Slipper at the wheel

This cartoon is my first attempt to imitate watercolour in Photoshop. I've tried it before, but this is the most successful. 

As for the story behind the cartoon, Senator Craig Thomson (note to all cartoonists out there: this is NO relation to the author of HABIBI. He has a 'p' in his last name.) has left the Labor party to join the ranks of the independent crossbenchers. 

And speaking of independents currently under fire for misuse of taxpayer funds as well as embroiled in sex scandals, Pete Slipper has been put on suspension for his strange usage of cabcharge dockets as well as that sexual harassment case.

And so, the joke just kind of presented itself to me. Although, I had an idea making Slipper look like Emperor Palpatine and Thomson as some sort of padawan, but even I have to admit it wasn't that strong. This joke is much better.

But, ONE DAY I will get a Star Wars reference woven into one of my cartoons. Maybe if Thomson loses a hand...

The "Good" Samaritan

 Tsk...tsk...tsk, Western Australia. Haven't you learned the value of sharing? Or friendship? No apparently not, because they keep saying that they're gonna secede if they're forced to share their GST revenue!

Honestly, their government is like that kid in preschool hoarding all the toys in the corner and not wanting to play with the others.

Griping aside, this cartoon was surprisingly fun to draw. Had to research monster trucks and tweak a few details, but it was mega fun. It also ended up looking quite different from the original sketch that I sent in:

Sometimes, I've gotta just jot down an idea quickly before the joke leaks out of my brain.

I also got a chance to go live sketchin' with Clementine's swimming buddy's dad, the one and only Tony Thorne.

This one is a bit more caricature than real sketch, but I just wanted a play.

The Latest Cartoons

First, the story behind this cartoon is of Christine Milne taking over the head of the Australian Greens Party after the long-running head, Bob Brown resigned (16 years in office). And Tony Abbott is already on the attack merely days after she's started.

When I did this cartoon, I drew two versions. One with the urine stream and the other without. The newspaper (probably wisely) chose the latter. So, I'm posting the original pee-soaked joke.

I bumped into a friend on my way back from buying the paper this morning. He thought I got a good likeness of Milne, but didn't realise that the dog was supposed to be Abbott. Lesson learned: when caricaturing a person as an animal, you can go too far in the animal direction and lose the likeness. And before you ask, yes I tried to google image search dogs with big ears. Floppy ears don't work as well.

This cartoon is one I really like. Anyone following Australian politics probably knows about the Shakespearean battle for power between Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. I even read bits from Julius Caesar when I was working on this cartoon. I swear you could lift passages from that play and it would be directly applicable to the Labor Party struggle. And I'm sure Abbott and many other Libs were enjoying every last minute of it. With popcorn.

OK, this was just an opportunity to draw Rudd as a curse word balloon. What can I say? He's easy and fun to draw.