Very Good Cartoonists.

I have decided to dedicate some of my website to the great work of great good cartoonists (one's that actually make a living from drawing and selling cartoons for a living).

Thus, I extend this offer to all my readers. Do you know a Very good cartoonist, that would like to be interviewed on this very site for the reading pleasure of the readership of this website?

All cartoonist I interview (via email, I cannot travel due to the fuel crisis, and long standing environmental issues) will have the chance to have their work displayed right here, on TALENT FREE, for free. No charge and no obligation to draw anything they don't want to.

I would also like to interview people who aren't very good cartoonists, but have lots of enthusiasm and who know's, may improve one day, perhaps by reading interviews with cartoonists that are better than them right here on TALENT FREE.

Please contact me at leonard.gubbins@gmail.com 

Introducing My ALL new Childrens book.

I've always wanted to be a writer, but not having much time to devote to writing a proper book, I have come to the conclusion that it would be much easier to just knock out a Childrens book instead. 
This is an ideal project for me, for thus I can add some pictures to the book. This saves on words needed (children don't like books with too many words anyway, as everyone knows they are fundamentally lazy), and I possess unique skills in my drawing abilities of drawing 2 of the most difficult subjects in the world of cartoonists - FISH and BICYCLES!

So I introduce to you, loyal visitor - Geoffry the Bike Riding GOLDFISH ©.

Unfortunatly I haven't had time to actually write the story as of yet, but I thought I'd start with the front cover (for this is where I believe my potential readers will start anyway, and I can't see any sense in starting this book on, say, page 47)

I have spent most of the last 20 minutes thinking of some fun stories that Geoffry might get up to.

• Geoffry dodges his TV license fee, and hides from the dreded TV inspector
• Geoffry has his online shopping delievered by Asda or Tesco (needs more work to decide which works best for a GOLDFISH riding bicycalist).
• Geoffry gets into a nasty legal battle with his arch enemy, Sammy the Skateboarding Salmon.

I've based the stories I've yet to write down (but I have copyrighted them ©) on my own life, but I would like to state and not just for legal reasons, but for moral reasons as well, that I do possess a TV license. It's £145.50 per year and I pay by cheque.

Old style cartoonists are "squares"!

I have recently discoverd a new approach to the art of cartooning, inspired by the legendary Danny Burleigh "thecreativegenius". Instead of drawing cartoons in a boring old rectangle, like cartoonists have done for as long as they were drawing on the walls of The Daily Cave, he draws his hilarious and unique cartoons in a triangle, and calls them "sharps". To add to the creativity, he also includes a photo of himself at the side of each and every "sharp". In this post newspaper apoplectic world, I think the idea is really interesting.


The Creative Genius is indeed, very much so a genius for creating a new branch of cartooning artwork. I have attempted to recreate this style, and I don't mind telling you, it's not as easy as it looks! My triangle went a little wrong. Something I hope to improve on the more I do it. Who knows? Perhaps one day, all cartoons will be like this? I can see those so called, "expert" cartoonists resisting this new way of working (probably because it's technically difficult, and they are stuck in their ways) but I think this is the start of something big.


Expect more Dairy Lea cartoons to start popping up everywhere from today on wards.


Danny - you're a bloody genius!

Top TEN things to do if you find out your next door neighbours are getting divorced.

Cartoon about divorcing neighbors. Available for sale
through this website. Unique sou -veneer 

Divorce is a popular statistic these days. Many people are doing it for all sorts of reasons. Some people are doing it because they are doing it.


What many people don't realise when they get divorced, is the effect that this will have on the people around them. Neighbours for instance. Quite often neighbours won't realise that their neightbours are getting a divorce until it's already happened and this can make things very awkward. Imagine popping over to borrow the lawn mower, only to find out that the lawn mower AND the lawn have been taken by the partner that is no more!


Here's a list of things that neighbours can do to avoid uncomfortable situations.


