTRAL SPREAD THEME OF ‘CARTOONING & CARTOONISTS’ FEB 28TH GENERAL GAG CARTOONS: MAR 5TH 2026 POLITICAL CARTOONS: MAR 10TH 2026

email cartoons to: editor@thenewcartoonist.co.uk

OBITUARY

Scott Adams

1957 - 2026

SCOTT Adams, the cartoonist who created the comic strip Dilbert, has died at the age of 68 after suffering from prostate cancer..

His ex-wife Shelly Miles announced his death on Tuesday during a live stream of his podcast, Real Coffee with Scott Adams.

The satirical cartoon strip - about a competent but frustrated engineer and his dysfunctional workplace environment - was first published in 1989, and went on to feature in more than 2,000 newspapers in 65 countries.

The character also later appeared in books, an animated TV series and video game. But in 2023, his comic strip was cancelled by newspapers including the Washington Post after Adams was accused of making racist comments about black people.

Adams called black Americans a “hate group” and suggested white Americans “get the hell away from black people,” in response to a conservative organisation’s poll purporting to show that many African-Americans do not think it is OK to be white.

He later defended his comments and said that he had been using hyperbole to make a point, adding that he disavowed racists and that media reports had ignored the context of his comments.

In his later career, Adams - also a trained hypnotist - wrote self-help books including How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Win Bigly, Loserthink and Reframe Your Brain.

Adams won the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award in 1997 for his work on Dilbert, as well as the Newspaper Comic Strip Award He had been receiving end-of-life care at his home after the prostate cancer, which he first revealed he had in May 2025, spread to his bones.

On 1 January this year, he told listeners that the chances of him making a recovery were unlikely.

“I’ll give you any updates if that changes, but it won’t,” he said.

“So there’s no chance that I’ll get my feeling back in my legs, and I’ve got some ongoing heart failure, which is making it difficult to breathe sometimes during the day.

“However, you should prepare yourself that January will probably be a month of transition, one way or another.”

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THE MUCH LOVED DIBERT CHARACTERS & SELF-HELP BOOKS LATER PUBLISHED

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TECHNOLOGY MARSHALL NOT FUNNY getting chippy A HISTORY AND VARIOUS TECHNICAL APPRAISALS OF THE PENCIL SHARPENER...

Last issue I promised a 16 page bumper pullout section on pencil sharpeners but alas the editor has taken a hatchet to it and asked me to remove ‘the tedious bits’.

Anyway here is the abridged review: Use a metal one.

Next issue: ‘An Eraser of Love’ in three words (if I’m lucky) I’ll be talking about my favourite pencil rubbers, CMND Z and the philosophical notion of erasure.

MARSHALL NOT FUNNY

AN ARRAY OF PLASTIC SHARPENERS

VOLUNTEER GAG CARTOONIST The Source an independent local newspaper within the HP16 postcode area is on the lookout for a cartoonist to liven up its pages Ideally with a link to the area the cartoonist would be supplying a gag cartoon for this bi-monthly publication This is a voluntary role only, but would serve as a good tool to get your gags in print Please contact Holly for more details. email: hp16thesource@yahoo.co.uk Web: https://www.hp16.org.uk/empty-page thenewcartoonist.co.uk

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CIRCUS TOONS

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CIRCUS TOONS

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CIRCUS

WHAT’S IN A FUNNY NAME? LOOKING BEYOND THE RED NOSE RUPERT BESLEY a seasoned voice Circus clowns tend to be known by the wacky and loveable stage names they adopt (Bozo, Grock, Coco, Zippy) rather than by their actual names, be that a Kevin, Keith or Alexander B de Pfeffel.

Gag cartoonists, who do their clowning on paper, have a similar tradition (less so these days) of choosing a suitable name to work under, much like those in other fields of artistic endeavour. Fat chance you’d make it in film as Issur Danielovitch (Kirk Douglas) or Marion Morrison (John Wayne), let alone top the charts as Reg Dwight. In the late 19th century this country had two great caricaturists, ‘Ape’ (Carlo Pellegrini) and ‘Spy’ (Sir Leslie Matthew Ward), while comic postcards were the domain of Martin Anderson, known as Cynicus.

By the 1960s the popular press had regular columns filled with gag cartoons by contributors with names that went with Fun & Larfter. Sax (Victor Sarkans), Fax (Gordon Bell), Styx (Leslie Harding), Clew (Clifford Lewis), Lew… I could go on.

These days such cartoonists are remembered cartoons for the next 20 years. by their actual names as much as by their penHector Breeze was another gifted with a names. But not all. For more than two years great name for a cartoonist. Neither he nor researcher Glenn Reuben has been firing off Sprod owed his success to his name; both were emails in a bid to identify the man behind the outstandingly good cartoonists. But for anyone cartoons of Scherzo, much published in the wishing to get noticed and make their name in 1950s to 70s, everywhere from the Mirror and this competitive field, it helped to have one that Sketch to the Boy’s Own Paper, Reader’s Digest was memorable and distinctive. and Meccano. From a 1959 I don’t think Antonia Yeoman, profile in TV Times we know he working as Anton, was doing a You don’t have to was a he, a shy man, married George Eliot and needing a malehave or find a and a Northerner, but the sounding name to get her work mystery continues. striking name to seen. When she started out, she George Sprod had it made. was working under a joint name make it in What better name could there with her brother Harold. Hers was cartooning but be than Sprod to put at the a remarkable story. Born Beryl it helps to make bottom of a quirky cartoon?

