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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Cartoon. George Orwell’s Big Brother – thought police surveillance camera

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cartoon big brother cartoon thought police

Orwellian Big Brother thought police cartoon

Big Brother thought police cartoon showing surveillance cameras. One surveillance camera is monitoring a person while the other surveillance camera is monitoring the person’s thoughts. That camera is labelled ‘thought police‘.

A cartoon about freedom of thought, George Orwell’s 1984 dystopia, dystopian societies, oppression, oppressive regimes, thought crimes, liberty, tyranny.
Cartoon reference number: a083

Cartoon. Waterstone’s bookshops drop the apostrophe

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Waterstone's grocer's apostrophe cartoon

A cartoon about the announcement that Waterstone’s booksellers are to remove the apostrophe from their name.

Cartoon. The joke here is that a bookseller = of all people – should maintain standards of punctuation. In the cartoon Waterstone’s is depicted as a market stall rather than a bookshop, with the Waterstone’s sign lacking an apostrophe, but with the label for the books on the stall containing an apostrophe. This apostrophe is the core of the joke. This apostrophe is known as the grocers’ apostrophe (or is it the grocer’s apostrophe?), which is a common symbol of bad punctuation.

A cartoon about punctuation, changing punctuation due to the internet (partly due to the fact that some punctuation isn’t allowed in urls etc), evolution of language,
Cartoon drawn: 2012
Cartoon reference number: wat001

Anti-smoking cartoon parody of 1980s John Player Special cigarette advertising campaign

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Cigarette advert parody illustration

An anti smoking cartoon that parodies cigarette advertising.

This is an anti-smoking cartoon parody of a cigarette advertising campaign for John Player Special cigarettes in the early 1980s.

The cigarette packets were black, and the advertising campaign relied on a number of visual puns and word plays on the word black (using the similarity between the words ‘black’ and ‘back’) – word plays such as “Black chat” (with a photo of two packs of cigarettes looking as though they were talking to each other) and “Flash black” (with a photograph of a cigarette packet surrounded by flashes of lightning).
My parody or spoof advert used similar plays on the word black, but giving it a negative spin such as by using the term “Black death” (with a skull made out of cigarette packets), “Black to the land” (i.e. being in a grave, with a cigarette packet as a gravestone) “Blackstabber” (being stabbed in the back with a cigarette) and “Black against the wall” (being against a wall with a firing squad – the bullets being cigarettes).
This is an anti-smoking cartoon or illustration that was drawn when cigarettes were still advertised on bill boards or advertising hoardings in Britain.
An extra touch in the illustration is the figure who is walking out of the cartoon to the left. It is a figure who is wheeling a shopping basket in the form of a John Player Special cigarette packet. The hand clutching the basket is a skeleton, because the figure is death.
A cartoon against the tobacco industry.

 

Cartoon reference number: a064

Cartoon. Scottish independence. The Battle of Bannockburn, 1314 and the Act of Union, 1707

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scottish independence bannockburn cartoon

A cartoon about the campaign for Scottish independence and the proposed referendum.

Cartoon. The Scottish National Party (SNP) are campaigning for Scottish independence, with a referendum on independence is being called for (in Scotland though not in England).

Cartoon showing the possible use by Scottish nationalists of patriotism by invoking the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, which was a crucial battle in Scotland’s struggle for independence from England at the time. Scotland later rejoined England in 1707 following the Act of Union. The union of England and Scotland transformed Scotland’s fortunes, ended Scotland’s marginalization due to its geographical location.
Cartoon reference number: a063
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Cartoon. Independence for Scotland referendum campaign

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scottish independence referendum cartoon

A cartoon about the campaign for Scottish independence.

Cartoon. The Scottish National Party (SNP) are campaigning for Scottish independence.
A referendum on independence is being called for.

