Chris Madden Cartoons

A searchable archive for licensing

Covid-19 buying puppies cartoon

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covid-19 buying puppies cartoon

Covid-19 coronavirus puppy buying cartoon.

The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an epidemic of puppy buying.
Will the new owners still be pleased to have their new pets after the pandemic has ended?

Drawn: January 2021
Cartoon reference number: a893

Cat print design

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cat print art

A cat with a bowl of milk.

The design shows a humorous image of a cat next to a bowl of milk, looking up at the observer.

A brightly coloured design drawn in a simple naive style, similar to a silk screen print. Designed as a wall print or a greetings card.
Created: 2017
Reference number: a890

Cat cartoon

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birthday card cat cartoon

Cat cartoon.

A cartoon showing cats creating. a birthday message that they are going to send.

A cartoon about cats, Instagram, messaging, birthdays, cards.
Cartoon reference number: a888

Marine waste cartoon

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Hermit crab with tin can as a shell - cartoon

A cartoon about marine pollution showing a hermit crab using an old tin can instead of a shell

The cartoon could be interpreted as showing wildlife desperately trying to adapt to a changed ecosystem.
A cartoon about waste recycling, household waste, wildlife in danger.

See an alternative version of this cartoon here.
Cartoon reference number: env094c

Fishing quotas after Brexit

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Brexit fishing quotas cartoon

A cartoon about the fishing quotas following Brexit.

The cartoon shows a UK fishing boat and seagulls that are trying to take some of the fish.

 
Drawn: December 2020
Cartoon reference number: a885

Where do artists get their ideas from?

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Where do artists get their ideas from?

Contemporary art concepts cartoon.

A cartoon about a website from which contemporary artists can download concepts for their artworks.
The artwork in the cartoon is a piece of performance art, in which the artist covers himself or herself with ticks which then suck the artists blood – as a metaphor for the exploitative workings of capitalism.

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art108

See my book of cartoons about art here.

Art in the environment cartoon

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Modern art in nature cartoon

A modern art sculpture set in a natural setting.

The cartoon shows a modern art sculpture, similar to the work of Barbara Hepworth or Henry Moore, set in the environment. A bird is nesting in the hole in the sculpture.

The sculpture is titled Art in Nature.
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Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art021
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
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Art that children like – cartoon

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Contemporary art and art for children cartoon

A cartoon about art that children like – such as paintings of ponies.

The cartoon shows a young girl visiting an art gallery and asking if there are any paintings of ponies.
The art gallery is a gallery of contemporary art, and thus contains little or no work that would appeal to children.

The cartoon is partly about the different purposes of art and the different audiences for art.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art019
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
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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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Save the dolphins

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dolphins aren't vegetarian cartoon

Cartoon showing a campaigner for protecting dolphins being disappointed to discover that dolphins aren’t vegetarian.

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A cartoon about the concept that some animal lovers prefer animals that are thought of as nice, cute, gentle etc (which interestingly extends to pet cats, which I frequently see tormenting and killing wildlife)..

The idea refers to some extent to the ‘natural fallacy’, which states that nature is inherently good.

Original version drawn: 1990

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Why there were no unicorns on Noah’s ark – cartoon

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Why there were no unicorns on Noah's ark - cartoon

A cartoon showing Noah’s ark full of consumer goods (cars, shipping containers etc). Noah is telling the two unicorns that are wanting to enter the ark that there is no room for them.

The cartoon about the human race’s impact on wildlife (particularly as a result of our consumption of the earth’s resources, but also as a result of anthropogenic floods).

A cartoon about endangered species, extinction, wildlife in danger.

Original version. drawn: 1990

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Genetically modified pigs will fly.

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pigs will fly gmo cartoon

A cartoon showing a genetically modified pig flying.

A cartoon about gmo food and genetics.
The cartoon strip shows people talking about ‘scare stories’ about ‘Frankenstein food’, with the final frame of the strip showing a flying pig.

A cartoon about gmo, genetically modified organisms, pigs will fly.

Original version created: 2008

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Anthropomorphism

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anthropomorphic animals cartoon

A joke about anthropomorphic animals

Anthropomorphism is defined as the giving of human characteristics to animals and other non-human entities.

