take cover! andy davey stirs it up in the forum shrewsbury festival

Transcription

!
ISSUE 374 – JUNE 2005
!
AUTUMN 2005
The Jester
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
TAKE COVER! ANDY DAVEY STIRS IT UP IN THE FORUM
SHREWSBURY FESTIVAL – LES BARTON’S NUDE
A GOOD MATT IN AFRICA – BLAZERMAN ON THE TELLY
WIN YOUR SUBS BACK – PLUS NEWS & REVIEWS
The Newsletter of the Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain
THE JESTER ISSUE 374 – JUNE 2005
The Jester
Issue 374 - June 2005
CCGB ONLINE: WWW.CCGB.ORG.UK
News
Published 11 times a year
by The Cartoonists’ Club
CCGB website. From each place I
visit I will be sending back an
interactive Toontrek diary so that
CCGB members can follow the
progress of the journey.
Plans are developing quickly now,
as they unfold I will keep everyone
posted.
of Great Britain
The CCGB Committee
Chairman: Terry Christien
020–8892 3621
[email protected]
Secretary: Richard Tomes
0121–706 7652
[email protected]
Treasurer: Jill Kearney
020–8590 8942
Les Barton: 01895–236 732
[email protected]
Clive Collins: 01702–557 205
[email protected]
Neil Dishington: 020–8505 0134
[email protected]
Ian Ellery: 01424–718 209
[email protected]
Pete Jacob: 01732 845 079
Helen Martin: 01883–625 600
[email protected]
Roy Nixon: 01245–256 814
Jed Pascoe: 01767–682 882
[email protected]
Roger Penwill: 01584–711 854
[email protected]
Derek Quint: 01984–632 592
Jed Stone: 020–7720 1884
[email protected]
Mike Turner: 01206–798 283
[email protected]
Jock Williams-Davies:
01473–422 917
[email protected]
Jester Editor:
Royston Robertson
01843–871 241
jester_magazine @yahoo.co.uk
Front cover: Andy Davey
Back cover: Dave Parker
Keep ‘em coming
New logos: Tim Harries
Drawing on
reality TV
Sue ready for
charity trip
SUE BURLEIGH sent us this report
on her impending trip:
Toontrek plans are coming along
splendidly. The trek will be starting
in Dublin on July 22, where I am
booked in at Isaacs Hostel for three
nights, right in the town centre where
it all happens. I will be meeting up
with some Irish cartoonists and
checking out the sights and sounds of
Dublin, including the Guinness
factory. If any other cartoonists want
to come along for that weekend they
are very welcome. It’s not too
expensive if you book a hostel and
get a cheap flight.
On July 25 I fly to Paris and will be
staying at another backpackers’
hostel for three nights in the
Montmartre area, again meeting up
with some cartoonists and doing a bit
of sightseeing. On the Thursday I
catch the train to Brussels for a
couple or days, and will visit the
Belgian Centre for Comic Strip Art
and then head into Germany and beyond. The countries I will cover are:
the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria,
Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Italy, Spain,
France ... and home.
I will be staying in all sorts of
places: hostels, cartoonists’ front
rooms and even the odd art studio.
The response from the cartoonist
network abroad has been incredible,
and the support and help from
cartoonists at home has also been
brilliant. Ian Ellery has helped set up
a weblog that will be attached to the
2
MTV Europe is currently screening a
reality TV show in which eight very
different characters are made to live
together in a house for several weeks,
to see how they get on. So far, so
what? you might well ask. Well the
twist, of course, is that the six
characters are of the cartoon variety
as this is an animated spoof of the
reality TV genre.
It’s called Drawn Together and the
cast are all from different cartoon
genres. For example, Captain Hero is
a superhero (fairly obviously), Ling
Ling is “an Asian trading card monster” (read Pokemon), Wooldoor
Sockbat is not unlike Spongebob
Squarepants and Toot Braunstein is
basically Betty Boop.
Your Jester Editor is not so
dedicated that he is going to
subscribe to MTV to see this show,
so if any readers have the channel, do
let us know what you think. But be
warned, it’s “sometimes shocking
and sometimes just downright
strange” i.e. it’s got rude bits in it.
Simon makes
the headlines
THE BBC was accused of
squandering licence-payers’
money when it employed CCGB
member Simon Ellinas to draw
political cartoons on the BBC News
24 election bus in Dover on May 2.
It was “an exhilarating and
creatively rewarding day”, Simon told
the CCGB website forum.
“Suffice to say that being given a
topic on the spot to go away and draw
up in ink within 45 minutes really
concentrates the mind ... Judging by
this experience it is not true that the
British do not like cartoons.”
So a wonderful time was had by all,
and “BlazerMan” Simon tells us that
he had to turn down a proposal of
marriage from presenter Sophie
Raworth. Missed that one on the
news.
Sophie Raworth with Simon
Ellinas. See Simon and co at the
Louviers festival, page 17
The Chair
STONE me, is it the Chairman’s
second issue already?
I feel the need to exude praises yet
again to outgoing Ed, Richard the
Tomes. Modest guy that he is, he’ll
say “Oh no...” but heaped thanks on
behalf of the club must bounce on
his Land Rover bonnet for his fantabulous innings as Jester Ed.
Steering the club’s organ is quite
some commitment – it’s the club’s
biggest single expense on behalf of
the membership. And we are very
fortunate to have the key strokes
played from now on by Royston
Robertson. We look forward to seeing his ensuing issues and Royston, a
big thank-you in advance mate.
And dear membership, it should
never be down to just the Editor and
a handful of contributors but an ever
thoughtful and willing band of member cartoonists from far flung places
up and down the UK. So please feel
free to relate cartoon experiences
and/or pose questions or simply send
in cartoons for the covers as well as
the inside.
Our Ed is very accessible via mail
and email so please get involved.
After all, you applied for membership in the first place so expose
yourselves. I mean that in the nicest
possible way of course.
And seeing you at club meetings
from time to time would be a welcome sight too. We appreciate it’s
always a mission for out-of-towners
to get along. But can we suggest
when you make the decision to come
up to London on the first Tuesday of
the month, take in gallery or
an exhibition visit perhaps, or take in
a show or whatever, and then on to
us at The Cartoonist pub in the evening. We’d dearly love to meet you,
and we don’t bite, honest.
To whet your appetite for the
meetings, we’re arranging for various well-chosen talks at each meeting for say half an hour, with a visual
presentation wherever possible.
Subjects such as: cartoon festivals;
what publishers are looking for;
3
selected cartoon illustrators and so
on, ideally, notified in The Jester a
couple of issues ahead. Arranging
this participation is simply something we’ve got out of the habit of
