Hi, just had a look back in my archives and found this in a folder dated 6th March 1999. It was an early artwork on the computer and I was experimenting with the Painter software. This piece was a promotional piece outlining that you should employ a top quality professional cartoonist(Like myself) as opposed to some amateur who wasn’t 100% dedicated!

Danny Smell The Cartoonists From Hell!

Just look at the email address! I can’t believe I used that. It must have been before I knew anything about domain names. No wonder no one ever found my web site! Try spelling that out over the phone when someone asks you for your web site address! I must have lost more work with people getting frustrated trying to find me on the Internet.

I did eventually get the message and go out and start purchasing domain names – the first being http://www.cartoonstudio.co.uk I wanted the .com version but someone had bought it already and has never done anything with it!

Anyway, back to Danny Smell – I think I did do another strip and I’ll see if I can dig it out.

Any comments welcome!

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Here’s the four framed cartoon strip with caricatures of Theo….

Football Training!

Theo is a great football fan and spent eight years as Chairman of Millwall FC, taking it out of administration, into the Championship and as far as the UEFA cup, via an FA Cup Final. So the cartoon tied in very well with his thoughts on football and business.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The process of using drawn images to tell a story is an ancient one. In the present times, practically all newspapers in the world have a page dedicated to comic strips and many people are actually more interested in reading them than reading the headlines for the day. Just what is it about comic strips that draws our attention and makes us read them practically day in and day out?

Irresponsible dog owners

(I’ve been drawing this strip for 10 years or more – or 70 in dog years!)

Comic strips are interesting. Sometimes they depict everyday human existence that mirrors our own, sometimes they tell of utterly fantastic and humanly impossible feats of superheroes and their villains. Either way, they divert the mind from mundane thoughts and introduce ideas and concepts that may sometimes amaze and amuse us.

Most comic strips are also inherently humorous, with themes and punch lines that bring out a few chuckles and smiles out of its readers. Texts are not the only ones that make comic strips entertaining. Sometimes the way the characters are drawn and depicted is the source of amusement, and some people may even find themselves relating to the protagonist’s appearance and situations.

Though it may look like it is so easy to create comic strips, a few talents, both inborn and learned, are actually prerequisites in making them. One is the ability to make a character come to life, be they of common appearances or possessing totally inhuman-like features. Another is the capability of the creator to be able to develop the characters and sustain their storylines for a long period of time. It is safe to say that comic strips characters really depend upon their creators, the cartoonist, for them to ‘come alive’ and be able to reach out to its readers.

So when you want to commission someone to make comic strips for your organization or business, be sure to hire someone totally reliable to be able to see your project to the finish, especially if you plan on producing comic strips in a regular basis.

MD - Phone a friend cartoon strip

In my long years as a freelance cartoonist, I also gained extensive experience when it comes to formulating, designing, and creating comic strips. I even maintain stock images of cartoon characters I have created all through the years, some of them appropriate for certain age groups. Most of the images that I create have a gentle appearance in them. This is because I strive to create characters in comic strips that are believable, whom readers can actually relate to and even empathize with. However, I can also be flexible in my style if the client wishes me to. I am always open to the prospect of doing something new, something unique, something that will bring satisfaction to me and to the people I work for.

I make it a point to create not only funny individuals and situations to portray in comic stips. I also make sure that whatever messages the client wishes to convey to readers are also understood by them. My dedication to use comic strips as tools for communication is what makes me unique and apart from all the other garden-variety cartoonists you might encounter on a regular basis. Like I said, I love drawing cartoon strips.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites