People Interpret Images Differently

A tale of two classrooms.

So there I was stood in front of a classroom full of Elementary school students just outside of Osaka in Japan. 

The theme of the week was animals. I’d just started the lesson and was drawing some animals on the board to see what words they already knew.

I drew a dog.

“What’s this?”

“Dog”

I drew a cat.

“What’s this?”

“Dog”

“It’s a cat”

“No, it’s a dog.”

I wasn’t going to win this one, twenty eight-year olds were united as one as to what a cat should look like - and what I’d just drawn didn’t fit their image.

This just goes to show that we don’t always have the same idea about what a person, creature, or object should look like.

To help you avoid the above situation, here are three points we are going to look at:

• What you think something looks like is not the same as what others may think

• Show friends

• Identify the key features

What you think something looks like is not the same as what others may think.

People have a fixed idea of what an animal, person or object should look like, and unless you meet their expectation, then they’re not going to accept your image, or at the very least you’ll have to do a lot more explaining, which defeats having an image to help get an idea across in the first place.

Although I did change my idea of what a cat should or shouldn’t look like, I didn’t learn my lesson straight away as I went onto repeat the same mistake when drawing ducks and geese.

Here Is one of the pics I drew of geese last year.

My geese were basically large ducks. They had the same bills, even though ducks have bills whereas geese have beaks.

This leads onto the next point:

What are the key features?

Around fifteen later, I was now teaching high school. The students were being set a reader’s theatre project, where they had to perform a fairy tale. In preparation we were looking at various fairy tales, including The Goose that laid the golden eggs

Ducks, which primarily filter-feed little bugs and seeds from the water, have relatively long, wide-tipped bills for bringing in water. Geese, which evolved to prefer the leaves and roots of plants over filter feeding, have shorter, narrower beaks that give the birds a more forceful bite.

And that’s why no one wants to be pecked by a goose…

The easiest way to get the key features right is to…

Use reference photos

A quick look at a photo of whatever it is you are trying to draw could save you a lot of pain tryin to figure out how to draw it, and a lot of confusion on behalf of your audience.

And talking of your audience, one way to gauge whether you’ve nailed your subject matter, you could simply…

Show friends

Showing friends can help. If you don’t want to show your pictures online, you can just show the picture to a friend. Face-to-face is better anyway, as you can get immediate feedback.

What’s next

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter containing a whole host of characters and some occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below, and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Illustrated Booknotes - The Happiness Project

Every month I put together a series of illustrated booknotes as part of a book circle I’m a member of.

This month’s book is ‘The Happiness Project’ by Gretchen Rubin.

I’m still putting together the booknotes, but I thought I’d post what I’ve put together so far.

What To Do When The Muse Doesn’t Appear

Alvin Toppler of New York really fancied taking a break from his job. As his work kept mounting up, his boss kept bringing him down. Then one day on June 21st 2013, Alvin took a break from his cubicle and popped out for a coffee. There might have been something in the caffeine that morning, as after the coffee perked him up, he decided to extend his break and take the rest of the morning off. Not only did he take a the day off work, but he also ended up by taking it off New York as well and caught an evening flight to Rome. 

Alvin ended up staying in Italy for three months, before returning to New York to start his own business. He said that he’d never done anything particularly spontaneous before, but simply couldn’t resist the idea of seeing what would happen.

Intro

What do you do when the muse has a day off?

Give up?

Lament?

Sometimes she’s just not around.

She may not have gone as far away as Rome, but maybe she’ still taking a well-deserved break, or perhaps is simply catching up on the dishes

It’s great when the muse is there and the ideas just seem to flow naturally

But what if you could come up with ideas without her help.

You could have the best of both worlds - have here help when she’s around, and fall back on your own resources when she’s not.

So instead of sitting around for ages, let’s take some action now. And by take action, I mean try out some of these ideas as we go along rather than merely read about them.

What we’re going to cover

• Look around you

• The power of exagerration

• Swap out the person

Point #1 Look around you

Instead of sitting around hoping and waiting for ideas to materialise out of thin air, how about looking around you for ideas in your immediate environment.

Here are a few points to ponder

• Is there anything quirky about the people around you?

• Is there any part of their appearance or character that you could exaggerate?

How does that work when I’m stuck in an office cubicle?


Point #2 The power of exaggeration 

As mentioned above, with the people around you, there any part of their appearance or character that you could exaggerate?

You can apply the power of exaggeration to not just people, but objects, backgrounds, etc.
The beauty of cartooning is that it gives you the license to exaggerate as you wish.

Point #3 Swap out the person

Try imagining that a person is swapped out for a completely different person, or even a different creature entirely. How might the new character do in their new role?

I don’t recommend letting your Spaniel try helping out with the washing-up though…


Objection - How long will it take for me to regularly think up my own ideas?

It’s good to think of this as though you are building your idea muscle. Just as building physical muscles takes time, practice, and patience, it’s the same with your creative ones.

It’s possible to be able to come up with a regular stream of ideas, regardless of whether the muse wants to play ball or not.

Here’s what we covered:

• Look around you

• The power of exagerration

• Swap out the person

Give one or more of them a go and see what comes up.

What’s next

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter with a whole host of characters, along with some occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box blow and I’ll wing a pot your way.