doing.
So to kick off, I personally shall do
a little number at this June meeting
under the title of “Linework” – a
casual, interactive little interlude for
your edification.
Now, these computer thingies: just
a passing fad or what? You will need
access to one of those new fangled
thingies if you’re going to join us on
the club website. Please don’t be
afraid. It’s all there to help you,
really!
If you are taking your first faltering
steps into the electronic unknown,
there’ll very likely be a sympathetic
eye who can help with advice and
would be more than happy to pass it
on. So be brave and log on to:
www.ccgb.org.uk
There’s a whole bunch of us eagerly
looking forward to the Hastings
weekend June 10 – 12 and our guiding light for this event is Ian “never
knowingly undersold” Ellery, who
will do us a report on goings-on for
the July Jester.
Our thanks in advance Ian, you’ve
worked hard to accommodate us all
on this event.
So, please join us in The Jester or
on the club website. Ta for listening,
and stay busy.
Cheers
Terry Christien
Dear Jester
What do we want?
Letters can be sent to
The Jester via email:
[email protected]
You can also send letters
by post to:
The Jester
c/o Royston Robertson
20 Upton Road
Broadstairs
Kent CT10 2AS
It would be extremely helpful
if letters sent via snail mail
could be typed or produced
on a word processor. If this is
not possible, please keep
them legible (no green crayon
please)
AS a new member, and one fairly
new to cartooning, I thought I would
respond to a comment made by
Richard Tomes in the last issue
regarding what members want from
the club etc. I joined so that I could
find out what is going on in the
cartoon world.
It’s great to see other cartoonists’
work and the individual styles
reflecting different personalities. The
Jester is obviously the best means to
keep up-to-date as I don’t always
remember to look at the website
regularly.
Thanks to everyone involved in
running the club.
Claire Zillwood
PS. With Wimbledon approaching, I
have attached a cartoon showing one
of the lesser-known events.
Some letters may be edited
to fit space requirements
Your home is at risk if you
leave the gas on when you go
down the pub
Shrewsbury festival, pages 8-9.
A bit of politics
I WAS very surprised, nay
disappointed, to observe that the
May edition of The Jester contained
not a jot, apart from my own
recycled contribution, of vitriolic
sarcasm directed at our current
pathetic array of governing
politicians. Surely some others of
our membership would have noticed
that an election was under way?
Jack Pennington
It’s possible Jack that readers were
pleased to pick up a publication that
didn’t have 90 pages of election
coverage. Or maybe said politicians
are just beyond a joke. – Ed.
Double booked
If you send artwork or
anything else that you want
back, please enclose a
stamped addressed
envelope
The deadline for letters and
all other content for
The Jester is the 12th of
every month
drawings, but funny and accessible
i.e. the drawings were all large.
Brilliant!
Neil Dishington
Festivals, I love ’em really
FURTHER to my somewhat critical
piece on cartoon festivals etc. I
would like to grovel. Just back from
Shrewsbury, a great weekend
wonderfully organised by Roger and
his merry team. On a par with the
Belgium do. No, better!
The Bill Stott and Mike Williams
exhibition was the best cartoon exhibition I have seen – not only super
4
I BOUGHT, in error (and don’t ask
how I managed to do it – I just did)
two copies of the book 50 Years of
Playboy Cartoons. It’s a magnificent
tome – 368-odd pages of brilliant
half-tone and colour cartoons by the
giants of Playboy: Eldon Dedini,
Dink Siegel, Buck Brown, the
Wilsons – Rowland B. and Gahan –
Mike Williams, Erich Sokol and a
truckload of others.
It is splendidly glossy and weighs a
ton. The book has a price inside the
cover of $50, and I bought it via
Amazon for £25. I’m happy to sell at
this price to anyone out there who
fancies having this beautiful
hardback on their shelves.
Any purchaser will have to negotiate delivery of this book, i.e. come to
a club meeting where I can hand it
over, or they can take the risk of me
posting it. It really is big.
If anyone out there is interested,
please let me know.
Clive Collins
Website forum
It all began with a posting from Andy Davey noting that that high-profile
ad agencies never seem to use CCGB cartoonists. It turned into a
provocative, plain-speaking thread and the longest in the history of the
site, with 101 replies and 1,743 views at the time of writing. Here then,
are the edited highlights. As Mrs Merton used to say …
Let’s have a heated debate!
The CCGB website can be
found at:
www.ccgb.org.uk
To access the forum, click
“Members’ Area” then “Enter
the Members’ Forum”
When posting messages on
the forum, please be aware
that some content may be
reprinted in The Jester
The forum sections are:
The Cartoonist Pub
Chat in the Cartoonist
private-members bar about
anything and everything
Invited Guests
A place to nominate people
you think should be invited to
join us in the Cartoon Cafe
and Grab Bag forums
Committee Business
Invisible to all but members of
the committee Site News and Information
News, announcements and
questions from administrators
and moderators of the site
The Cartoon Cafe
General discussion about
cartooning, questions, answers etc
Grab Bag
The place for uploads:
images, animations, games,
cuttings, links, and so on
Andy Davey: Why didn’t DFGW [ad
agency behind the BBC election adverts] think to seek out members of the
CCGB? … How many CCGB members are involved in this kind of TV or
film work, or high-profile advertising
campaign cartoon work, or regular
newspaper work, or regular cartoon
strip work in high-circulation magazines? Er, not many, I think. What are
we doing on the terraces? Why aren’t
we on the pitch? In short, we’re crap,
innit? Arses in gear, I think, peeps.
club, why does it publish a glossy
handbook and send it to art commissioners at ad agencies and the like?
Conversely, if the club is there to promote the high standards of cartoon art
in the UK, then why is the handbook
full of amateur, sub-standard work? If
I was an ad agency art director or
someone looking for website illustrations and I received the handbook, I’d
probably chuck it straight in the bin ...
you lose the will to live after a few
pages.
Ian Ellery: I don’t think we’re crap at
all really. It’s just that there are hundreds of Cartoonists in this country
who aren't members of the Cartoonists
Club ... Maybe we should bombard the
country with a leafleting campaign or
put a couple of ads in trade mags. We
do not publicise the club. Maybe it’s
time we did.
IE: Another thing I’d like to add to the
mix is that even as a social club I don’t
think we’re offering a lot. We meet in