The humour is in the fact that the rhino reading a book is an anthropomorphic animal, and is reading a book about anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the projection of human characteristics onto animals

Ref: a326b

Environment cartoons – polar bear and penguins marching to save the ice caps

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penguins and polar bear environment cartoons

Environment cartoons – penguins marching to stop global warming

An illustration showing an environmental protest march of penguins and a polar bear

The penguins in this image are inspired by natural history documentaries about penguins that show the penguins marching in line from their nest site to their feeding ground many miles away.
This cartoon is meant to be a motivational and inspirational image, motivating people to get up and do something for the benefit of the environment (specifically in the areas of climate change and global warming).
Original version drawn: 2011
Cartoon reference number: a664
How to obtain license to use cartoon

Superorganisms – a colony of ants forming one giant ant

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Ants as a superorganism graphic illustration

Ants in a colony forming one large ant - super organism graphic illustration

A magnified detail of the image above

Graphic or illustration of a superorganism – a colony of individual ants forming one giant ant

Ants are probably the best-known example of superorganisms

A superorganism is an organised colony consisting of many organisms, usually where individual organisms perform specialised functions and where individuals are incapable of survival by themselves.
The illustration could be used as a metaphor for human behaviour or of co-operation or as a literal illustration of the expression “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”.
Drawn: 1990
Cartoon reference: a630

Prehistoric early bird catches the worm

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prehistoric bird cartoon

Cartoon about the saying “The early bird catches the worm”

The joke is that the ‘early bird’ is literally an early bird in evolutionary terms, such as an archaeopteryx.

A cartoon about evolution, prehistoric creatures.

sayings and proverbs

Ref: a620

A butterfly with talons – illustration

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butterfly with talons - illustration

A butterfly with hawk talons

An illustration of a butterfly that has talons, turning it into a predator

A surreal digital image of a hybrid butterfly/hawk.
Some of the tension in the image comes from the fact that butterflies are perceived as being benign (which they are, being primarily nectar feeders), while birds of prey are perceived as being powerful and aggressive.
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Marine pollution cartoon – twenty-first century hermit crab

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Hermit crab using a tin can as a shell - cartoon

A cartoon about marine pollution
A hermit crab using an old tin can instead of a shell

  One of the ideas behind this cartoon is that pollution of the seas and oceans will cause depletion of life such as marine snails, making it necessary for hermit crabs to adapt to using discarded rubbish as protection.
The cartoon could also be interpreted as showing wildlife adapting to a changed ecosystem.
A cartoon about waste recycling, household waste, wildlife in danger.

See an alternative version of this cartoon here.
Cartoon reference number: env094b

Professor Brian Cox cartoon – we are stardust

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professor brian cox cartoon we are stardust

Professor Brian Cox cartoon
We are made of stardust

A humorous comment about the fact that all of the elements apart from hydrogen and helium were created inside stars – so everything is made of stardust

The joke here is that when the tv astronomer Professor Brian Cox says that everything is made of stardust he really lays it on thick in a way that many people, especially women, find very attractive. So here the woman is actually saying that she finds Brian Cox attractive, and it even affects her attitude to slugs

See my book on the nature of the universe
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Garden cartoons – noisy neighbours cartoon

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Gardening cartoon - noisy neighbours cartoon

Noisy neighbours cartoon

Cartoon showing problem neighbours hanging a loudspeaker outdoors in a tree.
A gardener is hanging a bird nesting box in a tree. The loudspeaker looks very similar to the nesting box, which is part of the joke

A humorous observation about neihbors from hell, encouraging birds in the garden, inconsiderate neighbours
Cartoon reference number: a578

See my book of gardening cartoons here.
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Cartoon – creatures from earth that look like aliens

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earth creatures that look like aliens

From my selection of science fiction cartoons
Creatures from earth that look like aliens from another planet

A cartoon showing that life on earth is as weird as extraterrestrial life

This cartoon was drawn many years ago, but is relevant today due to the BBC series Alien Nation, about the bizarre and otherworldly appearance of insects. Fish look pretty weird too don’t you think?

Cartoon reference number: a560

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