How To Make Your Teenager Even MORE Sullen!

Totes hilare.

How Did I Do This Last Year?

This is an homage to one of my favourite Charles Addams cartoons.

Pride and Prejudice and Wilkies

Jane Austin is targeting Wilkie's seat of Denison. Let's hope she has a steady trigger finger.

The Sheffield Shield

OK, I'm gonna come right out and admit something: I don't watch sports. I can count on one hand the number of football games that I have been to. I played T-ball when I was a kid and I hated every second of it. (I used to dig a moat around third base with my foot, I was that bored.)

So, I knew that one day, the time would come when I would have to draw a sports-related cartoon for the Mercury. My initial cartoon idea - on political issues - was rejected and the editor recommended that I do something about the Tigers looking like they'll win the shield.

I had a vague notion that he was talking about some sort of sports thing. After some quick google searching, I figured out that the Tigers are Tasmania's cricket team. And the shield is the Sheffield Shield.

Strangely enough, I'm really happy with how this cartoon turned out. I allowed myself to be a bit messy to reflect the excitement and wildness of the tigers in the crowd.

This Wouldn't Have Happened If We Were MOVING FORWARD

Alright, show of hands: Who out there want's Rudd back as Prime Minister?

...Anyone?

...Anyone?

...Kevin?

Can We Just Talk About John Kerry, Please?

This cartoon is basically a riff on this interview.

I like how in that last panel, Bob's hair looks like Linus' when he's surprised.

We Got The Wood Really Cheap From Gunns, Too!

The Mawson's Hut Foundation (believe it or not, there is one) wants to build a full scale replica of the famed Antarctic hut in Hobart.

I plan to visit it during the next heat wave.

One Does Not Simply "Walk" Into West Australia...

So, Julia Gillard is ahead in the preferred PM polls. And I had to figure a way to do a cartoon on that.

I wrote this cartoon in a hot car. (Never doing that again.) I think the heat must've made me overly ambitious.

As a result, I spent the rest of the day working on this cartoon - which isn't very smart when you've got a 10:30pm deadline. I only finished inking at about 8:00pm. Colouring this cartoon was an epic sprint!

I ended up sending the finished cartoon in at 10:08. I then collapsed on the floor.

Electric Butchery

Looks like Aurora Energy is gonna get chopped up by Bryan Green and sold off to different retailers. Hopefully, this will mean that the price hikes on our power bills will stop before they get too outrageous.

Oh, wait. Sorry. It's too late for that.

The Wrath of the Retirees

Do not to anger the retired. They may easily forget, but they do not easily forgive!

Miranda Gibson Finally Comes Down

After 450 days, Miranda Gibson is finally down from her tree-sit protest. Unfortunately, she was forced out due to smoke from nearby bush fires.

She's being heralded with much applause and criticism for her stand. I for one, think she is a far more determined person than I am. I wouldn't have lasted a day.

Good on ya, Miranda.

Gunnsuppance

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I Like The Way I Drew The Whale, Too

Ok, news stories aside, I just want to say that I'm really happy with how this cartoon turned out. I very rarely feel that way about my cartoons. I'm usually not happy with either the joke, the composition, the colours, the placement of the word balloons, or the way some guy's nose sits on his face.

This one, however, makes me want to make more cartoons just like it. So, I figure, I must've done something right.

For the colours, I used Hokusai's The Great Wave Off Kanagawa as a reference. The first thing that struck me was that Hokusai had an orange sky. One of my greatest pitfalls as an artist is that I spend all my creative effort in drawing and not enough with the colouring. Normally, I would've coloured the sky blue and therefore would've been stuck with a overly blue cartoon that I was unhappy with. Thankfully, that orange/yellow sky breaks the image up and even gives a sort of aurora australis feel to the image.

So, Christopher, whenever you start colouring things in a stock-standard kind of way, just remember ol' Harry Chapin and his other heartbreaking song.

Use The Force, Hobart City Council

The Tasmanian State Government is looking to make voting for city council elections mandatory.

Now if only they can force the people to care...