Cartoon Clinic - The Galapagos Marine Cat

Introducing the Galapagos Marine Cat

The world’s only coastal-dwelling feline, the Marine Cat shares rock space with the more commonly known Marine Iguana. The cat hunts for fish, aided by its webbed-toes and a large tail which it uses as a rudder. Marine biologist M.C. Splodd spent thirty years from 1919 - 1949 studying the swimming strokes of Marine Cats. He obviously had nothing better to do.

In this series, I look back over some of my cartoons and see how I can improve them.

I’m going to look at the following areas:

• composition

• colour

• expression

• writing

I'm sure I’ll think of some more points to cover as well.

Today’s picture is one I created a couple of years ago. This was drawn in Sketches, and this time around I will rework it in Procreate.

First of all I identified a few areas to work on

• The cat blends in too much in the sea. I realise that in nature nearly all animals blend in with their environment, however, this doesn’t really help the clarity of the cartoon. So I want to add a darker sea background, and make the cat’s colouration a lot brighten so that it stands out.

• There are also too many ares of white on the rocks. I need to make them darker so that there’s no white to catch the eye, and also to help the characters to stand out more.

• The cartoon is about the cat, not the iguana. However, at the moment the Iguana is more brightly coloured and so the attention goes to it rather than the cat. It should be the other way around.

• Both the cat and the Iguana would benefit from a bolder outline.

• I can do a better job with the sea. While it is clear at the moment that that sea is depictured, I think I can make the sea a lot more interesting.

• The horizon is too uneven.

• Can I work a second gag into the picture?

To be continued in the next post!

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

Creating The Schnoo

The Schnoo is a curious looking animal, which is appropriate that it is in fact a very curious animal.

If it is said that curiously killed the cat, then the Schnoo would have had multiple lives ended due to its incessant exploring and interest in all around it.

I’ve started to creature a new character, indeed a new creature - The Schnoo. In this article I’m going to go through the creative process of coming up with this new comical critter.

How I came up with the idea

The Schnoo started popping into existence when I was mulling over what creatures were more curious than a cat? I then started thinking about creating the most curious of all creatures and what it would look like.

I set about doodling some character studies to explore what it would look like.

At first I wasn’t sure what the creature’s final form would take, however one thing I wanted to incorporate right from the beginner was a curly tail shaped like a question mark. I thought it would literally represent its questioning nature.

At this point the head is kind of resembling that of a fox or some other dog. This may have been because I was watching the documentary ‘The Biggest Little Farm’, which featured some coyotes which were proving to be a bit of a problem.

However, I started explored exploring more interesting muzzle shapes, and so basing it on a dog was left behind.

I was now exploring having a long nose, the idea being that it could poke it into spaces and sniff things out. I thought a long nose looked funny, however, this create a slight problem in that a long nose would take up a lot of space on the page. To solve this I came up with the idea of having the nose curled up like an elephants trunk, and so the nose turned into a kind of trunk. I also liked the fact that the shape of the nose/trunk now echoed that of the tail, repeating the question mark motiff.

Now that I had a rough ide of how the head and body would look like, I thought I’d explore some Schnoo variants.

I wanted to doodle some different heads, based on having a trunk. I drew a bunch of heads, varying them slightly each time. I can’t say that any of the above really grabbed me.

What’s Next?

From Schnoos to Schnauzers…and Snakes to Sausages Dogs…You name it - I can draw it for you!

There’s also a whole host of other critters that feature in my Cartoon Newsletter. Add your amend best email address to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Zen Cats

Zen Cats - a collection of philosophical felines. What could be more Zen than simply sitting on the mat and being?

Empty mind

This is an old gag that has been around a long time in various versions.

Change of perspective

Zen koans are often about turning things on their head and getting you to have a shift in perspective. Here it is embodied in physical form.

Who does?

Because who does at the end of the day.

What’s next?

From Tabbies to Tigers…and Persians to plain old Puss…you name it - I can draw it for you.

I also put out a Cartoon Newsletter featuring a whole menagerie of characters, along with cartooning tips. Add your name and best email address to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Creating The Zoo-Break Badger

The Honey Badger burst into public consciousness thanks to a video that went viral. The video emphasised the fact that the Honey Badger is aggressive and doesn’t give a XXXX.