The cartoon shows the possible reaction of some english people to the referendum, as it is thought by some english people that the Scottish parliament is ungrateful for England’s contribution to Scottish prosperity (with some Scottish nationalists more eager to mention the highland clearances (in which Scottish landowners participated) than the beneficial effects of the union of Scotland and England which ended Scotland’s marginalization due to its geographical location.
Cartoon reference number: a062
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Punctuation mistakes – the grocer’s apostrophe cartoon

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language cartoon grocers apostrophe

A cartoon about mistakes in punctuation use. The so-called “grocer’s apostrophe” being use in a press article (as proof of the perceived degeneration of grammar in contemporary society)

The cartoon deals with a topic that is discussed in the book “Eats, Shoots and Leaves” by Lynne Truss.

A cartoon about linguistics, language, misuse of grammar, grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes.
Cartoon reference number: a061
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Cartoon. Changing the clocks to double summertime – the advantages & disadvantages

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BST-GMT clocks change cartoon

A cartoon about the advantages and disadvantages of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and British Summer Time (BST).
A cartoon about the proposal to put the clocks in Britain forward by another hour all year round, and the consequences of doing so.

This would change GMT to BST and the current BST to double summertime.
This system is opposed in parts of Britain, especially Scotland (where it is argued that the mornings would be too dark). The proposed change would generally be an improvement, allowing greater use of the limited daylight in winter.
It occurs to me that any campaign against changing the clocks could use the slogan “Daylight Robbery”.

A cartoon about GMT, BST, British Summer Time, Greenwich Mean Time.
Cartoon reference number: a059
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Football cartoon – football themed bedroom cartoon

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Football themed bedroom cartoon

Cartoon showing a person who has a football themed bedroom.

A cartoon based on the saying ‘Eat football, breathe football’ and its variations (such as ‘Eat football, breathe football, life football’)
The joke is that because the person in the cartoon has had a football themed make over in his bedroom, with all of the decor and decorations being football related, be can now ‘Eat football, breathe football and sleep football!’ .

A cartoon about sports fans, football fans, obsession with football, following football.
Cartoon reference number: a054

Cartoon showing a procession of people following each other in a circle

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cartoon following each other in circle

Cartoon showing a procession of people following each other in a circle.

A cartoon that is possibly about lack of leadership and lack of direction within groups, or on a larger social scale possibly about inward looking insular societies, restrictive religious, social or cultural traditions that stifle thought and progress.

A cartoon about leadership, followers, leaders, following like sheep, insularity, conservatism, orthodoxy, narrow mindedness.

Cartoon reference number: a051
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Cartoon about ‘top shelf’ magazines

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top shelf magazines about bottoms punning humour

A cartoon showing top shelf magazines that specialise in women’s bottoms, with the shelf labelled ‘Bottom Shelf’

Cartoon about ‘adult’ magazines, ‘girlie’ magazines or ‘top shelf’ magazines.

The joke is that adult magazines are often called ‘top shelf’ magazines (because they are on the top shelf to keep them out of the reach of children). The magazines in the cartoon depict women’s bottoms, so the top shelf is labelled ‘bottom shelf’.

Cartoon reference number: a048
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Ronald Searle, one of the twentieth century’s greatest cartoonist, dies

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cartoon tribute to Ronald Searle

An obituary cartoon tribute to Ronald Searle, possibly the greatest twentieth century cartoonist and illustrator, who died on 30th December 2011.

An obituary cartoon about the death of Ronald Searle.
Cartoonist Ronald Searle, who died last week, is best known for his creation of St Trinian’s, a school of anarchic schoolgirls. He was however a cartoonist of enormous range, producing powerful editorial cartoons along with illustrations for books and advertising.

His St Trinian’s became something of a curse, as they overshadowed his later, better work.
My cartoon in tribute to Ronald Searle includes one of his St Trinian’s girls, along with a few animals – a horse, a cat and a bird – based on Searle’s later work.

First published in Private Eye magazine, January 2012.