Botterill Thompson in Australia, But it wasn’t something he had the most of your she came with her family on a visit dreamed up, it was the name he to England, in the course of which signature was born with. her father died. She then spent 6 In 1942 Australian Sprod years of childhood confined to bed was among the troops taken by the Japanese in Brighton with spinal tuberculosis, which took in the fall of Singapore. He played some part away two fingers of her right hand. She learnt to in helping fellow cartoonist and POW Ronald draw again with her left hand, re-named herself Searle to get through the appalling ordeals they Antonia, married John Yeoman, later Mayor of faced in Changi Prison and on the infamous Chelsea, and conquered the world of cartoons.

‘Death Railway’. In 1949, Sprod came to London I’ve no idea - and it’s none of my business to delight readers of Punch with his witty - why Trevor Holder worked as Holte or why

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Brian Davis chose to be Michael ffolkes. I can only guess the latter reckoned ffolkes to be sufficiently silly and eye-catching (two lower-case ‘f’s, ffs) to work for him, while the slightly pretentious and aristocratic echoes in the name may well have amused him. The sinuous ‘f’s of his signature go perfectly with the billowing style of his artwork. Far from conjuring up images of high society, the name of ffolkes instead puts me in mind of a classic cartoon in perfect ffolkes style. A buxom lady on a horse in medieval times is chatting up a dour-looking fellow Canterbury pilgrim: ‘I’m the Wife of Bath, but you can call me Bubbles.’

You don’t have to have or find a striking name to make it in cartooning, but it helps to make the most of your signature. The Great Masters (Searle and Giles, Thelwell and McLachlan) all had beautifully crafted signatures, at one with their wonderful artwork. And call me a hypocrite, but I think it no bad thing to keep it readable. I write as one who has regularly found himself indexed as Berley, Begley, Bexley, Beady, Belly and worse.

RUPERT BESLEY

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THE CIRCUS GALLERY

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THEME FOR THE NEXT ISSUE:

CARTOONING & CARTOONISTS

Email entries to editor@thenewcartoonist.co.uk Deadline: FEB 28th 2026 thenewcartoonist.co.uk

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CIRCUS TOONS

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CIRCUS TOONS

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CM

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MY NEW BOSS!

A VERY VERY NEW CARTOONIST...

TNC CATCHES UP WITH THE NEW AND UPCOMING TALENT CHOOSING TO POKE FUN WITH A PENCIL, PAINT, FELT TIPS OR iPAD

DYANA SONGI meets Ruby Lee Ruby is 15 and lives in South East London with her mum, dad and younger brother. She enjoys making art and jewellery, is teaching herself guitar (favourite band Nirvana!) and is a former black-belt in karate.

Ruby particularly loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and drinking tea – so a true artist in the making.

‘I usually use both traditional and digital methods, but I lean more towards the traditional just because I think it’s much easier. My learning process with drawing is to find a picture online of a character or person to copy, and I find that really fun and interesting. I get my inspiration mostly from things I love from day to day life – like Anime, comic book characters and pop culture icons. I grew up in a really artistic home so am influenced a lot by my family, and I also get inspiration from horror and graphic novel illustrators’.

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You might be my new boss one day Ruby.

What sort of boss would you be?

I think I would be a very nice boss. I would hear out everyone’s opinions and ideas – BUT – I would also sometimes like to sit back and tell people what to do. My goal would be just to get work done and go home, so if that happens, it’s all good. But in all honesty, I get annoyed with other people a lot of the time, so would most likely just fire everyone in the end and end up working solo!

RUBY LEE

Would you like to have your work featured in My New Boss?

Please email editor@thenewcartoonist.co.uk with your full name, date of birth, and a parent/guardian’s name, mobile number and email address. You must be aged 15 or under, and be resident in the UK or available overseas.

You must also be prepared to take part in a Zoom interview and submit your own work only. thenewcartoonist.co.uk

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CULTURE

STEPPING INTO HOGARTH MARK WINTER Out & About Painter, engraver, writer, satirist and cartoonist, William Hogarth’s two masterpiece murals that wrap spectacularly around the long- concealed staircase leading to the ornate Grand Hall in the North Wing of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, were opened to the public late last year for the first time in nearly 300 years, after a £9.5 million, two-year restoration project, largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The 900 year-old hospital is the oldest in England still providing medical services. Hogarth was born nearby in Bartholomew Close, a stone’s throw away from Smithfield Market and St Paul’s Cathedral. He offered to paint the vast canvases for free, though he had never painted on such a scale before and never again. He did so to ensure that Italian artist Jacopo Amigoni did not win the commission and prove an English artist could excel at grand historical painting. Depicting two biblical stories, featuring 2.1 metre high figures, ‘The Pool of Bethesda’ and ‘The Good Samaritan’ were painted in 1736 and 1737 respectively.

The North Wing was built in 1732 by architect James Gibbs to house ceremonial, fundraising and administrative functions, but fell into decline as the hospital prioritised clinical areas. The restoration also included the stairwell, the intricate gilded ceiling of the Grand Hall, a Baroque gatehouse and a statue of King Henry VIII and Portland stonework. The St Bart’s Hospital Museum is also located in the building.