What’s next
I put out a daily cartoon newsletter with a whole menagerie of characters and occasional cartooning tips. Fill in your name and mail address below, and I’ll wing a copy to you.

Stimulate Ideas By Trying Something Different

Travelling broadens the mind. It certainly did for Betty Scuttle who decided in 1965 to quit her job as a typist and endeavour to be the first person to traverse Europe by elephant. She wanted a mode of transport slow enough to enable her to really take in the scenery, as well as the accompanying sounds and smells of each region. At the same time as she was formulating her idea, her local zoo closed down, which resulted in the need to locate one of the elephants to a zoo in Milan. Seeing as the slow plodding of a pachyderm was ideally suited to her travel plans, Betty volunteered to deliver ‘Maurice’ to Italy.

Future EU regulations restricted the use of elephants for transportation were not yet in place at this time, and so Betty was able to have a remarkably hassle free journey. Proceeding at a leisurely, elephanty pace, Betty and Maurice made their way through France, eventually crossing the border into Italy in the autumn. 

It was upon entering the small, sleepy village of Ventimiglia that the first and last notable incident of the trip occurred. As Betty and Maurice wound their way down the main road, the pair were followed by Serge L’Flore, movie star, playboy, and collector of fine cheese who was also on his way to Milan to pick up a particularly pungent Gorgonzola.

Serge was driving his still brand-new Jaguar E-type, purchasing only two weeks previously with the proceeds of his last film “Le Wombat”. It had rained heavily earlier in the morning, and the brakes in the car were a little water-logged and slow to work. And thus, Serge’s Jaguar very gently tapped into Maurice’s leg. Unbeknown to everyone, a tap on the back of one of Maurice’s back legs was the signal for him to sit down, as trained into him by his former zookeeper. Maurice dutifully sat down right onto the bonnet of Serge’s car.

Betty’s mind may very well have been broadened, but Serge’s car was well and truly flattened. He was left trying to figure out how to explain to his insurance company what had just happened, his dream of picking up odorous cheese in tatters like the Jaguar.

Everyone has heard that travel broadens the mind and helps to spark ideas.

The encounter with new folks, foods, and attractions can really help to stimulate the creative Juices.

But what if we are too busy to hit the road, even for a short while, what would we do instead to venture off to pastures new.

Why does it stimulate the mind?

In this article we’re going to look at three ways to explore new territory and have some fun

in the process.

We’re going to cover:

• Different route - take a different route home from the train station

• Step into a new place

• Try something new

Different route

You don’t have to travel any exotic or far away place to experience something new. It’s likely that there are streets that you are unfamiliar with far closer to home.

The next time you exit the train station, take a different route home from the one you usually take. We are creatures of habit, and of course naturally we gravitate towards taking the shortest route possible. However, the mere act of walking down an unfamiliar street, automatically makes your more alert because you are now in an unfamiliar environment and this naturally makes your sense more heightened. The more alert your senses are, the more likely you are to notice new things. This may not automatically result in you coming up with any new ideas, however the more often you chose yourself to new experiences and novelty, the more likely you are to see new inspiration and to make connections.

Couldn’t I just do this by staying at home and checking out a new website?

That will only engage your vision and hearing, but even so it will be recording of an image or a sounds and not a real thing. There is nothing like an encounter with reality.

Step into a new place

This one can be even more fun to try than the previous one. While you are taking a different route home from the station or from the shops, or wherever it is that you are returning from, you are likely to spot a cafe, restaurant, or shop that you have never spotted before, or at the very least a place that you haven’t been to for a long time.

Whatever the place is, go in and pay it a visit. Again, being in a new place is very stimulating for the senses and likely to trigger new ideas.

Try something new

The final point, and the most enjoyable of all is to try something new for the first time. This works better if it’s a cafe or restaurant, but it could also include buying a small item from a shop that you wouldn’t have previously considered.

So we looked at the following:

• taking a different route home

• stepping into a new place

• trying something new

Have a little fun when you are next out and about, and try one or more of the above.

What’s next?

I put out a cartoon newsletter with a whole host of characters and occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Dreams of Flight - The Thrilling Adventures of Kitty Hawksley

We’ve all heard of pioneering aviators such as the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, and Amelia Earhart, but there were also countless others from the earlier days of flight who never quite hit the headlines, and are now only perhaps mentioned in brief passages in old Books quietly accumulating dust in used bookstores.

One such flyer determined to soar boldly where no-one had flown before was New Yorker Kitty Hawksley.

Kitty and her brother Joseph inherited a small fortune after their father Randall Hawksley passed away. Randall had established a teacake empire up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States, and at the time of his passing had accumulated a considerable amount of money.

Whereas Joseph was happy to spend his half of the riches on glamorous dancers, fast cars, and dachshunds, Kitty used the money to fulfil her dreams of flight and thirst for adventure.

In those days, getting a pilot’s licence was an easy thing to do, the hard part was staying in the sky and staying alive after getting the right to do so. After two months of brief flights, near-misses, and several airplanes, Kitty felt confident enough to venture off and set some records.

At the end of the FIrst World War, surplus airplanes were easy to find and cheap to buy, and Hawksley used a string of these to set various records for fastest flights between different states and cities.