The Honey Badger is indeed a ferocious and fearless animal. However, it wasn’t until recently when watching a documentary that I realised that there is another side to the animal, and it is in fact a highly intelligent creature.

Stoffel scaling the wall with the aid of a shovel.

The documentary mainly featured a badger called Stofffel, a resident of the Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa. Stoffel quickly became the centres most infamous resident due to his frequent escapes.

Stoffel manoevering a rake into position for another escape attempt.

Amongst his successful breakouts have included the following jail-break techniques:

• Climbing a tree to get over the wall

• Tunnelling under the wall

• Using a forgotten tool to scale the wall

• Piling dirt into balls to make a mound from which to scale the wall.

• Undoing the latches on his enclosure door. This was particularly impressive as he recruited the help of a female badger, Hammie, that the keepers had introduced in the hope of distracting him from escape. Instead they teamed up and figured out how to open the door together.

Inspired by all these badger antics, I thought I would riff off them to come up with a new animal species. For a while now I’ve been creating a series I call ‘Lesser-Known....’, which has featured dog breeds, animals, birds etc. So time for a lesser known badger!

I initially imagined something vaguely resembling a cross between a badger and weasel. I thought the long and lithe groom of a weasel would suit a creature good at escaping from things.

I then started emphasising badger elements more. I like the idea of having very distinctive strips as it would reference the black and white striped prison uniforms that many prisoners used to wear. It was also at this point I came up with the name ‘jail-break badger’. The last one I drew in this set I really liked the look of, so I thought I would work on that particular pose a little more.

While I liked the look of multiple stripes, fewer stripes are definitely easier to draw and more badgery. Long curly tails are definitely not a feature of badgers, but I thought it was a fun look so I decided to keep it.

I also thought it would be good to change the name from ‘jail-break’ to ‘zoo-break’.

What’s Next?

From badgers to bulldogs…and weasels to warthogs….You name it - I can draw it!

There’s also a whole host of characters in my Cartoon Newsletter, along with cartooning tips. Add your name and best email address to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Ideas for Knight Cartoons

I recently came up with the following cartoon for a friend’s birthday.

I enjoyed drawing the knight, and so after I finished it I starting thinking whether I could use him in another cartoon.

I thought I’d create a mind map and explore some possible ideas for cartoons.

Please feel free to think up your own ideas where you see the red question marks.

Drawing The Marine Ostrich

They say that stranger things happen at sea, and what could be stranger than an ocean-going Ostrich?

The Marine Ostrich was a recent addition the ‘Lessser-Known’ series, where I have tremendous fun coming up with new dogs breeds, and animal or bird species.

In this article I’m going to through the process of creating the cartoon.

Coming up with the idea

I think what first triggered the thought process was watching a video about the marine iguana. Seeing as I already draw a character called Gerald the Goat, this led to me creating the following cartoon:

Either the goat is a little small or that’s a really big Marine Iguana alongside it!

Initial Outline

As usual, I’m working in ProCreate on the iPad Pro. For the outline I’m using the technical pen. I always work in layers, so that I can swap them around easily, make change, and even copy them to use in subsequent cartoons.

Creating the palette

Here is the palette that I’m going to use for the colouring. I’ve pasted a previous cartoonof the Marine Ostrich to use as a reference.

Colouring the character

The colouring of the character is now well underway. I’m using a turpentine effect for the brush, as I thought that consistency of the paint would help to show the bird underwater.

Colouring the background

For the background, I switched brushes to a watercolour wash. I also added some movement lines and air bubbles. The other white marks you can see are the remnants of where I pasted the previous cartoon and then erased most of it. Although it’s a background layer, this layer is actually laid on top of the characters layers as I wanted to show the ostrich underwater.

The finished cartoon

To complete the cartoon, I set an eraser at 30% (I think!) opacity and then went over the background layer, so that the characters showed through a little more.

Finally, I added the caption.

What’s next?

From Ostriches to Ocelots…and Iguanas to Indian Elephants…You name it - I draw it!

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

PS. I also did one more cartoon previously riffing off the Marine Iguana theme.

Lesser-Known Bird Species - The Marine Ostrich

The Marine Ostrich shows once again the remarkable adaptability of some species.

When you think of birds with a strong connection with the sea you probably think of various gulls, penguins, even pelicans perhaps.