probably the most expensive place in
London, run by a landlord who honestly couldn't give a toss about us just
because we’ve always met there! Time
to move on? How about a total relaunch then? Back to square one. New
constitution, new venue. After we’ve
decided who we are of course!
Matt Buck: Bluntly, I agree with
Andy, I think a lot of the work is crap. I
have never understood why, if we are a
social club, we insist on producing a
handbook and then distributing it to
potential buyers. Frankly, I think it’s a
waste of club money. It promotes,
because of the wildly variable quality,
an idea of amateurism about the club
and its member ... This wouldn’t matter
if the book was only distributed to club
members as a social tool, but passing it
out into the great and unkind marketplace tars all of us with a big brush of
“dodgy quality”.
Steve Hearn: A social club has no
commercial interest. It's a great way to
get together and meet friends, talk about
everything and be social. The Handbook comments are very well said. I
hope that the club will consider its identity more closely. Change is inevitable.
AD: At present, [the club is] the proverbial two-headed ass. If it’s a social
5
Simon Ellinas: Revolution! I agree
totally with Ian’s last comment. A
“club” should actually feel like home
from home and the food and drink
should be cheaper than anywhere else.
SH: Maybe the club could split into
sub categories: CCGB OLD Gits, a
place to meet and talk about the old
days and what a sorry state the world
has become in todays society, with
memories of “old Fleet St”. CCGB
YOUNG Gits, a place where new and
up coming talent can talk about the
latest technology and digital approach
to cartooning ... the above is a verbal
cartoon, so please take it with a pinch
of salt!
Arthur Middleton: As a long time
member (29 years) I have no axe to
grind except that for myself the
CCGB is purely a social club. I find it
amazing that nothing Continues p7 ...
6
changes, I remember the same arguments at Pwllheli back in the 1970s.
Roger Penwill: Can the Cartoonists
Club ever really be taken seriously
and hold its collective head proud if it
cannot risk showing off its members’
artwork as a whole, as it knows it is
largely below publishable or exhibiting quality? That is the constantly
recurring Achilles’ heel.
Steve Bright: Er, so is the solution
natural wastage coupled with a much
stricter entrance procedure – or are
we talking cull? Spade or bloody
shovel?
SE: Back to the two-tier theory, then:
a professional cartoonists club and an
amateur club. The professional one
can rub shoulders with anyone,
surely. The amateur one can wallow
in the depths of The Cartoonist.
IE: If we decide to go this route what
would we do? Chuck out members
whose work isn't up to scratch? Who
would judge that?
RP: Step by step, I think, Ian. Firstly
tackle how to raise the standard of
admission. This will have to involve
subjective decisions by the committee. The present requirement for three
examples of published work is no
way near enough sufficient.
AD: I don’t think it’s any use talking
of breakaway factions ... I’m constantly aware through all of this of the
Life of Brian scenes involving the
“Popular Front of Judea”.
AD: Longevity is no evidence of a
fruitful life and it most palpably is not
“THE” club.
your work and believe me you need
have no qualms regarding your eligibility as a new member!
Pete Dredge: I think it’s worth analysing why cartoonists decide to
apply for membership in the first
place … I had barely been cartooning
for two months before discovering the
CCGB and was thrilled to become
accepted into the fold, not because of
the career opportunities that this could
lead to but because of the feeling of
fellowship and connection with other
cartoonists.
Terry Christien: I personally hear
all you’re saying but we could all be
guilty of procrastination in the form
of constant navel gazing …
Paul Houghton: As a member of
only a year’s standing, I'm following
all this with a kind of morbid fascination. When I applied to join, I submitted samples of my work, nervously waited for a response and then,
as you can imagine, bounced around
for days when I was accepted. Reading some of the views expressed
within this thread, I’m not so sure that
I should've bounced quite so much.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still extremely proud of my membership
status, but there’s a feeling of impending (negative) discovery here: is
my artwork REALLY up to an acceptable standard, is the fact that I
have a full-time job against me?
Paul Hardman: As an Old Git
(Thank you Steve!) ... I would suggest
a few things: 1) That in future the
standards of entry are done by interview on club nights ... 2) That the
CCGB only puts its name to exhibitions of invited works ... 3) That it
NEVER publishes open work again
for release around the media circuit.
NF: I think we are now starting to
become a little confused! There is no
problem at all with having a membership of widely mixed ability if the
club is purely social in its nature.
Paul, you know I am familiar with
Tim Harries: Personally I greatly
value the social aspect – the chance
to meet/socialise with/learn from
some of my cartoon heroes has been
invaluable in my growth as a cartoonist.
Mark Wood: It all seems like shutting the stable door after the horse has
bolted. How could you change the
criteria for joining the club now ...
when there may be people already in
the club that some of you feel are
equally not up to scratch.
Mike Turner: I've just heard on the
news that an ape’s artwork as been
sold for several hundred pounds ...
let’s get him in the club!
What do other readers think? Send
The Jester a letter ... or go online.
SB: Andy, this is some can of worms
... Normally I enjoy the occasional
worm to chew over, but these are
leaving a slightly bad taste.
Noel Ford: It’s an old problem,
caused by misjudgments having been
made in the selection process. Personally, I see no easy way out of it
except to keep the club entirely social
and dispense with any ideas of commercialism. The brutal facts are that
the club has members who should
never have been admitted.
Andy Gilbert: 45 years and some, a
very impressive record I’d say ...
Shouldn’t it be “THE” Cartoonists’
Club of Great Britain?
“OK, all those in favour of delegating decision-making, shrug your shoulders”
7
Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival
Nautical but nice: Terry “Fletcher” Christien contributes to the bounty of maritime cartoons
Glass act: Festival Chairman Roger Penwill
THANKS to all those who
came along to make Shrewsbury’s second cartoon festival a
great success. This time it was
very clear that the town was
embracing the event and making it its own.
Once again around 30 cartoonists were invited to participate in the weekend. There
