The 14th Cartoon Art Trust Awards

The Cartoon Art Trust Awards were presented last night at The Mall Galleries in London. The trust, which runs the Cartoon Museum in London, has presented the awards annually since 1995. Gag cartoonist Grizelda, left, was among the winners.

PCOer and Private Eye regular Will "Wilbur" Dawbarn was there and sent Bloghorn this personal report:

I was fortunate enough to be invited to join the Private Eye table this year, and what a star-studded occasion it seemed to this small-town boy! I even got my suit out of mothballs for the occasion.

After a brief time spent standing around with no-one to talk to, trying to earwig Ken Clarke's conversation (for cartoon research purposes of course), scoffing as many canapés as I could get my hands on, and examining some marvellous Giles originals, I soon fell in with the coterie of Eye cartoonists, particularly the garrulous Simon Pearsall ("First Drafts"), who chatted non-stop in my left ear (most entertainingly) during the meal, leaving me only dimly aware of cartoons being auctioned off for thousands of pounds and awards being dished out to the worthy.

In my right ear at the table was Mark Warren, the writer of the Celeb strip. It turns out it's only Charles Peattie who does both Alex and Celeb – I'd always assumed it was the same writer-artist combo doing both.

I missed a few more awards whilst outside having a fag with Simon P. and Martin Rowson (who was very charming and gracious to the winner of the Under 18 Young Cartoonist of the Year award, telling her to email him for advice and the like – though he bluntly refused me the same courtesy when I enquired ...)

The Award Winners

Joke cartoon award: Grizelda of the New Statesman and others

Strip cartoon award: Stephen Collins of the Times

Pocket cartoon award: Jeremy Banks aka “Banx” of the FT

Caricature award: Nicola Jennings of the Guardian

Political cartoon award: Nicholas Garland of the Daily Telegraph

Young cartoonists of the year: Emilia Franklin (under 18) and James Hood (under 30).

The Pont prize for drawing the British Character: Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor of the Daily Telegraph for Alex. The Pont Award was set up five years ago in memory of Graham "Pont" Laidler, whose drew the brilliant series The British Character in Punch in the 1930s and 40s.

Lifetime achievement award: Raymond Briggs. The creator of the acclaimed books The Snowman and When the Wind Blows was responsible for some of the earliest British “graphic novels” – long before the term or the form was generally known. Previous winners of the award have included, Ronald Searle, Gerald Scarfe, Fluck and Law, and Trog.

PCOer Morten Morland has a first person report here as does Christian Adams of the Telegraph has his take on the events here too and Down the Tubes also has a round up.

The PCO: Great British cartoon talent

Cartooning on television

PCOer Will “Wilbur” Dawbarn is to appear on football show Off The Bar on Sky Sports 3 tonight, as an on-the-spot cartoonist.

Newton's sportier brother: a Private Eye cartoon by Wilbur

Talking about yesterday’s recording of the show, Will told the Bloghorn: “It was a really fun afternoon, I loved it. I got a bit of abuse from the host for being a Liverpool fan, but I managed to put my topical knowledge of Stoke City’s lethal throw-in secret weapon to some use on the show.

“My knowledge of the game wasn’t put to too taxing a test, most of the chat was left to the pundits. It was a tricky gig – I only had about 20 minutes to think up and draw gags about what they were saying, so I had to listen, brainstorm, and draw, all at the same time. Quite a challenge, but one I’m glad I took up.

“I’m certainly not the new Bill Tidy, but the cartoons I produced went down quite well and I got away without completely humiliating myself.”

Bloghorn says: the boy done good. Off The Bar is on Sky Sports 3 tonight at 9pm, with repeats at various times.

The PCO: As seen on TV

Cartoon Pick of the Week

Bloghorn spotted this great work this week...

One: Peter Brookes in The Times on gunning for Sarah Palin

Two: Clay Bennett at timesfreepress.com on Barack Obama: a tough act to follow

But enough US elections, already ... Three: Wilbur Dawbarn in Private Eye looks at the the gravity of the situation

The PCO: British cartoon talent

The curve of a cartoonist-part one

To many people, one drawing can look much like another, but to a professional practitioner of the art, little could be further from the truth.

The simple dictionary definition of drawing* is the art of representing by line, but behind this statement the variety can seem infinite.

Expression and communication in drawn line and the way it is used to make a joke or a point is the unique thing in developing an original, visual sense of humour. And that goes towards making the cartoonist.

The picture here shows a small variety of the lines which are used to make jokes. You can find all of them - and their creators - in our PCO cartoon portfolios.


The curve of different PCO cartoonists from procartoonists.org
Click to enlarge the picture.

* Concise Oxford Dictionary.
British cartoon talent

Bloghorn has gone to the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival

PCOer Wilbur Dawbarn drew this cartoon of last year's event for The Oldie magazine. Bloghorn has now left the digital arena to go to this year's event.
British cartoon talent

Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival

A sneak preview of more 'Art' from the upcoming Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. This piece is by PCOer Wilbur Dawbarn.
British cartoon talent