Drawing God...

When you're faced with the challenge of drawing a man who has taken on the roles of Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and God (twice!), you perhaps treat the task with a little more reverence than usual. When that man is one of the most loved, respected and recognised actors in the world, with a voice as famous as his face, the scale of the challenge reaches epic proportions.

And so it was this month, with the charge of capturing the physiognomy of Morgan Freeman given to the caricaturists on the UK Cartoonists Forum. The results were, as always, impressive, and especially the triumphant work of Pradeep Rajguru, who lifted the gold medal this month, followed very closely by John Fisher in second place, and Helen 'Scotty' King in third.

Pradeep has chosen British character actor, Jim Broadbent, for this month's challenge. If anyone fancies a go, you can sign up for it here...

Meanwhile, here's my own take on Mr Freeman...

The many faces of Steve Buscemi...

In fact, when I chose Steve Buscemi as the subject for this month's Caricature Contest, there were more than a few retorts of "Who?", until a quick search of Google images ended up with pennies dropping all over the place. The name may not be on the tip of everyone's tongue, but the face is one that has appeared in many, many films graced by this marvellous American actor.

And what a face it is! Some very fine interpretations from entrants to the contest were followed by one of the closest results in the history of the contest, undecided until virtually the last minute of the two-day vote, when Helen 'Scotty' King eventually triumphed over very strong challenges from John Fisher and Paul Newman in joint second place, just a single point behind, with Pradeep Rajguru in bronze medal position. Great stuff!

As her reward, Scotty has chosen Morgan Freeman for next month's challenge, and I can't wait to see what everyone makes of that. If you haven't tried your hand at the contest before, and you fancy giving it a go, entries are welcome from anyone who has signed up to the forum, no matter how experienced you might be in this particular field of cartooning. You need not be a professional or published cartoonist to join in. Full details here.

As the Moderator of the contest, I choose not to take part in the competition, but that doesn't stop me having a go at the 'target' each month. This was my effort for this month...