Tell us a bit about who you are and what kind of creative work you make:
I am a part time cartoonist (I am a scientist in my day job), creator of a single-panel cartoon series called ‘It’s a Jungle out there!’. Animals are used to depict the funny or absurd side of life. ‘It’s a Jungle out there!’ was started in September 1999 but there are now over 5,800 cartoons in the series.
My cartoons are used by newspapers, magazines, websites, schools and universities. I have two agents: Auspac Media and Cartoonstock.
Whereabouts do you look for creative ideas? Who or what inspires you?
All my cartoons have animals as characters, so I tried to look at this crazy world of ours and think of what they could think or do. Creating gags is an intellectual exercise, and there are techniques that can be used. The main one is the subject/action/object/location trick. Once you find a combination that sparks a funny idea (or at least one you find funny!), then it is time to sketch it quickly, so that you do not forget it, and then, at some point, you draw it as best you can.
Are there any special processes, techniques or tools you use to make your creative work?
I am still old school, pen/paper. I do not draw digitally. I draw on heavy smooth paper (210 gsm) with a ‘blue pen’, then ink (pen, not nib), scan and colour digitally. I then send the cartoons to the Cartoonstock database and cross my fingers that somebody somewhere will like them enough to licence them.
What’s your favourite part of working as an artist / creative?
Well, it’s the challenge of trying to find a funny thing to draw every day and hopefully give people who see my cartoons a grin, if I am lucky, a chuckle, and if I did a really good job, a laugh.
What’s the most challenging part of working as an artist / creative?
Well, for me at least, the most challenging part is the promotion. I am an introvert, so Social Media and promoting my cartoons is definitely not something I am comfortable with.
Do you have any rituals or routines that help you to be more creative?
I try to draw a cartoon each day, if I am home and not away for work. Everybody says it because it is true: practice, practice, practice. I look at my earlier cartoons sometimes and my new ones and I can see the hard work has paid off (well, at least something paid off, the bank account from cartooning is still rather low).
