FUNNY OLD WORLD PHEW, WHAT A SCORCHER!was getting under way as The Jester went to press. See next month’s issue for a full report and pictures. The festival website is: www. shrewsburycartoonfestival.com

! ISSUE 397 – MAY 2007 !AUTUMN 2005

The Jester

Newsletter of the Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain

The JesterFUNNY OLD WORLD

The Newsletter of the Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain

ALAN TURNER ONMEETING A LEGEND

CLIVE COLLINS IN CARTOON HELL

DAYTIME AGM:REPORT AND PICS

DUNCAN BOURNE’STOLLY GOOD SHOW

ACA NEEDS GOODNEIGHBOURS

PHEW, WHATA SCORCHER!YOUR CLIMATE CHANGE GAGS

ARCHIVE PHOTOS GO ONLINE

ALL THIS PLUS ... CLUB INCOME & EXPENDITUREACCOUNT 2006/7 !!

MORE TECH TIPS FROM THE DOC

THE JESTER ISSUE 397 – MAY 2007 CCGB ONLINE: WWW.CCGB.ORG.UK

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The Jester

The CCGB CommitteeChairman: Terry Christien

020–8892 [email protected]

Secretary: Jed Stone020–7720 1884

[email protected]: Anne Boyd

020–7720 [email protected]

Membership Secretary:Jed Pascoe: 01767–682 882

[email protected]

Les Barton: 01895–236 [email protected]

Clive Collins: 01702–557 [email protected]

Neil Dishington: 020–8505 [email protected]

Ian Ellery: 01424–718 [email protected]

Graham Fowell: 0115–933 [email protected]

Pete Jacob: 01732 845 079Jill Kearney: 0115–933 4186

[email protected] Martin: 01883–625 600

[email protected] Nixon: 01245–256 814

Derek Quint: 01984–632 592Richard Tomes: 0121–706 7652

[email protected] Turner: 01206–798 283

[email protected] Williams-Davies:

01473–422 [email protected] Williams-Davies:[email protected]

Jester Editor:Royston Robertson

01843–871 241jester_magazine @yahoo.co.uk

Front cover: Steve BestBack cover: Fred Higton

WELL, didn’t we have a jolly good AGM? Yes we did, thanks to you guys and girls! Starting earlier, with an extended afternoon, helped you, as you said it would, to catch trains etc. It’ll be back to early evening for the May meeting. It’s thank-you time on behalf of the club to our committee, for tirelessly attending every month to keep the CCGB thriving. Special mention to our Treasurer, Anne Boyd – after a bit of a shaky start, taking over from Jill Kearney’s excellent work, she has worked closely with Jed Pascoe, our Member-ship Secretary, to smooth the operation of the club’s membership database, among other duties. It’s all very much appreciated. Thank you both Anneand Jed. Thank you also to the other Jed, Jed Stone, our Secretary, who has brought a new meaning to the phrase “matters arising”, boomed from the minutes of each previous meeting. Good stuff and thanks to you, Jed. And sparing his blushes, very impor-tantly a big thank you to our Jester Editor, Royston Robertson, who I so nearly forgot to mention at the AGM

– he was hidden behind me! But he knows that I, on behalf of the club really appreciate the excellent work he’s done with The Jester and have said so on many occasions. To reiterate again, a big thank you for bringing such professionalism to the pages of The Jester – well done, mate! We should also recognise the addi-tional work it took for Royston to produce the A5-size Members’ Direc-tory, which turned out superbly. To remind everybody, all the officers’ duties are voluntary, with consumable expenses to help Royston by assisting him with the technological require-ments needed to publish The Jester. So, the new committee (with no ma-jor changes, but with every opportunity to do so) will do their best to make your CCGB membership enjoyable and constructive. As I write, we’re looking forward to the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival, then there’s Ip-art in Ipswich at the end of June and we will also be involved in the arts festival in Weston-super-Mare in September ... and whatever tran-spires between!

The ChairIssue 397 - May 2007Published 11 times a yearby The Cartoonists’ Club

of Great Britain

Terry Christien

“There’s no money in it.”


