Collage of old B&W cartoon scraps

This collection of 'kept' old B & W scribbles was put together to share with fellow 'toonies' on social media. The top left drawing of imprisoned Nazi deputy fuhrer Rudolph Hess was brushed during the 1950's. The remainder are from the '80s/ '90s and were rendered in either brush, dip pen and india ink or markers.

TRIGGer Men?

Oh dear... how inept can this mob get? With parliamentary victories almost a void after 18 months, 'leading' lights in the so-called federal government turn their attention onto someone who might be marked as a soft target.

Wrong. The 'target' displays more integrity and fortitude than all of the rabble posing as a government put together!

First 'toon published in TravelWeek.

On this day 36 years ago, my cartoons first appeared in the travel industry newspaper TravelWeek ... beginning an association which continued in one form or another with the same publishing company (or its successors) until 2005. The cartoonist (now deceased) mentioned in the accompanying 'welcome' piece was unknown to me at the time,  but I got to know him really well later in the '80's after I joined ABWAC (aka ACA). It was Bruce Cavalier 'Cav', a bonzer little bloke with a great sense of humour and a dab hand at whipping up quick gag 'toons.

Apologies for the quality of the scans incorporated in this commemorative piece. The original artwork was not returned to me in those days... and the quality of the actual newsprint source after all this time is not good. I actually cringe a bit when I see this stuff. Obviously, I was in the midst of my 'big foot' cartooning era at the time...  

Hybrid Humans

Apparently there are people who believe UFO abductions are designed to produce alien-human hybrids who can exist in earth conditions should the visitors ever decide to colonize this planet. (I'm not of that persuasion).

If there is any truth in the belief ... the would-be colonizers better be careful who they abduct and co-habit with!

End Game (again)

When naming yesterday's cartoon 'End game' I got a 'name already taken' alert from my 'toon archive. So, I added a '2' to the latest drawing to avoid overwriting the earlier work. After posting the 'second' End Game, I had a look at the archived earlier offering. It proved to be a 'filler' gag published in an earlier blog dated 20/7/2012. I got a laugh out of it... so bumped it up from 12 x 12 cms to 20 x 20  so it  could make an encore 'filler' appearance today. I spent all of this morning on a ladder cleaning out leaf and mud-blocked home guttering made evident during a heavy thunderstorm two days ago. This afternoon, I have to accompany my good lady on a dental visit... which probably wont leave time to do an original cartoon anyway.

Terror Australis?

This Abbott creature is so transparent. He is on his arse-bones in the polls,,, so trot out the fear card to again show what a stalwart warrior he is in the universal battle against terrorism. Strangely, in almost the same breath today, he admits that the public of Australia was sadly let down by the 'system' in the Martin Place hostage attack.

It was YOUR bloody system Tony!

More practice stuff...

...even on pages of a daily newspaper! This is something I felt compelled to scribble on the business pages of The Age c2005. A medium sized chisel point marker was the weapon at hand and the defacement would've taken less than a minute.

I think I kept it mainly because it was one of those 'nailed it first time' events which sadly don't happen all the time in the cartooning game.

Old Roughs/practice sketch collage

I am an inveterate destroyer of practice/ unpublished rough sketches except in fairly rare cases when either the 'rough' is/was good enough to incorporate in a finished work', or I just liked the drawing enough to keep it as a template for future stuff.

This is an A4 collage of such 'survivals'... in this instance, all with quickly added brushed coloured inks.

LEGEND... From top left 1) Line practice c2000 - Marker  2) Character rough c1983 - Sharpie  3) Character rough  c 2001 - Marker  4) Pen test c1980s - cartridge pen  5) Caricature rough c1980s -  Marker  6)  Character(dog) rough c1970's Brush   7 & 8) caricature roughs c1990s   9) Caricature rough c mid 1970s - Brush.

Ill-Winds...

... that bring nobody any good!

Limpet teeth

Science has discovered a new 'world's strongest' biological material in the make-up of 'teeth' which enable sea snails (commonly referred to as limpets) to adhere to hard surfaces whilst feeding. The  molluscs actually 'chew' their way into rocks etc. so they are not dislodged by tidal motion of their ocean environment during breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It is predicted that replicating the tough components of Limpet teeth will produce superior materials for constructing many man-made objects such as aircraft and racing cars. It would also be a wonderfully enduring substance for filling cavities in human teeth!

