Friday Funny

In her spare time Ms. Hawking likes to post nasty comments in online comic polls.

Policeman's Helmet

Oh no! A comic poll comment asks why Ollie wears a policeman's cap. This never occurred to me. It's supposed to be a cross between a sea captain's cap and an airline pilot's cap. Here in the UK most of our policemen wear odd shaped helmets, not caps. This reminds me of a famous streaker moment I witnessed as a youngster at Twickenham Rugby Ground back in the 70's. The event finally answered the question why policeman's helmets were this shape. I love the look on the official's face as he strides towards the offender with a coat.

I've never seen my mum's face go so red before or since.

Lancaster News Stay of Execution

Hooray. 'Ollie and Quentin' have been given a reprieve. Readers of the Lancaster Sunday News had complained so much when 'Hagar the Horrible' was dropped that it was going to have to be reinstated meaning my feature was going to be forced back out before it had barely taken a stride. Now I read that space has been found to bring back 'Hagar' but keep "Ollie and Quentin" too (for the time being). My thanks to those readers who wrote to the editor, Marv Adams, in support of O&Q.

Mr Adams complained that the artwork was too small which I am addressing at the moment. My characters are small and will never become 'talking heads' but I am increasing their size slightly and making the text a couple of point sizes bigger too. As I'm six months ahead it will be a while before you'll see this.

Cartoon minds think alike

Cartoonists, doesn't it drive you mad when you've written a joke only to see it done by someone else before yours is released? This has happened 3 times recently. I've written a short series about Ollie's toe nails needing clipping only to see the fantastic Pooch cafe doing the same story last week. Then I did a joke about a slug visiting Ollie and Quentin (above) who accidentally dissolves himself whilst 'running with salt' only to discover the great Stephan Pastis has done a similar joke in Pearls Before Swine. Finally I saw another of my jokes in the fabulous Sherman's Lagoon recently. Damn!

Friday Funny

Ok, so this isn't particularly funny but WOW! is it clever! It's not what you think.

Another Comic Poll

I see that The Northwest Florida Daily News is asking readers to choose new comics from a list of 11 features, 'Ollie and Quentin' included. O&Q are up against most of my favorite strips so I don't stand a chance but at least I'm being considered and any publicity is welcome. If you live in Florida and fancy voting please click here.

I tried not to read the comments but have to share this one with you:

"....a cartoon with an androgenous creature that looks suspiciously like a part of the male genitalia."

My thanks to to person who responded with:

"To the poster who remarked about male genitalia - your comment shows far more about your psyche than about the comic."

Finally, no one is clear that Ollie is a Seagull. Who can blame them, he looks nothing like one! Duck and Goose are the most common guesses. I have addressed this in the above cartoon.

Too rude...

This has been deemed too risky to go into newspapers. Shame, because it's very innocent but I do understand.

Friday Funny

Pure genius! Not sure where I found this but what a great idea beautifully executed.

Steps 1, 2 and 3

Three steps to a completed cartoon strip. My sketchbook shows I had originally intended Quentin to be in on the joke from the start but by the bottom of the right hand page I was nearer the end result. At one point it looks like I was considering this to be a sunday strip (top right).
Stage 2 is the pencil rough as sent to King Features for approval.
Stage 3. The finished item.

Boxgrove School, Guildford

I spent today at Boxgrove School in Guildford. The children are aged 8-12. I did a short cartoon presentation in their assembly followed by some drawing classes for 3 groups of 20 ten year old children. We doodled for 5 minutes trying to create characters for a comic strip. The next half hour the kids put their characters into a strip. The results were fantastic. Ten year olds have so much imagination and creativity. Some produced 3 strips in half an hour! Wish I could be that quick.

I'd have loved a cartoonist coming to my school when I was young. I come from an era where art was frowned upon. In fact I was made to do Geography instead which I loathed and unsurprisingly failed at. I'm happy to report my schools now actively encourage art of all kind so maybe I was just born 20 years too early.

Friday Funny

Too much gloom and doom talked about in our business so here's something to make you laugh. Fridays are when I send my week's strips up to King Features so to celebrate every Friday I'll post something for you to have a giggle at. This week I start with the best...Laurel and Hardy.

Beyond the call of duty

This is the effort The Bangor Daily News is going to promote our strips. My thanks to Janine Pineo who created these ads over there. She's a real good 'un.