3

New cartoonists’ organisationThe new Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation (PCO) was launchedin April, an amalgamation of the UK division of FECO and thedefunct Cartoonists’ Guild. The PCO exists to promotecartooning, rather than being asocial club for cartoonists. PCO President Andy Davey toldThe Jester that the idea was formed during a conversation at the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival two years ago. “The feeling of those idlebanterers was that the best ofBritish cartooning and cartoonists was not being represented forcibly enough. If cartoonists were to reach a wider public, then the message needed to be conveyed moreeffectively both to editors anddirectly to the illustration-buying commercial markets. “The PCO aims to become anactive, professional organisation of cartoonists which promotes and supports the art and profession of British cartooning domestically and internationally, the latter mostly via its membership of FECO. It will do this via the internet and its bi-monthly Foghorn magazine and will also collaborate in organising festivals and exhibitions.”

Ip’s all go From Jock Williams-Davies: The Ipswich arts festival, Ip-art, is upon us again, and within its two-week period is a Street Fair in the centre of town on Sunday 24 June. Once

again Trish and I have secured a stall for the CCGB. Last year Mike Turner, Terry Christien, Graham Fowell, Jill Kearney, Trish andmyself had a good day at the fair, drawing, selling and talking with the passing public. The invitation is open again for any one who wants to come along for the day. See page two for Jock’s contact details. The club will also be taking part in the Weston-super-Mare ArtsFestival 2007, from September 21-23. The CCGB exhibition of car-toons will be on display at the

Somerset festival, with artwork for sale. Members are invited to join the throng. It is likely that we will do cartoon/caricature workshops.More details in future Jesters.Terry Christien said: “There are a number of members in that area it would be good to see again.”

Beetles showHaving a Laugh! – The British Art of the Cartoon, is at the ChrisBeetles Gallery from April 25 until May 31. The show is a selection of cartoons by many of Britain’s best known cartoonists, such as Larry,H. M. Bateman, Giles, Simon Bond, Ed McLachlan, Vicky, MikeWilliams and many others. The Chris Beetles Gallery is at 8 & 10 Ryder Street, St James’s, London. For more details visit the website: www.chrisbeetles.com

ShrewsburyThe Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival was getting under way as The Jester went to press. See next month’s issue for a full report and pictures. The festival website is: www. shrewsburycartoonfestival.com

News

Dave Brown’s Rogues’ Gallery, an exhibition of original cartoons fromThe Independent, is at the Political Cartoon Gallery from May 2 until July 1. Brown’s reinterpretations of the Old Masters have appeared in The Indie since January 2004, and this exhibition is a selection of the best. The exhibition will be accompanied by a limited-edition catalogue. ThePolitical Cartoon Gallery, 32 Store Street, London, is open Monday to Friday 9.30am–5.30pm and on Saturdays 11.30am–5.30pm.


4

Arthur’s photo album

Over the years, I have accumulated a number of photos taken at CCGB do’s. Most of them are familysubjects, but I have singled out about 60 which I think are purely cluborientated. I wish to share these with other members, hopefully to bring back a few memories to the oldies and to show the young whip-persnappers how things used to be.

Arthur Middleton(Club Piper)

Editor’s note: Arthur’s photos are sure to bring back many memories for members. They can now be seen on the CCGB website. Go to the main page and click on “Cartoon Galleries.” The final gallery is called “Scrapbook”. Click on that and you’ll find Arthur’s photo albumin there.

Directory enquiry

Did you receive your A5 Members’ Directory with the April issue of The Jester? If not, let myself or Member-ship Secretary Jed Pascoe know, as we have a few spares – The Ed

Postal address:The Jester,c/o Royston Robertson, 20 Upton Road,Broadstairs,Kent CT10 2ASEmail: jester_magazine @yahoo.co.uk

