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 

How do I sleep in a chair?

I have often been asked advice on such matters as such like and thus, but this week I am going to answer a query from a local person who I have been interacting with therefor whom within the environment of the street local to my own adobe.


This person, whom wished to remain anonymous, question was:


"sometimes I'm just too tired to go to bed at night, and have been thinking about sleeping in my arm chair. How would I go about doing this?"


That's a very interesting question that I would have very much enjoyed answering for my local fellow inhabitant of my local area, but I was in a hurry to rush home and sit down and write a blog post about arm chairs instead.


Firstly we need to know what an arm chair is.

This is not a chair. It is a stool, and consequently it is most unsuitable for sleeping in.

This is a chair, but it is only suitable for seating in, not sleeping in (or on depending on your political personification. 

This is much more like thus the item of furniture that we was discussing just outside the happy shopper.

Instructions for use:

1. Sit in the chair
2. Read a book, or watch a television. (it doesn't matter what kind, Sony, Phillips, Samsung even)
3. Wait until you are tired.
4. DO NOT GO TO BED AT THIS POINT!
5. When you feel yourself drifting off to sleep let yourself go.
6. Now get a cloth from the kitchen and clean the chair.
7. Once chair is dry again, re-enter it and repeat process 1 - 4
8. Wake up next morning any make appointment with a chiropractor. 

I want to tattoo your arm!

I've had this great idea that I've seen on some other websites. Having drawn lots of really popular cartoons, that people just simply adore, someone that is a very good online friend has suggested that she'd quite like to see my cartoon policeman tattooed onto her arm or buttock. Now I'm not really used to tattooing people's skin. I'm more familiar with tattooing pieces of paper with a gel pen, but being the professional that I have decided to be, I have agreed to do this on her kitchen table next week!

Of course in line with my current fees having to be increased because of the imminent VAT increase, I now find myself having to charge £30 per cartoon, but the good news for my very good online friend is that the image on her arm will belong to her exclusively (so if she wants to have someone take a photo of her, with her arm attached) then I will not be charging a further license fee, unlike some other rip of cartoonists that, while making lots of money and driving flash cars like 59 plate Nissan Notes, will exploit their customers. The arm image will belong to her, as sure as any infection will also be entirely her responsibility.


It seems her father was once a policeman, until he was pushed out of the force for an unfortunate incident with a potato peeler and a repeat offender in the late 1980's, and as a tribute to her dad, she'd like a tattoo with the image below. I think that's a lovely thing for a daughter to do for her father. Heavily tattooed daughters, always love their daddies. That is clear.


Now to hit Google, or TalentWriter Community Website for articles on how to tattoo an arm or bottom with a fatherly tribute.

How to drawer a cartoon filing cabinet. Part 1.

As promised, here is the lesson on how to draw a cartoon filing cabinet. Thanks to Pin Ups Office supplys (Dunstable) for the loan of the filing cabinet and preferential rates on post it notes.

Salting Potato's.

I've been very busy these last few days with yet another fantastic commission that I can't tell you about for confidentiality reasons, and to be honest, the Girls Guides leader is quite intimidating.

Here's a cartoon I did to demonstrate how to subtlety do some hand shading that will impress your clients and customers. Look how the breast seem to be almost 3D. That can make the difference between a great cartoon and a very bad cartoon. 3D breasts.

This cartoon was  a rough draft for a customer that wanted some cartoons for his restaurant. Once I'd sent him the rough drafts, I never heard from him again. I expect his business was burnt to the ground by Animal Rights Activists or something. Pity. I'd drawn over 15 drawings like this. That's the trouble with being a cartoonist. You can spend 3 weeks working on something that comes nothing.

Which Pencil?

I am often asked which type of pencil I use to draw my wonderful cartoons. Do I use a cheap HB pencil from the post office perhaps? Do I use some expensive pencils bought from a blind monk with a dodgy knee perhaps?


Of course not. Get away from me, you lunatic. Is often my reply. Why is it so hard to get somebody sectioned these days?


But I realise that for many aspiring cartoonist that read my website looking for brilliant advice on getting on in the easy game of drawing silly little pictures for large amounts of money the choice of pencil is very important. I personally don't use pencils for my artwork, as I think it's better to draw directly onto the paper (I read that in a book). Drawing with pencil is for spineless cowards, who quite frankly don't have the skill or balls to spend 5 hours on a complex drawing directly in ink. I'm a MAN, and I draw directly in INK! So what if sometimes my pictures don't turn out quite as I intended? Remember, it's NOT the outcome that's important. If you attempt to draw a dog, and it ends up looking more like a goat - it doesn't matter! That's what the experts call, a unique style. (it's also what I call it).


It's also worth remembering that your clients are paying £20 per hour, so to spend hours and hours re-drawing cartoons to make them look perfect is going to cost your client money, and in this difficult economic climate money is a rare thing. No. It's much better to be quick. Draw what you want to draw, and be done with it. If it's not looking right, at least it's going to be cheap - and that's very important these days.

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.

Shrove Tuesday.

I am often asked if I know the origin of Shrove Tuesday. Well it just so happens that I do. Shrove Tuesday was actually invented on a Wednesday, but that was Mrs Shroves bingo night, so it was later decided that it should be on a Tuesday. The first Tuesday after Valentines day was decided as probably the best day to get rid of all those spare eggs that were lying around after Valentines day.

Then Better Crocker got involved, and she messed up that shit big time with her instant pancake mix. Add water and shake became the usual way to celebrate pancake day. Traditionalists still like to use frying pans and 'flip' or toss their pancakes, sometimes sticking them to the ceiling (usually the kitchen ceiling)

Which made me think of a wonderful cartoon!

Shrove Tuesday Cartoon.

Update on my cyber peeping tom.

As some of you will be aware of those who I have hither told about on this website, I have been the victim of a cruel and heartless imitator. Someone who thought I had no sense of humour at all and copied my blog with a terribly shoddy imitiation of this thus said blog. I have warned this cyber peeping tom that unless they removed EVERYTHING from the internet that I didn't like, I would report them to the police. They have failed to do this, and so I have had no option but to report them to the police. The local police don't actually man the local police station after 3pm on week days, and so thus I left a message on their community action hotline. I imagine once they listen to their messages they will start a thorough investigation into my complaint. I'm seeing flip charts. Case conferences. Flashing lights.

Photo realism.

People often ask me if I have any other talent free from cartooning. Well yes I do. I'm also a fully equipped digital photographer and photo realistic artist. The photo of the bike is on the right BTW.