The Barts North Wing is open to the public on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10amto 4pm and on the first Sunday of each month from 10am to 4pm.

Entry is free and no booking is required.

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PENS DOWN!

A VERY SPECIAL VINTAGE

DELVING INTO THE MINDSET OF DAVID ZIGGY GREENE...

A new book from this issue’s cover star, cartoon illustrator David Ziggy Greene has hit the shelves, and TNC has dropped into its pages to take a peek.

‘Vintage’ is a collection of originalfeeling strips, stories and vignettes delicately illustrated by a true strip master.

It’s joyful, playful and wonderfully dark in places - and there is no getting away from the real talent within the pages.

David Ziggy Greene can really draw and knows how to get the most out of his panels; a skill not lost on many of us who have tried and failed to produce something similar.

There are many stand-out pieces in this book. Indeed the first offering around the growth and life of a bit of belly button fluff is a blast, and gives you a real insight in what to expect. For those of you who can remember ‘Ren & Stimpy’ - you’ll have found your yard stick.

Other favourites include the short story ‘Ticket Boy’, and a journey we all remember taking in ‘Sleeper’, A slightly grotesque foot race tale with a surprising winner. ‘Hush’ (pictured) - and a search for a rancid looking goat in ‘Picaco Del Diablo’ are also very entertaining.

Sound a bit wild and zany? Well yes, in places.

But this is a collection well worth taking the time to enjoy, And if you have any notions of creating your own strips, it’s a book worth using for reference material. To summarise, the end quote reads...

“A rich, ripe, tangy, wild-berry fruit, goose fat, paintstripper book that is really wellrounded crisp, creamy, rough and smooth. Ideal with all sorts of meat and semimeat dishes.

Serve at room temperature.”

BUY HERE 54

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ANIMATION

PIONEERING PLYMPTON

TAKING AT LOOK AT THE ‘TARANTINO OF INDIE ANIMATION’ FROM OREGON MARK WINTER Animated I’m not sure when, where or even how I first discovered Bill Plympton, but thank God I did.

In fact, “Bill Plympton is God”, according to ‘The Simpsons’ creator Matt Groening.

On a less elevated level, most consider him the “King of independent animation”, the “Master of the outrageous”, dropping a few notches, but equally exalted, he was labelled the “Tarantino of indie animation” by the Brussels-based website, ‘Bruzz’, “taking a bazooka to America’s sacred cows for over thirty years”.

There is no one in animation quite like the “DIY animation pioneer”, Bill Plympton. He is a rare phenomenon in the industry, gaining notoriety for making animated shorts and feature films with barely any assistance, designing, drawing, animating, and everything in between all by himself. He is considered the first animator to draw every frame for an animated feature film.

In his eightieth year, the iconoclastic animator and cult cartoonist has reached legendary status since first arriving on the scene in 1987, known for his off-the -wall sense of humour, creating irreverent, unsettling and at times disturbing cartoons. Bill has gained a reputation for making uncompromisingly mature animated films, often featuring gruesome violence, lewd nudity and sex scenes, even stooping to political content, often poking fun at the public image of such sordid subjects with deliberately risqué, but outrageously funny animated sketch films.

Bill writes in the introduction of ‘The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton’ (1996), “At the age of 14, I became very curious about the female body and sex and since I loved to draw, I began by sketching my own naked women in certain suggestIve poses. However, I started feeling

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guilty and was afraid my parents would find the sketches, so I moved on to war cartoons.” He sent some of his cartoons to the Disney Studios, offering his services as an animator. They wrote back and told him that while his drawings showed promise, he was too young to be hired and “to keep drawing”.

EARLY YEARS

Born in Portland, Oregon, Bill grew up in a large family of three girls and three boys, raised on a farm near Oregon City. It was often far too wet to play outside and he credits Oregon’s rainy climate for nurturing his drawing skills and imagination,

described by many as ‘unbridled’. In an interview with ‘Cartoon Research’, when asked “did you keep drawing?”, Bill replied, “My mom used to bring home meat from the butcher store when I was a kid and when she unwrapped the butcher paper, she gave me it to draw on. Sometimes the paper had blood on it so I just incorporated it into my drawing. Maybe that’s one of the reasons some of my cartoons today feature so much much violence (laughs)”. After studying Graphic Design at Portland State University he moved to New York to major in cartooning at the School of Visual Arts, graduating in 1969. He had work published in ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Village Voice’,‘Vogue’, ‘Rolling Stone’, ‘Penthouse’, ‘Playboy’,‘Vanity Fair’, and ‘National Lampoon’. His political cartoon strip, ‘Plympton’ first appeared in the ‘SoHo Weekly News’ in 1975 was syndicated in over 20 newspapers. Bill was also contributing cartoons to ‘The Oregonian’, but in 1979 he was asked to provide an illustration promoting nuclear energy.

He refused. It was the same year as the Three Mile Island crisis so he didn’t want to defend the case. “They barred me-I was blacklisted and never worked for ‘The Oregonian’ again”, Bill said. “Even though I started as a cartoonist, it was always animation that fascinated me”, Bill recalled in his

feature, exploring the anxiety of rejection as an artist, featuring Del, a struggling songwriter who must come up with the perfect ditty for slime ball mogul, Mr Mega in order to keep his job and his girlfriend. It was released in 1992, marking a milestone in independent animation, a 70 minute film drawn entirely by one person.

