Blizzard

'The World's Funniest Cartoon is ruined by the onset of a sudden and very unexpected blizzard...'

Okay, I'll admit to being VERY lazy with this one: very little drawing skill combined with a variation on a joke that I've already done (The World's Funniest Giraffe/Lamp-post Joke). However, it has been in my pile of finished cartoons for so long (year and a half at least) that I got sick of looking at it and thought I'd put it up here. I'll be the first to admit that it's far from even my average work, but as an example of the sheer economy of ink used in making a joke I thought it deserved to be posted. Fire away folks! ;)

Holiday

Lots of my friends are off on holidays this easter, and one trip in particular gave me the inspiration for this cartoon: where would Godzilla (or, to sidestep any tricksy copyright issues), a Godzilla-esque creature, go on his holidays? So here we have him sitting at home, reading holiday brochures (really he should be looking online for the cheapest deals - the fool!), and wondering which city he should visit. I love the idea of a big ol' creature lumbering around a city on his vacation and everyone thinking he's there to attack it.
Oh, and devotees might notice that the monster's pciture on his wall bears a striking resemblance to an earlier cartoon (its on the blog so check it out). Perhaps its a relative?

Anyway, this cartoon doesn't have a punch-line cos I don't think it needs one. It would be over-telling the joke to add anything else. But what do you think of it? As ever, let me know.

Anteloping...

Like the title says, the punch-line to this one's 'Anteloping'. Pure and simple, and - I think - kinda funny. What do you think?

Framed

I was bored yesterday, and in no mood to write, so I decided to do some doodling. This whimsical little pic is the final result...

A Mammoth Task...(or should that be 'Tusk'?)

Oh but the mammoths have been patient...
I first drew this about a year and a half ago, and the cartoon hasn't changed - it's still the same one - but the punch-line was a different matter. At first it was "Is it me, or did this whole 'Ice Age' thing sneak up on us?", but that's only funny if you lived a couple of million years ago and had to run from the glacier that was s-l-o-w-l-y swamping your home. And I couldn't think of anything better, so I put it on ice (haha) until I could. But then, when I dragged it out of the drawer a couple of days ago, it suddenly hit me that I should maybe make it more topical to make it funny. So the mammoths stuck in the glacier now have a more contemporary feel to them by mentioning Global Warming. I must admit, I'm generally wary of topical gags as they date REALLY quickly, making a cartoon, at best, a humorous historical footnote. That's why I base my stuff on phrases and cliches and idioms and general truths of life.
As an aside, I think this is one of the prettiest cartoons I've drawn. This was the first time I'd ever drawn a mammoth, (and a glacier for that matter) so I was pleased with the result; especially how cute they look. I'd love to be able to drawn woolly mammoths more often, but they're not the best of creatures to squeeze into jokes. Still, if you can think of one, let me know in the comments below and I'll see what I can do...
And, as ever, I want to know what YOU think. Find it (or any of the others) funny/unfunny? Don't just sit there, speak up!

You can't judge a book by its cover...

Remember that chivalrous book who offers his jacket to the other book while out on a date?

If you don't it doesn't matter (and if you want to refresh your memory, go look in the archive under 'Books'). But I like to think of this as the sequel of sorts, a couple fo months on when the relationship has gone bad and foolish Mr. Book has been caught cheating on his girlfriend.

It's not a complicated 'toon, but there's a few things I like about it: Miss Book wagging her finger accusingly, Mr. Book acting like he doesn't know what she's talking about, her hand on the place her hip would be (if books had hips - and no, I'm not going to make any spine jokes; I'm better than that)...there's a lot of emotion between those two tomes.

I came up with this one a while back and it's just been sitting in my sketching book, and I finally got round to drawing and inking it properly the other day. At one point I considered changing the joke to something along the theme of 'Reading between the lines', but then I thought of a better book-themed cartoon I can apply that to. The joke fits this one nicely I think. But as ever, I'm always listening to my audience, so let me know what you think about this and any others on the blog. And if you have any book-related jokes then let me know them too, cos books are easy to draw and ink - plus I'll give you due credit in the cartoon and the blog entry. What's not to love about that?

Just when you thought it was safe to blog...

Well I promised some new cartoons by the end of the week and they don't come much newer than this one. I was sitting in class this morning and suddenly had the idea for it. I don't know where it came from, it just popped into my head. I scribbled a quick sketch down so I wouldn't forget it, then quickly drew and inked it when I got home. So if you're reading this before 12:40 on Friday the 7th of March, the cartoon you can see is less than 24 hours old. I love it when stuff like this happens: it moves from a sudden idea to a realised cartoon in under 12 hours. And as I said, I have no idea where the inspiration came from. I was nowhere near a shark or an ocean or a beach - I was stuck in class and bored off my ass (yeah, I know that rhymed). It just goes to show that creativity can strike at the unlikeliest moments, and personally I wouldn't have it any other way.

One of many dinosaur cartoons...

"When Dinosaurs Ruled The Moon..."

Before I had the general idea for 'Too Close For Comfort' as a cartoon series, I just drew random sketches that made me (and on a good day other people) smile. This was the first one I ever did, literally, THIS is it. You're looking at a piece of the past here people. I've never re-drawn it or altered it since because to me its perfect: the dopey look on that diplodocus, the cynical stare of the T-Rex, the fact they're both wearing space helmets, heck I even love the moon craters.

And the joke?

Well if you've never heard of the film (or indeed the slogan) 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth', leave now and go and look at some other pretty cartoons I've drawn. Anyway, I took that slogan, changed the Earth to the Moon, and put the dinos in space helmets. Funny? Well it tends to split people down the middle - like Marmite they either love it or just don't get it (Hate is a very strong word).
Anyway, let me know what you think? Find it funny? Or not? As ever, stick your comments in the box below...