Brexit referendum cartoon – Britain votes to leave the EU

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Brexit cartoon Union flag in person's face

Brexit cartoon – the winds of change.

The cartoon shows a British person with a British flag (union jack) blown into his face so that he can’t see where he’s going.

The image may show a person who can’t see the future ahead now that Britain has voted to leave the EU, with the flag representing Britain.
Alternatively, it may show a person who was blinded by patriotism before the referendum and thus voted to leave the EU on those grounds. This doesn’t imply that everyone who voted to leave the EU in the referendum are blinkered nationalists, just that blinkered nationalists probably voted for Brexit and thus managed to get many other Leave voters tarred with the same brush.
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The following version, without the word Brexit in the caption, can be ordered instead, on request.
Brexit cartoon Union flag in person's face

Air pollution cartoon

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Air pollution cartoon

An environmental cartoon about air pollution

Showing a man using breathing apparatus to breathe fresh air in a polluted atmosphere. The oxygen cylinder contains a plant that is generating oxygen

Part of the idea behind the cartoon is to convey the concept that plants are the lungs of the world, liberating oxygen from carbon dioxide via photosynthesis.
A cartoon about clear air, atmospheric pollution and toxic chemicals, smoke and smog
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Banksy parody

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banksy girl with balloon parody - value or price in art market

Banksy parody.

Girl with balloon

A parody of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon image, with the balloon replaced by a £ sign.

The image was inspired by the sale of the version of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon that shredded itself immediately after it was sold at Sotheby’s for a very large sum of money, thus increasing its value even more.
Was the work intended to be a protest at the nature of the contemporary art market? And was the fact that the piece immediately increased in value following its shredding part of Banksy’s plan, and a deliberate dig at the art market? Also, was the piece actually supposed to go all the way though the shredder and end up as a pile of spaghetti on the floor but for the fact that the shredder jammed?

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New Year 2018 cartoon

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New Year 2018 cartoon - the Old Year and the New Year

Happy New Year 2018 cartoon.

The cartoon shows the old year 2017 (Father Time) pushing the baby New Year 2018 in a baby buggy. Father Time is tripping over the base of a Happy New Year sign, sending the new year rushing forwards out of control.

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The green man – cartoon

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Cartoon - the green man (as a tree)

The green man.

The concept of the green man stretches back to antiquity, and is usually depicted as a head covered in leaves and foliage.
In this cartoon version, the green man is depicted as a tree, where the only evidence of a human link is the man’s legs protruding below the tree’s foliage and forming the tree trunk.

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Cell phone dependency (or mobile phone dependency) cartoon

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Cartoon - cell phone dependency

Dependency on mobile phones – cartoon.

People are beginning to rely to an excessive extent on their mobile phone (cell phone) and on digital electronic technology.
This cartoon illustrates this by depicting tourists who are using the sat-nav function of their mobile phones to navigate to a hotel. The gps has stopped working and they don’t know how to find the hotel, even though it’s plainly in full view.

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The “post truth” society

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Cartoon about ignoring the truth in favour of prejudice

Post truth cartoon.
Truth and facts being ignored in favour of emotional or prejudiced viewpoints.

The concept of ignoring the facts when reaching a decision about something, and letting the heart rather than the head rule, seems to be a phenomenon that’s on the rise. It has recently been labelled ‘post truth’.
In the cartoon I’ve linked it to the phenomenon of conspiracy theories, which are frequently used as a way of justifying irrational or unproven ideas.
The rise of post truth tendencies is said to be linked to people’s increasing use of social media via phones and electronic media and the tendency for internet algorithms to send people only information that they already agree with – however the tendency has always been there in the way that people purchase newspapers that agree with their political and other views.
It may also be linked to the current mistrust of experts.

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Donald Trump elected president of the United States – the future looks grim.

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do you remember where you were when trump was first elected?

“Do you remember where you were when trump was first elected?”

A cartoon showing two people in a devastated landscape, with a tattered stars and stripes flag.
One of the people is asking the other if he remembers the time when Donald Trump was first elected as president of the United States (implying that the degraded landscape in which they are sitting is a result of the Trump presidency).

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The Grim Reaper with a baby Grim Reaper

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grim reaper and baby grim reaper in pushchair

The grim reaper with a baby grim reaper in a pushchair

The personification of death in the form of the grim reaper pushing a pushchair or baby buggy in which sits an infant grim reaper.
Part of the concept behind the cartoon is to show a link between birth and death.
It’s also meant to be humorous because it humanises the grim reaper.