JesterDearGrand day out

THERE was something very familiar about the figure in the Ipswich printers, but I just couldn’t work it out. I was making enquiries about a print run for a draw-ing I’d done for a Christmas card at RAF Wattisham. Grandma! It was Grandma! Heavily disguised in a tweed jacket and cords, but neverthe-less it was. This was in 1974 and I’d been car-tooning for around 20 years, often drawing (pun entirely intended) inspi-ration from Giles annuals. In my final year at college I entered a lecture competition, choosing car-tooning as the subject, and wrote to Giles for permission to reproduce some of his characters, especially Grandma. The reply didn’t arrive in time, but I went ahead anyway. Now, the time had come to confess. Down on my knees I went, kissed the hem of his slightly pig-stained Harris Tweed, at the same time praying si-lently to St. Cat the patron saint of stolen copyright that my punishment wouldn’t be too great. Giles told me not to be silly – £500 in used fivers would be fine! But seriously, we talked cartooning, master to acolyte, long into the Suffolk afternoon and, amongst other things, I asked how he fitted three cartoons a week into a busy farming schedule. He told me that he drafted ideas which he gave to his wife who checked, using the Cardex filing system, for possible repetition of previous cartoons. This labour of love, on the part of Grand-ma’s daughter of course, affected his deadlines as she frequently said something like, “You can’t use that one. You did it 15 years ago”. This often meant that he missed the train so was forced to drive his work to Fleet Street, which happened about three times a month on average. As I left, he asked how I’d done in the competition, and when I told him I’d won he gave me the £500 back. No he didn’t – he just smiled and winked.

Alan Turner recalls meeting a cartooning legend

Left: Arthur Middleton when he was a young whippersnapper


5

THE pool table at The Cartoonist played a major part in the AGM, which was held from 2pm on April 3, as members paired off to take part in a knockout. The official AGM stuff was done first, with Chairman Terry thanking all who have helped keep the club going over the past year (see page 2). There were no changes to the committee other than the addition of Trish Williams-Davies to the line-up. As ever, it was good to seemembers who don’t get to meetings too often putting in an appearance. Gag supremos Dave Parker and Pete Dredge came along, and newmember Brenda Romans made her debut at The Cartoonist. But I know what you’re demanding to know: who were the pool champs? All isrevealed overleaf ....

How the AGM went all to pot ...

Paul Baker has some sort of neck complaint but John Landers, Nikki Harries and Gerard Whyman pretend not to notice; Neil Dishington appears less keen to be snapped than Derek Quint and Frank Holmes

Annual general greeting: Simon Cassini makes his views on photos clear; Pete Shea with new member Brenda Romans; prolific gag man Dave Parker looks at the work of comics artist Henry Davies

Photos: Trish Williams-Davies,Tim Harries and Gerard Whyman

Right on cue: Chairman Terry lines up a shot

Royston Robertson


6

MY husband, Jed Stone, persuaded me to be Treasurer on the promise that it was just “some figures on the back of an envelope”. Personally I think that was an at-tempt on his part to draw me into the thirst-quenching merriment that is the CCGB. After club events he no longer rolls home alone but has me staggering along beside him! As regards my newfound role, I am indebted to Jill Kearney for her well-kept records, members’ lists, bank statements, etc. I am also thankful that she continued with Treasurer’s duties for at least six months before casting me adrift on my own. I am truly grateful to Jed Pascoe for taking on the Jester mailing list. That just leaves me the annual subs to bank. My cunning plan is to en-courage all members to pay subs by standing order. This has been partially successful (for which, many thanks) and I shall persevere next year. I should also like to thank Terry Christian and the committee for making committee meetings so en-tertaining (am I allowed to say that?).Here’s to another year of keeping the CCGB in the black.

Anne Boyd

The Cartoonists’ Club of Great BritainIncome and Expenditure Account: April 1st 2006 – March 31st 2007

With some inevitability, the final of the AGM poolknockout was drawn along national lines, with theEngland Team, represented by Jill Kearney and Cockney sparrow Jed Stone, left, romping to victory, and tearsbefore bedtime for Team Wales, aka Gerard Whyman and Nikki Harries, above. The appalling ineptitude of some members when it comes to playing pool must be noted [do you mean the Ed? – Ed] as well as the skills of the odddark horse, such as Frank “Hurricane” Holmes.


7

Thanks for all the environment-based cartoons. The next cartoon theme is: ART

“I tell you – the melting ice capsare bringing ’em over here.”

“Never mind the polar bears– what about us?”

“You’d think he’d be happy now he’scarbon neutral, wouldn’t you?” “It’s either a mirage or this global warming’s worse than we thought.”

"Once the pole melts, what willwe be called?"

“It’s out of our hands, we’ll justhave to go with the floe.”