However, there is one bird species that you would normally associate with more arid conditions, that has, nonetheless, managed to adapt and survive to coastal living - The Marine Ostrich.

The Marine Ostrich, like it’s land-based cousin is also a flightless bird, but definitely not swimless.

Marine Ostriches are able to move with surprising speed and grace underwater.

Although it’s small, under-sized wings are no use at all getting airborne, they are of great use when it comes to getting waterborne. Much like a penguin would use its flippers, or a pelican it’s wings, the Ostrich uses its own wings to help propel itself through the water. It is also aided  by webbed feet.

Of course its long legs also enable it to wade out much further than other birds before it has to resort to swimming.

Marine Ostriches can be found in remote coastal regions in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa.

Marine Ostriches in captivity

Zookeeper Delia Doo-Rizzle and Oscar doing the rounds at the zoo.

Enterprising zookeeper, Delia Doo-Rizzle thought her way out of getting wet while at the zoo one day. 

She initially thought she was in for a soaking, having left her umbrella at home. Fortunately for her, she was able to enlist the help of Oscar the Ostrich, who was more than happy to dangle a modified lampshade over Delia’s head as she went about her duties.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter containing a whole host of characters and cartooning tips.

Add your name and best email address to the orange box below, and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Drawing Popping The Rain Orb

Map cap inventor, Felix Losh, thought he had hit upon the ideal way to stay dry with his Rain Orb. The Rain Orb surrounded the user in a transparent bubble which they could roll themselves around in regardless of the wetness of the weather.

However, while on his way to the patent office he bumped into a wandering porcupine, and his dreams, his dryness and his orb were all popped.

How I came up with the idea

It was rainy reason when I came up with this cartoon, so I was thinking up alternative ways for folks to stay dry while they were out and about.

I had recently drawn a porcupine in a different cartoon, and so I wondered if I might be able to recycle him into a new image.

While pondering what the porcupine might pop with his quills, the idea of the rain orb popped into mind.

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

Initial Sketch

I’ve sketched this out using a 6B pencil in ProCreate.

Creating the palette.

I’ve started to put the pallete together that I’ll use to colour the cartoon with. As a reference, I pasted an image of Percy the Porcupine that I had drawn previously.

Colouring the picture

I’ve now started to colour in the picture using a digital watercolour brush. The opacity was set at 30% initially and then I gradually built up the depth of the tones.

The completed cartoon

I ended up doubling the colour layer so as to to increase the intensity of the colour. I also added a bolder outline around the characters. I decided to keep the underlying pencil layer as I liked the effect of the the outline on top of it, it seems to give more shape and depth to the picture.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter. Add your name and best email address to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

How To Survive Rainy Season

The clouds are gathering, the heavens and opening, and the puddles are filling up.

Yes, rainy season is upon us again.

A few weeks of sharing off rain drops, glowing with the flow, and sloshing down the street. Rainy season has the effect of both figuratively and literally dampening the spirits.

Today, we’ll have a look at three characters who have not only survived, and also thrived during rainy season.

Enid Sponge

Avid aquarium keeper, Enid Sponge had a moment of insight one wet and windy day when her umbrella was blown inside out for the umpteenth time. It was while reflecting on why umbrellas are designed the way they were, that she hit on some truly original out of the box (out of the ‘brella?) thinking, and decided that this would be the ideal way for her to both stay dry and also take her pet fish, Bernard, for a ‘walk’ at the same time.

The only downside of this was the Enid had to do extensive hours in the gym to enable her to carry the full brolly.

Felix Losh

Map cap inventor, Felix Losh, thought he had hit upon the ideal way to stay dry with his rain orb. The rain orb surrounded the user in a transparent bubble which they could roll themselves around in regardless of the wetness of the weather.

However, while on his way to the patent office he bumped into a wandering porcupine and his dreams, his dryness and his orb were all popped.

Delia Doo-Rizzle

Enterprising zookeeper, Delia Doo-Rizzle thought her way out of getting wet while at the zoo one day.

She initially thought she was in for a soaking, having left her umbrella at home. Fortunately for her, she was able to enlist the help of Oscar the Ostrich, who was more than happy to dangle a modified lampshade over Delia’s head as she went about her duties.

