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A good cartoon works on many levels to express something very significant about human existence. A great cartoon gives form to deeply personal truths, saying the unsayable. Cartoons can also be funny.

I enjoy doing cartoons. The choreography of words, images and ideas is exciting, there is often much more in a cartoon than was intended. There is a strange sophistication involved in the creating and reading of cartoons, a language that has evolved over many years and is unlike any other.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I think a good cartoon is worth a thousand chats over coffee with interesting friends during times of unusual intimacy and honesty.

these cartoons:
Most of these cartoons first appeared in books by the National Church Life Survey Research group in Australia. This group pioneered the concept of actually asking people what they thought about church, faith, religion etc. They did this on a huge scale, covering around 80% of all Protestant and Anglican (Church of England or Episcopalian) church attenders in Australia before expanding to include Roman Catholics and then the broader community.

The books that resulted were an effort to make the research results available, understandable and relevant to the general public, a gargantuan task for anyone that knows anything about statistics. For the cartoonist it was a gift, I was able to comment on every aspect of church life and the staff at NCLSR were an inspiration to work with.
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but is religion all that funny?
Everyone's heard of political cartooning, but religious cartooning...? Everything that is noble and pathetic about the human is on public display in the church. It is all there and it's great material.

Power plays, charity, hypocrisy, courage, gossip, love, jealousy... nothing is parodied in these cartoons that I am (we are) not guilty of in some measure. Thus is God's grace magnified; in to such fragile vessels is poured such beautiful wine; in to such weak hands is something so valuable vouchsafed.

When people laugh at these cartoons, generally they laugh at themselves. It makes life a little easier to know that we are not alone. Challenges are easier to face if they are given a name.
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styles
These cartoons span a period of about fifteen years. In that time I have tried many different drawing styles, graphic techniques and use of text.

Amongst the characters, there are the uglies, the beans, the long noses and many others. There are some cartoons with watercolour washes and others with photographic backgrounds. The tone is alternately strident, poignant, cheeky, sad, reflective and hopeful. Some are just plain corny.

After everything I've tried, I still love using my trusty mapping pen (must remember to dip in ink, not coffee). I am enjoying bringing my computer skills to the cartoons but then again there are often occasions when less is more.

I'm still learning.

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