Funny old world


8

Our man in ManchesterIn the first of two articles, Duncan Bourne takes us through a project that combined cartooning with photorealistic real-life locations ... and kept him more than a little busyTHERE you are wondering where the next project will come from, polish-ing the glass on your framed and mounted collection of rejection slips, when out of the blue wafts a promise of fame and fortune. “I have this great idea for a book and you're just the person to illustrate it!” Your heart skips a beat as visions of wealth and fame flash across your brain… “I believe that this will run for at least 30 sequels!” More wealth, more fame! Then comes the body blow “I am going to self-publish so I can’t afford to pay you at present, but I am sure that it will be successful and a good future investment.” There is a dull thud as your dreams plummet into the waste bin of life. These kind of things happen with a depressingly monoto-nous regularity. So it was with a cer-tain amount of cynicism that I first

read a letter that landed, along with a story synopsis, in my mail box. The praise for my work was high (searched the internet … saw your work …. Right man for the job… etc. etc.) His enthusiasm for the story was evident. But then came that problem-atic little phrase “self-publishing”. However, despite that, this was a potential client that was offering to pay the going rate. So, I thought, no point in being shy, and I sent him a quote that, while reasonable, was the sort of figure to make any idle dreamer’s toes curl. To my surprise he agreed to it straight away (damn – should have gone for more) and even offered to pay half up front – a thing rarely heard of in my experience. It wasn’t all cut and dried though. He knew I could draw the figures but the story called for accurate repre-sentations of specific locations in

Manchester. If I was going to land the commission I would have to show that I could be a draughtsman as well as a cartoonist. I made a few prelimi-nary sketches of local buildings around where I lived and also dug up some work I had done in the past that included some architecture. These I presented at our first meeting. It was a very amiable affair. I met Richard Byrne, the writer of the book, in Manchester and he took me around all the locations for Tolly. His idea for the book was of a child (Tolly) who tells wonderful stories, which are so compelling that all sorts of people gather to listen to them. As Tolly wanders around Manchester, shop-ping with Mum, they acquire an in-creasing number of followers all eager to listen, until there is a cast of thousands in the final scene. He was very enthusiastic about including

So the story begins: Tolly draws a crowd at the Urbis Centre, one of several real-life Manchester locations in the book


9

several notable landmarks on this tale trail, the idea being that parents and children could go on a “Tolly walk” around Manchester (all areas of the story were within easy walking dis-tance) and act out the book. I pre-sented him with the character sketches for Tolly which I had done and they were approved. We arranged a meeting in a week’s time in Stoke and then he took me for a meal to conclude the meeting. That week I worked up A4 sketches for all the scenes, a task that was more involved than I had originally thought. To simply have people fol-lowing Tolly around in a kind of daze would have been a bit dull, so I worked a few little sub-plots into the pictures to develop alongside the main story: a pigeon with a penchant for hats; two burglars, with a safe, trying to listen to the story but hide from the policewoman; an alien visi-tor, and others. Of course then I had to work out how all these sub-plots were going to develop and be con-cluded in the final scene – a task that took several reams of notes before I even began drawing. On our second meeting Richard approved the scene sketches I had done and he presented me with a disc of photos to use for the worked up sketches. We agreed that I would be paid a flat rate for the initial print run and 50 per cent royalties for subse-quent printings. I said that I would draw up a contract that would assign copyright to suit us both (me getting the images, Richard the concept). That week I did the pencilling for the first two of the final images. Ini-tially I drew the buildings by hand, but that way was proving too long winded. So for the second image I enlarged the photos I had been given and traced out the salient points using the good old light box technique. Once I had the buildings down then I could place the figures around them. Richard was more than pleased with the resulting sketches and, as prom-ised, paid up half the amount of the final fee – a very nice incentive to keep going. It took me two weeks to draw up all the images (bar the final piece) to A3. One of the first problems I encoun-tered was that of children. I discov-ered that in our paranoid climate of child abuse and kiddie porn it is very difficult to find decent photos of kids

just being kids. The few reference books I came across were long out of print and an internet search drew lim-ited material to work with. In the old days I could have gone to a play-ground with a camera and sketch book but now that was a sure way to a tarring and feathering and a stay at

Her Majesty’s Pleasure. In the end I used a combination of clothing cata-logues and my wife Michèle’s niece for specific poses.

Next: Duncan finds that somepictures take a month to complete, plus there’s computer trouble ...

