Category Archives: Cartoons

Salon of Rejects – London launch event

Hooray – I’ll be one of the ‘Salon of Rejects’ cartoonists speaking at Gosh Comics in London on April 6. Come along! Drink booze! Look at drawings! Hear me deliver a flawless presentation on the state of modern-day cartooning and my position therein*. If you are a Facebook user, you can signal your intention toContinue reading “Salon of Rejects – London launch event”

Salon of Rejects: grab your copy now

Ooh look, what have we here? A lovely, shiny high-quality comic with one of my strips in it, that’s what. It’s a sumptuous, perfect bound 28-page comic featuring cartoons by six creators, including me. Buy it here! Why ‘Salon of Rejects’? Because these are all entries to the prestigious Cape/Comica/Observer Graphic Short Story contest thatContinue reading “Salon of Rejects: grab your copy now”

Nice timing, Comix Creatrix

(Image by the House of Illustration) I know it’s already been said by everyone, but the opening of the Comix Creatrix exhibition, featuring cartoons by 100 women, could hardly have been better timed, given the controversial (and plain wrong) statement from Franck Bondoux, executive officer of the Angouleme International Comics Festival: “Unfortunately, there are fewContinue reading “Nice timing, Comix Creatrix”

A round-up of my favourite #HourlyComicDay strips, 2016

I hope you enjoyed my Hourly Comic Day comics this year (in case you didn’t see them, they’re here). And if that whetted your appetite for this peculiar artform, here are some of my favourites from other people. It was much easier to find the good ones this year than in previous years – itContinue reading “A round-up of my favourite #HourlyComicDay strips, 2016”

My complete Hourly Comic Day 2016

So – was it more difficult completing Hourly Comic Day on a working day? You bet it was. There’s not very much of visual interest to draw, and it means you have to do a full day’s work and then put in several hours drawing into the night. I saw a few canny people shiftedContinue reading “My complete Hourly Comic Day 2016”

Eeek, it’s nearly Hourly Comic Day again

February 1st is Hourly Comic Day – a day when foolish people make a cartoon for every hour in which they are awake. It presents you with two options: If you are smart, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy as cartoonists around the world post up a rich deluge of comics on Twitter, Tumblr,Continue reading “Eeek, it’s nearly Hourly Comic Day again”

A cartoon about running

Click each page and then click again if you would like to view these pages at a larger size. Last January, I realised that I had run far fewer miles in 2014 than in previous years, and that this was because I’d got into the habit of skipping runs if the weather looked at allContinue reading “A cartoon about running”

Can I be a mother and a successful artist? Hmm, let’s see

This piece of graffiti is a fairly new addition to an underpass on one of my running routes. I enjoy graffiti and street art well enough, but my goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a piece of it that spoke so directly to my own concerns. I’d like to meet whoever scrawled this andContinue reading “Can I be a mother and a successful artist? Hmm, let’s see”

Four graphic novels worth putting your back out for

Here’s a good tip: if you are going away for Christmas, make sure you give small presents that fit into your luggage. Or, be like me, and buy your husband a book so vast, and so heavy, that transporting it requires a flat bed truck, seven shire horses and a police escort. OK, I exaggerate,Continue reading “Four graphic novels worth putting your back out for”

Podcast: Erica Smith on Girlfrenzy

Back in the 90s, when I was fairly new to Brighton, I had the good fortune to meet a woman named Erica Smith. Erica was the force behind a feminist zine, Girlfrenzy, to which I contributed a few cartoons. There isn’t an awful lot on the internet about it, but what there is has nowContinue reading “Podcast: Erica Smith on Girlfrenzy”

Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story contest – 2015 round-up

As usual, I’m attempting to gather as many links as possible to entries for the Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story contest. Apparently there were 200 of them this year. The Observer’s Rachel Cooke says: The standard was the highest it has ever been, and by some distance. So much work goes into these, even those thatContinue reading “Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story contest – 2015 round-up”

My entry for the Cape/Comica/Observer graphic short story competition, 2015

It’s that time of the year again, when the shortlisted artists for the Observer/Cape/Comica graphic short story prize will have been notified. Once again, my email inbox is inexplicably empty (INORITE, some mistake surely), so I’m sure it’s fine to share my entry now.  As in previous years, I’ll be collecting any others I canContinue reading “My entry for the Cape/Comica/Observer graphic short story competition, 2015”

Wild flowers

Small thoughts sometimes come to me when I’m out running, and sometimes they’re just the right size for a one-page cartoon. This one was small enough to be conceived, penciled and coloured in, all within one evening and one early morning session. (I am still furiously fiddling with settings on my scanner. Pieces like this,Continue reading “Wild flowers”

Here we go again – entering the Comica/Cape/Observer graphic short story contest

It’s that time of year again: entries are open for the sixth Observer/Comica/Cape graphic short story competition. I’ll post my completed entry after the closing date, but for now here are some pictures showing work in progress.

Graphic Brighton: Drawing in the Margins

On Friday night and all of Saturday, I was at Graphic Brighton, a conference about graphic novels and comics creation. The overarching theme of the conference was “Drawing in the Margins”, and it brought together practitioners who represent some form of minority or marginalised group. Brighton living up to its name “I’m going out toContinue reading “Graphic Brighton: Drawing in the Margins”

Why I’m not out to play much this month: nine steps to make a comic strip

  As you know, because I’m always moaning about it, cartoons are a really labour intensive form of artwork. Back when I first got into comics, I’d draw directly onto the page with pen. “The page” was often the back of an A4 letter, or a cheap pad. Sometimes I hadn’t even figured out theContinue reading “Why I’m not out to play much this month: nine steps to make a comic strip”

Some of the best Hourly Comic Days, and my thoughts

Bwahhaha, I’ll lure you in with the thought of reading some excellent COMICS, but then I’ll make you wade through my THOUGHTS before you get there. What do you mean you can just scroll down? Oh well, whatever you want. What did we learn? So, yesterday I posted my stab at Hourly Comic Day, theContinue reading “Some of the best Hourly Comic Days, and my thoughts”

My complete Hourly Comic Day 2015

Whew! I did it. Well, officially I didn’t do it, because I was over-ambitious with how much I wanted to depict (so what’s new?). I only managed to finish off the last three pages today, so I am posting my complete Hourly Comic Day comic 24 hours late. Here it is. It’s now past myContinue reading “My complete Hourly Comic Day 2015”