24 Elephants or Bears - Elephant or Bear 8

 Alt Text update from yesterday- it seems alt text is a nightmare, and can only be accessed by certain people, on certain makes of phone, and only then by answering three riddles set by a manticore. So I’ve come up with a cunning alternative.

ALT TEXT: a cartoonish sketch of the head of a brown bear. He or she is smiling at us pleasantly, but there’s something a little off about their eyes. I feel you should not entirely trust this bear.

24 Elephants or Bears - Elephant or Bear 7

M'learned commenter Tim has pointed out, more in sorrow than in anger (at least I hope so) that I am not providing Visually Impaired Squadron with as much information as they are hopefully used to getting from me on Twitter. This is because I didn't know that Blogger has an Alt Text function for pictures, but it turns out it does, which is great news for me, because I love doing the Alt Text, and discovering it is more or less the last reason I'm still (very sporadically) on Twitter. 

So, from yesterday on, these elephants or bears should have explanatory alt text. Simon, be warned these may contain spoilers for your game.

ALT TEXT: Study of two orange elephants, one baby one riding on the larger one's back, in deference to my patron's unwavering and strongly expressed taste. Executed in cheap wax crayon. There is a reason why the masters of the renaissance so rarely used cheap wax crayons for their works. However, art experts are divided as to whether this reason was 1) cowardice or 2) lack of talent. 

24 Elephants and Bears - Elephant or Bear 1

 This year- for reasons I forget- I have been mostly drawing elephants and bears. Here come some now. 

Herbert Beerbohm makes an adjustment

This is Herbert Beerbohm Tree, the actor, and Max Beerbohm, the writer and caricaturist. They were half-brothers; Herbert the older by nineteen years. When Herbert became an actor in 1876, he added 'Tree' (translation of Bohm) to his name. According to Max, this was because he wanted a "shoutable monosyllable, for purposes of applause."

I really like Max's caricatures (this isn't one of his best, perhaps because he was fond of his brother.) He gave a very useful recipe for them, which also applies to a certain kind of comedy writing:

The most perfect caricature is that which, on a small surface, with the simplest means, most accurately exaggerates, to the highest point, the peculiarities of a human being, at his most characteristic moment, in the most beautiful manner.

Aubrey Beardsley

 

24 things, and if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you. Thing 6.

This is from the tour show. It's the image we put up at the start of the sketch about the designer of the snake, to try to get across the idea of an animal design department. Tomorrow, I'll put up the image that replaces it when the head of the department says he has one or two questions about the new design...

24 Things, Allegedly, But The Smart Money's On About Eight. Thing Five.

Vroom.

24 Things Are Unreliably Promised: Thing 4

As a rule, the more intricate and over-worked the doodle, the worse the writing's going...

24 Things, Theoretically: Thing 1

Will this be the year I actually manage to sustain this? I wouldn't bet on it...

Quasimodo

Originally, I played Quasimodo and Simon played Victor. I don't know why it worked so much better this way round, but it really did.

Slightly Off

I still don't know what the truth behind this sketch is, by the way. A little bit of research shows that some of the characters are vinyl decals, and some of them are indeed hand-painted. But I still don't know why they're slightly off (the decals, at least, you'd think would be accurate), or why they don't get shut down for copyright infringement, or why that ice-cream in a bowl with cherries all over it - which looks like it was drawn in maybe the 1950s - still pops up on, for instance, this van I saw the day before yesterday.

Bonus points for fadedness, and presence of Donald Duck's nephews, though minus one point because Stanley absent-mindedly included all three.

Twenty-Four Things - Thing Sixteen

He seems nice. 

Also, you don't have to do ears.

Here's something I didn't know: silhouettes were, as you might not be surprised to learn, named after a Monsieur Silhouette. But, as you might be surprised to learn, he didn't invent them. Étienne de Silhouette was an unpopular French finance minister in the 18th Century who imposed austerity measures so fierce that to do something 'à la Silhouette' became slang for to do it on the cheap. And having your silhouette cut or drawn was a lot cheaper then having a miniature painted...

