Cartoons for Magazines

IT MIGHT SEEM a bit odd to be talking of supplying cartoons for magazines in this digital day and age, but for ‘magazines’ you can substitute ‘text’. Anywhere where there is a lot of text and where a stock photo simply won’t do, a cartoon illustration, professionally drawn, will always ‘draw’ (excuse me) your readers’ attentions.

Cartoons for Magazines, Websites, Blogs and Newsletters

Magazines, websites, blogs, newsletters, newspapers, books and all sorts of printed material can all very effectively contain cartoons. The topic or subject matter is hardly important as long as the article or item is deserving of a lighthearted illustration. A professional cartoonist can read the proposed copy and extract just the right humorous image to amuse your readers. Even something as serious as a General Election campaign for an independent candidate lent itself very well to cartoons, as you can see here:

The rather dubious-sounding European Rubber Journal had a rather dry ‘And finally . . .’ item which they would forward to me every month to produce a cartoon (left). It’s all about tyres for the automotive industry, in case you hadn’t realised.

The pleasure of working for a fast-moving industry has never waned although it happens a little less often these days. My spells of working for The Week magazine and The News of the World newspaper were completely unaided by the wonders of the internet. So, no communication or briefs by email and no delivery of artwork by the same medium. I had a short but tantalizing glimpse of newspaper life each week when I would be called in to see the editors to discuss their requirements. After what was usually a whole Friday evening hatching out rough ideas, one would be chosen and I would produce the finished art there and then.

A Cartoon Paints a Thousand Words

Whether the cartoon or caricature illustration is in a magazine, a newspaper or website, it can be truly said that the image will help the reader to understand the key points of the item it is accompanying. The cartoonist or caricaturist is, in essence, another journalist. He or she simply distills another journalist’s thoughts into a visual artwork which should be satisfying to view by itself as well as adding extra thoughts and dimensions to the original article.

Why not peruse my Cartoon Illustrations and enjoy the wide variety of commissions I have enjoyed in the gallery there?