The visual joke: Battle is restaged

I often draw cartoons that have no caption, but it is rare that I do one that also has no words within it. It's good to do this kind of cartoon though, as they can work internationally. This one appears in the June issue of Prospect magazine.

After my post yesterday about revisiting the past, I should disclose that this cartoon is, if not a sequel, then at least a companion piece to the cartoon below, which was in the same magazine in April 2008.

"Oi, take it easy! This is an English Heritage site."

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Cartoon for Henley Regatta exhibition

Those of you interested in boating matters may like to know that there's a cartoon exhibition at this year's Henley Regatta, which starts today and runs until July 3.

I've got two cartoons in the show, and as I know nothing at all about rowing they are both Owl and Pussycat jokes! The one above, which was in Private Eye, sold when it was exhibited at the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival this year. So a different version will be on display at Henley.

So if you're at the event, and it's "Pimm's o'clock", don't forget to wander over to the art gallery behind the Members' Grandstand to have a look and a few laughs. There's more on the exhibition over at the Bloghorn. Chin chin.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Pop culture cartoon: Retromania

"I'm rehashing an old magazine piece about how popular culture keeps revisiting the past."

The idea for this cartoon, which is in the current Private Eye, came while reading an article by Simon Reynolds about his new book Retromania, which is about how 21st century pop culture is endlessly revisiting the past.

I really enjoyed Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again, a study of post-punk and new wave music, so I may well read the new one, but I can't help thinking that the argument is a little spurious. After all, the first music I really got into as a kid was 2-Tone, which was itself a revival of an earlier wave of ska.

So I started to think, "I've heard this argument more than a few times before", which sparked the idea for the cartoon. The cartoon doesn't refer to Reynolds, and that's not supposed to be him, as it's more about the way newspapers and magazines are just as happy to revisit past glories.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Debt cartoon: Plus some cartooning links

Here's a cartoon published recently in a law magazine I work for, drawn to accompany an article about insolvency.

There's not much to say about this one, but if you are craving lots of words on the subject of cartooning from me -- and why wouldn't you be! -- check out the Bloghorn, online diary of the Professional Cartoonists Organisation, which I write for regularly.

Subjects I've written about recently include a time when cartoons played the role of Twitter, an art exhibition that saw cartoons sneak in the back door, and a 30-year-old postcard cartoon revived on TV. There's also a review of Steve Bell at the Cartoon Museum, a piece on the process of cartoonists covering for other cartoonists, and an article singing the virtues of the humble gag cartoon, which is in no way just a plug for my book. Cough.

Plus, there are lots of other cartooning articles, links and opinion pieces by my colleagues Matt Buck, Alex Hughes and Rob Murray. Go and read it all now!

Local boy done good

I was pleasantly surprised to see my board on the Great Wall of Ramsgate singled out for a piece in the Thanet Extra, one of the local papers. Click to enlarge (if you squint really hard you can even make out my website address ...)

There's more on my involvement in the Great Wall project here and here.

Click here to buy Royston's cartoon book

Phone cartoon: Eyes down

"Let us pray."
I've taken the plunge and bought my first smartphone, so now I resemble one of the characters in this cartoon, which was in The Spectator a few months back. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon and I'll get some feeling back in my neck.

If you look at the web on a mobile phone, then you may like to now that I have now optimised this blog so it looks OK in that format. I say "optimised", this just involved me clicking something once in the Blogger control panel.

Haven't (overtly) plugged my book for a while, which features the above cartoon and lots of others, so I will now. A digital version is available but if you haven't completely embraced the virtual world, like me, you can also buy it in the dead-tree format: Click here for details