Chris Madden Cartoons

A searchable archive for licensing

Cartoon. Educational books for children: ‘ The Bumper Book of Wonder’ & ‘My First Book of Disillusionment’

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cartoon - my first book of disillusionment

Cartoon showing an eager child reading a book titled ‘The Bumper Book of Wonder’. Near the child is a book that will be read in the future, called ‘My First Book of Disillusionment’

Child development cartoon showing an eager child reading a book titled ‘The Bumper Book of Wonder’. Near the child is a book he will read in the future, called ‘My First Book of Disillusionment’

A cartoon about growing up and loss of innocence, acquisition of knowledge, epistomology, epistemology.
Cartoon reference number: a084
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Child development cartoon – small boys are interested in dinosaurs, older boys are interested in girls

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child puberty development cartoon - dinosaurs are for kids

Child development cartoon – a small child looking at a picture of a dinosaur, and an older child looking at a photo of a naked young woman.

Child development cartoon. Cartoon showing how children’s interests change as they get older, especially as they enter puberty and adolescence.
The younger boy in the cartoon is looking at a picture of a dinosaur (as almost all young boys are interested in dinosaurs). The older (adolescent) boy is looking at a photograph of a naked young woman, and is dismissively looking down on the ‘childish’ interest in dinosaurs exhibited by the younger child. The older child is acting ‘grown up’.

A cartoon about child development, adolescence, puberty, emerging sexuality, childhood innocence, testosterone, hormones kicking in.
Cartoon reference number: a081
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Cartoon – the difficulty for older people to understand modern technology

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Difficulty for older people using modern technology

Cartoon – the difficulty for older people to understand modern technology.

A woman having trouble programming a modern digital television tuner (or similar electronic device).
TYounger people adapt to using modern technology naturally (as they know nothing else).
The joke here is that the child who understands the new technology is a baby (who understands very little indeed in general).

A cartoon about child development, generational differences, generation gap, early learning, knowledge acquisition, technological illiteracy.
Cartoon reference number: a058

Parenting skills cartoon. Naughty step cartoon

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Naughty step cartoon

Naughty step cartoon. A cartoon about parenting and parenting skills.

Child psychology cartoon.
The naughty step is a child discipline technique of the ‘Supernanny’ school of child development.
The joke in this cartoon is that the technique has been applied by the mother to her husband as well as to her child.

A cartoon about child development, discipline, hen-pecked husbands, domineering wife.
Cartoon reference number: a057

Dalek cartoons. Girl dalek who wants ballet lessons

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Dalek ballet lessons cartoon

Dalek cartoon. Girl dalek who wants to grow up to be a ballerina.

A cartoon showing a mother dalek and a little girl dalek.
The little girl dalek wants to be a ballerina when she grows up, but her mother is trying to explain to her that daleks can’t become ballet dancers.

A cartoon about ambition, dreams, delusion, parenting skills, gender stereotypes (the pink of the girl dalek, and the fact that she wants to be a ballerina), careers advice.
The little girl dalek is ‘dressed’ in pink. Pink is the predominant fashion colour for young girls at the moment (2011) – it’s as though feminism never happened.
Daleks, by the way, are evil aliens in the popular BBC tv series, Dr Who.
You never see dalek children in the tv programme for some reason.
Cartoon reference number: a025

Penguin cartoons. A rebellious teenage penguin

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cartoon teenage penguin

Penguin cartoons. Penguin with rebellious teenage son who is a typical stroppy youth.

A cartoon showing adult penguins and an adolescent or teenage penguin. The teenager is going through a typical teenage rebel phase. A cartoon about stroppy youths. .

Original version drawn: 2001

Cartoon reference number: a014

Cartoon. Childhood: physical play versus electronic play. The allure of the electronic.

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Cartoon child on phone on swing

A cartoon showing a child on a swing using a hand held device such as a phone or electronic game.
A cartoon about the allure of the electronic.

Cartoon showing a father pushing his child on a swing. The child is engrossed in a hand held device (perhaps a phone or an electronic gaming device).

