Old stuff

All through my career as a cartoonist, I've never been consciously hell-bent to develop a 'style' of drawing which could be readily associated with my work. I think I realized early on that such things cannot be 'forced', because slavish attention to the 'look' of a drawing cancels out the freshness of allowing lines to go where they may on the paper (or, latterly, on a digitizing tablet). As a result, my ragged 'archives' of published and un-published work can be roughly categorized into 'periods' like ''big noses', 'big feet', etc. which I've mentioned here in the past. Usually, those influences were derived from the passing parade of other well established 'toonies' whose proclivity for such anatomical oddities could be taken as a 'saleable' feature of cartooning rather than distinctive styles of drawing.

My main search has always been to achieve clarity of line and brevity of execution. Sadly, the combination doesn't materialize very often, so examples of my personal cartooning nirvana are not thick on the ground. However, I came across this one in a folio of c.2006/7 'roughs' which were simply initial realizations of ideas for cartoons. This one was a 'quickie' sketch of messrs Howard and Costello who had an axe to grind through-out most of Mr. Howard's political ascendancy. It was scribbled on a fragment  of thin layout paper using a standard 'Sharpie' marker with a hasty flesh-coloured ink wash added via some kind of brush. 

I reckon the whole thing would've taken only a couple of minutes from go to whoa... yet, I am stunned today that the minimal lines were all perfectly placed needing absolutely not a jot of correction fluid or overdrawing. I don't think I've ever  done anything even close to it in the personal satisfaction stakes! If the idea was ever published... I failed to keep a record of it.

That's the only reason it is being 'aired' today.