PUSH COMES TO SHOVE 1991 Bill personally drafted and coloured 30,000 drawings over a two-year period. “I like to get up at six in the morning and draw until sometimes ten at night”, Bill said. “If I’m really feeling good ANIMATION and not having a lot of interruptions, I can do a His first experimental animated film was a twominute short, ‘The Turn On’, followed by a number minute of animation a day”.

‘The Tune’ premiered at the Sundance Film of other productions, including ‘Boomtown’, Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand a political satire mocking the high increase Jury Prize. It was also screened at Cannes. in military spending by the US Department Seven features have followed. ‘I Married a of Defence, which he scripted with veteran Strange Person!’ (1997), described by Bill as ‘Akira’ cartoonist Jules Feiffer. meets ‘Pulp Fiction’, influenced by Japanese Porno His motto was “Make it short. Make it cheap.

Animation (Hentai) is an adult romantic Make it funny”.

CHEATIN’ ROUGH SKETCH comedy about a newly married To avoid the Vietnam War, man, Grant , who develops a Bill served in the National strange lump on his neck Guard from 1967-1972, that gives him supernatural while establishing himself as powers to transform people “an off-beat animator with or objects at will. Whenever an unmistakable style and a Grant thinks of something, singular sense of humour that it becomes a reality. His wife was equal parts weird and Keri can’t cope. His third whimsical”, according to Larry was ‘Mutant Aliens’ (2001), Closs in the January 29, 2014 a science fiction spoof on B issue of ‘Animation Magazine’. monster movies, followed Bill’s big breakthrough came AUTOGRAPH by “Hair High’ (2004),a gothic in 1987 with the release of ‘Your IDIOTS & ANGELS 2008 high school comedy involving Face’, a surreal cartoon featuring a bickering teen couple, Wally and Buttercup. a man distorting his face into the strangest (2016), described as a buddy cop, crime, biker, ‘Idiots & Angels’ (2008) is a black, dialogue-free shapes. It marked a change in technique using action black comedy, co-written and co-directed comedy about Angel, a selfish, morally bankrupt with Jim Lujan is a madcap romp through the coloured pencil-drawn illustrations, cut out and pasted onto animation cells for a slicker look. The man who hangs out in a local bar, abusing 1970’s LA underbelly, following the exploits of practice continued until the early 2000s when he patrons. One day, he wakes up with a pair of wings a low-rent bounty hunter named Rod Rosse, began shooting digitally. The film was nominated on his back that make him do good deeds and The One Man Posse. The latest feature is ‘Slide’ totally contrary to his nature. “For me, the perfect (2024) where a guitar-playing cowboy enters the for an Academy Award for ‘Best Animated Short’. film has no dialogue at all. It’s purely a visual, “Suddenly people began returning my calls”, Bill lumber camp town of Sourdough Creek to clean emotional, visceral kind of experience”, Bill said. remembered. As a result, he received a number up the corruption brought on the place by obese “It also makes it easier to sell to more countries”. of commissions to produce commercials for the twins, Zeke and Jeb. It won Best Feature Film and Terry Gilliam allowed his name to be used to likes of MTV, Nike, Mercedes-Benz and United Best Feature Film Director at the Los Angeles Airlines. He was also contacted by Disney, offering promote the film. Bill’s fifth feature was ‘Cheatin’’ Animation Festival.

(2013), another adult romantic comedy about a him a million dollars to work on an unspecified Since making ‘The Turn On’ in 1968, Bill has jealous woman presenting fabricated evidence of animated 49 shorts, the most recent, ‘Whale project. He declined, preferring to remain infidelity by a man’s wife, he moves out and takes 52-Suite for Man, Boy and Whale (2025), directed independent. The project later turned out to be developing the Genie character for the animated on a slew of lovers. It was released theatrically in

by Daniel Neiden. feature, ‘Aladdin’. Bill also established Plymptoons 2015 after playing the film festival circuit, winning Bill received his second Oscar nomination in Animation Studio in 1987.On the website ‘tour’ it numerous accolades, including the Jury Prize at 2005 for the short “Guard Dog’. In fact dogs are a states, “Disney Animation Studios: approximately the Annecy Animation Festival. ‘Revengeance’ recurring character in Bill’s cartoons from ‘Boney 24,000 sq, feet, located on more than 50 acres.

Plymptoons Animation Studio: less than 2,000 sq feet on zero acres.

After collating all his shorts created over a five-year period, Bill noticed it was 58 minutes of animation and realised it was possible to make a feature. Selling some of those shorts to MTV and the BBC and working on two commercials he was able to self-finance ‘The Tune’, an animated ‘Cartoon Research’ interview. “The movement of it all just captured my attention. As a kid, I went to Disneyland. I saw a book on animation (‘The Art of Animation’ by Bob Thomas) and I just had to have it. My mom tried to tell me that the book was so expensive that if I got it, she wouldn’t be able to afford tickets for his rides, but I didn’t care. Even then I knew I wanted to be an animator. I got the book”.