An interesting closure of one circle at least? Does that mean we could then eat the cutlery by mistake?

Bowen arrow?

Pollies just gotta flaunt themselves on popular media... even when they don't have a firm grasp of what they're talking about!

Gone to the Dogs?

Will ABCTV revelation that shonky live-bait training is being employed by some elements of the racing greyhound industry mean errant owners/trainers are about to be 'dogged' by the law in similar fashion to the unfortunate small animals they have been caught abusing?

Poetic justice?

Aftershock?

SE Queensland was 'rocked' by an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the richter scale early this morning... on the same day a new ALP government was sworn-in after the LNP shattering land-slide of January 31st,

An after-shock?

Nasties?

It takes one to know one?

St. Valentine's day.

I don't remember ever receiving a St, Val's day card in my life. But, I do love the song 'My funny Valentine'.

The above was my funny valentine 'toon posted in this blog's fore-runner on 13 Feb. 2012.

Laugh at it please. There's no crying on Valentine's day!

Judge Punch(y)?

The U.S.  has it's 'Judge Judy'.  We apparently now have Judge Punch (or more accurately 'punchy') in the form of none other than our PM Tony Abbott.

It will be interesting to see the 'spin' he and so-called AG Brandis  trot out if any subsequent trial of supposed would-be terrorists is compromised by the PM's hubris in broadcasting details of alleged criminal activities on national TV in advance of 'due process'?

Take me to your Dealer!?

More morning scribbles...

Here's a sample of today's mind-swing practice drawings which have temporarily gained a stay from being introduced to the waste-paper bin.

Bloody technology!

The yellow 'toner' light on my laser printer has been directing suggestive winks at me for months. As it happens I hardly use it anymore ,,, so having read the 'How To' manual once and being put off by very confusing instructions and accompanying postage stamp sized illustrations... I just winked back in casual disdain. I had purchased a replacement cartridge in mid 2014 (which cost considerably more than the entire machine did a few years ago!) but was never moved to engage in the swap until this morning when at system switch-on, the yellow eye was glaring at me non-stop in a menacing fashion.

Sooo... I bit the bullet and expended most of the morning achieving the desired cartridge exchange, It was hot in the study, it was practically all 'suck-it-and-see' tentative manipulation in the face of dire warnings about toner staining and warranty voiding in the event of error... replete with frustration and suppressed cursing to ice the cake. Remarkably, it all ended with the printer working as it did when new, and me wearing only a smudge or two of errant toner.

I also got a bonus in spawning the idea for today's blog.  

Digging a hole for one's self?

I guess many of us find ourselves in a hole at times (figurative or even real),

But not many of us would want to make it the basis of a professional undertaking (?)

Playing fiddle-sticks

The idea is to get all of the disparate sticks off the surface without moving other than the stick you are lifting in any given move.

The political analogy however, may be a lot harder to achieve.

Sounds like...

... Scornful Simkin a children's picture book character originated by Geoffrey Chaucer in 'A Reeve's
 Tale' and brought to life again by cartoonist Lee Lorenz in his 1980 book named for the character. (ISBN 0-460-06071-6)

Book promos 1983

        

Whilst I was still in 'full-time' employment in the airline industry, a colleague asked if I would be interested in illustrating a book he had just written on the subject of 'house-hold budgets'. He recognized that the innate dullness of his subject matter might be alleviated somewhat by an injection of cartoon illustrations. Sooo...after reading the copy, I did 16 'toons (incl. cover and end paper designs)for thebook which was privately published and sold by the author during 1983.

Launch of the book attracted favourable reviews by both daily and regional newspapers at the time,,, whilst actual sales were promoted by 3 posters I also did as part of the contract. These were drawn/lettered with a standard 'sharpie' on A3 sized paper in B & W using the same style as illos in the actual book. In re-publishing them on the web, I have added back-ground colours just to high-light the line-work. The poster theme was a reflection of 1983 being the election year that brought the Hawke/ Keating government to power... thus the word budget was already etched in the minds of the public. 