Attempting to stick to the ground

Pioneering Aviatrix Kitty Hawksley took a break from her flying escapades in 1921, and attempted to set a new record for the fastest crossing of the United States.

Borrowing an engine from a pranged biplane at her local airfield, she had it installed in a Leyat Helica freshly imported from France. The combination of the powerful aero engine and lightweight vehicle promised unprecedented speeds, and she was favoured to shatter the existing record by a considerable margin.

Unfortunately, within an hour of starting her journey, her vehicle decided that it had much more in common with a plane than a car and took off, soaring to a height of two hundred metres before plummeting to earth. Fortunately the crash landing  was broken  by a large marquee tent which had been erected in preparation of film star Kenneth Stoat’s wedding.

The record attempt was thwarted, as were the wedding preparations - which resulted in a feud between Stoat and Hawksley which continued for the next two decades.

The following year Hawksley made an attempt on the Land Speed Record, but was foiled when her car became infested with weasels. She decided that she was better suited to aviation and returned to the skies, becoming the first person to fly around Liechtenstein non-stop in 1924.

Across the Himalayas

Artist’s recreation of the events high above the Himalayas. Animal-lovers will be pleased to hear that both the goat and leopard survived the flight.

In 1924, Kitty set out to be the first person to fly over the peak of Trundling-Dee, standing at 8603 meters and the third highiest mountain in the world.

Major Reginald Spoon of the King’s Royal Hussars had led an unsuccessful expedition  to make a first summit of the mountain the previous year. The two lead climbers A. V. Larnch and Thomas Wobble had reached a height of 8000m when they ran out of milk for their tea and had to abandon the attempt.

Hawksley  carried out preparations at a remote landing strip at the foot of the mountain range and it was while parked there over night that a mountain goat hid in the passenger cockpit in an attempt to evade a snow leopard that was prowling the area.

The next day Hawksley climbed into her biplane, completely unware that she now had a stowaway onboard. While the plane was taxiing for take-off, the leopard reappeared, got wind of the goat in the plane and making a spectacular leap, managed to scramble onboard just as the wheels left the ground.

The leopard continued it’s dogged, or should that be catted?, pursuit of the goat which resulted in a high altitude stand-off worthy of any barnstormer’s display of wing-walking.

Impeded by the extra weight, the biplane was unable to reach altitude, and so Hawksley had to abandon her attempt to fly over the mountain. However, she did, or rather her passengers did, set a record for the highiest altitude achieved by either a goat or a leopard. A record that was to remain unbroken for thirteen years until 1937 when another aviatrix, Betty Boing, took her goat Trevor on a flight across the Alps.

Want to learn more about telling stories?

Coming in spring 202o is the Storytelling 101 course. Add your name and mail to the orange box below, and I’ll send you my cartoon newsletter with updates about this year’s courses.

Clean Up Your Dodgy Stock Images

Business stock images have got a bit of attention for bring a bit, well odd…

But it’s not just business stock images that are often strange and peculiar.

Today, let’s have a look at the equally weird world world of cleaning stock images.

Just as business stock image situations are peopled by perma-happy people in gleaming hi-tech offices.

Kitchen stock images are unnatural due to the fact that they are permanently clean - we have to do something about this  truly unnatural state of affairs.

Apart from the odd appearance of a monster, these scenes all seem a bit sterile.

I mean, I know that the point of cleaning is to make things sterile, but come one…

Not only has every speck of dust and dirt been removed from the scene, but also all trace of life.

No signs of any leftover food remaining while at the same time lots of cheesiness being added.

The kitchens are already spotless….

What on earth are they cleaning?

Need a microscope to find any remaining dust.

Spotless is boring

Some of the poses that people strike in stock images, are a bit peculiar to say the least.

In this image, the cleaner seems to emulating Bond with that pose. Or perhaps there are more than cleaning fluids in that spray bottle....is it some secret concoction that Q has developed to remove stubborn stains or enemy agents?

Here’s another odd pose. In this one she appears to be doing some mime.

Also, does anyone ever look that happy when they’re doing the cleaning?

Even cleaning out the vat of custard has failed to wipe the grin off her face.

Read life kitchens never resemble stock images.

Real life anything rarely resemble stock images.

There’s a disconnect between the kitchens in the pics and those in real life.

There’s also a disconnect between stock images and the feeling/emotion/message you want to convey.

There has to be….as stock images have to be general, whereas what you want to say/show/represent is specific.

Perhaps it’s time to consign standard stock images to the trash can.

Polish up your site with some better images

Standard stock images are very non-stick - they simply don’t grab and hold your reader/viewer:s attention

You want a solution with the same effect as an egg fried for half an hour…..the sort of egg that defies gravity

Read life kitchens never resemble stock images.

Real life anything rarely resemble stock images.

There’s a disconnect between the kitchens in the pics and those in real life.

There’s also a disconnect between stock images and the feeling/emotion/message you want to convey.

There has to be….as stock images have to be general, whereas what you want to say is specific.

Are you still clutching onto using dodgy stock images?

Don’t.

For want of a better image, your entire article could be rescued.

Not that there’s anything wrong with your article, post, or writing in general - it’s just that people won’t bother reading it if you are using tired old stock images.