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ANIMATION D’ (1997), ‘Guard Dog’ (2024), it’s sequel ‘Guide Dog’ (2008), ‘Hot Dog’ (2008) as a fire dog,“Horn Dog’ (2009) and ‘Cop Dog’ (2017). In 2011,more than 70 artists world wide, at Bill’s invitation joined together to create a collaborative production titled ‘Guard Dog Global Jam’. In 1991 ‘Push Comes to Shove’ won the Prix Special du Jury at the Festival de Cannes. He made ‘25 Ways to Quit Smoking’ (1989) in an effort to convince his mother to quit. It apparently worked! Some of Bill’s notable shorts include his trademark use of parody such as ‘Can’t drag Race with Jesus’ (2000) and ‘Santa, The Fascist Years’ (2008) a mockumentary, unmasking Santa Claus as a war criminal.

He has also produced some ‘family friendly’ films. ‘Parking’ (2002) is about a parking lot attendant going to great lengths to prevent a piece of grass growing on the property and some less humorous pieces taking on more serious matters such as ‘Shuteye Hotel (2007) about a murder mystery, paying homage to film noir.

Between 2012-2022 Bill provided Couch Gag sequences for eight episodes of ‘The Simpsons’ with such titles as ‘Beware My Cheating Bart’, ‘Black Eyed, Please’, and ‘Married to the Blob’. He also contributed to six episodes of the animated series ‘Trump Bites’ (2018-2020), animating images of US President Trump to voice clips of his speeches.

His animation has also featured in music videos for Peter Himmelman, Kanye West and ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic.

Bill believes that “it’s part of the responsibility of an artist to shock, to upset, to make people think differently and to surprise people.

Something that is not normal, not in the realm of general living expectations”

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“The Creative Process”

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CONNECT WITH US

DO YOU WANT TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE PCO?

WHAT IS THE PCO?

Our title pretty much gives the game away: we’re an organisation for, erm, professional cartoonists. We considered Professional Political & Gag Cartoonists’ and Caricaturists’ Organisation…but not for long.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

The PCO promotes the work of its members and champions the cartooning arts across the board and around the world. We organise and support exhibitions and festivals.

We also stand up for, and have campaigned on behalf of oppressed artists.

All before breakfast.

HOW DO I JOIN?

The majority of your earnings need to come from cartooning and/or caricaturing.

Then you can send samples of your work or links to a website/social media platform to the esteemed Andrew Birch here: pcomembership@gmail.com

BENEFITS! You get a badge!

LATEST MEMBERS...

DANNY CAMERON GRIZELDA

ANTHONY SMITH JOIN TODAY

GRANT MEIKLE

63 Wells Street, London W1A 3AE

5 minutes walk from Oxford Circus underground station

YOUNG ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Since 2023, we have been running an award-winning programme of Young Cartoonist residencies, aimed at young autistic artists. Our team have worked with them to develop their artistic skills and build their confidence, and develop their understanding of artistic careers

including developing and selling their own products alongside producing and publishing their own work for display in the museum. The museum then collects the produced works by purchasing them off the residents, as well as paying them a participation fee for their work. On this

Event: 4 October 2025 21st March 2026 The Future Was Then The Future Was Then features over 80 pages of original comic art alongside other items that tell stories about the future of the human race from 1990 to 4000 AD. The exhibition includes original work from iconic futuristic worlds such as Tank Girl, Judge Dredd, Black Mirror, Buck Rogers and Thunderbirds, and original artwork by legendary artists such as Jamie Hewlett, Frank Bellamy and Sydney Jordan. Science fiction and dystopian comics give us possible visions of Earth’s future, imagining what may be in store for humanity. Will hope triumph, with space rangers taking to the cosmos to explore new worlds? Or will fear set in, with futuristic authoritarian regimes taking hold?

MORE INFO HERE

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CREDITS

Buck Rogers © Rebellion Developments Ltd Connie Brick Bradford Judge Dredd © Rebellion Developments Ltd

Rogue Trooper © Rebellion Developments Ltd Bad Company II © Rebellion Developments Ltd Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future © Rebellion Developments Ltd Phoo Action © Jamie Hewlett

page you can find out more about each of our residents and their work.

We are thankful to The John Lyon’s Charity for funding this work since 2024!

MORE INFO HERE

EVENTS & ADS 23rd February 2026: The Cartoon Museum Conference 2026 9.30am - 6pm

Registration from 9.30am Talks begin at 10am sharp with a welcome from our new Director Beth Bryan Speakers include: Mads Horwath: A cartoonist who is a regular for The New Yorker, The Guardian, and has made works for The Wellcome Trust.

Dr. Colleen Douglas: Ringo! Award nominee (2023), comic book creator, editor and writer. Colleen was the first black woman to be published by Caliber comics in its 35 year history. As a native of the former British colony of Guyana - a country rife with superstition, she loves mystery buildings and all things supernatural (as can be seen in her comic book Silk Cotton). She lives in West London and has a PhD in Ancient Monetary Systems and a love for old comics.

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House; ‘The House That Groaned’ (2012), and the award winning ‘Death of the Artist’ (2015). She developed an award winning comic, ‘Over, Under, Sideways, Down’ about an Iranian teenage refugee, for The British Red Cross, created an installation for the British Council and Southbank Centre and was commissioned to make a ‘Selves Portrait’ for an exhibition with Manchester Art Gallery and the Holly Burrows: Commercial Manager National Portrait Gallery. She has at The Cartoon Museum, Co-Director spoken and run workshops at The of Illustrators’ Fair, lover of cats and Guardian Masterclasses, Tate Modern, chocolate. Holly will discuss the best TEDx, Central Saint Martins, Oxford ways to prepare your work for retailers University, The Hay Festival, The Big to give you the best chance of actually Draw, House of Illustration and The seeing your work on shop shelves.

