wiLbur's blog

my very talented cartoonist chum alexander matthews has reached the final 10 of the *comic strip superstar* competition -- check out his strip evil twin


here are all the ten strips that made the final.

meanwhile, here's a gag from the latest issue of *the spectator*...

hey, i'm on the cover of the new issue of *the foghorn* -- a charming and very funny bi-monthly magazine published by the professional cartoonists organisation. see here for the complete online archive of the magazine.

you can also subscribe to a print copy of the magazine here (which is also a handy link to *the bloghorn*, the fog's online cousin, for all the latest cartooning news)

here's one of two of my drawings from the current *private eye*

this one was in *the spectator* a while back...

just because i haven't posted anything here for a while, because i don't put my gag stuff up here very often, and because they left it off the website, here's a cartoon from the current issue of *the spectator*...

those awfully nice chaps at cartoonstock have set up a daily wiLbur cartoon feed -- which i've just plumbed into my website -- go here and scroll down a bit.
interested parties can bookmark and drop by for a daily dip into the wiLbur archives.

a little while ago, this cartoon of mine appeared in private eye:


the following week, there was a letter in pedantry corner suggesting that there should be a special place in hell (nice eh?) for all cartoonists representing atlas carrying the earth on his shoulders, as the reality of the myth (yeah, exactly!) is that atlas carried the heavens on his shoulders, not the earth.

actually i rather enjoy it when i get a complaint in pedantry corner, but what this pedant doesn't realise is that cartoonists deal in iconography -- the familiar image that everyone recognises is atlas carrying the earth on his shoulders, so that's what the cartoonist draws upon.
so how best to answer this critic? how about another atlas gag, in the latest issue of the eye?


in other news, as you may well have heard, the dfc is to fold. the current issue runs page 8 of my strip bodkin and the bear, and there are three more issues to run, but that will still leave my heroes stranded at what is really just the beginning of their adventure -- the whole story was planned to run at a full 48 pages...
so where do b & b go from here...? well, i'm not sure, but i'd like to complete the project one way or another, and will keep you posted here of any developments.

of course it's a great shame for all concerned, as the dfc really was the most exciting development in uk comics for a long time, with incredibly high standards of story and art (despite my involvement)-- but with the economic downturn as it is it became a very difficult time for the comic to stay afloat. fingers crossed though for the future... this may not be the end of the dfc story...

(a detail from p14 of bodkin and the bear, unlikely now to be published in the pages of the dfc)

remember the retrospective i was doing of my *adventures in style* over the years?
perhaps not, but anyway, i never quite finished it off, so here we go.
by late 2001 i can see my eventual style emerging...

that's not to say there weren't a few twists and turns now and then, but from this point on the dramatic changes began to turn into subtler tweaks, and my style finally started to settle down...this is from 2002...

and this one's from early 2003, and i think it looks pretty much like my style today...

of course, i don't see my style as a fixed thing, and i still tweak it now and then, and it's still evolving -- but the evolution now is more natural, i think, and less me desperately trying to find a style to call my own.


in other news, bodkin and the bear get ready for their first performance together in this week's episode in the DFC


and david ano (losttoy) is looking for submissions for the second BAM (Big Ass Mini-comic) collection -- see the website here

well, i may as well make this an annual run through some of the topical cartoons i've drawn throughout the year...this year it's the editors' pick -- well, largely -- almost all of these appeared in publications such as private eye, reader's digest, prospect and the like....

without further ado, here are the cartoons..

there were concerns about the increasing size of glasses used to serve alcohol in pubs...

and reports of prisons being a bit too comfy...

( continued... )

this was used as a private eye xmas card this year...

...though they changed the caption (with my permission) to 'i thought i'd do the Christmas cards early this year...'

thought this might cheer you up -- it's one of a couple of mine from the latest reader's digest:

that's 'the meek inherit the earth', if it's hard to read there...
i've started using a bit of wash every now and then if i feel a cartoon would benefit from it -- makes a change from my usual stark line-work.

i came across one of my old punch cartoons on this blog, (yes, i admit it, i was googling myself)

i just love the sound effects!

5 wiLbur gags in the last 3 issues of private eye...here's one from the current issue

time for an update:

the reason i haven't had any comics to post up here for a while is i've been working on a commission for a major new british comic publication! -- it's a big project, a full-colour, full-length bande desinee type comic book, to be serialised on a weekly basis.
more about that later, but it doesn't start its run in the comic 'til february, so i've got plenty of time to work on the script...and indeed the artwork...

in the meantime, i feel like doing some other comic stuff -- possibly some shorts in different styles...

i've nothing to post yet on that front though, so here's a gag from the latest private eye


oh and my brother persuaded me to join facebook

here's a gag from the current UK edition of the reader's digest...

...is next weekend...it's bound to be a gas, and there'll be loads of cartoon-based stuff going on all weekend.

a couple of my cartoons are appearing in the 'but is it art?' exhibition. this one (drawn in 2001 and published in the new statesman) has already been sold, apparently!

i've been neglecting this here blog, so here's a little something from the current issue of the (uk) reader's digest..

some gag cartoonists post their gags on their blogs as they're published. i tend not to, but ...well, maybe i should do more often...

i've had a cartoon in the last two issues of private eye, and here they are..
this one was in the last issue:

and this one is in the current issue:

i know, i'm rather tardy with this, but the idea for putting my redundant topical cartoons from last year to some use only just occurred to me....and it is still january....

last year was the first year i've drawn many topicals -- a few of these were published in private eye, the spectator, prospect and the like, but it's a tricky business, you've got to be quick with it, i found, or the story could be dead in the water before you've sent it anywhere, or some other cartoonist'll beat you to it...

anyway, here are the cartoons...

* * * * *

the wii was launched but had some initial teething troubles...



england's cricketers had a woeful winter tour and the search was on for a new opening batsman, amid problems with certain members of the team drinking rather a lot...

(geoff thompson (i think) beat me to this one in the spectator)


( continued... )

i'm not even going to bother apologising for the lack of posts here...it might get boring if i do that every time...

but i should be posting more often again!

since i last posted, i've moved house, changed computer and all hardware, and turned full-time professional freelance cartoonist (hooray!)oh and changed from dial-up to broadband too -- so as you can imagine there's been a fair bit to sort out...

anyway, i've updated the gags section of my website a bit, i've put some more up-to-date cartoons on there, and a whole page of stuff that's been in private eye...

here's a taster

and to check out the rest, click here

more stuff soon -- honest!