Top: A motley crowd gathers on the steps in Exchange Square to listen to Tolly’s story. Above and right: Tolly and her mum, pencil sketch and coloured artwork


10

Ouch! From the letters pages of Superman and Lois Lane comics in the 1950s, spotted on the web by the Ed [On a cartooning site, I hasten to add – Ed]

Also featuring the likes of Andy Davey, clearly. From The Sunday Times, April 15. Spotted byNigel Sutherland

From CNN.com, April 8:Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning “B.C.” comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 news-papers worldwide, died Saturday while working at his home in Endicott, New York. He was 76. “He had a stroke,” Hart’s wife, Bobby, said Sunday. “He died at his storyboard.” “B.C.”, populated by prehistoric cavemen anddinosaurs, was launched in 1958 and eventuallyappeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with anaudience of 100 million, according to CreatorsSyndicate Inc., which distributes it. “He was generally regarded as one of the bestcartoonists we've ever had," Hart’s friend MellLazarus, creator of the “Momma” and “Miss Peach” comic strips, said from his California home. “He was totally original. ‘B.C.’ broke ground and led the way for a number of imitators, none of which ever came close.” After he graduated from Union-Endicott High School, Hart met Brant Parker, a young cartoonist who became a prime influence and co-creator with Hart of the “Wizard of Id” comic strip.

From The Los Angeles Times, April 16:Cartoonist Brant Parker, who co-created the comic strip The Wizard of Id and rendered its medievalkingdom for more than three decades, has died. He was 86. Parker died Sunday at a Lynchburg, Va., nursing home of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease and a stroke suffered last year, announced Creators Syndicate, the strip’s distributor. His death came eight days after longtime Wizard collaborator Johnny Hart died of a stroke at 76.


11

A little understandingIN SOME countries, Australia is best known as the home of Neighbours, the TV soap. Yet not all of Australia’s own neighbours have become good friends – at least not all of the time. When we look for cartoon inspira-tion, we leaf through old Punch year-books or New Yorker collections. After all, we English-speakers share not only the language, but many prefer-ences and prejudices – we all dislike mothers-in-law, dentists and teenagers. We would not look at Indonesian or Chinese cartoon books. Ask any Aus-tralian to name 20 cartoonists, and there would not be an Asian among them. Years ago we had good excuses: England was the mother country and America protected us from the “yel-low hordes”. We had a White Australia policy and it was treason to say any-thing good about people who don’t speak English. But now we have Indian and Chinese immigrants to do the jobs we are too stupid or too lazy to do, and most of our television sets, cars, cameras and phones come from Asia – but none of our jokes. It’s a joke, I tell you, and that’s no joke. Lately there have been moves to break that insularity, with cartoon exhibitions and exchanges planned. It is not surprising that we encounter the same old enemy of a good laugh: not ethnic differences, but fundamentalist

religion. There are parts of Indonesia where a picture of a bikini-clad girl could lead to riots and flag-burning. There are problems with our stock-in-trade cartoon subjects: half-naked girls, pigs and parsons! What are we left with? Politicians? Terrorists? Bet-ter not touch them either. All this goes to show how important a free society is if we want to keep laughing. But it should also make us think about what others laugh about. Everybody likes to laugh, and each nation prides itself on its unique sense of humour. If we don’t laugh about their jokes, they reckon that we simply don’t get the subtlety. Those of us who do have an eye on Asian humour know how rapidly “Western” humour is catching on – as far as it is allowed – or being imitated, if you like. And that’s no wonder. In Indonesia and Asia they are starting to dress like Westerners, see the same films, and work for the same corpora-tions even. We’re going to have a global sense of humour. Which means that we may soon find ourselves going through those Chinese and Indonesian publications if we run out of ideas ...

Rolf Heimann (“LOFO”), isVice President of the AustralianCartoonists' Association and iscurrently organising an exhibitionof Australian cartoons in Indonesia

Australia has not always paid attention to its cartoonistneighbours, says Rolf Heimann of the ACA

GREAT MINDS!We’ve all seen it happen before ... ask cartoonists to come up with gags on one subject and they think up the same joke! You’ve already seen Steve Best’s version on the cover, but credit must also go to Brenda Romans, Alex Matthews and Dave Parker ...


12Reprinted by kind permission of our friends at the Australian Cartoonists’ Association magazine Inkspot

In this article we’ll have a bash at using four or fi ve different programs

(counting the pencil) to create a very simple cartoon.

