Conceptual political illustration or cartoon
A hammer nailed down. Did the nails nail down the hammer to stop the hammer hitting nails?

Cartoon about overthrowing tyranny
The hammer is a metaphor for a tyrant (perhaps), or at least an oppressive force or feared presence.
The hammer seems to have been attacked by nails, perhaps because hammers normally ‘attack’ (or at least hit) nails.
Are the nails there to stop the hammer hitting more nails and thus committing more violence?
Or was the hammer nailled down by another hammer?
The hammer is leaking blood in a rather surreal and gruesome way

A cartoon about violent revenge, surrealism, dada, tools, crime, motives

Cartoon – anthropologists discover “the tribe that hides from man”

Jungle explorers discovering a lost tribe

The lost tribe is selling souvenirs with messages such as “I’ve visited the tribe that hides from man!”

A cartoon about copyright

A stylised Mickey Mouse symbolising the concept of copyright

Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, was famously very enthusiastic in controlling the unauthorised use of his cartoon characters. I’m in favour of such control myself, especially when characters are appropriated for financial gain. However representations of famous cartoon characters (or any other images) in order to make a comment is a legitimate use of an image – as here!

This illustration featured in an exhibition in the Cob Gallery, London, titled Pastiche, Parody and Piracy (June/July 2014).

Rainbow flowing out of an anglepoise light

An illustration of a rainbow radiating from a table lamp and splashing into droplets where it hits the surface of the table

The design shows the colours of the spectrum coming out of a lamp

The Adelson checkerboard shadow optical illusion.
Which mouse is standing on the darker square – answer, neither!

The checker shadow illusion is associated with the work of Edward H. Adelson

This is how the illusion works.
An object (the elephant) on a checkerboard casts a shadow on the board.
The parts of the board in the shadow are darker than the parts of the board that aren’t.
The human brain knows that the squares on the board are all same – either white or dark gray, so it compensates for the darkening effect of the shadow, making the white squares that are in the shadow seem lighter than they really are (which can be as dark as the dark gray squares, as here).
The second image shows the mice holding a uniformly gray strip across the checkerboard to allow the tones of the squares to be compared

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Checkerboard shadow optical illusion.
In the top photograph, which square is darker – 1 or 2?
Answer: neither, they are the same. This is shown in the second figure, where a uniform gray strip crosses the image to show comparisons in tone between different squares.
This image is a photograph – the illusion works with the real objects, an apple on a checkerboard, and is not affected or caused by the fact that this is a two dimensional image

The checker shadow illusion is associated with the work of Edward H. Adelson

This is how the illusion works.
An object on a checkerboard casts a shadow on the board.
The parts of the board in the shadow are darker than the parts of the board that aren’t.
The human brain knows that the squares on the board are all same – either white or dark gray, so it compensates for the darkening effect of the shadow, making the white squares that are in the shadow seem lighter than they really are (which, if you get the light levels right, can be as dark as the dark gray squares).

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Optical illusions
How we interprete form in two dimensional images
An illusion due to direction of light
How light direction affects how we read shapes and form

Are these shapes indented or sticking out?

This is a photograph of the word ‘post’ on the side of a British post box (the red pillar box).
Viewed upside down the word looks as though it is indented. The right way up it appears to stand out (which it does).
Why is this?
It’s because in normal everyday circumstances light tends to come from above (such as from the sun in the sky), so that’s where we assume light is coming from unless there is obvious evidence to the contrary. In the upside down version the light is interpreted to come from above, so the shadows and highlights are interpreted in this light

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Horsemeat cartoon

A cartoon about the horse meat scandal, where horse meat was substituted for beef in ready meals and beefburgers

Cartoon reference number: a553

Car rear window sticker cartoon of the “Keep your distance” type

Based on the window sticker “If you can read this you’re too close”, this one reads “If you can read this you’re too close – if you can’t read this you need an eye test.”

An illustration dealing with the subject of the safe distance between cars, driving safety, rules of the road, transport, road safety.

Cartoon reference number: a543

The standard railway gauge is based on the width of horses – cartoon

The distance between the tracks of a railway – the gauge – was based on the width between the wheels of horse drawn carriages. The width of horse drawn carriages was determined by the width of horses (or rather of two horses side by side).