A cartoon about childhood, attention, play, bonding, parenting, physical play versus electronic play.
Cartoon reference number: a007
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Cartoon. Early 3D technology – children’s pop-up books

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Cartoon. 3D pop-up book

A cartoon about 3D technology. Although 3D technology is often thought of as a modern innovation it has been experimented with in cinema almost since the dawn of the medium. Similarly, 3D images have been available in books for many years, as shown here.

Currently fashionable in cinemas, 3D technology has been around for many years, as shown in this example of a children’s pop-up book

A cartoon associated with three dimensional images, holograms, virtual reality.

Cartoon reference number: a001

Health and safety gone mad – cartoon

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Health and safety gone mad

Cartoon – health and safety gone mad
Health and safety guidelines

A cartoon showing an officious inspector making a judgement on a health and safety issue. A child wrapped in cottonwool to protect it from danger – but the cottonwool itself is judged to contravene health and safety guidelines because it is a choke hazard

A cartoon about the over-zealous implementation of petty rules concerning health and safety regulations

Cartoon drawn: 2011
Cartoon reference number: saf31
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Childhood obesity cartoon. The Pied Piper of Hamelin

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Obesity cartoon. The Pied Piper of Hamelin and childhood obesity

Pied Piper of Hamelin cartoon
Childhood obesity cartoon

Cartoon showing the Pied Piper leading children to a cave. However, the children are all too obese to keep up with him, except for one fit child.
In the usual pied piper fairy tale the piper lures all of the children away, with only one child, who was a cripple, surviving because he couldn’t keep up. This cartoon turns the story on its head, with all of the children being too ufit and over-weight to keep up. The only child who can keep up is the one fit and healthy child from the town

A cartoon about Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, health, diet

Cartoon drawn: 2011
Cartoon reference number: pip141
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Childcare cartoon – grandparents doing childminding

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Grandparents childminding cartoon. Zimmer frame with pushchair seat attached

Child care cartoons
Grandparent childminding cartoon
Zimmer frame cartoon

A grandmother looking after a baby while the parents pursue other activities.
The grandmother is using a walking frame that also acts as a baby carrier.

A cartoon commenting on the way that in the early twenty-first century young professional couples are very reliant on childminding duties carried out by grandparents.
The fact that in the cartoon the parents are pursuing leisure activities implies that these particular parents are taking the grandparents for granted. This is meant to illustrate the ‘have it all’ self-fulfilment ethos of the age.
A cartoon about grandparents, extended families, family, old age, generations.
Drawn: 2011
Cartoon reference number: zim710
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Wendy house with wind turbine cartoon – converting a Wendy house into an eco-house

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Wind turbine cartoon. A wendy house fitted with a wind turbine

Wind turbine cartoon

A Wendy house fitted with a child’s windmill as a wind turbine to supply electricity and to convert the house to an eco-house

A cartoon about sustainability, electricity generation, power generation, alternative energy, sustainable development, fuel supply, environment friendly power, eco-friendly design, environmental architecture
Cartoon reference number: env3110

A cartoon about apathy about learning and education

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cartoon about apathy about knowledge, education and the wonders of the universe

A child who is not interested in learning anything

Cartoon showing a boy who has no sense of wonder or curiosity about the world, and who isn’t interested in learning anything about how the world works.
The cartoon shows someone trying to impart knowledge to him about how the moon orbits the earth.

The cartoon was drawn in the 1990s, but is relevant in the 2020s due to the rise of ‘post truth’ attitudes where knowledge is not valued.
A cartoon about intellectual apathy, ignorance, dumbing down, under achievement, illiteracy, low attainment, knowledge, teaching, inspiring teachers, scientific literacy.
Cartoon reference number: uni001
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Illustration – unlock your imagination

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Cartoon - unlock your imagination!

Cartoon featuring a person with a padlock as a head, jumping in the air and saying “Unlock your imagination!”
An illustration about creativity

An image for use in art education, classes or presentations on creativity

The illustration is about freeing the imagination or liberating the mind to be creative, or on unleashing creativity. It is an image to convey the link between creativity and thought processes.
The cartoon has uses as an illustration in art education or in areas of philosophy or psychology

Click here for a more bizarre and surreal version of the same idea

Date created: 2013
Cartoon reference number: a604