Cartoon reference number: a047
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Cartoon – shooting the dove of peace

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tank shooting dove of peace cartoon

Cartoon showing the dove of peace being shot at by a military tank.

Artwork showing the dove of peace being attacked by the miltary.

An anti-war illustration showing a peace dove.
A cartoon showing military antagonism to anti-war movements.

Cartoon reference number: a040
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Dove of peace defecating on armaments

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peace dove cartoon - shitting on tank

Dove of peace illustration.

Artwork showing the dove of peace crapping on a military tank.

An anti-war illustration showing a peace dove.
A cartoon related to the peace movement, campaigns against militarism and campaigns against the arms trade.
A possible peace campaign poster.

Cartoon reference number: a038
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Peace movement dove of peace illustration

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peace dove cartoon - taking tank

Dove of peace illustration.

Artwork showing the dove of peace carrying off a military tank (and being pursued by a soldier who wants his tank back).

An anti-war illustration showing a peace dove.
A cartoon related to the peace movement and campaigns against armaments and the arms trade – a possible peace campaign poster.

Cartoon reference number: a037
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Cartoon. How did military tanks get their name ‘tanks’?

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how did tanks get their name cartoon

Cartoon illustration. How tanks got their name

Cartoon How did tanks get their name?
This cartoon would make a suitable illustration for a children’s educational book.

Why armoured vehicles are called “tanks”.
The tank was developed by the British during World War I.
In order to conceal their purpose during their development the armoured vehicles were called tanks because they resembled water tanks.
In my illustration the tank is being used as a watering can because of its association with water tanks.

Cartoon reference number: a036
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Diet cartoon – food fads and food intolerance

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food fad intolerance cartoon

Diet cartoon. A cartoon about gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, dietary fashions and food fad intolerance.

A cartoon about food intolerance, showing a person who is gluten intolerant (and who is rejecting some bread), a person who is lactose intolerant (and who is rejecting some milk) and a person who is food fad intolerant (and who eating a plate full of food that is normally labelled as unhealthy).

A cartoon about food fads, health, dietary fads, ibs, irritable bowel syndrome, nutrition, allergies, allergy, allergic reactions, food scares.

Cartoon reference number: fd001b

Cartoon about statistics, statistical probability and statistical bias

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statistics cartoon - probability

Cartoon about statistics, statistical probability, statistical bias and unreliable statistical surveys.

A cartoon showing a person collecting statistics but deliberately ignoring a statistic that doesn’t fit with his preconceived bias as to what the results should be.

A cartoon about unreliable statistical analysis, including such things as self-selecting groups, observer bias, prejudice.
A cartoon about statistical data collection and biased analysis.
Cartoon reference number: a035
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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

Cartoon. The press under fire – news gathering in conflict zones

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press under fire cartoon

Cartoon: the press under fire.

A cartoon showing the press being attacked.
It is a cartoon showing the press under attack in a dangerous situation, such as in a war zone or in a military dictatorship. Despite the danger the journalists, reporters, photographers and cameramen risk injury and death to obtain and report the news.

A cartoon about free press, freedom of speech, news gathering in war zones, war reporting.
Cartoon reference number: a011
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Cartoon. Too many hinges on a door can be counterproductive

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too many door hinges cartoon

Cartoon: a door with hinges on both edges – making it impossible to open the door.

The hinges in this cartoon are a metaphor for devices (or people, or institutions) that are meant to make things function better, but that make them worse when over-used. The point of the cartoon is that they can be counterproductive.
Cartoon showing how too many facilitators can make action impossible.

The hinges in the cartoon can be metaphors for committees, too many cooks, lack of functionality, excess, excessive help, excessive aid, counterproductive aid.
Cartoon reference number: a010

Cartoon. Complaints queue. Frustrating queues.

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complaint cartoon

Cartoon: how do you complain about the complaints system?.