I draw a lot of cartoons - some silly and others not. I can draw unique images for you too. These pictures can really capture what you have to say, as well as grabbing your reader’s attention. It also makes your site or post a lot more fun to look at.

So let’s be a bit more creative when it comes to the pics you put on your site or with your writing.

From stodgy stock to imaginative images - I can do the same for you. Drop me a mail.

Swapping Character Roles In Cartoons

One trick to generate ideas you can try is role reversal.

Here’s how it works.

All you do is to take a pair of characters in a familiar setting and swap their roles.

Here are a few to get you started.

Cat chasing a dog

Student teaching the teacher

Child parenting the parent

enforce going any further, take a moment and try and think up some other pairs.

Now let’s have a look at the cat and dog situation and see what ideas that might spark.

What might the dog be thinking?

What might the cat be saying?

How might it be different if you changed the expressions on the charatcer’s faces? Feel free to copy the above image and try this out for yourself right now.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter containing a whole host of characters as well as occasional cartooning tips. Add your name to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

How To Grab People’s Attention

...or being more raspberry ripple and less vanilla...

Fred was intending the share the ice cream with his wife, Sandra. He thought it would be a spontaneous, fun thing that reminded him of being a teenager and sharing a cone with his girlfriend (who wasn’t the same as his wife now, but he probably wouldn’t tell his wife about that...)

On the way back to where Sandra was sitting, a wasp alighted on top of the ice cream, and not just any old wasp but this looked like it had been working out at the gym and possibly taking steroids as well....basically a super-wasp. Having learnt from past experience that swatting at wasps with your hand only tended to make them mad, Fred decided to stand there for a few moments and wait for the wasp to fly off. The wasp really appreciated this and this enabled it to tuck in and really start enjoying the sweet ice cream.

Nasty black and yellow flying beasties easily grab out attention, but usually life is far more humdrum.

Blah...blah...blah...look at this...look at that...same old same old.....

There is so much stuff competing for everyone’s attention...all the time...

I don’t know about you, but I don’t linger for too long looking at a site if it’s not interesting...and it’s exactly the same for everyone else - if the content you’re putting out doesn’t immediately grab them then they’re not going to hang around.

Penguins may be able to tell each other apart, but we can’t distinguish one from the other. It’s the same with content....it all blurs into one.....

It’s a struggle to stand out and unless you stand out who on earth is going to notice you?

So much stuff is just plain old vanilla...it’s nice...but, well it’s only vanilla and there’s lots of it about. And while vanilla is nice with apple pie it doesn’t really do anything to grab our attention.

So instead of vanilla, how about being a bit more raspberry ripple? (Insert you own favourite ice cream flavour here) 

Or as Seth Godin would put it, don’t be a cow (hey! there is a connection here...cows produce milk which goes into ice cream) be a purple cow. Now a purple cow is something that sticks in the memory.

So what could help your article to stand out? What could get folks to actually look at it in the first place? I mean, after all if doesn’t matter how much time and effort you’ve put into your writing if you can’t get peeps eyeballs onto it.

How about an eye-catching image?

Visuals are processed so much faster than words and so the right image can instantly draw attention to your message.

Note I said eye-catching...don’t go and ruin things by using some lame stock image.

Cartoons are great at grabbing attention...and in helping your writing to stand out.

Now you could go and use any old cartoon, but how about something specific to what you’ve written? Something that really helps to get your point across.

This is where I come in.

I can draw a unique cartoon, a picture that will really help your writing to stand out.

This saves you the time and hassle of searching around for a not-quite-right-but-I-suppose-it’ll-have-to-do-image. Who wants to bother with all that, when someone else can take care of it for you and produce something specific to your needs.

Not only are cartoons good at getting attention, but they’re also great to share - people love showing friends pictures they like. And if people are sharing a picture that’s connected to you, then they’re also sharing awareness of you or your service.

Hmm...aren’t a lot of creatives flakes?

Sure, some are....and others, including myself, are most certainly not. I’ll listen carefully to whatever your requirements are, keep you updated about the work I do for, and - most importantly - deliver your images on time.

Yeah...okay...but what if you don’t deliver on time?

Then you don’t pay.

Fine, but what if I don’t like the image?

I’ll do up to two revisions of your image. By revision, I mean a small change to the cartoon - not completely redrawing it. However, let’s not let it get to that point.

What to do next:

1. Fill out the contact form below and let me know how I can help you.

2. Go relax and eat an ice-cream....even vanilla if you like...

I live in Japan, and some folks here are obsessed with finding the perfect ramen (noodles), others the very best sushi. For me I’m on a personal quest to find the ultimate chocolate-mint ice cream. I’ve been at it for years, but all good quests should take time. I don’t know I specified raspberry ripple and not chocolate-mint earlier....hmm...I’ve got a hankering for raspberry ripple now...

Lesser-Known Dog Breeds - The Finnish Glider

Origin

The origins of the Finnish glider can be traced back to noted ski-jumper, Markku Krazinnen.

Markku was accompanied everywhere by his faithful dog Mitski, a medium-sized dog of indiscriminate breed, who had unusually loose skin.

