Chris Madden Cartoons

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ANIMALS

  • Bee friendly illustration

    Bee friendly illustration

    An illustration showing bees and bee-friendly flowers.

    The illustration is about the fact that bees are in decline and need encouraging and protecting.

    One of the best ways for individuals to encourage bees is to plant bee-friendly plants in their gardens.
    Drawn: July 2022
    Cartoon reference number: a953
    How to obtain license to use cartoon

  • Ethical investment illustration

    Ethical investment illustration

    An illustration or cartoon about ethical investment.

    The illustration shows a person putting a coin with a map of the world on it into a piggy bank.

    The piggy bank symbolises investment and the coin symbolises the world.
    Drawn: July 2022
    Cartoon reference number: a952
    How to obtain license to use cartoon

  • Dog and ball

    Dog and earth globe as ball  - illustration

    An environmental illustration or cartoon showing a dog chasing a ball.

    The ball is the earth as a globe.

    The intension of the illustration is to draw a link between pet ownership and the environment. It was originally drawn for a booklet about how to look after your pet in an environmentally responsible way.
    Drawn: July 2022
    Cartoon reference number: a950

  • Covid-19 buying puppies cartoon

    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 reaching for the moon

    cat and moon print art

    A cat reaching for the moon.

    The design shows a silhouette of a cat on a chimney reaching out to capture the moon.

    Designed as a wall print or a greetings card.
    Original version created: 1998
    Reference number: a891

  • Cat print design

    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

    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

    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

  • Hunting endangered species cartoon

    Dr Seuss racism allegation cartoon

    Hunting wildlife to the verge of extinction cartoon.

    A cartoon showing hunters hunting a species to the verge of extinction.

    A cartoon about endangered species
    Drawn: 1991
    Cartoon reference number: env085

  • Fishing quotas after Brexit

    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?

    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

    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.
    .
    Cartoon drawn: 2019
    Cartoon reference number: art021
    This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
    See the book here.
    How to search for cartoons by subject

  • Art that children like – cartoon

    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.
    How to search for cartoons by subject

  • Genetically modified pigs will fly

    Genetically modified pigs will fly - cartoon

    Genetically modified pigs will fly – cartoon.

    A cartoon about genetic modification.

    This is an example of my cartoon strip published in Chemistry World, the magazine of the Royal Society of Chemistry, round 2014 – 2015.
    Cartoon reference number: a721

    How to obtain license to use cartoon

  • Kekule’s snake dream about molecular structure

    Chemistry cartoon - Kekule's snake dream about molecular structure

    A cartoon about Kekule’s snake dream about the molecular structure of benzene.

    Friedrich August Kekulé (1829 – 1896) was a German organic chemist.

    He is reputed to have had a dream in which snakes held their own tails, giving him a clue to the molecular structure of benzene.
    This is an example of 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.

    Cartoon reference number: a713

  • Bird in the form of the helmet from a suit of armour

    armour helmet bird drawing

    Bird in the form of the helmet from a suit of armour – dip pen and ink drawing with watercolour wash

    This is a drawing executed in traditional media – a dip pen and ink with tone added using a watercolour wash with a brush.

    Cartoon reference number: a747

  • Personality profiling for job applicants – cartoon from Chemistry World

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

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

    Cartoon reference number: a722

    How to obtain license to use cartoon

  • Praying mantis transgender cartoon

    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.
    Cartoon created: April, 2016
    Cartoon reference number: a731

  • Vultures endangered by consuming contaminated carcasses

    cartoon - vulture extinction

    Vultures endangered by consuming carcasses contaminated by anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac.

    .
    Vultures in India are on the verge of extinction due to scavenging on the carcasses of cattle that have been treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac.

    Original version drawn: 1991
    Cartoon reference number: a694

  • Save the dolphins cartoon

    dolphins aren't vegetarian cartoon

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

    .
    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
    Cartoon reference number: a685

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

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

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

    The cartoon is 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, unicorn extinction, wildlife in danger.
    Original version. drawn: 1990
    Cartoon reference number: a679

  • Genetically modified pigs will fly.

    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
    Cartoon reference number: a695

  • Anthropomorphism

    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
    Cartoon drawn: 2012
    Cartoon reference number: a326b
    How to obtain license to use cartoon

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

    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

    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

    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

  • Butterflies flying – illustration

    butterflies flying illustration

    Butterfly flight design

    Illustration of flying butterflies

    Ref: a643

  • Illustration – how to recognise an African elephant

    How to recognise an African elephant

    African elephant cartoon

    You can tell the difference between African elephants and Indian elephants by their different ears

    This illustration shows the larger ear of the African elephant in the shape of a map of Africa

    This illustration would be a good illustration for an educational publication or similar

    Ref: a637

  • Garden birds cartoon – nesting box design

    bird nest box design cartoon

    Bird nest box design cartoon

    A bird ignoring an ornate nesting box – the bird is building a nest in a branch fork under the nesting box

    Cartoon reference number: a633

    See my book of gardening cartoons here.

  • A butterfly with talons – illustration

    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.
    Ref a629