Adams

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Sometimes, when I think I really have done just a very silly, simple gag, I play with the visual style because the gag isn't enough. The readers may not even notice the change, but it keeps me amused.

Here we have an old-fashioned joke, so I changed my line to a more Warner Brothers / Looney Tunes comedy style. It's a hose in the face, so I think it should be drawn in a 1950s method accordingly.

The exhibition at the Hayward gallery, "Invisible", just has empty picture frames and plinths with nothing on them. So I thought, when I came up with the idea to spoof it, that it would be a doddle. Cartooning nothingness. Cut to a few hours later and lots of perspective problems and fiddly writing. I hope the finished result looks less of a chore than it was.

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Reading that the Prime Minister had accidentally left his child in a pub, I thought this is Christmas for us cartoonists. So I was surprised this morning to find that I was the only one to use that subject. Whether that is a positive thing or not, I'm not sure.

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There are some images that are ripe for a cartoon, begging to be used with a snappy one liner. And then there are images that just – however hard you try – cannot be married to a gag. I thought of this picture as I was listening to Tony Blair yesterday. His strange paralel universe that he lives in that is almost the opposite to ours – hence the negative. But however quirky and interesting the cartoon was I could not for the life of me think of a line to go with it. I gripped it like a mutt with a metatarsal all day until finally at 4.30 I realised I just had to let it go.

A mini panic that there may be a white square on the Comment pages on Tuesday, but then… Read More

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Here's my first rough for today's cartoon. I was sitting outside the pub in the sun. As usual I scroll through the news channels on my iPhone and take notes and sketch ideas. I had forgotten to bring paper, so these sketches were done on the back of a bar receipt.

I was originally going to have Osborne watching the telly, but it seemed wrong, partly because he was standing next to Largarde when she spoke.

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I don't know a cartoonist who doesn't love drawing people as animals, plants, buildings, anything but a normal person. It is great fun trying to use their features and mould them into something completely different. Having said that, these characters haven't really been morphed too much by me into plants. I've just stuck their heads on some leaves and coloured them green. Anyway, my point is that it makes a refreshing change for us to not just do politicians in a suit…

Here's today's cartoon. I enjoyed painting the sky.

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FOREHEAD: Cameron (Polished wax)

LIPS: Gove (Pout-elicious)

TUMMY: Clarke (Stand back!)

NOSE: A draw – Clinton and Osborne (Bum-like)

EYES: Another draw –  Thatcher (daggers, as they say) and Miliband D (swivelling)

CHEST: Merkel (Well, she started it: see below)

Angela Merkel, making life easy for cartoonists

HAIR: Rebekah Brooks (I like to imagine how awful and knotty it looks first thing in the morning)

CHEEKBONES: Assad (That's not a compliment)

MOUSTACHE : Hussein (Ditto)

TEETH: Miliband E (Surely bought from a novelty joke shop)

EARS: Blair (And teeth, and eyes, and …)

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If you draw cartoons for a daily newspaper, you have to expect the unexpected. It's exciting to know that when news breaks and that, with a deadline of mid evening (at the latest), a cartoon can be changed or updated as events develop.

So. Yesterday Hollande was having a miserable day in the rain, and I did a cartoon on his relationship with Merkel. I finished fairly early and was at home at about 5.30 eating a Marmite sandwich when my editor rang me. Hollande's day just got worse he said. His plane has been hit by lightning. I really did think he was joking.

So I rushed back top the office and the Comment desk and I threw some ideas about and came up with a new idea. I started it at 6.30 and finished at… Read More

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Caricature is about enhancing and exaggerating facial features for comic effect. It really is as simple as "ha ha look at his big ears". However, big ears are, of course, relative. Big compared to what? So we have to start with the most bland, formulaic face we can think of. Think of a model in a cardigan catalogue. We can then look at our victim and compare their ears. His ears are definitely bigger than Mr Cardigan's. And they have longer lobes. So here's an explanation of what I see as unusual and therefore mockable about our three main politicians.

Cameron
The first thing I see when I look at Cameron is his skin. It's so shiny and rosy and posh. His forehead is so waxy there'… Read More