Everyday Mitski would follow Markku to the ski jump for his practice. On one particular morning, Mitski ventured onto the top of the slope, and unable to get a grip on the slippery surface, began to slide down.

Mitski built up considerable speed, and upon reaching the end of the slope, became the first dog to launch themself off a ski jump. Now airborne, the loose skin between Mitski’s legs and body got filled out by the wind to form a kind of wing, similar to that observed in flying squirrels. Moments after the start of this pioneering fight, Mitski successfully landed, although unfortunately there were no judges around to award her a score for either technical excellence or artistic merit.

Fascinated by the potential of creating the word’s first flying canine, Krazinnen dedicated the rest of his life to creating the breed.

Quirks of the breed

A remarkably agile dog, the Finnish glider has been known to climb to the top of lamp posts outside butcherss shops, so as to gain a good view of any potential sausages to snaffle. Upon sighting the salami, the dog then swoops down to seize its prey.

Notable owners include the pioneering aviatrix Betty De Havilland who was accompanied by her dog Roger on her trans-Himalayan flight.

What’s next?

I put out further silliness in my Cartoon Newsletter, along with occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

How To Resist Buying Books At A Bookstore

I love bookstores. I always have.

I was fortunate to grow up in a family where everyone read. My father read history books.

For birthdays and Christmas I would often get book vouchers from relatives. It was always a thrill working going to a bookstore with the vouchers and seeing what I could get.

The trouble is that bookstores are dangerous places.

And this is not because of the exceedingly rare lesser spotted bookstore leopard. Which can only be found sitting on the top of bookshelves in large bookstores.

I generally prey on people in the academic section, as I find they are slower to move than those who browse the sports section

No, silliness aside, bookstores are dangerous because once I get a book in my hands, it is very difficult to resist the temptation to buy it.

So in an attempt to battle with this minor addiction, and the help my bank balance, and also knowing that there are countless of other bookworms who suffer from this similar affliction, I thought I would put together this article on how to visit a bookstore and not actually buy any books.

But wait, I hear you say, “Why don’t you simply not just go into the bookstore in the first place?” But that’s such a ridiculous notion that I’m not even going to entertain it in the first place.

Here Sue has almost made it to the cashier with a big pile of books.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a feathered intruded appears. A rare Paperback-Eagle has alighted on her pile of would-be purchases, looking to line its nest with pages of pulp fiction. Let’s face it, some books are more suitable for this purpose than others.

Bring a goat?

Here I employed Gerald the Goat to eat any books before I had a chance to buy them. Unfortunately, this idea had a fatal flaw: I had to pay for all the books that Gerald ate.

Rob and Sumo

Living in Japan, I was able to take advantage of using sumo wrestler, who in-between tournaments was able to accompany me to bookstores and sit on me before I was able to reach the cashier.

Extendo-hands

If you’re like me, the greatest danger is when you make physical contact when you pick up the book - all those tactile sensations: the weight of the book turning the pages, even the smell of the book itself.  All of that combines to make it really difficult to put the book down.

One way of keeping some distance between you and the book is to use extendo-hands.

Ulysses 

Those Greek heroes became legendary for battling a variety of monsters, but sometimes it was a case of brain over brawn. One such example is Ulysses (also known as Odysseus).

Ulysses wanted to hear  the beautiful voices  of the sirens,  dangerous creatures who used their enchanting voices to lure sailors onto the rocks surrounding their island.

Ulysses had his men’s ears blocked with wax, so they couldn’t steer the ship off it’s path, and for safe measure had himself tied to the mast. It worked, Ulysses and his crew steered past the dangerous damsels and was able to resist their allure.

Ulysses was smart enough to know that he couldn’t rely on will-power alone to resist temptation, and it that’s a good idea for a Greek hero, then maybe it’s a good idea for us too.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter confining a whole menagerie of characters, as well as occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Showing Speed In Cartoons

The idea for the cartoon was sparked off by an image that my Aunt sent in a Christmas email. I thought, ‘hmm…maybe there’s an exception….”

And so I came up with the character of ‘Fast Red.’

Initial outline

Here’s the outline that I came up with. I added a pair of racing goggles to the squirrel.

Colouring the car

As it was a red squirrel with the name of ‘Fast Red’, I thought it only natural to colour the car red.

Colouring the character

I used the studio pen in Procreate, set at 30% opacity to colour the character. You can see the palette I used above the car.

However, when I finished the character, I thought it might be more striking to colour the car a different colour to add more of a contrast. This conjured up an image of green racing car with red highlights.

Here’s an old Alfa Romeo racing car from 1985.

It’s an old painting trick to add some red to the greens to make them seem greener, so I thought I’d try the same idea out with the squirrel and car.

Here’s the repainted car. However, it looked way too static to me, and so I wanted to try and catch the car in motion.

I recoloured the car. This time I didn’t use solid colour, instead I set the brush to 30% opacity and pained the car in a series of streaks.

I applied the same approach to colouring the road.

And finally for the background.

Here’s the finished cartoon again.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter containing a whole host of characters and occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

The Dachshund Factor - Exaggeration In Cartoons

The Extended Dachschund was originally bred to hunt extended badgers in the forests of Bavaria. It was used at this task until badger hunting was banned.