1. Talk to your neighbours at least once per week.
2. Take notes, if you overhear any arguments taking place. This could be valuable evidence, if things become real flaky pastry!  
3. Look out of your windows several times per day and make mental note of any visitors to the neighbours house. Plumber visiting 3 times per week for the last 4 months? Probably having an affair which could end in divorce.
4. Listen for typical 70's porn music coming from the house when the plumber is there. It could be very loud, drowning out any dialog!
5. If you lend your neighbour anything, ensure that you get it back withing a week or so. This reduces the chances that it'll get lost in the division of assets. It's your hedge trimmer, she has no right to give it to her new boyfriend.
6. If you think your neighbours are about to get divorced, then decide which neighbour you are going to side with. Probably best to pick the one that is most likely to remain in the house.
7. Do not under any circumstances offer to take a hit on the cheating partner. It is murder and you will go to prison (where many of your neighbours are likely to be divorced!)
8. If one partners belongings get thrown into the street, offer to browse through them and make an offer for any items you'd like (check electrical items are working first!). The thrown out partner will be grateful for the extra money that they'll need to spend on a B&B accommodation.
9. Don't take either neighbour in as a lodger, unless you need the £4,390 pa rent that you can charge tax free.
10. Good luck. Chances are that both your newly divorced neighbours will have to leave the marital home sooner or later. You will now get new neighbours. They may be friendly, or they may be common scum with a rabid dog and asbo kids. Whatever you do, try not to worry.

Comic Sans Criminal?

Hear's a link to a link about a thing that is now being called the comic sans criminal. Apparently if your not a cartoonist you're not supposed to use comic sans as it's designed for comics, not under takers toilet notices, or something like that.


Personally I don't see what all the fuss is about. I wish Blogger would allow comic sans. I think it would enhance this blog considerably, which means: would make this blog better!

This is a cartoon of a fried egg being thrown in a road working hole. Other hilarious cartoons are available for hire or rent, for your newsletter or business presentation. Perhaps you have a company that builds roadworks and you'd like this to liven up your presentation about road works? Or maybe you have a fried egg shop? Give me a call on: leonard.gubbins@googlemail.com 

Thatcher or Black?

I have been making more fun cartoons with built in hilarity of celebrities. This week I have mostly been drawing well known and instantly recognisable celebrities from the United Kingdom. I started to draw this with the intention of capturing the likeness of that wonder lady of the stage, Cilla Black, but after I finnished drawing it, I realise it might look a bit more like Margaret Thatcher, who used to be the Prime Minister of this very country. OR at least Janet Brown impressioning her in the 1980's quite badly, with a poor make up budget.

Council housed Timeshare

I have noticed in the recent news lately that the new Government plans to prevent people who don't have a lot of money living in Council Houses for too long after they move in. I think this is an excellent idea. A bit like timeshare for homeless people. Why should they get a home for life and security of tenure for life when other people with more money don't have the same security with their own homes?

As you will have noticed, and I make no apologies for this, I am getting more political with my cartoons. I hope one day to become a political cartoonist. Perhaps I could be a political cartoonist for a decent newspaper, like The Daily Mail, or the Daily Telegraph, or if they won't have me - perhaps a working class newspaper like the Times of London (times cartoons anyone?).

Hilarious Computer Joke.

This is a recent joke cartoon that I did for a client to see that I could provide some jokey type cartoons for his Ye Olde Computer Shoppe business in the local high street. He wanted something that he could send out to all his customers via email or facebook (he's yet to decide). After he had given me his briefs, I set to work thinking of all the amusing things about computers that I could put into a jokey type cartoon for his computer business as previously discussed.


I did this on my computer with my Wancom Bamboo tablet. IT's a very expensive piece of professional equipment that only professional cartoonists are allowed to buy, but if you can afford one then I think you should. I have drawn this cartoon in just 7 hours, from the client brief to the finished article (no, not this article, I did it last week). I did this cartoon in the style of Bill Tidy or Larry. Check out the filing cabinet!


Next time: How to drawer cartoon filing cabinets.

I've won the lottery.

Wonderful news has just broke. Someone in the UK has won the Euromillion lottery. I haven't won this lottery, but I have won the lottery of life. However if I did win the lottery and had lots of money all of a sudden I would probably give up cartooning for a while. After all, I'm only in this game to get rich.

But if I had won the lottery, after I'd paid off all my debts to Bright-Home, The Kays Catalogue, Primark store card, and YES car credit - I would probably give the rest of the money away! Always I have been known for my generous and modest nature. All those times I've told big Dave in the chippy to "keep the penny, put it in the jar for the spastics", and other such random acts of kindness that I would never publicise myself, out of an extreme sense of modesty. I'd probably give so much away to Save The Mongolian House Butterfly and the Conservative Benevolent Fund, that there'd be none left for myself! LOL

But with the money left, I would definitely buy a Rolls Royce Album, or possibly a CD. And then give it to a children's charity for new hearing aids or something like that. I don't know what they'd use the money for. Perhaps some new balls for their ball pool? I don't know. I've never visited a children's charity.