I was going to illustrate this with a picture of a silhouette which is thought to be a self-portrait by Jane Austen. But unfortunately, I looked into it, and it turns out there's another, more persuasive theory which is: no it's not. So instead, here's a couple of mine. It turns out silhouettes are a good way of doing quick sketches of people sat next to you at the British Library, because it only takes a few crafty sideways glances now and then, and then the rest is just colouring in.

No, neither are self-portraits.

Mostly topical comedy (may contain traces of animal whimsy)

On Sunday, Kevin and I had another look at the papers in, er, John and Kevin's Sunday Papers ; and tried to settle the equally vexed questions of who will win the next election; and why we've been invited to a club by some beagle puppies in frog hats.

And on Friday, I was on The Now Show, talking mostly about scorpions, but also a bit about Vince Cable and the Royal Mail. You can listen to the whole show on iPlayer here for the next five or six days (and you should; it was a good one).

Lastly, if, for reasons best known to yourself, you'd like to own a drawing by me of a seventeenth century philanthropist and his cuddly rabbit, then your luck is in - the Thomas Coram card from the post below is currently being auctioned on eBay. (Incidentally, if you win it, and you'd like me to sign it specifically to you (or someone else), I'll be very happy to do so.)

That's a game console controller in his other hand. He was ahead of his time.

The excellent Coram Foundation for Children is the oldest children's charity in Britain, and began life 275 years ago as a Foundling's Hospital set up by Thomas Coram, a retired sea captain and merchant. Among the many things they do is to maintain a large park in the centre of London named Coram's Fields, which has one of my favourite signs in London.

If it doesn't seem remarkable... read it again more carefully. They mean it, too. 

Anyway, to mark their anniversary, they have asked various people to design and make a card for them, which they will auction on eBay next month. Go here to see all the submissions so far (including one by a certain Mr. B Cumberbatch, just in case that might possibly be of interest to any of my readers). Here's mine: 

Cap'n Tom, pictured here with his favourite bunny.

PS - the 'Be Kind Have Fun' message next to this on the site is the inside of this card, not a second card.

Post title heroically avoiding a pun on 'Tutu'.

Here is a drawing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You may ask: why draw Archbishop Desmond Tutu? But if I may turn that question round… why not draw Archbishop Desmond Tutu? You see? Suddenly all your not-drawing-Archbishop-Desmond-Tutu life choices are looking a bit shaky, aren't they?

Click to enormify.

P.S. Good news - the Legal Aid petition linked to in the last post has now passed 100,000 signatures, which means (we are told) that the issue will be considered for debate in the House of Commons. Thank you to anyone who signed it after coming here.

I used to put drawings up here

Click to embiggen

Sometimes I still do.

Anyway, here's a drawing of Andrew Marr

Click to enbiggerate

Three people I sat near this week.

Click to embiggen.

(Personal note for people who know my friend Greg: the third guy is not my friend Greg. He's an Australian barman who must absolutely play my friend Greg if (when) Hollywood make a movie of the My Friend Greg Story. I have no idea if he can act. Nor do I care.)

Also, I'm on the Now Show again today - 12.30 on Radio 4,  and iPlayer for a week thereafter - trying to work out whether sanctimonious atheists or mock-persecuted Christians are more irritating. It's basically a draw.

1 thing I drew this week - Thing One

Occasional drawing posts are for life, not just for advent. So here, have a Dame Maggie Smith.

24 Things I drew this month - Thing Twenty Four. Plus...Cabin Pressure news.

Click for paramount version

Happy New Year! From me, and from all the crew at MJN Air. Which, I am happy to be able to tell you, WILL be returning for a fourth series. We don't know when yet, but my best guess is sometime in the second half of this year. 

Thank you for reading, and for all your nice comments about my drawings this month. Normal service will now be resumed.