The Extended Dachschund has a tenacious and inquisitive spirit, and a love of diving down holes and exploring. Owners of the dogs have to be prepared to expect the dog to disappear for periods of time as it seeks new nooks and crannies to investigate.
Owners should be particularly careful not to let their dog put on too much weight. If extendeds become very overweight their bellies have a tendency to drag on the ground. This has even led to some owners strapping on a belly wheel to their pet to prevent injury.


Intro

The Dachshund has a naturally comical appearance, so we’re going to enlist it’s help in showing us how to exaggerate.
Cartoons are all about exaggeration for comical effect, so you’ve now got a license to stretch things out a bit.

Whenever you see ‘Over to you’, that’s your cue to try out the Idea for yourself. Just reading something is not enough, it’s better for you to try it out and now, rather than later when you will have forgotten all about it. Trying it out will also help you to remember it better.

The examples in this article all feature different dog breeds, but you could also apply the same principles to other creatures, including humans!

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

• Exaggerate appearance

• Exaggerate movement

• Exaggerate traits

Exaggerate appearance

The dachshund already looks comical without any exaggerate going one, so it’s easy to maximise the effect. 

With a Dachshund, the first exaggeration that springs to mind is to elongate it’s body.

What other exaggerations could you think of?

• There are its short legs

• association with the word ‘sausage’

Over to you:

What exaggerations could you think of for these dog breeds?

• Great Dane

• Chihuahua

• Bulldog

Exaggerate movement

One way to get some ideas for this is to watch some videos of dogs, or even better; observe them in real life.

Over to you: 

You now have a legitimate reason to watch dog videos! Pick a handle of different dog breeds and see what parts of their movement you could exaggerate.

Exaggerate traits

Now we’re going to look at some personality traits of different dog breeds.

Retrievers retrieve, are great swimmers, and really smart; Rottweilers are great guards and have a tough-guy reputation (yes, I know that there are lots of Rottweiler owners who say that their pet is a big softy.)

• What would a retriever be prepared to do to retrieve something?

• How smart is really smart?

• How could you show what a great swimmer it is?

Over to you:

What traits do you associate with these dog breeds?

• Terriers

• Poodles

• Spaniels

If you can’t think of anything for these particular breeds, then choose ones you know.

But I don’t like Dachshunds!
I get it, sausage dogs are not everyone’s cup of tea. The principles are still the same for other dog breeds and any creatures - including humans!

Here’s what we covered:

• Exaggerate appearance

• Exaggerate movement

• Exaggerate traits

What’s next:

I publish a daily cartoon newsletter featuring doses of Dachshunds and other dogs, as well as a variety of other creatures. I also throw in a few cartooning tips from time to time. Add your name and mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Three Steps To Get Into Flow

Mindful habits to get into the flow at home or work

You often hear athletes following a hot streak or a career performance talk about being in the ‘zone’ when the game seemed to slow down for them, the ball looked like a beach ball, or they could do no wrong.

Being in the ‘zone’ is actually a high state of mindfulness psychologists call flow or a state of peak performance. This high level of performance can be achieved not only on the playing field, but at home or work.

At one time or another we have all experienced flow, focusing on a task when we lose all track of time and unaware of the distractions around us. However, these experiences seem to be few and far between. But, you can help yourself get into a state of flow with some easy-to-do mindful habits and a little practice.

The following section describes three steps to help get on your path to a state of flow. Start out relaxed, minimize distractions which could interrupt your flow and develop the ability to stay in the moment.

Relax

At the start of any job or competition one needs to be relaxed and thoughts directed on the upcoming task. This means your attention cannot be on thinking about past performances, the meeting you just had or evening dinner plans. As we have covered in previous newsletters, you have several mindful habits to pick from that will help you relax, these include: 4/6 breathing, a body scan or attention to contact points.

Limit distractions

One of the biggest obstacles to getting in the flow are interruptions. This means before beginning a task turn-off devises not in use and clear your work space. To put it simply, one can only get in the flow when focus is on one task at a time. This means no multitasking. Minimizing distractions will help you fully direct senses and thoughts to the task.

Stay in the now

Getting and staying in the flow means to be in the now or the moment. Think that the events of the past or future do not exist. These thoughts will only serve as obstacles to getting into or staying in the flow. If you notice your attention wondering off or you start to get overrun by outside thoughts, do a quick reset. Take 2-4 deep breaths to relax and redirect your thoughts and senses to the task. WIth practice you should find the periods of flow last longer and you need fewer resets.

Wrap up

Peak performance or flow is a state we experience when total attention is on a task. Over time, practicing a routine of mindful habits when performing a task at home or work can help us experience flow more often and for longer periods of time.

Creating The Spider-Trapper Dog

I first got the idea for the Spider-Trapper dog when recalling a cartoon I spotted a few years ago about how some traditional working dog breeds were not redundant and that it would be a good idea to re-train then for other purposes, such as trapping bees.

I’ve tried to track down the cartoon but have been unsuccessful so far.

The picture above was based on a Giles cartoon that I stumbled across. I’m a huge fan of Giles, and as far as I’m concerned - and quite a few others - he is the master draughtsman when it come to cartoons.

For this one I’m sure that most of you reading this recognise the movie that it’s referencing. If you don’t, there’s a hint at the bottom of the page.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter featuring further silliness and occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail address and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Movie hint: it features a big fish....