British Library, and presented her work Samuel Ojo: A cartoonist and Illustrator worldwide from Russia to Bangladesh, Lebanon and Mexico. You can find more who contributes to The Guardian and of her work at www.karriefransman.com BusinessDay Newspaper. His work has She will be speaking about her work also appeared in The Morning Star at CCIC - The Comics Cultural Impact Newspaper and has been exhibited at The Cartoon Museum, Chatham House, Collective.

The International Exhibition of Press Jules Darriulat: A Co-Founder of Cartooning in France.

Concept101 and CG101 and has been working in the Film and TV industry as a Karrie Fransman: Acomic creator. concept artist for the last 4 years.

Her comics have been published in Having worked across a variety of The Guardian, The Times, Time Out, projects such as Wednesday, The 3 The Telegraph, the BBC, The New Body Problem, His Dark Materials, Statesman and by The Arts Council.

Her illustrated books, ‘Gender Swapped Doctor Who, Paddington 3, How to train Fairy Tales’ (2020) and ‘Gender Swapped your dragon and much more, Jules has experience working within film and TV Greek Myths’(2023) were co-created art departments as well as with vendors with Jonathan Plackett and published such as Framestore. Jules can give a

by Faber & Faber. She published two talk on his working experience on film graphic novels with Penguin Random thenewcartoonist.co.uk

and TV shows as well as his own world building project “Umae”.

Emily Harris: Emily has worked at ILM for 4 years as an art assistant and a concept artist and following that became a freelance artist and has worked with Supermassive Games on Little Nightmares, on short and animated films, illustrations for museums and other various projects.

She can give a talk on her working experience on films and games.

Join us for our fifth annual conference and learn how to survive and thrive in the cartoon and comic arts world. n Hear from experts in their field and pick up tips to support your own practice. n Network with like-minded individuals and build your contacts! n Lunch provided.

Full Speaker list coming soon!

AGENDA

10.00-10.45: TALK 1 11.00-11.45: TALK 2 11.45-12.15: TEA BREAK 12.15-1.00: TALK 3 1.00-2.00: LUNCH 2.00-2.45: TALK 4 3.00-3.45: TALK 5 3.45-4.15: TEA BREAK 4.15-5.00: TALK 6 5.15-6.00: TALK 7

MORE INFO HERE

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EVENTS & ADS

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THE DIRECTORY

ANDREW ADAM CAUDILL BIRCH CONTACT HERE

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ALAN MICHAEL

AMY IAN BAKER D

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MARK WINTER

ANDY MEL BUNDAY DIXON

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AHMED JESS SIKANDER JUDGE

BRIAN DAVID FOX REY CONTACT HERE

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A LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

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DAN HODSON CONTACT HERE

DAVID WEIGHAM

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CHRIS MORGAN CONTACT HERE

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THE DIRECTORY

PETE DES FONDANT DREDGE CONTACT HERE

FRANS VIKTOR VAN G MERENDONK KHOURY CONTACT HERE

GRAŽVYDAS ED NAYLOR B CONTACT HERE

HORTENSIO FIRUZ KUTAL CONTACT HERE

STEVE LILLIE CONTACT HERE

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DIETER NICK BEVERS NEWMAN (QUATSCH) CONTACT HERE

MARSHALL ROYSTON ROBERTSON NOT FUNNY CONTACT HERE

HARRIET JOHN MERRY DALY CONTACT HERE

CHRISJAI ‘DINK’ GRANOFSKY WILLIAMS CONTACT HERE

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A LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

JERROLD DAVISON CONTACT HERE

JOE MOHR CONTACT HERE

JONATHAN TRUIN

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JON BUCKLEY CONTACT HERE

KATHRYN LAMB

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KEVIN WELLS

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ROY NIXON

LLOYD MILLS CONTACT HERE

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THE DIRECTORY

MARCELO DANIEL R. BOTTARO HODSON CONTACT HERE

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DAWN ROB MOCKLER BAINES CONTACT HERE

SAM MAT MENDONCA SKORONSKI CONTACT HERE

PETER DES GLANTING BUCKLEY CONTACT HERE

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NICOLA MARIA JENNINGS TAYLOR CONTACT HERE

ANDY TONY BUNDAY NOON CONTACT HERE

GRAHAM MAT CORCORAN BARTON CONTACT HERE

MICHAEL MIKE J SEDDON JOHNSON CONTACT HERE

MICHAEL ELIOT PARKIN LORD CONTACT HERE

A LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

MIGUEL ROMERO CONTACT HERE

SALLY LEWIS

@sallylewis488

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RUPERT BESLEY

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MOORICE CAPARÓ

SCOTT JOHNSTON CONTACT HERE

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THE DIRECTORY

DANIEL PHILIP HODSON LEE CONTACT HERE

VILNISSIMO MICHAEL KING CONTACT HERE

ROYSTON DAWN ROBERTSON MOCKLER CONTACT HERE

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THE NICOLA RADICAL EMBROIDERER JENNINGS CONTACT HERE

RAMANA ANDY CHARAN BUNDAY CONTACT HERE

RUSTY YUNUSOFF CONTACT HERE

SHIRAZ MIKE SEDDON KHAN

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DES JO BUCKLEY YOUNG

SANJOY ELIOT BASU LORD

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A LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