were seven exhibitions, all of a
very high standard. Some kind
people commented that the Bill
Stott and Mike Williams combined exhibition was the best
cartoon exhibition they had
seen. This and the England
Expects and Funny Women
shows were selling exhibitions,
and fifty cartoons were sold
during the festival exhibition
period.
We are delighted to have sold
so many as we are keen to establish the Shrewsbury event as
a place and occasion at which
the public can buy quality cartoon art. The exhibitions were
very much the backbone of the
festival and we are sorry that
we only managed to arrange
receptions at five of them!
8
As usual the visiting cartoonists
worked hard drawing for the
public or running workshops.
The workshops were well attended and popular.
Bill Stott gave another of his
entertaining talks, where it was
standing-room only, and Mike
Williams was most surprised to
be presented with a Shrewsbury
Festival Lifetime Humour
Award at the end of it. Martin
Rowson’s talk, “Afflicting The
Comfortable”, attracted a sizeable and knowledgeable audience and he was joined on stage
by Dave Brown, Andy Davey
and Dean Alston for an audience discussion.
The weekend was greatly enhanced by the presence of four
lively French cartoonists,
namely Robert Rousso, Laville,
Maurice Zabuski and Carlos
Brito. Rousso had provided an
excellent Best of French Cartoons exhibition; 40 cartoons
featuring the work of 20 French
cartoonists. Again this was a
big hit with both the locals and
the many visitors who we now
know came to the town for the
festival. A 6m by 2m composite cartoon on the theme of the Battle of
Trafalgar was created during the
Saturday afternoon in the same public space as the French exhibition.
Amazingly, after two weeks on public display no impromptu public additions had been made to it!
We also had the company of Marlene Pohle, soon to be FECO President General, and Peter Ruge, both
from Germany.
Marlene helped
launch the FECO World Winners
exhibition of 80 prize-winning cartoons from 25 countries.
The weekend would not have happened without the enormous efforts
of Alison Patrick, the Shrewsbury
Tourism and Marketing Officer, and
her staff and those of Karen Lloyd
and her colleagues at Shrewsbury
Civic Society.
There are an astonishing number of
cartoon fans in the town and more
pop up each year. This experience
shows that the public clearly love
cartoons. Next year’s Festival is now
being planned for April 21-23, the
weekend after Easter.
Entente Cordiale: Doing their bit for international relations are, left to right,
Carlos Brito, Alex Noel Watson, Peter Ruge, Maurice Zabuski and Helen Martin
Roger Penwill
Chairman of the Festival
Meeting the public: Left to right, Marlene Pohle, Robert Rousseau and Andy Davey
Photographs by Ian Ellery, Marlene Pohle and Roger Penwill.
Below: some attendees were amused by the beige sartorial choice of
many cartoonists [not sure this works in black and white – Ed.]
9
Reviews
The Complete
Cartoons of the
New Yorker
Edited by Robert Mankoff
NOW this is required reading:
68,647 cartoons collected together
in one book and on two CDs. The
book itself is a hefty tome, weighing about ten pounds and containing
2,000 cartoons more than 655
pages. It’s not really suitable for a
train journey but just the ticket for
some leisurely browsing with a
glass of wine and a reinforced table
(did I mention it’s heavy?) .
The rest of the cartoons are found
on the CDs, the first covering 1925
to 1964 and the second 1965 to
2004. They require Adobe Reader
and are easy to navigate.
The menu is broken down into
decades and individual years, and
there’s also a comprehensive search
facility that lets you look up by
artist, date, and keyword.
As for the cartoons themselves,
amid all the work by Charles
Addams, Barsotti, Gahan Wilson as
well as younger talent like Matthew
Diffee, it’s interesting to see the
trends and themes that permeate
each decade and how humour can
change over time. What was funny
in the 1930s may be less so now,
and there are a fair share of gags
that left me scratching my head, but
that still leaves about 60,000 gags
that make me laugh out loud (while
muttering, “Wish I'd thought of
that!”)
And what more could you ask for?
Except maybe a reinforced table.
scripts, preliminary sketches, abandoned concepts, character designs
and final artwork (the highlight for
me is the work of Simon Thorp with
his intricate black and white work
and outstanding colour cartoons.)
Amazon.co.uk have this book
available for £28 (free delivery)
25 Years of Viz:
Silver Plated
Jubilee
By William Cook
“We pride ourselves on the fact that
you’re no cleverer when you’ve
read Viz. You might have had a few
laughs but you've not learnt
anything.” – Chris Donald.
DOES the same hold true with this
book? Well there are a few laughs,
but you do learn things too.
Even if you’re not a fan of the
magazine there’s still plenty to
enjoy here. The book’s been divided up into three main chapters:
the Story, the Characters, the Art,
and every glossy page of it is chock
full of artwork – roughs, unfinished
10
Aside from the cartoons there’s a
detailed history of the magazine
from its beginnings as a local comic
handed out in youth clubs to selling
a million copies per month nationwide.
Of equal delight are the small details found in the book. The letter
written by Alex Collier and the
rejection he received is reproduced
(those of us who met Alex at Nottingham will know how successful
he became at Viz) and Chris Donald’s obsession with forms is also
addressed (and signed and dated).
Amazon.co.uk have this book for
£14 (hardcover)
Reviews by Tim Harries
Fame at last, but not in cartoons
MEL CALMAN called his autobiography What Else Do You Do?,
after the question that is so often put
to cartoonists. In fact, there appear
to be many cartoonists who not only
did something else, but found that
that occupation eventually made
their name, to the point where the
career in cartooning became a
largely forgotten footnote.
I started thinking about this when I
heard after the death of Bob Monkhouse that he had once been a cartoonist. A little light research on the
internet turned up the fact that he
worked for D.C. Thomson, but
other than this I know very little and
I’d be grateful if any members
could shed any light on the matter.
At about the same time I read an
article about the novelist John
Updike and how he had been obsessed with cartoons as a child. He
regularly badgered his cartoonist
heroes for original artwork for free
(how we know that feeling). Updike
also tried his hand at being a cartoonist before coming to his senses
and deciding that writing was the
better path to take. It was certainly
the more lucrative.
Another writer who has dabbled
with cartooning is Will Self. Some