Do you drink more than you think?

It's often claimed that people drink more than they think and that this is somehow harmful to them, but I disagree with this idea that people do drink more than they think. Even to have a drink, you have to think things like, what time does the pub open, or will that Advocate from last Christmas still be OK to drink? So instantly, before a single drop of drink has entered, you've already been thinking more than you have been drinking.

Of course once you start drinking, it's quite possible that you start stopping thinking quite as much as you would normally, but even the most drunkard drunk person is still thinking, even if it's such total nonsense as "I wonder what the cat would look like with a mohican" and other such trivial thoughts. It's still thinking!

*This website does not condone drinking of alcoholic beverages, or thinking so hard that you might realise that alcoholic beverages are a valid alternative to real life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8745555.stm

Wedding Caricatures.

I've decided that just drawing cartoons for websites and missing cat posters is not lucrative enough. The landlord is due back from his extended stay in Moscow soon, and so I need to make cartooning pay even more than it already has done. I also need some new gel pens since my last lot were melted, still in the WHSmith packaging, in a tragic incident on my bathroom windowsill in this extreme heat we have been having of such lately.


So I've decided that a good way to make some serious money is to give the gift of caricatures are people's weddings. I think I could charge much more than £20 per cartoon for this, and I don't imagine people at a wedding want to sit around too long to have their picture drawn, so I can probably draw 20 caricatures in an hour, therefore thus earning about £500 per hour!

I do find drawing ugly people, freaks if you like, much easier, so I might have to decline drawing normal or plain people and just concentrate on those people who have weird glasses or other interesting facial features. People who look like cartoon characters already would be good. I  just need to find a way to advertise to people having freak weddings, and I'm quids in.


Don't worry, I won't get above myself and stop this invaluable resource on the internet. Talent Free is here to stay!!!


Well, it's good to be back after a short break. I do apologise for the lack of posts over the last week or so. My fellow bloggers have been far too busy to assist with the running of this valuable resource, what with various court cases and assisting police with their enquiries, community service and subscription kidnap attempt theme weekends. All very interesting, but sadly not conducsive to running a successful website. I do hope no one's cartooning career has been adversely affected by lack of Talent Free advice.

Laughing at insanity, knowing how to apply a bandage.

I've often been asked about how much I know about insanity. This usually occurs just after I've shown someone my cartoons for the first time.

Funnily enough, I did once train to be a psychologist many years back, but I found that people boring me with their pathetic problems wasn't for me, so I didn't go back for the second day of training. Having experience of being a psychologist for even a short time did equip me with the knowledge to read people quite well, particularly insane people, of which there is many of them on the estate that  I live. 

The insane people are usually the ones wearing the inappropriate hats, so it's easy to spot an insane person, unless they are not wearing a hat in which case it's usually a little harder. Just asking someone if they are insane isn't usually that effective, particularly if they are Geordies, as they are likely to reply "Yeah, I'm mad me!". Playing word association games with strangers at a bus stop isn't that advisable either, as it can usually involve a discussion with the constabulary.

Concentrating just on the obvious ones with the inappropriate hats is usually the best tactic when trying to identify insane people.

So just what is an inappropriate hat you may ask? Well, wearing a bowler hat in a working mans club is obviously a clear sign of madness, unless they are part of the entertainment.

Wearing a rain hat in a charity shop can be a sign of insanity, unless the string is wet and stuck, and it has been raining outside.

Wearing a flat cap while driving an Italian supermini is a sign of insanity, unless the person is in Yorkshire at the time, in which case it's probably just a sign of poverty.

Without knowing for certain if someone is insane or not, can make it very difficult to mock and laugh at the insane people on your local estate. It's a mind-field for certain, but get it right, and there's lots of fun to be had. Basic knowledge of first aid is always useful when laughing at insanity.

The best fonts for your cartoons.

Searching on my copy of photoshop today I realised that there's a font called Comic Sans. Clearly this has been designed with cartoonists in mind. Brilliant. We now have our own font for use in our cartoons. It's a great shame that there's not more comic fonts available to us, but until there is, we should all be using COMIC SANS as much as possible to promote the cartoon industry.