SCOTT TIERNEY

SCOTT YACHSHYN

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“The Creative Process”

SEAN MONETT

LEE REDFERN

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STEVE BRIGHT

TIM RUSCOE

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SIMON REDONDO CONTACT HERE

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ED NAYLOR CONTACT HERE

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THE DIRECTORY

A LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

DANIEL STEVE GENNRICH HODSON CONTACT HERE

VILNISSIMO DAVID ZIGGY GREENE CONTACT HERE

TOLGA DAWN MOCKLER HISROVA CONTACT HERE

TOM SAM SKORONSKI JOHNSTON

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TIMOTHY NICOLA JENNINGS TAYLOR CONTACT HERE

ANDY JOHN LANDERS BUNDAY CONTACT HERE

NICK NEWMAN CONTACT HERE

WILLIAM MIKE FOTHERGILL SEDDON

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ZACH DES BUCKLEY RHODES

ELIOT MIKE STOKOE LORD

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CAPTION COMPETITION!

WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY?

Winner!

GEORGE GLEMING

WIN ME!

Below is a caption from a finished cartoon.

Send us your suggestions. The winner will be published alongside the original cartoon in the next issue and win this fantastic TNC mug.

Email jpg entries by 30th February 2026 to editor@thenewcartoonist.co.uk or hit the link opposite!

CAPTION COMPETTION

The winner will be selected purely on humour and originality, open to all skill sets....

Get drawing... & good luck!

“AT LAST, A REGULAR SERVICE THAT RUNS ON TIME” 80

CONGRATULATIONS! George wins a TNC mug for matching up against Dean Patterson from the last issue!

Prophetical Mildred

HOROSCOPES Scorpio

the most accurate soothsayer in the Greater London region for cartoonist horoscopes

24 October – 21 November

You will have a major technological breakdown and have to go back to the good old days of scratching raunchy cartoons and the occasional bison on cave walls.

Aries

21 March – 19 April

Sagittarius

Feeling cold, you will drink too much coffee in an attempt to keep cartooning into the wee small hours. The coffee overload makes your ideas more and more unhinged and the sleep deprivation as you stay awake for five days straight obsessively scribbling Trump as a metaphorical coked up pervert platypus doesn’t help...

Taurus

20 April – 20 May

You will think of the perfect cartoon idea. Then someone will hit you in the side of your head with a playful snowball and it’s gone.

Gemini

21 May – 21 June

Due to high numbers on ink price tags and low numbers in your bank account you become obsessed with white space. If anyone dares to question your new ‘Emperor’s-new-clothes’blank-sheet-of paper cartooning style you will ridicule their idiocy thoroughly, before punching them in the chuff if especially provoked.

Cancer

22 June – 22 July

You will get bogged down in the details, however you can sleep easy at night knowing that you are the finest cartoonist in the land when it comes to getting the shadows just right around the ears.

22 November – 21 December

You will challenge yourself in include a secret small hedgehog in every cartoon that you draw, merely for the whimsy. However the hedgehog takes on a life of his own and simultaneously becomes your greatest friend and fiercest critic, staring back at you from each and every page with prickly judgement.

Leo

23 July – 22 August

You will experience a surge into absurdity cartooning wise. Everything you draw will be surreal, ludicrous, nonsensical and downright wacky, however, upon leaving your underground pineapple-themed cartooning lair you will find that everything you’ve cartooned is just basic run of the mill life now.

Virgo

23 August – 22 September

You will start knitting and embroidering cartoons into scarves, and because you have a lot of green thread to hand you find yourself cartooning a lot of frogs, pears, cacti and lizards. Fortunately these topics form a generous bounty of cartoon inspiration.

Libra

23 September – 23 October

You will get the lurgy, and in a state of fever induced mania you will see something disgusting in your handkerchief that will influence your artistic style for the next month, especially when it comes to political caricature. Cartooning has never been quite this repulsive before and you feel a sort of honour at having degraded it to an even lower level.

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Capricorn

22 December – 19 January

You will spend some time in a hovel making cartoon art out of black mould and condensation. Unfortunately mould is sentient and becomes a huge fan of yours. From now on wherever you go, the mould will follow.

Aquarius

20 January – 18 February

You will found the very first Cartoonist Paparazzi Organisation. You all chase around after celebrities and draw silly pictures of them wearing idiotic hats. They then get mad at you and shove your pencils up your nose and the more traditional Paparazzi with cameras take lots of photos.

Pisces

19 February – 20 March

You keep having dreams that you are the best cartoonist in the world. You realise this is probably true, but you can only achieve this lofty goal whilst actually in the land of nod. You pay an assistant to wake you up just enough to hold a pen, but not enough for your consciousness to fully awaken. You end up with lots of drawings of sexy toucans and one very pissed off assistant as you are a grumpy twat when you are asleep.

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PARTING SHOT

WAVING NOT DROWNING SUN, SEA AND SAVIOURS ON A HOLIDAY TRIP TO THE MEDITERRANEAN ANONYMOUS splashing about I can’t give you my name – for reasons that I’m sure will become clear. But I can tell you that my cousin’s name is Elliot.

Elliot and I grew up in a large family. Our dads are brothers, and they have other brothers and sisters, and they’re all pretty close, so we’ve had a lot of family holidays together. I have a posse of other cousins of various genders and ages, so the holidays were always quite good fun, despite the odd fall-out/poolside accident/people ‘borrowing’ your stuff etc.

