Grammar school

These two cartoons from the current Private Eye magazine reveal the struggle behind the caption.

My grammar is rather hopeless, and my captions can sometimes waffle on and on.

Here is one of the toons, with my final caption.

The rather less elegant original was something like: "When we downsized from the cottage to a flat I rather assumed you would be giving up the bees."
I was a bit unsure about cutting it, but I hope the more concise version is better.

This next one is an example of the magazine tweaking the caption.

This is how it appears in print...

My original being: "I'll be glad to see the back of winter- I'm sick of it being so dark all the time."

A subtle difference.

But I am not one to complain- at least these lovely ladies got to see themselves in print.

Beware the mainspring

Happy New Year! to the five of you who visit this blog.

Here is a non-cartoon again.

I've started tinkering with creating stuff out of junk (some might say my cartoons come under this category, but hey).

A work in progress- going to be some sort of dragonfly from bits of metal and clock parts.

Happy birthday JC

Here's the design Private Eye magazine chose for one of their Christmas cards.

Merry Christmas!!!

Krampus is a coming

Almost Christmas- but with daffodils springing up and people waddling around in T-shirts and shorts you might think otherwise.

So here are some Christmassy pictures to get you in the festive mood!

This one is in the latest Private Eye magazine.

This next one was a rejected card design for Private Eye.

It's a modern take on The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.

(I'll admit it's a bit bleak, even for me)

Daktari

Not well today- think I am catching the cold everyone at work has.

I guess Christmas time is all about sharing, but I would have preferred some chocolate biscuits as a gift.

But I am not one to grumble- so here's a cheery festive image for you.

I sent it to Private Eye, along with 4 other drawings, when they asked for Xmas card ideas a few months back.

It was rejected.

They did take one of my other designs, but this was my favourite.

If it confuses you, think back to that story earlier this year when a dentist shot a lion.

Event Horizon

3 cartoons in the latest Private Eye magazine- woo hoo!

Now I'll be able to afford one of those really big Pot Noodles for Christmas dinner this year.

God bless us, every one!

This one won't mean much to those unfamiliar with the UK TV show 'Gogglebox'.

Or if you can't work out what that spinny dark circular thing is meant to be.

The original text was going to end with, "...creating a black hole- where time and space become meaningless."

But that would be too long a caption- even for me.

Purgatory Street

I've been elsewhere...

Say hello to my neighbour- just across the road in the borough of the Holy Apostles.

I'm back now though.

Some cartoons might follow soon.