Extra movie hint:...that eats people.... a

Lesser-Known Dog Breeds - The Mud Spaniel

The mud Spaniel was the brainchild of hunter Elma T. Splatchett, who hunted for duck and various waterfowl on the mudflats near where he lived. The mud there was particularly thick and sticky, and he found that his spaniels often had difficulty coping with the conditions.

Talking with fellow hunters, and also some bird-watching enthusiasts, he found that this was a common problem. On that basis he decided that there might be a lot of interest in a new type of spaniel better able to navigate muddy landscapes.

His aim was that through selective breeding the width of the dog’s paws would be increased which would enable it to spread its weight better and thus move easier across the mud. However, an unforeseen development occurred in that subsequent generations of dogs developed the ability to swim through the mud rather than walk on top of it.

As a result of the dogs spending more and more time in mud, they grew increasingly at ease and at home in the medium, desiring to spend as much time as possible in muddy conditions. This resulted in a dog that while was eminently suited to boggy conditions, found itself pining for the mud when on dry land or at home. The dogs would subsequently take advantage of any opportunity leap in a puddle or patch of mud, regardless of the inconvenience to the owner.

Although very friendly and full of enthusiasm, the mud Spaniel is not really suitable for a family pet as it loves mud so much.

One of the most notorious incidents involving the mud Spaniel occurred at the high society wedding between Tim Baggi-Trowsas and Gwenifer Churn. The wedding had been held at Saint Jessops church (Saint Jessop is the patron saint of superior wicker work) in Little Snoodling.

It had rained heavily before the ceremony, and while it had stopped just in time for the bride and groom to emerge, there were puddles everywhere. The happy couple had just started to pose for a photograph with their immediate family, when Scupper, a four-year old mud Spaniel, spied a very large and very tempting puddle right behind the group.

Launching himself with a run and leap worthy of any Olympic long jumper, Scupper landed slap bang, or rather splash bang, right in the middle of the puddle, ruining a perfectly good photo opportunity, the wedding dress and various suits, and the brides day.

The plot thickened as it turned out that Scupper belonged to The now Mrs Baggi-Trowsas-Churn's ex-boyfriend Jeremy Splendid, who denied having any intent behind the incident at all. Mrs Baggi-Trowsas-Churn was later to gain revenge two years later at Splendids own marriage to Cecilia Spangle, with a particularly ingenious and dastardly plot involving a specially trained squadron of Venezuelan fabric-eating moths.

Owners of Mud-Spaniels, include noted marine biologist India Splodge, who can often be seen accompanied by her faithful dog, Bodgitt, while out on the mud flats.

Breed Facts and Trivia

Longest recorded instance of a Mud Spaniel staying clean:

Forty seven minutes, twelve seconds

Colour:

Colours include black, black and tan, sable, and liver. However, it doesn’t really matter as the dog doesn’t stay that colour for very long anyway.

Weight:

Females: 18 - 23 kg, males: 20 - 25kg, plus whatever quantity of mud the dog has managed to accumulate.

Health

Willingness to submit to a bath is a sign that there’s something up with the dog

What’s next?

I publish a Cartoon Newsletter full of further silliness and occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Lesser-Known Dog Breeds - The Spider-Trapper Dog

The Spider-Trapper dog was originated by Mrs. Betty Cobweb who recognised that a lot of people wanted to get rid of spiders but didn’t want to kill or swat them. Such people often resort to capturing the spider with a cup or glass and then releasing it outside. However, it’s a bothersome task and Betty thought that it was something that a dog could be bred specifically to do and thus folks could avoid having to deal with spiders in the first place.

And so Mrs. Cobweb steadily bred a small, agile dog that had an almost sixth-sense like ability to detect spiders and then proceed to trap and release them. While the dog was bred originally to trap spiders, it has also proved equally adept at capturing all manner of unwanted intruding bugs and creepy- raw lies.

Surely one of the highlights of the Spider-Trapper Dog’s career was during a cross country flight from New York to San Francisco, when during mid-flight it was discovered that there was an example of the notorious and deadly Wuzza-Wuzza hornet loose in the cabin. Fortunately for all concerned, Ms. Evelyn Bennie was travelling to visit her relatives along with her Spider-Trapper dog, Horace. With a cabin attendant suppllpying the cup, Horace was able to finally corner and capture the harassing hornet, enabling the airplane to safely complete it’s journey.

Spider-Trapper dogs have also proved to be remarkably adaptable to acting as assistants to table magicians.

What’s next?

I put out a cartoon newsletter with further silliness and occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the orange box below, and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Dodgy Stock Images

Business stock images can be very strange indeed, I mean does anyone really look like that in real life? However, the oddness of them makes them ideal targets to be altered and made even stranger still.....

Slithering to the CEO

In this image, a couple of business types are taking time out from the office to do some work on the stairs. Why they sitting on the stairs as opposed to in the office itself, or even a coffee shop is beyond me. So engrossed are they in their work, that they fail to see Annabella slither past them on her way to the office and a lunch date with the CEO. It is believed to be the first time in the company’s history that a member of senior management had been consumed by a giant snake, although the head of compliance did have a near-miss with a Burmese python during the team-building day out in Milton Keynes last year.