Readers might be wondering whether this was not both a little unfair and also hazardous to Oscar’s health, to have him exposed to the rain. Fear not! Oscar is in fact an extremely rare Marine Ostrich which can be found in a few pockets along the East African coast. Marine Ostriches of course, love the water and are delighted to be able to go for a wander in wet weather or to dash about in a downpour.

What’s next?

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

Drawing The Legless Lizard

This is a legless lizard. This green fellow discovered a pile of berries that had rotted in the sun and fermented. Having scoffed the lot, he is scittering about randomly….

I’m going to go through the process of creating this cartoon.

Initial outline

As with all of my cartoons, I build up the drawing in a series of layers.

Adding hatching

I added a new layer of hatching to show the texture of the lizard’s skin. You can also see another layer visible that shows the palette I’m going to use to colour the picture.

Colouring

Here I’m washing in the colours, setting the digital watercolour brush on ProCreate to 30%. I gradually build up the depth of the tones. Again, this is on a separate layer that sits below the outline.

Tidying up the picture

I’ve now erased all of the areas where the colour overspilled. Just a few finishing touches to add now.

The finished picture

I added some shadow below the lizard and also some movement lines…and the hit!

And now the lizard is free to drunkenly skitter away to wherever its bound.

What’s next?

I put together a Cartoon Newsletter, which contains a whole host of characters, as well as cartooning tips. Add your name and best email address to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Recycling An Image

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, pioneering aviatrix Kitty Hawksley 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.

So what has this all got to do with recycling an image?

What we’re going to cover

I really enjoyed creating the above image. It took me a bit of time, particularly to draw the biplane, so after finishing it I started to think if I could recycle any elements of it to create subsequent images.

In this image I’ll go through some examples I came up with and then go through a few ideas to recycle images.

Here is the biplane by itself. I felt that it was a shame if I’d gone to the trouble of carefully drawing it only to not use it again.

Choose an image to work with

To try out some of the ideas we’re going to cover, choose an image of your own to work with. It could be from a recent or an older drawing. Choose something that catches your eye, or might be fun to work with.

Visible

I used to part of a ‘word of the day’ challenge, whereby I ad to come up with a daily cartoon to make a certain word.

For visible, I started off thinking in terms of animals in nature that were either concealing themselves or putting on a show. From there, I substituted army soldiers and that the such like. Finally, I ended up with a row of warships being spotted from the air. I thought I would add a double-twist of painting the biplane in a bright colour to also make it highly visible.

Exercise - Word association

What words do you associate with the image?

For example:

• flight

• air

• travel

• old-fashioned

• dangerous

• exciting

• etc

Now try it out with your own image

Social Distancing

During the height of Covid-19 I put together a series of illustrations to promote social distancing, hand washing etc. I had been playing around with the idea of bird hitching a lift on an airplane’s wings, and so I thought I’d have them on opposite wings for the sake of balance and also to keep their distance.

Current events

Are there any current events that could be combined with your image?

There could be in the form of:

• current news

• important concerns (e.g. environment)

• socail media memes

• popular culture (music, TV, movies, games, etc)

Exercise - current events

Try and connect your image to a current event. Use the above suggestions as prompts.

Adding new characters

Finally I’m going to return to the bare outline of the biplane.

Instead of having Kitty Hawksley or the leopard and goat, what other characters could I have flying the plane or even sitting on the wings?

Here are a few possible sources:

• look over existing characters you’ve drawn

• If it’s a human character in the original, try swapping it for an animal

• If it’s an animal character in the original try swapping it for a human

• How about a famous person or existing cartoon character

Exercise - add new characters

If you have the outline of your image, like the biplane above, then make a copy and sketch on top of it. Have fun adding new characters to the image.

Here’s what we covered

• word association

• current events

• adding new characters

One more thing…

Talking about characters, I’m currently working on a course on how to build a cast of characters. If you’d like to find out more, add your name and best email address below.

Drawing The Legged Snake

Norbert Rhubarb coming across the Legged Snake.

Controversial zoologist Norbert Rhubarb reported a sighting of a legged snake while on expedition deep in the Amazon in 1983. Rhubarb is not taken seriously in the scientific community, mainly due to his previous discoveries of the gliding hedgehog, the marine kangaroo, and the rotating badger. Rhubarb maintains hopes of getting an article in the likes of Nature or Science magazine in the future, but for the meantime has to settle for Caravan Monthly and the Loft Insulation Quarterly.