of his work can be seen in a compilation of his newspaper and
magazine articles called Junk Mail.
The drawing is crude but some of
the gags are pretty good.
A friend of mine used to work as a
sub-editor at an architecture magazine called Building Design where
Self once wrote a column and
regularly submitted a cartoon along
with it. My pal took a rather dim
view of Will Self the artist because
he never rubbed out his pencil lines
and the lowly, overworked subs had
to do it.
Bizarrely, the digital radio station
BBC 6Music appears to be a hotbed
of former cartoonists, with no less
than three ex-scribblers now
“As a cartoonist
Will Self never
rubbed out his
pencil lines,
the overworked
sub-editors had
to do it”
spinning discs for a living. (Well,
pressing buttons to start a digital
music file playing, so much for the
“wheels of steel”.)
Marc Riley, formerly “Lard” of
Mark and Lard fame on Radio One,
is an ex-cartoonist whose drawing
was a bit on the crude side. Readers
may remember his Harry the Head
from the comic Oink!, where he
also appeared in photo strips. He
was the guy with the big nose.
6Music’s breakfast show presenter
Phill Jupitus, the comedian and
11
Never Mind the Buzzcocks team
captain, also dabbled as a cartoonist
apparently, though again I was
unable to unearth any details about
his work (seems you can’t find
everything on the internet) it would
be great if any readers could fill in
the, er, sketchy details.
Then there’s the 6Music drive-time
presenter Andrew Collins, also an
ex-New Musical Express journalist,
EastEnders scriptwriter and general
overachiever, who chronicled his
half-hearted attempts to make a
living drawing cartoon owls and
wizards for puzzle magazines in his
bestselling memoirs of growing up
in the 1970s and 1980s.
Talking of the NME, anyone who
used to read the music paper in the
early 1990s may remember a cartoon drawn in the style of Gillray
called Dr Crawshaft’s World of Pop.
But did you know that it was drawn
by Arthur Mathews who went on to
co-script the sitcom Father Ted?
Of course comedy writing and
cartooning often go hand in hand. I
know some CCGB members have
scripted stuff for radio and TV.
So I suppose there’s hope for us all
if we get disillusioned with the
world of cartooning. If you know
any other examples of famous former cartoonists – this is hardly an
exhaustive list, I know – drop The
Jester a line.
Right, time to get back to the
drawing board/typewriter/record
decks …
Royston Robertson
Fun raising
Bayswater Road
FROM my earliest days as an artist
I was impressed with the work of
Augustus John. I admired his
draughtsmanship and skills as a
painter. When I painted my own
children I adopted his free style.
Later I experimented with Cubism
and Abstract art and I painted my
wife, Dot, in that style. I submitted
work to the Trends exhibition at the
Mall Galleries and the Chelsea Art
Society and many other exhibitions.
Athough the works were accepted
and exhibited, they did not attract
any buyers.
In 1980 with my work as comic
artist getting scarce I decided to try
my luck in the gutter – so I decided
to go up the Bayswater Road every
Sunday with a stack of art and display them on the railings opposite
Queensway.
The Bayswater Road at that time
had hundreds of hopeful artists displaying art work from Marble Arch
to the top of Bayswater Road.
I produced many types of subjects
including galleons, portraits, landscapes and even abstracts with a
moderate amount of success. However, what appealed to most people
was my pen and ink watercolours of
London scenes.
These were usually A4 size with
mounts in different colours. I was
almost back to my comic and cartoon work, in fact after drawing Big
Ben several times every week, the
work became a bit monotonous and
slack. I remember once someone
pointed out Big Ben in one of my
paintings was leaning several degrees to the right. It sold in the end.
Someone somewhere has the leaning tower of Big Ben on their wall.
Two of my fellow artists were
John Arthur, who still runs his own
small gallery at Old Kings Head
Court, Dorking, and Peter Fantoni,
who unfortunately has since died.
They were a great help to me in the
earliest days up the Bayswater
Road. It was Peter’s son, Barry
Fantoni, who worked for Private
Eye, who suggested I contribute
ideas to the Eye, when he visited
our pitch one Sunday. I have continued to, occasionally, ever since.
Sometimes I put nudes on the
railings, the inspectors of the Bayswater Road Art Exhibition were not
too pleased with them. “People
don't want to see that sort of thing
on a Sunday afternoon,” I was told.
Occasionally people giggled, but
apart from that they did not mind.
They enjoyed the upright expression of a horizontal idea. Traffic
along the Bayswater Road would
screech to a stop and stare. Once a
12
car, speeding along, caught the
stationary car next to mine. It ricocheted off it like a bouncing bomb,
luckily missing mine, and then hit
the next car, before speeding off
down Notting Hill like a cat in orbit. After that I decided nudes were
best left to the Chelsea Art Exhibition.
When I started to do caricatures of
people, this was quite popular but
the other exhibitors objected, they
said I tended to collect large crowds
around me while sketching, and
their exhibits were ignored. However, I did pick up a few commissions for portraits from photos.
Although I made many friends,
eventually the Bayswater Road
exhibition on the railings was spoilt
by dealers producing art manufactured in the sweat shops in Hong
Kong and the Far East. There were
landscapes done in a slick style and
sold quite cheaply for a few quid.
In fact one of the dealers wanted
me to invest a few hundred quid in
these. He said I would make my
fortune, however it did not appeal to
me and I declined the offer.
So I quit my spot on the railings
and went back to cartoons, birthday
cards and the occasional commercial job. Luckily I managed to get a
commission designing birthday
cards for Camden Cards. This
proved quite successful, especially
my cats which were very popular.
Caricatures
THEY say there are three types of
art: erotic, neurotic and tommyrotic.
On-the-spot caricatures could be
described as chaotic, especially at
events with magicians, face painters, Punch and Judy shows and the
like.
Quite often while sketching, a
queue would form and you would
provide sketch after sketch like a
factory assembly line. Once, the
next in line was a dad with a small
baby slumped in a pushchair fast
asleep.
“How are you at drawing sleeping
children?” he asked.
I produced a perky wide-eyed
child smiling and full of life. The
customer went away satisfied and
happy.
There are days when people ask
me, “Have you drawn many famous
people?”. I tell them it’s more likely
to be a lookalike.
During the troubled times of Princess Diana and Prince Charles I did
