"Brutal, bilious" cartooning

Cartoon by HM Bateman

In his canonical article, 'The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved', Hunter S. Thompson wrote about Ralph Steadman and his drawing habit. A habit whose product was "brutal" and "bilious" cartoons. Thompson explained:

"[A problem with Ralph Steadman] was his habit of sketching people he met in the various social situations I dragged him into—then giving them the sketches. The results were always unfortunate. I warned him several times about letting the subjects see his foul renderings, but for some perverse reason he kept doing it. Consequently, he was regarded with fear and loathing by nearly everyone who’d seen or even heard about his work. He couldn’t understand it. "It’s sort of a joke," he kept saying. "Why, in England it’s quite normal. People don’t take offense. They understand that I’m just putting them on a bit." "Fuck England," I said. "This is Middle America. These people regard
what you’re doing to them as a brutal, bilious insult. Look what
 happened last night. I thought my brother was going to tear your head
off.” Steadman shook his head sadly. “But I liked him. He struck me as a very decent, straightforward sort.” “Look, Ralph,” I said. “Let’s not kid ourselves. That was a very
 horrible drawing you gave him. It was the face of a monster. It got on
his nerves very badly.” I shrugged. “Why in hell do you think we left
the restaurant so fast?"

Thompson said the "the people there thought that an ugly drawing of somebody is an insult." Ralph Steadman said that "Hunter S. Thompson always used to call my work ‘filthy scribblings’!" Steadman also said: 

"Hunter S. Thompson… took me [to the Pendennis Club in Kentucky] and I started drawing the people there. It’s a funny thing, but the people there thought that an ugly drawing of somebody is an insult, like tantamount to smacking someone in the face."

Live Drawing at Arcadia Deli (@ArcadiaDeli), Belfast

Drawing Irish writer and thinker Colm Dore (@ColmDore) at Arcadia Deli

I spent the last Saturday of August 2014 drawing at Arcadia Delicatessan on the Lisburn Road, Belfast. With me being a regular this was a great way to interact with the staff and also meet some of the other customers, and of course draw them. I was operating on a donation system and started quickly. It was the usual Saturday bounce with young children smelling of grass and running about in their freshly used rugby and football kits; mums and dads doing their meat shopping and selecting a choice wine for the weekend dinner party.

 

It was great to see Irish poet Michael Longley come shuffling into the shop and accept my offer for a sitting. He was a joy to draw and speak with and you can see a Vine video of the drawing and a good selection of photos below. You can also see a full range of my cartoons of the staff and customers if you click to see more below.

 

This was a great way to lift things for the shop, the customers and the artist, all coming together in a cherry triangle of high spirits. Art, business and shopping - an intoxicating mix!

 

See my Live Drawing blog here, with a post on drawing Michael Longley here and drawing at Arcadia Deli here. Read about how I do Live Drawing from my website here. See a full chronology on all the Live cartoons I've ever drawn on my Flickr page here, and see how I work and think and process ideas on my Live Drawing Tumblr portfolio here.
 

     

Ralph Steadman and Quentin Blake on the term cartoonist

If there's one thing I struggle with it's what to call the Live Drawing aspect of my work. The name for me is a little clumsy. As are the terms cartoonist and caricaturist. As Ralph Steadman said:

"In some ways ‘cartoonist’ is a derogatory term. People have said it to me dozens of times – you’re just a cartoonist. But I’m rather keen on the Wittgenstein bit about the only thing of value being what you cannot say. That’s the thing about drawing: when you try to say something in pictures, it gains a dimension that language can’t match. I like that.”

And I wouldn't even use the term illustrator. As Quentin Blake said:

"There's a snobbery about illustration." 

Ralph Steadman said that he's an artist, not an illustrator, but prefers cartoonist to illustrator:

"I always wanted to be an artist, period: I hate the word illustrator - it just sounds so limp - I prefer cartoonist. Goya was a cartoonist, Daumier was a cartoonist, even Picasso used the cartoon form to express himself. But cartooning has got a really bad name now hasn’t it? People think it’s just something for filling up a column in a newspaper [adopts condescending voice] ‘Oh, it’s only a cartoon, here’s a fiver…’ I’m not trying to be artsy-fartsy but I don’t like the division that one thing is fine art and another thing isn’t."