The Spill...

... may occur despite all the rhetoric about success, unity and bravado in general. Let's face it . The PM is clearly out of touch with a clear majority of the electorate, perhaps also many of his own party colleagues who see their realistic chances of success at the next election dwindling with almost every minute Mr. Rabbit flounders on in the leadership role.

Start over or soldier on? I think it's already too late for either option to bear fruit with only half a term remaining to repair past errors and float new ideas to reverse the tide?

Tuesday's child?

Another make or break test coming up for the PM on Tuesday. Tricky dilemma for government worthies as the whole Right wing agenda seems to be on the nose around OZ at the moment.

A classic damned if you DO or DON'T situation?

Alf Garnett aka Warren Mitchell

During the 1980s whilst I was still in Line Management with Qantas... the company brought UK actor Warren Mitchell (famed as Alf Garnett in the 'till Death do us Part' TV series) to Australia on a contra- advertising tour of this country and New Zealand. Upon his arrival at Melbourne, I was 'on the clock' so whipped-up a quick cartoon and sent it down to the terminal to be presented to our illustrious guest. Alf (or Warren) endorsed the 'toon and sent it back up-stairs to me.

Done on an A4 sheet of bond paper with an Artline 200... the line is fairly fragile. The endorsement is in ordinary blue biro and says..."You're in the wrong profession Bob - Rigby would have been proud.
Thank you   and the signature Warren Mitchell. I've coloured the back-ground in an  effort to make the sentiment more legible.

Toads

Swapping experiences.

Hot job opportunity?

Appropriately on the same day as the NFL 'Super-Bowl', Mr. Rabbit will attempt to launch his 'Hail Mary' speech in a last-breath effort to save his faltering ministry. Most of his team OZ players are probably hoping for a miracle ... because. inheriting his mess can't be all that attractive to potential successors?

Sunday sentimentality #2

Whilst researching the aftermath of  Newman's 2012 triumph... I came across a reference to another Right-wing warrior ascendant at the same time as the 'Lil Duce'. Here's my blog for May27, 2012 and a pic of the subject person.

In NO!-man's land.

By rim on 27 May 2012 - 9:23pm

During the past week on a TV news program I fleetingly noticed a federal opposition worthy taking a commentator to task for questioning Tony Abbott's wisdom and/or motive in pursuing matters seemingly incidental to the purpose for which parliament is assembled. The agitated interviewee spluttered "For goodness sake ... Tony's no fool. He IS a Rhodes scholar after all!"

Well ... hallelujah! What did he master in ... over-use of the word NO!? Or, did he sleep through the course?

I detest the power-lust of most present day politicians, whose only visible qualifications for high office seem to be gross narcissism coupled with general administrative ineptitude. Sadly (as the leading contender for Prime Mimister), Tony Abbott seems to me to be current top of the class when idiocy is the subject of scrutiny.

Am I prescient or what?

BTW... both the circa 2012 illos posted today were originally drawn in Freehand to fit a 12 x 12cm space allocated for   pics on the Brisbane-based site which then hosted my blog. Through the 'magic' of vector I could blow them up to 20 x 20cms without a skerrick of lost sharpness to appear in the ample space of my own blog site.

Sunday sentimentality #1

In Australian political history, yesterday's Queensland election result trends must represent the greatest comeback since Lazarus... even if the ALP falls short of a majority in the House. Instead of feeding off the carcase of downed 'Lil Duce' (Campbell Newman, who featured in Friday's blog-'toon)  I thought it might be interesting for the reader to remember how I treated his predecessor  (Anna Bligh) who found herself in somewhat the same spot on March 24, 2012. The then accompanying text is also displayed below:

Cast adrift again!

By rim on 24 March 2012 - 11:53pm

Poor Anna. I suppose the blame game will start once the flood has subsided. This was not just the political 'cycle' ... more like a political cyclone followed by a tsunami!

I notice Brisbane cartoonist Sean Leahy has been hammering the 'Capt. Bligh' connection ... and, I must admit the historical parallel is almost impossible to ignore.

So ... I'm jumping on the bandwagon as well.