Day Four in the Hairy Steve House...

Jamie Smart and I have been absolutely blown away and humbled by the early reaction to our Hairy Steve campaign. Not only have we had numerous messages of support and good will from loads of lovely people, but we've been staggered by the level of contributions, which saw us reach our publication target within four hours of going live on this three month campaign. Not only that, at the time of writing, we are just over three days in, and forty dollars short of our overall target for the project.

That is simply mind-blowing for us. In fact it has caught us on the hop so much that we are now having to apologise for not actually being ready to launch just yet. The artwork is ready to unleash, but poor beleaguered Jamie hasn't had time to build the website for it yet. This will be done as soon as possible, and we're really, really looking forward to unleashing Hairy Steve on the world the moment it is done, even more so after the enthusiasm we've been bombarded with over the past few days.

Naturally, we're not going to be too upset if we go over our target , but we are already looking at ways to use any surplus funding to keep the Hairy Steve campaign alive, fun and rewarding to our family of contributors. We're all in this together, and that, for me, is what excites me most. The support of people who are happy to play a part in this project is fabulous and very inspiring.

Above is a small taster panel from one of the early pages, and below is the original pencilled cover I drew five years ago...

Hairy Steve goes live...

Very excited about this!

If you click here, you should hopefully be transported to news of a scary new (well, we actually started it five years ago, but it scared us so much, we shelved it until now) venture for fellow comic artist/writer, Jamie Smart, and me.

It's all explained when you get there, so I won't go into it again here, other than to say we really hope you like what you see, and that you can help (yes, you can help) by spreading the word, or even becoming a part of it yourself.

Jim Broadbent caricature...

Marvellous British actor, Jim Broadbent, was the 'victim' of this month's Cartoonists' Forum Caricature Contest, producing an excellent array of entries once again, and a close-run contest, with fellow Scottish Ozzie** exile, Malcolm McGookin, eventually triumphing by a mere 3 points over Noel Ford, who in turn pipped Pradeep Rajguru to second place by a single point. As usual, I don't enter the contest since I moderate proceedings, but I can never resist the challenge (see above), and my interpretation shows Jim Broadbent in one of his best-known roles as Professor Horace E. F. Slughorn, potions master and head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, in the Harry Potter movies.

At the time of writing, we are still waiting to hear from Malky who he has chosen for next month's contest, but if you fancy having a go, sign up here (it's free!). Details of Contest Number 12 will be announced very soon.

(**Malky's Oz being Australia, whereas mine is Oswestry... but he's got funnel web spiders and other assorted beasties to contend with - we've just got cows)

Happy Birthday, Coalition...

...I'd say "Many happy returns", but I don't want to be a hypocrite.

One is not amused...

As well as the monthly Caricature Contest over at the Cartoonists' Forum, we do a weekly Caption Competition, open to all members of the forum, in which we reverse the traditional format of a magazine caption contest, and instead of inviting all-comers to come up with a caption for a 'blank' cartoon, the caption is all we start with, and every cartoonist who enters has to come up with their own take on it.

The winner gets to choose the challenge for the following week (there are a couple of other variant forms they may also choose from - a completely wordless gag on a given theme, or a theme where anything goes - you get to decide if you want to add your own caption or not), and there is a 24-hour 'posting window' for all gags, from Noon on each Saturday, after which we all vote for our favourites. I'm probably making it sound a lot more complex than it actually is, but if you fancy joining in the fun, sign up to the forum (it's free, and easy), and get doodling!

Last week's challenge was "I think you left one off.", and after several abortive attempts to come up with a half decent gag, I was ready to give up on it late on Friday evening, when, after being inundated with imagery from the Royal Wedding throughout the day, I started to scribble the face of the Queen. It then all just seemed to gel, and out came the following, which I managed to get finished just before the deadline last Saturday. It just goes to show what desperation and adrenaline can do, because much to my astonishment and delight, it finished first in the race for the line, by a goodly furlong.

The caption I set for this week's competition is: This was to have been Hillary's greatest moment...

Come and have a go!

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...