We’ll use natural media (pen, pencil or beer bottle dipped in ink) to create a base sketch, Photoshop to scan the

sketch, your internet browser to fi nd a small image to add to the cartoon in Photoshop, the browser to fi nd another image to copy into Illustrator to trace a required outline for our cartoon, Painter to color in the cartoon & fi nally Illustrator to add some text

With such a simple cartoon, you might ask why so much soft-ware to do what was surely once done with a pen & eight drops of ink. Good question. I might not do all my cartoons like this either, but this was the easiest way for me to do this one. It also facilitates later changes, electronical transmission & use of bits in other cartoons later. The cathedral was later used in a cartoon about George Pell & the RR grill in yet another cartoon

The method described below is not the only way all these programs could be used to complete this cartoon. Several stages could have been done in just the one program. However, the idea is to provide a working example of how to use these programs in unison rather than be constrained to just one program at any one time to complete a cartoon

This cartoon is part of a collection for a book called (possibly) “Nun Soup” which is currently at that delicate stage known to all as “you call that a contract?”. Thanks to all those ACA mem-bers who have provided valuable advice about this delicate stage also. It has been much appreciated

Pen & Photoshop: … pencil if you please, then ink with a 0.6 Artline borrowed from Peter Byrne’s offi ce at NEWS Ltd.

Scan the cartoon in grayscale & open in Photoshop on a single background layer in a .psd format fi le. PSD is Photoshop’s native format (see Ask The Doctor #2) & a format in which other pro-grams can also work effi ciently. For the purposes of this exercise we will save our fi le in the psd format only

Drag the background layer down to the new layer icon to cre-ate a new layer called Background Copy & rename it Sketch. Change the blending mode for this layer to Multiply (see ATD#1). This effectively turns a sketch on a white opaque page into a sketch on a transparency which will allow us to paint below it later. Select the bgrd layer & fi ll with white. Save as Cartoon.psd

CHRI

S KE

LLY

a

rtic

le #

4 Internet & Photoshop: Now let’s get a Rolls Royce internet grill because it’s easier than drawing one & it makes a nice effect.

Open your browser & access the Google search engine (google.com if not on your browser). Type Rolls Royce into the search fi eld & press Search. You’ll get a lot of web addresses but we don’t want those.

Above the search fi eld you’ll see web. Click images for a page of Rolls Royce thumbnails. Check size info for a bigger pic & click a thumbnail to open a page offering a larger version of the image. Take that offer. When this image opens, Control-click (Mac) or right-click (PC) on the image & choose Copy. Return to Photoshop & paste the image into your doc. Scale till it fi ts the front of the car & then use a mask rather than an eraser (see ATD#3) to hide unwanted portions of the image

Internet & Illustrator: Now we need a cathedral outline for the backdrop. Therefore we need a cathedral. Type St Pe-

ter’s Basilica into Google, press Search & copy as before. Open an Illustrator fi le, paste & Save in the .ai format

To make it easier to trace around this, fade & lock the image. Double click the layer in the layer palette & from the dialog box, select Template, Lock & click OK. The normal eye icon changes to the template icon. If no lock icon appears next to the template icon, click next to it to lock the template layer

Create a new layer above the template layer. Use the pen tool to trace around the top of St Peters & adjust the stroke to desired width. Select & copy your pen tool artwork. Switch to Photoshop & paste & scale the artwork to fi t the cartoon. For this cartoon, I applied a mask & used a soft brush to fade the artwork at the sides. Save & Close

Painter & Chalkwork: Open the Photoshop fi le

in Painter. Create a new layer below the Sketch layer, choose a blunt chalk from the brushes palette, a rough texture from the paper palette, black from the color palette & chalk in some road texture below the car. Save in the psd format & Close

Photoshop or Illustrator for Text: 1) Open in Photoshop & use the Text tool to creat the text. Select the text & use the

Warp Text Tool for interesting or subtle effects. Save. To send as a fl attened fi le, copy the fi le, fl atten & save in tiff, jpg or gif formats as required by your client - OR - 2) Open in Illustrator & use the Text tool to create the text. Illustrator has many more options for text, so on more complicated artwork, this may be your best bet.To send as a fl attened fi le, copy the fi le, select all the text, choose Type>Create Outlines & save in the eps format or as required by your client. The reason for outlining text is that if your client’s computer does not have your fonts (highly likely) their computer will substitute a default font & ruin your artwork

