Exhibition cartoon: Marriage à la Mode

Last night I went to the opening of the exhibition Marriage à la Mode at the Cartoon Museum in London. I've got a couple of cartoons in the show, including the one above.

The exhibition ties in with the upcoming Royal Wedding, though it is subtitled "Royals and Commoners In and Out of Love", so it is probably unlikely to get the thumbs up from the palace.

This cartoon, which was in Private Eye in 2009, is owned by the journalist and radio presenter Libby Purves, also a patron of the Professional Cartoonists' Organisation, who kindly lent it for the exhibition.

And as if that's not enough middle-class namedropping, my other cartoon in the show was included in a preview on the Radio 4 Today show website.

Marriage à la Mode features some very funny cartoons, from across the ages, and is well worth seeing. It's on until May 22. Oh, and the museum shop is selling copies of my book if you want to save on postage! It's also available to buy online here.

[Cartoon Museum pic from the excellent blog Tired of London, Tired of Life]

Sport cartoon for the Shrewsbury festival

The Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival takes place next month, and the theme this year is Olympian Sports. Here is a gag I submitted for exhibition, one from Private Eye in 2009. Click to enlarge. The dates are April 14-17 and you can see details of what's on here: www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com

I'll be there, as usual. This year I'll be doing a Big Board in the Market Square, so pop along and say hello (and pick up a copy of my book! Yes, I'll be mentioning it in every blog post for the foreseeable ...)

This is the eighth festival, and will be the sixth I've attended. Here's what I got up to last year, and in 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006. Or click here for all Shrewsbury-related posts.

Car-toon from my new book

"Look out – speed camera!"
Here's a cartoon from a recent Reader's Digest that also features in my new book Penguin vs Polar Bear and Other Ridiculous Cartoons.

Earlier this week the comic-strip writer Roger Kettle (Andy Capp, Beau Peep, Horace) bought a copy of the book and later contacted me with some very nice comments about it. Totally unsolicited, by the way!

"It arrived today, Royston, and it's an absolute delight. I must have had at least a dozen laugh-out-loud moments which, for those of us weary souls who work in this business, is a remarkable return. Well done on a brilliant collection of gems."

I was more than a little chuffed with that mini-review, particularly from someone with an established record in writing jokes. You can buy the book at my Online Shop for £5.99 plus £2 p+p.

Out now: My new cartoon book ...

My first collection of magazine gag cartoons is available now. It's called Penguin vs Polar Bear and Other Ridiculous Cartoons, is 104 pages long and, well, has lots of cartoons in it.

Here's part of the back-cover blurb: "An encounter between a penguin and a polar bear may sound ridiculous, but it is just as plausible as a prehistoric man attending a job interview, or a cat completing a sudoku. Anything is possible in the world of the magazine gag cartoon.

"This collection by Royston Robertson is made up of cartoons featured in Private Eye, Reader’s Digest, The Spectator, Prospect, The Oldie, New Statesman and others. Some are satirical, others just a bit silly, and they cover subjects from art to technology, the environment to religion, history to Health & Safety. All human (and inhuman) life is mocked."

Sound good? The ideal present for the discerning cartoon lover in your life? Then head over to my newly set-up Online Shop.

You can see some of the cartoons there and buy a signed copy of the book for a mere £5.99 plus £2 p+p.

Royston's portfolio website

Great Wall of Ramsgate cartoon close-up

I put this montage together to accompany an article in The Jester, the Cartoonists' Club newsletter, about my Great Wall of Ramsgate cartoon.

As I mentioned in my first blog post on this, the cartoon was based on one published in Reader's Digest a few years back. But that featured just one character. When it came to recreating the cartoon on a 8ft by 4ft board he looked very lonely, so I decided I needed to come up with a few extras.

Royston's portfolio website