A budding cartoonist

My favourite comic strip of all time is Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson - the collections of which I've read and reread many times since I was young. After taking an animation class I abandoned my dreams of being an animator (I didn't have the patience to draw the same thing over and over again) I decided that I wanted to be a cartoonist just like Bill Watterson. I made several false starts at representing the Mighty Orange-Peel in graphic novel form. Then I realised that I didn't really have the inclination for telling stories through pictures. I had too many words in my head. And, eventually, I came to the acceptance that I'm an illustrator. I enjoy pouring detail into one image that tells a story and then creating pictures with words.

However, at University, I made a brief foray into the world of comics again. I decided I had a voice/a unique perspective/a cynicism that my peers would appreciate. 'Back of the Queue' was born.

It was conceived as a comic that described how every Yalie felt. We'd all been top of the class, cocks of the walks in in respective home towns. Suddenly we were thrust into an environment where no matter what amazing thing you'd done, someone else had done it better. So, while we found camaraderie, we were suddenly thrust to the bottom of the heap in our struggles to find our 'specialness' that had once defined us.

It started out snappy and topical enough, but, eventually as sleepless nights and stress took over a sinister humour began to leak onto the pages. What resulted was a representation of my id (Angry Harry) torturing a caricature of myself. I think they worried other people. But even today they still appeal to the darker side of my sense of humour.

I made a few attempts at political statements in 'Queue' (which are not shown here because they're awful) to try and divert my attention, but ultimately, the comic ended. I finished with a dramatic flourish which can only be described as an artist's tantrum, and 'Back of the Queue' closed by running into a brick wall of my own self absorbtion.

A new book for Ollie

A friend of mine is about to have her second baby, a little girl. Her son, Ollie is now five years old and is bracing himself to have a little sister. So, as a small present I've created a small book for Ollie introducing him to the wonders of having a younger sibling.


I've done the book in pen and ink mostly because I wanted to finish it as soon as possible (my friend looks about ready to pop) so Ollie could read it before he's shocked by a new crying screaming thing in the house.


I prefer to draw from life, but as it was a surprise I worked from photos. And, because I know them it wasn't too hard to fill in some of the 'real life' information that I have in my head.

To create the drawings I did many many sketches of the family to create suitable cartoon likenesses.

The key to a good caricature isn't being the best drawer or recording every detail. It's about finding the 'defining' lines of a person's face. When you see someone you see their 'main' features, not every single wrinkle and crack. So, when sketching I'm working to find the lines that make the person look like themselves. This is why it's better to sketch from real life. But, when you know them you know what features are their most prominent. Amy (above) for instance is all eyes and teeth like a movie star!

Here are some of the sketches.

I draw the image in bits and pieces. Picking out the best bits, define the caricature and then draw and redrawn until I can create the person's look from memory. However, when I go to do the final drawing I keep the photographs hand to make reference to them if I need. Because I was trying to produce this quickly and edit in photoshop I actually created the image below in separate pieces and put them together digitally from the skectches above. Introducing the Fox family with the new (to be expected) baby.