I’m now going to break down how I came up with the above image.

This all started out as a result of a conversation with a friend about snakes and lizards. We ended up talking about slow worms, which are a legless lizard. Just out of silliness I mentioned species of snake that has in fact legs (I made this bit up).

Fast forward in time and this conversation popped back into my head, and so I thought it would be fun to base a cartoon on this idea.

The legged snake

Six legs are better than four…

Here we have the snake with three sets of legs added. I initially had two sets of legs like any other lizard, but I thought it more comical to add more legs.

Outlining the background and Norbert Rhubarb

Outling the cartoon.

I thought a jungle setting would work well with Norbert coming across the snake pausing on a fallen log, with the greenery all around it acting as a frame.

Adding the greens

Starting the colouring.

You can see the palette that I’m using for the colouring. I’m using a digital watercolour wash in ProCreate with the brush set at 30% and then building up density bit by bit.

Adding darker tones

Increasing tones.

I’ve now added darker tones to the greens and also coloured in Norbert.

Drawing attention to the snake

Adding a touch of red.

I felt that the snake was merging into the background too much, so I thought that I’d add red markings to it to help catch the eye. After doing so I feel that this helped, but not enough.

Making the snake stand out

A brighter serpent.

I decided to change to the snake to a brighter green. I’ve also added shadow and hatching.

What’s next?

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

Slow Worms and Legless Lizards

The slow worm is a curious creature, in that it looks like a snake - but isn’t. Although it lacks legs, it is in fact a legless lizard.

Controversial zoologist Norbert Rhubarb reported a sighting of a legged snake while on expedition deep in the Amazon in 1983. Rhubarb is not taken seriously in the scientific community, mainly due to his previous discoveries of the gliding hedgehog, the marine kangaroo, and the rotating badger. Rhubarb maintains hopes of getting an article in the likes of Nature or Science magazine in the future, but for the meantime has to settle for Caravan Monthly and the Loft Insulation Quarterly.

This is also a legless lizard. This green fellow discovered a pile of berries that had rotted in the sun and fermented. Having scoffed the lot, he is scittering about randomly.

Combining Two Images

I drew the steam train to help illustrate some course materials. On the page, the train stood alone on a plain white background. I really enjoyed drawing it and it would be fun to add a background and make it more of a complete picture.

After the course had finished I had a bit more time and so I returned to the train to see what I could do with it.

I mulled through a few ideas, and then it struck me that it might be possible to combine the train with another drawing to create a new image.

Introducing the dog and the sportscar

One of my very favourite cartoons is this one of the sports car, with the dog enjoying the wind rushing by.

I started to imagine putting this image on top of the train one.

Layout out the new image

I’ve now laid out the image and added an outline for the background and also the hedgerow separating the road from the track. Adding the hedgerow also meant that I didn’t have to draw the train track!

You can also see that I’ve started to add a pallete that I’m going to use to colour the background.

Colouring the background

Most of the colouring has now been finished, the palette has been extended as I coloured different sections.

Time for a respray

While I liked the original green of the sports car, I thought that it was both a bit on the drab side and also that it would blend in with the hedgerow too much. I thought it would be a good idea to change it to red, and that the bright red would contrast nicely with the bright blue of the train.

Almost finished

Almost finished now. I set the eraser to 50% opacity and when over some of the background lines, as I didn’t want the boldness to distract from the bold lines in the main elements.

The finished picture

I resized the image slightly and that’s it!

I thought perhaps that I should have added some bolder lines to the car, but left it as it is for the time being.

Over to you

It is now time for you to try this idea out for yourself.

Have a look over your previous drawings. Are there two you feel could work well together to produce a new image?

The new image might be even stronger than the two images separately.

In this case, I used two drawings containing mainelements (the train and the car), but you could also look to combine a main element with another background.

You could even try combining one your drawings with someone else’s image or photo.

Lesser-Known Bird Species - The Red-Crested Giant Woodpecker

The Red-Crested Giant Woodpecker is truly one of the most distinctive looking and sounding birds.