Questions to the Doctor at <[email protected]> Till the next Inkspot. Cheers. Chris


13

GRAHAM GREENE once described a character in The Heart of the Matter as having “a laugh like a shriek from a crevasse”, and I’ve had days like that. If it’s not fellow professionals complaining about the fact that, as cartoonists, no one out there in the great murky public arena knows what the hell the title “Cartoonist” actually means, then it’s some dipstick client complaining that I’ve drawn her with bobbed hair and glasses. Hey! Maybe it’s how she looked in the photograph she sent me! She’s weeping copiously on the phone, telling me how proud she is of her new flowing hairdo and that she never wears glasses outside of the office, and I’m thinking, Do I have the gift of second sight? As to what we call ourselves, I’ve always been proud to answer to being a Cartoonist, Caricaturist and Illus-trator because, those titles, oddly enough describe adequately what I do to earn a crust. We have to realise, of course, that the word “cartoon” probably echoes loudly somewhere in that vast empty hall of public percep-tion but sometimes it can’t be pinned down. A chum of mine in the prov-inces is pissed off as a result of being at a party with some friend who have connections among artists. He was asked for his opinion on a painting, only to have his comments blown out of the water by one of the assembled, who asked, “What would you know? You’re just a cartoonist!” Maybe it’s our own fault that we are so little known Out There; I know we have famous cartoonists among our acquaintance who are stars of TV and radio, but the fact that they have achieved their fame seems to bear no relation to our own scrambling around down here at the lower ends of the ladder. My sour view is con-stantly being re-enforced in dealings with, say, Yellow Pages. I advertised with them many years ago and found myself, as we do, listed under “Artists, Commercial & Industrial” which of course zeroes in on our abilities like a shining new

scalpel. Thus I received endless en-quiries as to whether I drew plans of yachts or maps, or designed anything from rock gardens to greenhouses, taking in house extensions and deco-rating children’s bedrooms along the way. Each time I denied my skills in any of the aforementioned, the caller expressed at least puzzlement or, at most, anger, and asked why the hell I couldn’t make my terms of reference clearer. I withdrew from the listings. They came back to me late last year, and I asked them if they’d yet got a section for “Cartoonists & Illustra-tors” and, as I expected, was told that what we do “doesn’t justify a separate heading”. I countered by asking why they didn’t just lump together Butch-ers, Greengrocers, Fishmongers, Restaurants and Catering under the one heading “Food”. There was a puzzled tone in his voice as I hung up. What I’ve found frightening is that virtually all of the situations that Besley so excellently captures in his Jester vignettes are TRUE, and I realise, I really do, that what we do isn’t brain surgery or rocket science and people’s lives aren’t changed by what we do (though it would be nice to think their lives might be made brighter for a brief moment). But I have become more and more con-vinced, as I hurry up the hill and spy the Grim Reaper trotting up the other side, that the public see what we do as something rather silly and terribly insubstantial. This being the Famous

for 15 Minutes age, it means anyone thinks that he or she can do what we do and probably will.Footnote: I did get paid by the woman who complained, after I eventually drew her from a more recent photo-graph, and I made her promise to forget my number, and only ever con-tact me again on pain of death.

THERE will be a Carbon Footprint Swap at The Cartoonist pub after the May club meeting. Several long-haul-flight caricaturists would like to ex-change their responsibility for global warming with fellow caricaturists who don’t go anywhere. Your sup-port is urged on behalf of CCGB member Norman Plop, who was ar-rested early last week for installing a 3-pin double socket plug to the base of a windmill on the windfarm ad-joining his property, in order to power his Mac.

I’VE just finished reading Leslie Iwerks’ and John Kenworthy’s The Hand Behind the Mouse (pub. Disney Editions), the life story of Ub Iwerks who was the man Walt Disney called “the greatest animator in the world”. It’s a wonderful read, full of throw-away information like this: “On Plane Crazy, by using cycles and repeats as time-saving measures, he neverthe-less churned out more than 700 drawings a day” (my italics). I’ll never complain about being overworked again.

Clive Collins


14

Potted Minutes from CCGB AGM committee meetingof April 3, 2007

Present: Terry Christien, Jed Stone, Neil Dishington, Jed Pascoe, Anne Boyd, Clive Collins, Royston Robert-son, Jill Kearney, Graham Fowell, Jock Williams-Davies, Derek Quint.