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The grim reaper upgrades from a scythe to a combine harvester

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grim reaper buys a combine harvester

The grim reaper buys a combine harvester

The personification of death in the form of the grim reaper upgrades from his scythe to a combine harvester. The harvester is here a symbol of much greater ‘harvesting’ power than the scythe – in other words a means of achieving a much greater death toll, similar to a weapon of mass destruction.

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A tribute to William Heath Robinson

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Tribute to William Heath Robinson cartoon

Heath Robinson style cartoon - detail

Detail

This cartoon was drawn as a tribute to William Heath Robinson on the occasion of the opening of the new Heath Robinson Museum in Pinner (where Heath Robinson lived).

This cartoon shows a Heath Robinson style contraption and is captioned “A contraption for capturing unusually shaped clouds”.

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A common view of modern art – the Emperor’s New Clothes

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emperor's new clothes modern art cartoon

Jokes about art gallery goers admiring blank canvases are a staple for cartoonists who want to satirise modern art.
Here’s one of my contributions (although I like this sort of art).

Interestingly, the abstract expressionist painter Ad Reinhardt, who painted canvases that were uniformly black, also worked as a cartoonist who satirised modern art.

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How social media confirms your prejudiced – creating a ‘phoney’ world view

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phone filter bubble algorithm

How social media in phones filter information – giving the user a ‘phoney’ (or phony) world view

How social media etc via phones and other digital devices reinforce prejudices by filtering information so that the user only sees information that conforms to the user’s existing biases.

The ‘filter bubble’ of social media and other digital technology is similar to the ‘culture bubble’ of real-world travel and peer group opinions and attitudes.
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How did you vote in the Brexit referendum, Daddy?

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Brexit cartoon - How did you vote daddy?

A cartoon showing a man who is regretting voting for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.

The image is partly a comment on the extreme criticism of ‘leave’ voters by those who voted to stay in the EU.

Based on the WW1 recruitment poster “Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?”
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The phone filter bubble effect – creating a ‘phoney’ world view

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filter bubble computer algorithm

How algorithms in phones filter information, thus giving the user a ‘phoney’ (or phony) world view

How the use of phones and other digital devices reinforce prejudices by filtering information so that the user tends to see only information that conforms to the user’s biases.

The ‘filter bubble’ of social media and other digital technology is similar to the ‘culture bubble’ in which travellers and tourists surround themselves with their own culture when abroad.
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Driving into a worrying future

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driving to the future - the collapse of civilisation

A car driving off the end of a road – symbolising the human race hurtling towards an uncertain future of its own making.

The car driver is following the sat-nav (GPS) unquestioningly as the car drives off the edge of the precipice (which metaphorically signifies the collapse of civilisation).

The road in this cartoon symbolises the human race’s road into the future, while the car is a metaphor for the human race itself, accompanied by its technological ‘life support system’.
The message is meant to be that if we’re not careful it will all end very badly.
This isn’t an anti-technology or anti-progress cartoon by the way – it’s just a view of how things might go if we aren’t careful.
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Burdened down by money worries

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man burdened down by financial problems

A man carrying a giant coin – burdened down by financial problems.
Also a metaphor for the burden of living within a society in which the acquisition of financial wealth is seen as a primary goal above all others.

The giant coin (here a British pound coin) is a symbol of finance in general, and of people’s dependence on the financial system.

A cartoon about money, finance, capital, capitalism, pursuit of wealth, the economy.
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Blindly following progress (a metaphor)

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blindly driving to the future - and over a cliff

A car driving off the end of a road and over a cliff – with the car driver still unquestioningly following the sat-nav.

The scene is a metaphor for what may happen if the human race unquestioningly and uncritically follows technological progress. Not that I think that technological progress is bad – we just need to watch where it’s going.

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A car driving into the future – and plunging off the end of the road

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driving to the future - the collapse of civilisation

A car driving into the future – and plunging off the end of the road

The car driver is following the sat-nav (GPS) unquestioningly as the car drives off the edge of the precipice (which metaphorically signifies the collapse of civilisation).

This cartoon is about the inherent danger in the advance of technology (here symbolised by cars, transport systems sat-nav) and other aspects of human progress. The further we progress, the greater the consequences of anything going wrong, especially if we put too much faith in technology and, as here, follow it uncritically.
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People immersed in their smart phones unaware of events in the real world

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people engrossed in their smart phones unaware of events in the real world

A problem of immersive technology – smart phone users oblivious to events round them

This cartoon is about the way that the use of smart phones encourages people to withdraw from the real world and to become totally immersed in their phones.