The illustration shows pioneer railway engineers in the Isambard Kingdom Brunel mould measuring the width of a horse in order to determine the measurement for the railway gauge.
A cartoon about transport infrastructure, the history of railways, the industrial revolution

Cartoon reference number: a542

Queue at patent office cartoon

A cartoon showing a queue of people outside a patent office, each holding an invention that needs patenting.
One of the people in the queue is saying “[I’ve got] an invention that’ll make queueing a thing of the past.”
Invention that help to get rid of queues include the internet and the telephone.

The cartoon is about inventors and inventions, patenting and copyright, intellectual rights, technological progress.

Cartoon reference number: a541

Horse meat cartoon
Cartoon about horse meat found in beef products, ready meals and convenience foods

A cartoon about the scandal of horse meat being found in ready meals and beef products. Some convenience meals have been found to contain 100% horse meat

An inquiry is to be set up to investigate the horse meat scandal.
There is suspicion that organised crime or criminal activity is involved.

Cartoon reference number: a509

Horse meat cartoon

A cartoon about the scandal of horsemeat being found in convenience meals and beef products such as beef burgers and lasagne.

An inquiry is to be set up to investigate the horse meat scandal.
There is suspicion that organised crime or criminal activity is involved,
A cartoon about food safety and adulterated food products.

Cartoon reference number: a508

Horse meat cartoon
Horse meat in beef products cartoon

A cartoon about the scandal of horse meat being found in beef products such as beef burgers and lasagne.
The product Findus beef lasagne was found to contain 100% horse meat – in other words, no beef.

A cartoon about food standards, food safety, adulterated food products.

Cartoon reference number: a507

Quotation: the person who is certain he is right is certain to be wrong

Famous quotations

A typographical design that could be used as a poster, postcard, t-shirt design or mug design.
This quote was made by me. I think it’s original, although it sounds a bit like the famous quotes that you can read in lists of famous quotes, so maybe I read it somewhere.

Cartoon reference number: a512

Typography – reflective thinking

Typographic design using reflected lettering to convey the meaning of the words

Reflected words. These could be a book title, a magazine or newspaper headline or the typography in an advertisement

Cartoon reference number: a511

Music cartoon. MP3 files don’t have LP sleeves.

An older man shows a young man or teenager something that young people miss out on due to digital downloading of music – LP sleeves.

A comic imge about the music industry, music business, marketing, record covers, LP sleeves, vinyl records, 12 inch records, album artwork, dark side of the moon, pink floyd.

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Mayan calendar cartoon
Mayan 2012 prophecy wrong – what next?
The world didn’t come to an end on 21st December 2012 – what news story will take its place?

A cartoon about the Mayan ‘prophecy’ of the end of the world at the winter solstice 2012.
The prophecy didn’t come true, so the huge news hype that surrounded the story will have to end. The drawing shows a press newsroom where editors and reporters are cynically on the lookout for a similar tabloid doomsday story to replace the Mayan prophesy story in the news cycle
The cartoon is about people’s seeming need for end of the world stories. It is about millenarian stories and millenarianism. Millenarianism is the phenomenon of wishing for or expecting a huge upheaval that will either end the world or will change it radically.

Cartoon reference number: a482

2012 Mayan calendar cartoon
The world didn’t come to an end on 21st December 2012 after all

A cartoon about the Mayan ‘prophecy’ of the end of the world at the winter solstice 2012

The cartoon shows a Mayan gift shop selling a Mayan calendar for 2013, which has been put on display immediately after the world didn’t come to an end on 21st December 2012 (winter solstice).
Part of the joke is that the Mayan calendar was not put on display until after the prediction of the end of the world had passed – because the owners of the Mayan gift shop were busy making money out of the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world until then.
A cartoon about millenarian cults, millenarianism, end of the world cults.

Cartoon reference number: a481

Chess cartoon – hole in chess board

A cartoon showing a chess board on which one of the squares is a hole.
A chess piece (a bishop) os looking out of the hole from the top of a ladder

A slightly surreal drawing about chess, where a hole in the chessboard looks a bit like a trapdoor

Cartoon reference number: a425