a cartoon for Private Eye. I often
did caricatures of various celebrities
and portrayed them in comic situations, like Jeffrey Archer and his
cash machine. I did a Queen lookalike once at a celebrity gig at the
Science Museum, covered in all her
regalia. She was extremely formal
and I felt I was doing her portrait
for some special occasion. A Mar-
ilyn Monroe lookalike took my eye,
or I should say knocked my eyes
out with her outstanding beauty and
voluptuous curves.
Often I am asked, “Have you been
doing this long?” or “Can you draw
us both together?” or “The three of
us work together in the office”. I
explain, I can only draw one person
at a time, but I can put you on the
same piece of card.
At the Royal Taverners’ annual
cricket match at Lords, Mike Gatting made a wonderful catch on the
boundary. I did a drawing of him
during the lunch break and presented it to him. It reminded me of
when was a lad and I used to score
for the local cricket team at the park
at weekends.
When they were seated for lunch I
drew many celebrities including
stars from EastEnders and sports
personalities.
“Don’t draw my wrinkles or double chin,” people say. I usually tell
13
Cinderella caught late last night
leaving the stage by our
investigative artist
Gag cartoons from Private Eye
them if you don’t have wrinkles you
haven’t laughed enough.
Christmas time is usually the busiest time for the caricaturists with
the corporate parties and dinners.
Once I was booked solid, at the
Leisure Centre, Reading, for seven
days up to Christmas.
There were dancing girls doing the
Can-Can, and singers, including an
Elvis Presley impersonator. After
the show I had two and a half hours
of work drawing the party-goers.
This usually came to an end at
midnight with a queue of disappointed customers waiting for their
drawings to be done.
The best audience is intelligent,
well-educated and a little drunk.
But at the end of a hectic evening,
of all the things you wear the smile
is the most important.
HERE is the concluding part of the
article on the apparent demise of the
Disney two-dimensional animation
industry, continued from the May
Jester and culled from the
Animation News website (www.
animated-news.com/archives).
For a time, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s
bitter exit meant a plus for the artists at Disney, and the new Dreamworks studio duked it out in “bidding wars” over staff talent –
Katzenberg trying to lure Disney’s
artists out, while Disney CEO
Michael Eisner increased their
wages to encourage fidelity. Things
became so sticky that many artists
resorted to agents and lawyers.
But external damage was not the
only price of the Fab Four’s success
– it was also eating away at Disney
itself from within. Caught in a company rivalry, and equipped with a
suspiciously grandiose studio
(which some felt functioned more
as a “pretty face” for the company
to flaunt rather than a practical production facility), soon the crew
would be faced with an onslaught of
suit-and-tie types.
As an aside, I jokingly muttered to
my friend during the screening
about “VPs of the VPs of the VPs”
when lo and behold, Dream On,
Silly Dreamer touched cynically on
the very same thing. Artists reminisced in their interviews about the
very real tallies of vice presidents at
the time – and the sum of 30 would
not be unrealistic.
Now having a strong desire to
create more blockbusters and more
Oscar nominees, management descended upon the artists in an effort
to “streamline” production, calculate a formula for success, and keep
the lucrative product, er ... art,
flowing.
It was at this point that things
really spiralled. Films became all
about numbers, and businessoriented staff slowly started to
overtake or dominate the jobs of the
artists. Visual development disappeared in favour of starting with a
script. Every step in the process had
to be submitted for approval by
some head or another. Films went
into production before having a
solid story base, and wasteful, expensive production overhauls became common.
A gnawing, stressful sense of suppression started to build. By this
time, the artists were helplessly
caught in a whirlpool of the company’s own making; micro-managed,
short-leashed production led to
below-par films, which led to lower
profits, then lower pay and, ironically, a tighter choke-hold on the
animators. For nearly ten years,
Disney’s feature animation grew
“Many artists
have been set
adrift, fighting
the mentality
that hand-drawn
animation is
obsolete”
weaker, while the suits began the
brilliant idea of producing direct-tovideo sequels (affectionately known
as “cheapquels” by critics) to some
of their most popular films for a fast
turnaround in profits.
And eventually, the inevitable: due
to such vicious cannibalism, as well
as the repeated success of CGanimated films (made by Pixar a
studio that lets the artists produce
the films themselves – imagine
that!), Disney made the decision to
“cut its losses”.
On March 25th 2002, animators
attended a grim company meeting.
There, then-President of Feature
Animation Thomas Schumacher
14
dropped the bomb, telling the artists
that they had been “let go”.
It was ruthless and abrupt.
The highly-talented crew of
Disney Feature Animation were
given a severance package and a
few months. Simply put, they were
history.
At least in the eyes of Disney
management, which were now
focusing on establishing their own
CG production facilities (which,
oddly enough, they already had just
a year or two before – something
called the Secret Lab – though it
mysteriously disappeared).
The company lost no time in closing down their other production
facilities in Paris, Tokyo and Florida, eliminating nearly 1300 jobs in
the process. To this day, the only
traditional animation studio left is
Disney Toons Studios in Australia
which, as I said at the beginning, is
used solely to make direct-to-video/
DVD spin-offs.
Many highly skilled artists have
now been set adrift in a harsh sea,
fighting against the withering mentality that hand-drawn animation is
now “obsolete”. Though there was a
great protest amongst the community of “cartoon nuts” that cared,
these sad events went largely unnoticed by the general public. Little do
they know that they will soon be
inundated with mass-produced CGanimated films, as the opportunistic
film studios enter the fray with their
own offering.
Time will tell which of these entries will stick, but as a result of this
wave, CG animation will certainly
lose its novelty. The appeal of a
committee-produced story is assuredly limited, and one can only hope
that the charm of a well-told tale
will shine through these grim times.
Dream On, Silly Dreamer, a relatively short piece at 40 minutes, set
out to put a human face to the
situation – to show the many victims of such a sweeping, obliterating action of a powerful few. The