In the cartoon the two young people in the foreground are completely unaware that the city behind them is being destroyed by an alien invasion by flying saucers or ufos (and that this is the reason that their phones have lost their signal). The only thing that they notice is that the signal to their phones has gone.
The cartoon is an illustration of the potential dangers of immersive technology.
It was first published in Prospect magazine, April 2016.
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Contemporary baby name cartoon

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modern baby's names cartoon

A cartoon about modern baby names and old-fashioned baby names.

A cartoon about the trend for unusual and non-traditional names for babies.

The fashion for non-traditional names for babies may be a symptom of the current trend towards hyper individualism, which may mean that ‘ordinary’ names are viewed as being too conformist.
The trend may also be linked to the rise of celebrity culture where such names are more commonplace
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Student grievance cartoon

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student protest cartoon

A cartoon about hypercritical student attitudes.

A cartoon about the trend for students’ grievances and dissatisfactions to be translated into action, such as in the form no platforming or the demands for objectionable artefacts to be removed.

The action is often seen by some as self righteous, self indulgent, censorious and intolerant (ironically, as the students often think that they are acting for the greater benefit of others).
The cartoon shows the danger of the students adopting a feeling of over entitlement and thus taking their attitudes out into the wider world beyond their colleges.
The inspiration for this image was a news story about students disapproving of a sculpture by Henry Moore, and demanding that it wasn’t displayed on their university campus.

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We didn’t do anything illegal – corporate morality

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We didn't do anything illegal

A cartoon about corporate morals and the moral corporate stance of stating that “We never did anything illegal” as a justification for using devious or evasive financial practices.

This cartoon is partly inspired by the news story about money laundering through Panama legal/financial firm Mossack Fonseca

A cartoon about corporate morality, the spirit of the law, money laundering leaks, tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax havens.
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Vinyl records – a fashionable music format for the 21st century.

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music formats - vinyl - hipsters

A hipster explaining to his father that modern young people listen to music on vinyl – as though it’s a new format that older people wouldn’t understand.

This cartoon is about the way that young people often feel superior to older people because older people aren’t necessarily up to date with technology.

The cartoon is about the psychology of youth – about the way that young people often fail to appreciate the fact that their modern world was created by people who went before them.
The fact that the music format being used is an old fashioned or retro format, while the young person in the cartoon still feels superior to the man who grew up with the technology, is part of the joke about youth setting itself up as superior to age.
The young person in the cartoon is a hipster – a youth sub-culture of the 2010s.
It’s a cartoon about the generation gap.

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“But is it art?”

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but is it art cartoon mona lisa

Cartoon: “But is it art?”

A cartoon showing visitors to an art gallery looking at a painting and asking But is it art?”, the cliche expression used when the definition of art is brought into question.

The joke is that the painting that is being questioned is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.
What would these gallery goers consider to be ‘proper’ art. Maybe ultracontemporary art?

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Filed Under: ART

Truth drugs – a cartoon from Chemistry World magazine

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chemistry cartoon - truth drug

A cartoon about the potential use of truth drugs by repressive political regimes.

In the cartoon the truth drugs are not designed to make people tell the truth, but to make them believe in lies.

An example from my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

A cartoon about espionage, spying, subversion, secret police, state repression.

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Personality profiling for job applicants – cartoon from Chemistry World

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chemistry cartoon - rorschach test

A cartoon about the use of personality profiling in job interviews.

The use of Rorscharch tests for assessing people’s personalities.

The interviewee is interpreting an X-ray crystallography image that resembles a spider
An example from my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Here are more of my chemistry cartoons from Chemistry World magazine.

A cartoon about espionage, spying, subversion, secret police, state repression.

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Praying mantis transgender cartoon

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transgender praying mantis

Transgender cartoon – a praying mantis seeking a sex change operation

In the world of the paying mantis, the female mantis eats the male mantis following mating.
The theory is that this means that the female gets a good protein meal that will help the development of the resulting next generation. It all seems unnecessarily excessive to me though.

In the cartoon a male praying mantis is seeking gender realignment surgery or sex change surgery so that he becomes a female and thus avoids death at the hands of his/her mate.
The cartoon is inspired by the high profile of transgender and sexual realignment issues in the current personal identity and lifestyle culture.
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