The bird has also got the nickname of ‘stone-pecker’ or ‘iron-pecker’, due its remarkably strong beak being capable of pecking away at almost any material known to man.

This particular woodpecker species was only discovered relatively recently, in 1975. While looking for an ideal backdrop for a fall fashion photo shoot, American Vogue magazine travelled to a forest in Northern California.

Cindy’s photoshoot being interrupted by a particularly noisy woodpecker.

While attempting to shoot, the magazine crew kept getting interrupting by a loud hammering noise, which turned out to be the first reported sighting of the Red-Crested. Photographer Max Snapps was on hand to capture the bird on film and went on to pivot his career from fashion to feathers. Model Cindy Really ended up also changing careers, having gotten a taste of the great outdoors went on to retrain as a lumberjack.

Chisella is seen here putting the finishing pecks to a sculpture started by sculptor Amon.

Some folks have been able to put this ability to good use, such as the sculptor Amon, who currently works with his pet woodpecker, Chisella on commissions throughout the world.

It is believed that the Red-Crested has developed a complex series of taps to communicate. Renowned ornithologist Ernesto Blancmange has spent thirty years camping out in forest throughout the world recording and analysing the taps. His wife, Mrs Blancmange, wasn’t been impressed.

General characteristics

Like regular woodpeckers, cushioning for the brain is provided by a very long tongue-bone which winds around the skull, through a special cavity.

Woodpeckers in mythology

Did an ancient woodpecker species sculpt these heads?

The locals on the remote Eg Island believe that the mysterious and ancient bird-headed statues were created by giant woodpeckers way back in history

Habitat

The species can be found in forests throughout the world. Although it sometimes prefers remote forests, its loud pecking can be heard from several kilometers away.

Defence against predators

With its fearsome beak and ability to drill through wood in rapid-time, the Red-Crested has little to fear from predators in the tree-tops. This also ensures that the species is almost impossible to confine to an aviary, and has acquired a reputation as an escape-artist.

Brainstorming Cartoon Ideas

I used the train above to illustrate some materials for the ‘Story Tails - Storytelling for Cartoon Strips Course’.

The train is based on the Mallard, which is one of the most famous and recognizable train in the UK. It was a Pacific class steam engine and was used to set a speed record for steam trains that stands until this day.

After the course finished I thought it would be fun to revisit the picture and see If I could brainstorming some cartoon ideas for it.

Please note: This article is currently under construction. I usually set articles live immediately so it gives me an incentive to hurry up and finish them!

Land Speed Record Cartoons

Photo of the final draft of the cartoon. The original was sent to the customer, and I didn’t take a photo. Just like many old racing machines, I thought that the cartoon had been lost to time, until I stumbled across the above draft while sorting through some papers.

Imagine driving your car absolutely flat out...taking it to the very limits of its speed.....and then trying to coax a few more mph out of her.

It would probably be pretty scary.

Now imagine trying to do that on a beach...mere metres away from the breaking waves....

Terrifying!

And yet that’s what a few daring, speed-seeking souls would do in their attempt to break the Land Speed Record.

The above cartoon came about as the result of a commission from a chap who had a very strong interest in old racing cars. I had previously drawn another land speed record car, and so I was thinking about possible ideas I could pitch him for a follow-up commission.

While researching about land sped record, I came across two very different approaches and philosophies in trying to break the record.

The White Triplex Special

Ray Keech posing beside the White Triplex Special.

This behemoth exemplified the brute force approach. It was backed by Philadelphia wire manufacturer James H White.

The car got the Triplex names due to the fact that it had no less than three war-surplus Liberty aero-engines, one in front of and two behind the driver, totalling 81 litres.

To quote motor racing historian Samuel Hawley: 

“That was Jim White’s thing, that was his theory about speed, that the design of a car fancy streamlining didn’t really matter. If you wanted to go fast it was all about brute power.”

It was driven by the very brave, not that any drivers of this era weren’t brave, Ray Keech to a new record of 207mph in 1928.

Flat out along the sands.

Ray Keech wisely decided to quit at this point, deeming the car to be too dangerous, he’d actually been burnt during a couple of the runs, and called it a day on any subsequent record attempts before the car killed him.

The Stutz Black Hawk Special

In complete contrast to the beast that was the White Triplex Special, was the beauty of the Stutz Black Hawk Special, designed by engineer and racking driver Frank Lockhart.