Cartoon showing a queue of people who want to make complaints.
The waiting time is so long that people want to complain about the complaints system.
The complaints system is designed to make complaining difficult or to make it not worth the bother of doing.

A cartoon about complaining, inefficiency, inefficient systems or institutions, frustration, frustrating queues.
Cartoon reference number: a009

Cartoon. Change the clocks – double summertime. Daylight robbery?

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Cartoon. clocks change to double summertime

A cartoon about the proposal to put the clocks in Britain forward by another hour all year round.

This would change GMT to BST and the current BST to double summertime.
This system is opposed in parts of Britain, especially Scotland (where it is argued that the mornings would be too dark). The proposed change would generally be an improvement, allowing greater use of the limited daylight in winter.
It occurs to me that any campaign against changing the clocks could use the slogan “Daylight Robbery”.

A cartoon about GMT, BST, British Summer Time, Greenwich Mean Time.
Cartoon reference number: a008
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Cartoon. Innovation and progress – how to change a light bulb that’s very high up

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Cartoon: change bulb using step ladders pyramid

A cartoon about how to change a lightbulb that’s very high up

Cartoon showing people using step ladders extending upwards by being stacked pyramid style like a house of cards to reach a very high light bulb.
This may seem to be just a simple joke, but it’s actually a comment on the human ability to overcome obstacles – an ability that is one of the engines behind progress.

A cartoon about improvisation, improvising, innovation, innovating, reaching higher, ambition, invention, necessity the mother of invention.
Cartoon reference number: a006

Car boot sale cartoon

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car boot sale shoe sale cartoon

Car boot sale cartoon. One car is selling boots. Another car is selling shoes (using a sign reading “Car shoe sale”)

Cartoon showing a car boot sale, with a vendor selling shoes under a sign that reads “Car shoe sale”

A note to non-British readers – a car boot is the UK equivalent of a car’s trunk in the USA.
The joke here is that a car boot sale is a sale of bric-a-brac and other goods that can be carried in the boot of a car, and has nothing to do with the garment variety of boot.
Cartoon reference number: a005
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Teamwork cartoon. An arrow is nothing without a bow

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Cartoon. Bow and arrow team

Cartoon showing a bow and arrow. The arrow is walking away from the bow. The bow is saying to the arrow “Come back – you’re nothing without me!”.

The bow and arrow in this cartoon are a metaphor for interpersonal relationships – especially ones where one person has a talent that can only be realised due to the input of someone else. In the cartoon the arrow is the ‘talent’ while the bow is the person through whom the talent can achieve fulfilment
The bow could represent a facilitator, an agent, a manager, an impresario, a partner, a muse.

A cartoon about teams and teamwork, relationships, interdependence, teams, teamwork, symbiosis, management skills, facilitation.
Cartoon reference number: a003

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

Statistics cartoon. How statistics can easily be taken out of context

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Cartoon. Studying statistics through telescope

Illustration about the interpretation of statistics and the importance of context.

Cartoon showing a person studying statistics through a telescope (which is visually funnier than a cartoon showing a person studying statistics under a microscope).

Cartoon showing a person studying statistics. He is studying them so closely that he has lost sight of the surrounding context.
The principle behind the cartoon (studying things so closely that context is lost or ignored) is applicable to the study of other areas of research, and applies to politics, economics, social sciences – in fact just about everything.
Original version drawn: 2011
Cartoon reference number: sta131
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Euro debt crisis timebomb

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Cartoon euro financial crisis timebomb

An editorial illustration about the euro zone debt crisis. A cartoon showing the euro as a ‘cartoon’ timebomb.

The cartoon includes a fuse to the bomb, with the spark on the fuse as a star (one of the stars in the eurozone symbol that represent the countries within the eurozone).
The implication is that one of the countries in the euro-zone will somehow detonate the bomb (or escalate the euro crisis).

A cartoon about the debt in the eurozone and the euro debt crisis.

Cartoon drawn: 2011
Cartoon reference number: eur411
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