film succeeded in spades.
One can only hope that this fairy
tale is not yet over.
My thanks again to Lindsay, author
of the above.
Clive Collins
Politics, wine, and more politics
ALEX HUGHES and I had our traditional sullen political pessimism
challenged after we won a competition
to visit South Africa on a cartoon
exchange.
We were among the five British winners of a cartoon competition run by
the British Council. The competition
celebrated ten years since the first
post-apartheid democratic elections in
South Africa and the organisation
arranged for five young South African
artists to visit the UK, before sending
us over there.
Our task during the two week stays
was to try to draw the politics of the
each others nation at the anniversary.
One of the most astounding things
about the experience we had in Johannesburg and Cape Town was the way
in which politics was so much a part
of everyday conversation. People cared
a very great deal about serious and
complex issues.
The whole country still feels raw, ten
years after the end of apartheid. Issues
such as economic empowerment, the
Aids pandemic and the chaos in Zimbabwe were consistent topics of conversation.
One of the many startling things we
learned was that every day in South
Africa, there are as many deaths from
HIV-related diseases as there were
casualties on September 11.
All of this was a massive contrast to
the UK where politics is much more
personality-based and much less obviously concerned with issues, or at
least it seems that way having just
lived through the general election.
The learning and the sheer amount of
information we had to take in proved
so tough that we all found frequent
need to resort to drink. The wide selection of excellent Cape reds was
therefore very useful and welcome.
But what with the hard itinerary
scheduled by the British Council, we
were hard at our drawing pads from
the word go, completely sober,
hungover, or not. The politics was
broken up a bit by visiting most of
South Africa’s best cartoonists – a real
pleasure – although to be honest, most
of them were obsessed with politics
too. But perhaps this is not so surprising considering where they live.
You can see some of the results
of our drawing here. See if you
can spot the wobbly lines.
Having finally sobered up and been
sent home, we had to produce a series of drawings and paintings for an
exhibition that opened in Johannesburg on May 25. The show will move
on to Cape Town and eventually
London.
All five British participants and their
South African contemporaries were
mentored through their preparations
for the show by Steve Bell of The
Guardian and
Jonathan Shapiro
(Zapiro), a South African cartoonist
and former activist in the struggle
against apartheid.
Matt Buck
15
Thanks (er, I think) to Matt Buck for
this charming caricature. Note to
older readers: Heaven Knows I’m
Miserable Now is a reference to a
popular 1980s beat combo called the
Smiths, not to the experience of
editing The Jester – Ed.
Don’t forget to visit the
CCGB website for cartoon
news and views (and the
occasional heated debate).
Answer: page 20
16
Go to: www.ccgb.org.uk
Here’s the unstoppable Simon Ellinas caricaturing a
victim into submission, as seen by John Landers.
17
HOPEFULLY, after these
months of slavish unpaid
dedication on my part,
some of you may have
experienced a very faint
urge to explore the music a
little further.
Those who have done so
may have encountered a
confusing array of music
masquerading under the
jazz label. A younger wave
of subsidised “jazz” presenters have been indoctrinated by the Arts Council
of Great Britain to firmly
believe that musical styles
such as rap, reggae, hip
hop, African township,
salsa and European folk
are 100 per cent jazz. Even
some musicians, involved
in these idioms, insist upon
submitting their CDs to
jazz publications for review.
This has all come about since the
aforementioned Arts Council decided, in 1982, that jazz, as a
minority art form, was worthy of
financial support. This body then
decided, after applications from
other music groupings for some dosh
of their own, that everything should
be classified as jazz, even advising
genuine jazz clubs that were benefiting from this new
largess to include the other music
forms in their programmes.
To redress the balance, I recommend a new 4-CD box set, produced
by Proper Records and entitled Jazz
in Britain 1919-1950 (Properbox
88). This epic has been compiled by
Jim Godbolt (author of A History of
Jazz in Britain 1919-1950 which is
republished this month by Northway
Press) and contains 100 carefully
selected tracks together with a
12,000 word essay within a 56-page
illustrated booklet.
316 minutes of playing time documents a sequence starting with the
arrival from America, in 1919, of the
Original Dixieland Jazz Band, followed by Louis Armstrong, Duke
Ellington, Joe Venuti, Fats Waller,
Benny Goodman, Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins etc, together with
recordings from British musicians
who were quick on the uptake, including George Chisholm, Humphrey Lyttelton, Nat Gonella, Diz
Disley and, later, Johnny Dankworth, Ronnie Scott, Jack Parnell,
Vic Lewis, Tommy Whittle and
many more. This is unadulterated
jazz, logging the early progression
from New Orleans and Dixieland,
through swing to bebop and it’s influence upon the budding jazz musicians in Britain.
Sometimes quaint but “NICE” Jim
Godbolt is also the editor of JARS
(Jazz at Ronnie Scotts) which lists
June Events at the Soho Club as:
Jeremy Pelt and Peter King (to June
4th) Carmen Lundy and Dave
O'Higgins (6th to 11th) National
Youth Jazz Orchestra and Jonathan
Gee (13th to 18th), Regina Carter
and Damo Brown (20th to 25th) and
the Woody Herman Big Band and
Alex Wilson (27th until July 2nd).
For reservations, ring 020-7439
0747.
If modern, young and feisty is your
preference then look out for pianist
John Law. He leads a quartet featuring vibraphone at the Aldis Park
Centre, East Dereham, on June 8th,
the Hare and Hounds, Worthing, on
June 21st and the 606 Club, London,
on the 29th.
Extra NICE!
18
See more of your fellow
members’ cartoon work
at: www.ccgb.org.uk
Notes from the North
I NOTICE that quite a few cartoonists I know are diverting their
talents into other fields. Painting in
watercolour seems to be a favourite
alternative.
Brian Petrie (Pete) is one such
artist. He is currently holding an
exhibition of his paintings in a local
gallery. He also produces prints of
his work. He still manages to cartoon for the Scottish Sun.
Frank McDiarmid, a veteran of
the comics scene, has also turned
his hand to watercolour painting
and also runs classes on the subject,
at the same time still drawing for
comic books. Quite a few have
turned to on-the-spot caricature to