You can the streamlining and small-size in this photo.

Using a small super-charged engine and streamlining, Lockhart relied on ingenuity for his attempt.

Frank Lockhart getting started on a run at Daytona Beech.

Lockhart made an attempt on Lockhart’s record at Daytona Beech, also in 1928. During one of his record attempt runs, one of the tyres burst, most likely as the result of a seashell and the car spun out of control killing Lockhart.

The Cartoon

Although these two cars were never on the sand at the same time, and never met in real life, I thought it would be interesting to have them side-by-side to show the contrast between the two.

The above was a draft of the final picture. I forget the pen I used for th outlining, but the into were applied using Copic sketch pens.

I thought I had previously lost the drafts of the cartoon, and didn’t take a photo of the finished cartoon that I sent to the customer. The other day while sorting through some old papers, I discovered a final draft of the cartoon. The paper was a bit creased, however I felt that the slightly weathered look suited the period of the subject matter in the drawing.

Cartoons as Gifts

Cartoons make great gift. Few things can match an original piece of art for a gift, especially one that has an emotional connection to the recipients interest. Imagine the wow factor when you give it to some as well..

Drop me a mile and let us have a chat about what I could draw for you.

Lesser-Known Dog Breeds - The Slope-Sided Shepherd

The Slope-sided shepherd came about as the result of a desire to create a dog that was able to run about unhindered on steep hills and mountains where the sheep could usually be found grazing. Highly selective breeding slowly shortened the legs in one side of the dog while lengthening those in the the other.

Probably the most famous owner of the Slope-side Shepherd was the legendary 1920s entertainer Max Spatz, who frequently featured the breed in his stage show.

Spatz became so enamoured of the breed that he actually started wearing a platform shoe on one foot only in an attempt to emulate the dogs. The dogs approved, however, his leading lady - Clara Fitztwiddle - strongly disapproved as it affected their dance routine, and more importantly for her, resulted in some somewhat lopsided kissing sessions after the curtain had fallen.

One drawback of Slope-sided Shepherd ownership is that while the breed is eminently suited to hills and mountains, it is completely and utterly ill-equipped to deal with flat environments. It is for this reason that there has never been an examples of the breed registered with the Dutch kennel club.

Slope-sideds can still be found tending flocks in remote locations, and have also attained cult status in San Francisco, where they thrive in the hilly city.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter with a whole kennel of canines, critters, and cartooning tips. Add your name and best email address to the orange box below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Lesser-Known Dog Breeds - The Lhasa Absent

By far the most mysterious of all dog breeds, no actual photographs are known to exist of the Lhasa Absent.

It is believed to be a very old breed indeed inhabiting high altitude settlements in Tibet. The Lhasa Absent is used as a temple sentinel to keep rats at bay in monasteries and also to warm the feet of senior lamas. It is bred to move stealthily and to appear 'invisible' so as not to disturb the monks at prayer.

The only time when it is possible to hear the dogs bark is at 4am when they awake the monks for their early morning meditation session.

It is said that Lama Tikiyeezee so loved the breed that he intended to adopt the form of one in his next incarnation. When questioned as to whether it was a step backwards to assume canine form after a precious human rebirth, he replied that all is consciousness anyway, whether human or dog.

It is believed the breed has survived until the present day despite the American kennel club in 2013 that precisely no Lhasa Absents have been registered.

What’s next?

I put out a Cartoon Newsletter with a whole kennel of canines and other critters. Add your name and best email address to the orange below and I’ll wing a copy your way.

Courses

This page is currently under construction. More details to follow soon!

Here you can find details about all the cartooning courses I offer, both now and in the future

Idea-Nator

Never be stuck for ideas again. The Idea-Nator course will get you coming up with your own cartoon ideas in no time.

Create A Cartoon Strip Course

Ever wanted to create your own cartoon strip, but didn’t know what to do?

This course takes you through all the basics so that you too can have your own strip.

Creating A Cast Of Characters

Upcoming!

This one will be a lot of fun. how to crate a whole cast of characters to popular your cartoon strips.

Emotions course

How do you show emotions in cartoons? This course will go through the most common emotions, how to draw them, and how to think up ideas for cartoons.

More details to follow soon!