The only downside is that my dad and Elliot’s dad have always been a bit competitive. They’re close in age, and they look alike and are often mistaken for twins. My dad does his best to hide it, and is a bit more chilled, but Elliot’s dad wants to win at all costs. Elliot is the closest cousin in age to me, and I suppose it’s inevitable that having no brothers, from a young age we sometimes felt pitted against each other whenever we were all together, mainly on said holidays. This wasn’t so bad. Neither of had particularly inherited the competitive gene, and we always got on well. Plus both of us were aware what they were like, so knew that if we attempted any sort of pool-race they’d appear as if by magic to shout encouragement. Table tennis was a no-go as they just ended up taking the bats of us and playing themselves. Footie was especially challenging – a kickabout wasn’t really much fun when they were around, and a dads and sons bike-ride was a disaster on one occasion because I couldn’t keep up. We were probably only about 7, but it could have been the Tour De France as far as Elliot’s dad was concerned. Fortunately their evenings were spent in the hotel bar or a local taverna, so we could relax then.

The summer we were 11/12, when we arrived at the hotel in the Mediterranean resort, Elliot was about a foot taller than me. We hadn’t been together since around Xmas, and having started secondary school meant new friendships had taken priority, so hadn’t made any attempt to get in touch for a while. He had a deepening voice, and even a bit of a moustache, whereas I still looked about 9. Nevertheless we were happy to see each other, and within 10 minutes it was like we’d never been apart. We were allowed to share a room, just us, for the first time, and had a lot more freedom. We spent most of our time

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going a bit further each time, to try and build his confidence. He was nervous, but up for it. So each day we went a little bit further, and it worked. He was doing really well, and he started to enjoy the water again, and could swim out quite far after a couple of days. He was a bit anxious about being out of his depth, and doing it without me there next to him, but with lots of encouragement, he made it out about half-way and back while I watched from the beach.

The following day, while Elliot went to the together, and really talked. Elliot confided in outdoor tap to fill our water bottles, I swam me that he was being bullied quite a bit at out most of the way to the island, and treading his new school, and another boy had dunked water, watched him return to our beach towels. him in the deep end at swimming and held him He looked around for me, not spotting me under, so now he was quite scared in the water, straight away, and I called and waved a few and couldn’t go out of his depth. His height times, intending to encourage him to swim out made him a bit of a target, and he struggled by himself, but with me there to swim back with with it quite a bit. The upsides were he looked him. But he didn’t see me, and the beach was so much older he got served in the hotel bar, busy, so he couldn’t hear me. I started to shout so we had as many cokes as we liked (!), and we and wave like mad – and other people did spot were allowed out by ourselves provided we were me. And it turns out that if you shout ‘Ell, Ell’, ‘sensible’. Some teenage girls flirted with him from the sea – and wave a lot – people will think a lot, getting in the lift with us on purpose, and you need rescuing. Who knew? I continued sitting near us by the pool and giggling. There trying to get Elliot’s attention, wondering why were downsides - at a climbing wall we were put lots of people were standing up and pointing. into different sections, and one morning he was Quite a crowd gathered, and it was only when dragged off on a mountain bike ride with the several heroic sorts dived in and started to swim dads, as he passed for the minimum hire age of out towards me that it dawned on me that they 14, while I was left behind to play sandcastles thought I was in trouble. Then Elliot realised with the younger kids. But mostly we were left what was going on and didn’t hesitate – he to our own devices, and spent the time playing joined in with all the rest of the heroes and in the pool, trying to build Elliot’s confidence in swam straight out to get me. And me? I was too the deep end by diving for coins. embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t drowning, I The main drawback was that Elliot was was just waving, and just played along. very pre-teen self-conscious, and hugely I feigned a terrible pain in my side, and embarrassed by his dad’s comments about my breathing difficulty, and let myself be pulled to height. Those jokes about the seven dwarfs, shore, crowds clapping and cheering. Everyone and how I needed to be careful they didn’t agreed that it’s the cold that can get to you. accidentally put me in the creche. How we Only Elliot knows the truth – I told him that laughed. A few nights in to the holiday, we sat night, and he laughed so hard, he was the one on the beach, talking and drawing circles in the with breathing difficulty. But I reminded him he sand. We’d drunk far too many cokes, and Elliot hadn’t hesitated in diving in to rescue me. He cried and told me that he sometimes hated his got over all of his issues in that one moment. dad. ‘He’s so ashamed of me’, he said. ‘He came That night his dad took the piss so much, it to watch me play footie, and we lost, and he left ended up with him rolling around on the floor without saying anything to me. He says if I have of the hotel bar with my dad and him punching no drive, I’ll never succeed at anything. And I each other. They were banned for the rest of the know he’s noticed how I am in the water. He week, and the mums made them sleep out on looks away, he’s so embarrassed.’ the balconies. Best holiday ever.

There was a floating inflatable island about 100 metres or so from the beach. I’d already swum out there a couple of times, but as Elliot couldn’t come with me, we’d mostly stayed in the pool, or not gone out of our depth in the sea. I told Elliot that we’d practice every day,

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e: editor@thenewcartoonist.co.uk

KEVIN WELLS

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THE END PORTRAIT BY: KEVIN WELLS

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ISSN: 2977-6368

BORN TO DRAW!

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