Apologies: Helen Martin, Mike Turner, Les Barton, Richard Tomes, Ian Ellery. Matters arising: Accommodation i.e. hotels to be looked into during the Weston Arts Festival; Anyone approaching the CCGB with enquir-ies on how to become a cartoonist will be advised to look at website.

Treasurers report: Anne Boydcirculated annual report, everything’s “tickety-boo”. Copy to be e-mailed to Royston for Jester. Anne and Jed Pascoe still chasing up twomembers over returned cheques.Committee thanked previoustreasurer Jill Kearney for handover. Correspondence: Lew Phillips wishes to relinquish his membership.

New Members: Club welcomed back to the fold Bill Greenhead and Gerard Whyman. Jester: The committee thanked Royston for his work on The Jester and the production of the Members’ Directory. Royston, in turn, acknowl-edged Tim Harries and others for input to the directory.

Website: On the problem of phishing and spam, Jill suggested thatperhaps Jed Pascoe could conduct / run an HTPPS. Jed however, thought that running a HTPPS was probably best left with Ian Ellery. Any other business: The date for the Ip-art exhibition is the June 24.

Committee dissolved at 1.47pm. Reconvened, with Trish-Williams Davies proposed as new committee member. Agreed by all.

Bill Greenhead (“Stik”)22 Kings AcreDownswood, MaidstoneKent ME15 8UPT: 01622-862 634E: [email protected] W: www.stik.biz

Published: FHM, Levis Cam-paign, The Times, Punch, DailyTelegraph Daily Mirror, Daily Star

Gerard Whyman (“Ger”)44 Caeperllan RoadNewport, South WalesNP20 3FWT/F: 01633-257 647E: [email protected]: www.gerardwhyman.co.uk

Published in: Reader’s Digest,The Spectator, Private Eye, Punch, trade mags etc.

Welcometo new members

re-joining_________

Change of addressPaul Baker’s’ websiteaddress has been changed to:www.bakertoons.com

(kind of)

101 Uses for The Jester

Evading North Koreanborder guards

Number: 6


15

THE DEADLINE IS THE 12th OFEVERY MONTH

Contributions via email:[email protected]

Contributions via post:The Jesterc/o Royston Robertson20 Upton RoadBroadstairsKent CT10 2AS Tel: 01843-871 241

All articles and cartoonswelcomed (especially for the front and back covers)

Email submissions arepreferred, as then images and text do not need to be scanned – but snail mail is still acceptable. All images sent by email must be aresolution of 300dpi, and in the JPEG format – no Tiffs, Gifs etc.

Hope you’re enjoying the101 Uses for The Jesterseries. Why not submit a few? I like ’ em as they fill awkward gaps! – The Ed

REMINDER: the next twoclub meetings areMay 1 and June 5at The Cartoonist pub, Shoe Lane, London.

Committee: 5.30pmMembers: 7pm

Membership enquiries to: Jed Pascoe (Membership Secretary), 4 Osprey Close, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 1TW.Tel: 01767-682 882. Email: [email protected] enquiries to: Anne Boyd (Treasurer), 7 Gambetta Street, Battersea, London, SW8 3TS. Tel: 020-7720 1884.Email [email protected] enquiries to: Ian Ellery, 25 Nelson Road, Hastings TN34 BRX. Tel: 01424-718 209. Email: [email protected]

Thanks for all the cartoons on a climate change theme. Those that did not make the edit will berecycled. Next month’s theme is: ART ...gallery giggles and sculptural sniggers tothe usualaddresses please!

AGM Lookalike: Have any other readers noticed thesimilarity between Jester Ed Royston Robertson and new committee member Trish Williams-Davies? Are their opticians perhaps related etc etc ...

“At what point does it stop being ‘good for the garden’?”

101 Uses for The Jester

Covering your assets during the unseasonably hot weather!

Number: 7


16

“Perhaps making it fancy dress was not a great idea– I’ve got ringing in my ears.”

Documents

FUNNY OLD WORLD PHEW, WHAT A SCORCHER!was getting under way as The Jester went to press. See next month’s issue for a full report and pictures. The festival website is: www. shrewsburycartoonfestival.com