make ends meet. Taking in craft
fairs, conventions, weddings and, in
Peter Brock’s (Pedro) case, on
board cruise ships.
I ATTENDED an art fair in Glasgow. This is the annual four-day
event held in a “tented village” in
George square, right in the centre of
the city. Several main galleries,
quite a few from down south, take
space in to display their artists’
work – a first-class show of paintings, drawings and sculpture, all
for sale. There was not much to be
seen in the way of cartoons, in fact
the only real cartoon connection
was some sculpture pieces by my
good friend Tony Morrow. Tony is
the sculptor behind the Desperate
Dan statue in Dundee and the
“No few ladies
who married G.I.s
missed their
mammy, Irn-Bru
and fish suppers”
Lobey Dosser group in Glasgow
(along with Nick Gillon).
Tony had made a small model of
Lobey and another Bud Neill character, the G.I. Bride, clutching her
“wean” Ned, with all her worldly
possessions in a large kit bag,
thumbing a lift back to Glasgow.
Let me explain the G.I. Bride bit:
during the war, when the Yanks
were over here, no few ladies fell
for their charms and married G.I.
soldiers, no doubt hoping to live in
Hollywood style in California, as
portrayed in the films. Of course it
didn’t always work out like that and
they could have ended up in some
hillbilly shack in the backwoods,
no better off than up a close in
Partick and no doubt missing their
mammy, Irn-Bru and fish suppers.
Hence the desire to get a lift back
home!
CONGRATULATIONS to Neil
Dishington, Roger Penwill and
Ross Thomson on their success in
Euro-Kartoenale (see Dish’s piece
last month). I got a copy of the
catalogue – more a beautifully
bound book – with Dish’s excellent
cover in full colour. One thing I
noticed was how one or two cartoonists had come up with more or
less the same gag, based on house
painters, even though they came
from countries as far apart as Italy,
Croatia and Cuba. I suppose with
2,500 cartoons entered it is not
surprising that ideas are “duplicated”, certainly the ones reproduced in the book are of a very high
standard.
FINALLY, further congratulations
to our new chairman, Terry Christien, and our new Jester Editor,
Royston Robertson. Without dedicated volunteers for the committee,
we would be nowhere.
Bill Ritchie
19
Don’t forget: the Jester has moved.
See new address opposite
20
A word from
the Editor
THE thought that struck me most
often while putting together my first
Jester was, “Where is everyone?”
The Jester seems to get most of its
regular contributions from a small
band of dedicated members. This
issue also has a few more cartoons
and articles from other members of
the club that I personally badgered
with “send me some stuff!” emails.
But there are clearly many other
talented CCGB members that are
holding back. So come on folks, let’s
see what you can do.
There was no such holding back on
the website forum though. I believe
that is what is known as “a full and
frank exchange of views”, and it is
one that looks set to continue. So
thanks to all who contributed to the
discussion for giving me something
that will no doubt generate quite a bit
of reaction – and therefore Jester
content! – from the rest of the
membership.
I must admit that my first issue was
a bit more work than I expected, but
an enjoyable task none the less.
However, because it is so time
consuming producing all of the
Jester to a regular template, to give it
a uniform look, I’d appreciate it if all
members who have internet access
could contribute via email. This
reduces the amount of image and text
scanning that I have to do.
Many thanks to all who contributed
to this issue, and I must say a word
of thanks particularly to Ian Ellery,
for his invaluable technical assistance, and to Tim Harries for
designing the excellent new Jester
logos.
Keep drawing,
Royston Robertson
THE DEADLINE
IS THE 12th OF
EVERY MONTH
Thanks to Tim Harries for the
cartoon above ... hopefully in the
future this situation will be
because everyone’s using email!
Contributions via email:
Hastings weekend: Although the
deadline for the next issue is
June 12, your benevolent Editor
will allow anyone attending the
Hastings weekend until June 14
to get their contributions in.
Contributions via post:
The Jester
c/o Royston Robertson
20 Upton Road
Broadstairs
Kent CT10 2AS
Tel: 01843-871 241
Jester holiday special!
I thought it would be a fun idea to
invite cartoons from Jester
readers on a different subject
each month, so that we can see a
variety of members’ takes on a
particular subject. What do you
reckon? So the first subject, for
the July issue is, logically enough,
“Summer Fun”. So dig out those
deck-chair and ice cream gags,
we wanna see ‘em. Suggestions
for future themes welcome.
There it goes: This is the last
space to fill and I’ve nothing to put
in it but waffle. Suffice to say, I
hope The Jester comes out at the
other end looking like it does on
my screen (you can never be too
sure) and that you like it. All
criticism, insults, bribes to the
address opposite please ...
Membership enquiries to: Richard Tomes (Secretary),
29 Ulverley Crescent, Olton, Solihull West Midlands B92 8BJ.
Tel: 0121-706 7652 Email: [email protected]
Subscription enquiries to: Jill Kearney (Treasurer), 18 Cliff Drive,
Radcliffe-on-Trent, Notts NG12 1AX. Tel: 020-8590 8942
Website enquiries to: Ian Ellery, 25 Nelson Road, Hastings TN34
BRX. Tel: 01424-718 209. Email: [email protected]
21
[email protected]
All articles and cartoons
welcomed (especially for the
front and back covers).
Please note: The Jester is
now produced entirely to a
regular template so send
images and text rather than
complete pages. This way of
production is quite timeconsuming for your humble
Ed, so email submissions are
preferred, as then images
and text do not need to be
scanned. But Luddite
submissions are still
accepted! When sending
images by email, send as a
jpeg at a resolution of 300dpi.
If you send artwork in the
post that you want back,
please include an SAE.
Reminder: the next two
club meetings are June 7
and July 5 at
The Cartoonist pub.
Committee: 5.30pm
Members: 7pm
See you there ...
22

take cover! andy davey stirs it up in the forum shrewsbury festival

Transcription

Similar documents

Prepared by Dr. JuliaGrace Jester Spring 2010 Last updated 3/13/2010

The Jester - The Cartoonists` Club of Great Britain

16 Free Thai/English Adult Cartoons

The Jester - The Cartoonists` Club of Great Britain

JACK KIRKBRIDE - The Cartoonists` Club of Great Britain

Rotary Club of Denver West | Golden, Colorado

Diamond Club - Seattle Mariners

Serving With Pride - Kiwanis Club

los güeros contact information form document information family

Das Casino Gewinnt Immer

Kasey`s Chronicles - The Great Alabama District of Key Club

Hello! I am Britni Graves, your new Lieutenant Gov