Everyone needs a good neighbour 2

This hilarious cartoon has been inspired by Cathy's inspirational story about her neighbour which she posted on here yesterday. I think it's wonderful that Cathy is such a wonderful neighbour. If she doesn't manage to save you, she'll always be willing to help with police enquiries, and that's something very re-assuring for anyone who lives near Cathy, the good neighbour. Her story also makes for a wonderful cartoon. If you have had a neighbourly drama recently, and you'd like a hilarious cartoon all about it, then please email me and I can use your story and my unique imagination to drawer you a wonderful cartoon, just like this one*. Rates start from a very reasonable £20 (hourly rate), so as long as your story isn't that complicated it should only cost you £20. I will email you the cartoon so you can print it out yourself for FREE.

*Your neighbour doesn't need to be tied to a tree. I can also drawer small shrubs and washing lines.

Digital Cartooning.

I have often been interested in the idea of producing brilliant cartoons using the very latest digital technology. These days it's possible to draw very good cartoons with no skills at all, and no paperI have often been interested in the idea of producing brilliant cartoons using the very latest digital technology. These days it's possible to draw very good cartoons with no skills at all, and no paper, or even without a gel pen (glitter or normal).


There's many different kinds of graphics tablets available these days, starting from just $34. It's probably a good idea to buy the cheapest graphics tablet you can find at first, and if you find it useful, to  gradually buy the next most expensive. So you'd start with the $34 one, and then perhaps buy a $55 one and then a £100 one and so on, until you have become such an accomplished digital cartoonist that you are able to spend several thousand pounds (or dollars if you live in the America).


Of course, it goes without saying that it's still very important to have some gel pens and cheap paper lying around, as no matter how expensive your graphics tablet is, none of them work in a power cut! (quite a major design flaw in my opinion!).

New Digital tool for cartoonists.

Electronic Arts has just announced the release of their brilliant Computer Art package for the Commodore Amiga (and PC compatibles) computer, Deluxe Paint IV. This is the premium digital art package currently available to the home user.

It has some wonderful features, such as 256 colour palettes (that's ANY 256 colours that you choose) or even a special HAM mode that gives a 4,096colour palette effect using a special interlace mode (Amiga 32 bit only, such as the 1200, or 600). I can't currently find anywhere online that's selling Deluxe Paint IV at the moment. At £99.95 I expect it's only available in the USA right now, but it'll no doubt make it's way over to the UK soon, when we can all get our hands on it and take our digital cartooning to a whole new level. Hopefully that high price will be a little more reasonable by such a time by then as well.

I have a dream...

People of ask me how come I am so successful in everything I've ever done. Since being asked to leave school I have been successful at many varied jobs. So successful in some cases, that I've only needed to be there for a matter of hours. I tried to become an eminent psychologist one lunch break after reading a wonderful article in Take A Break magazine. The trouble with becoming a psychologist is that people always want to tell you their problems, and that's just not something that interests me.

So I gave that up and became a hairdresser instead. Trouble with hairdressing is that some people don't like your unique style on the top of their head! I thought to myself I have done all I can for the world of hairdressing, and resigned that very afternoon.

Now since I took up being a cartoonist, I think I have found the ideal career for myself. The main advantages is that it's very easy to do (if you're a creative genius, like myself), it can pay very very well (think - Charles Scwhepps!) and it leaves loads of free time for the cream of day time TV, or a trip to Argos.

Another LuLU portrait.

I'm often asked why I draw so many portraits of LULU, and to be honest I have no idea. Even my psychiatrist wasn't sure when I asked her. Not that I see her any more, since the incident with the pot plant and the live yoghurt. I think it's only right that I share all my LULU portraits with you, my wonderful loyal audience of wonderful followers.  I think I love you more than I love my cats.


If you have a much loved relative that is the spitting image of LULU, then please get in touch and you can buy one of these wonderful portraits for just one £20 note.

A new blog recomendation.

I'm often asked which blogs I like to read, when I'm not creating life changing posts on my own blog, Talent Free Cartoons. Well one of my favourite at the moment (of course it's subject to change if I don't get added to their blog roll soon) is this rather marvellous blog called, no less thus: Give a Blog a Bone. It's by none other than the excellent contributor of comments to this thus blog: Mr Poobah. Well done Mr Poobah for making such an excellent blog. I'm not sure what it's about yet, but I imagine when it has some content, it'll be as every bit invaluable to the Blogsphere as this blog is.

Lets see some photos of your patio, Mr Poobah!