Questions, questions…

Here a woman is pictured surrounded by lots of questions. If anyone actually posed like hat in the office, then there would definitely be some questions asked about them as well.

Her contemplation is interrupted by a passing magpie who decides to snaffle one of the questions to line its nest with.

Do you want something more exciting than the average stock image, something unique only to you? Drop me a mail and we can chat about how I can help you.

Burning through the work

Here is a woman is faced by a huge stack of stuff to do that has built up on her desk. Fortunately, using the power of creative thinking, she is able to reduce her workload while at the same thing having a quick snack.

Fortunately, using the power of creative thinking, she is able to reduce her workload while at the same time having a quick snack.

What’s next?

Why use standard, boring business stock images that look a bit odd. I ca n can create something interesting and unique to you. Drop me a line.

Drawing the Mud Spaniel

I’m going to go through the steps involved with creating The Mud Spaniel’, a recent illustration I came up with to illustrate the latest in the ‘Lesser-Known Dog Breeds’ series.

1. Initial rough sketch

Sketched using a digital 6b pencil in ProCreate.

2. Sketching in the other characters

I really liked the dynamic of the Spaniel bouncing off the other character’s heads.

3. Sketching in the background

Rather than use a reference picture, I tried to recall an area of marshland near my hometown where I always go walk when I’m back.

4. Colouring the Spaniel

You can see the palettes I used for the Spaniel and the other characters.

5. Colouring the other characters

With all the characters, I build up the tones using a digital watercolour brush set at 30% opacity.

6. Colouring the background

You can now see the background palette.

7. Colouring the sky and increasing the background tones

To increase the intensity of the background tones, I simply duplicated the background colour layer.

8. Adding shadow and hatching

I now add shadow and layer hatching on top of it to increase the sense of depth.

9. The finished cartoon

I added a bolder outline to the characters and some movement lines. I also increased the size of the Spaniel’s paws as that better fitted in with the accompanying story. I’ll post the full story soon and put a link here.

What’s next

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter, with a whole host of different characters, as well as occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and mail to the organge box below and I’ll wing a copy of the newsletter your way.

Drawing “Going Fishing”

In this article I’m going to go through the step-by-step process of creating this cartoon.

1. Initial rough sketch

The idea of having a crocodile accompany someonw on a fishing trip suddenly popped into my head, so I thought it would be a fun one to draw.

2. Outline of the characters

I used the technical pen in ProCreate to create the outline.

3. Outlining the background

I’ve now added the background elements, such as the river, riverbanks, trees etc.

4. Colouring the characters

I coloured the characters using digital watercolour washes, setting the opacity at 30% and then building up the tones.

5. Colouring the water and sky

The wash process was then repeated to colour the sky and river.

6. Colouring the rest of the background

And again for the rest of the background.

7. Adding shadow and hatching

To give the picture more depth, I first added some shadow, and then layered some hatching on top of this. I really like the effect this creates.

8. The finished cartoon

I felt that there was too much green in the picture, so I decided to give the woman a reddish-brown jacket to add some contrast.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter, which as well as containing a whole host of different characters, also contains occasional cartooning tips. Add your name and e-mail to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Antagonists in Cartoons

A story is not a story if your character sails smoothly through it with nothing ever interesting happening. To make it interesting, we need to raise the stakes and make life difficult for our hero - and then watch them overcome the challenges.

One way to raise the stakes for your character is to introduce an antagonist.

What is an antagonist?

“A person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.”

Antagonist comes from the Greek word antagonistes, which means “opponent,” “competitor,” or “rival.”

In popular culture, antagonists include The Joker in Batman, and Darth Vader in Star Wars. In cartoons, there’s Dick Dastardly, and Wily Coyote.

Now let’s look at some examples from my strip ‘Gerald the Goat’.

Gerald the Goat is a bit anarchic, so I felt that he needed a character to keep him in check and to occasionally serve him his comeuppance.

The first antagonist I came up with was the bull. However, bulls and goats aren’t natural foes.

The bull got to chase Gerald around a bit, however, there was never any real sense of danger.

Then I thought of making Rex the police dog into an antagonist, but again dogs and goats aren’t natural foes, in fact they can get along, or even the goat becomes the dogs antagonist.

So I got to thinking what is a goat’s natural enemy?

I thought a mountain lion would be pretty cool, but a snow leopard would be even cooler.

The Only trouble is the strip was set in a town and not the remote mountains of Afghanistan or Mongolia.

However, the solution was right under my nose.

Another long-running character, Granny Mills, had gotten into the habit of ‘borrowing’ pets from the local zoo. And so I thought, that’s it! The snow leopard is at the town zoo but periodically escapes to harass Gerald.

Over to you:

Whether you already have a cartoon strip or if you are putting one together, how could you introduce an antagonist to your strip’s setting?

Some common examples include:

• bad bosses

• animals that are natural rivals

• monsters

What’s next

I’m currently working on a storytelling course to be released in 2020. I put out a Cartoon Newsletter, which as well as containing a whole bunch of different characters, will also keep you informed about any cartooning course.

Add your name and e-mail to the orange box below, and I’ll wing a copy your way.