And:

"Cartooning meant more to me than just funny pictures. I needed to apply it as a weapon almost."

And finally Ralph Steadman said:

"I try to use cartoon as an artist. I hate artistic snobbery. It’s bullshit. You should have no truck with it whatsoever. Have no truck with it."

Live Drawing - @RamorePortrush [Part 4]

On Friday 28 February I did a fourth evening of Live Drawing at Ramore Wine Bar Portush.Click below to see a full selection of images from the night.



Previous night of live drawing in the first of four evenings at the Ramore Wine Bar in Portrush (@RamorePortrush) here and here. Night of Live Drawing in Portrush in the Mermaid Restaurant here. With the Arts Council NI at their 2013 conference here, at the Pump House, Titanic Belfast with the Friday Night Mashup here, at the QUB Peace Journalism seminarhere, St Joseph's PS Christmas craft fair 2013 here, at the Thriftway Travel christmas party 2013 here, at the Civic Conversation 2013here. At a Christmas party (2013) here. At the DUP Conference 2013 here, and drawing the DUP politicians here. Doodling 6 guys in a pubhere. At Culture Night Belfast 2013 here. At the GEMS NI Conference here. At Funtastics indoor play park here. At John Hewitt here and here. At the Wickerman tourist shop here.

Live drawing in the Black Box with famous political cartoonist Ian Knox here. See my life drawings from the Loft Belfast at 99 North Street here, here and here. My thoughts on life drawing here. One of my favourite cartoonists Andre Carrilho talks about the challenge of caricature here.

Ian Knox speaks with The Detail

Barry McCaffrey (@Barry_TheDetail) with Ian Knox, in full here.

Barry McCaffrey (@Barry_TheDetail) interviewed the famous political cartoonist Ian Knox on behalf of the Detail here. I took a selection of screen shots from the interview which includes Ian at work and some of his cartoons.

Pictures of Ian and I drawing together here. My coverage of Ian Knox's December 2013 exhibition, 'Lifelines and Deadlines' here. A previous blog post with a selection of photos of Ian Knox here. My article here on why we need to do more to promote and widen the reach of the work of Ian Knox and why we need an Ian Knox prize to encourage satire and political cartooning; like the Herb Block foundation which is funded with $50 million to be bequeathed to:

"encourage the art of editorial cartooning and to support charitable and educational programs that help promote and support the causes he championed."

We need this in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Click below to see a selection of photos of Ian during his interview with The Detail:

Live Drawing - @RamorePortrush [Part 3]

On February 21 2014 I did a third evening of Live Drawing at the Ramore Wine Bar (@RamorePortrush), Portrush. Click below to see a selection of cartoons from the evening.

Previous night of live drawing in the first of four evenings at the Ramore Wine Bar in Portrush (@RamorePortrush) here and here. Previous night of Live Drawing in Portrush in the Mermaid Restaurant here. With the Arts Council NI at their 2013 conference here, at the Pump House, Titanic Belfast with the Friday Night Mashup here, at the QUB Peace Journalism seminar here, St Joseph's PS Christmas craft fair 2013 here, at the Thriftway Travel christmas party 2013 here, at the Civic Conversation 2013 here. At a Christmas party (2013) here. At the DUP Conference 2013 here, and drawing the DUP politicians here. Doodling 6 guys in a pub here. At Culture Night Belfast 2013 here. At the GEMS NI Conference here. At Funtastics indoor play park here. At John Hewitt here and here. At the Wickerman tourist shop here. 

Live drawing in the Black Box with famous political cartoonist Ian Knox here. See my life drawings from the Loft Belfast at 99 North Street here, here and here. My thoughts on life drawing here. One of my favourite cartoonists Andre Carrilho talks about the challenge of caricature here. More cartoons below:

Live Drawing - The Mermaid

Click below to see a full selection of cartoons from a night of live drawing in Portrush.If you would like me to attend an event, draw at your wedding, party or business conference, please do get in contact. Below is a list of past clients and prior events.

With the Arts Council NI at their 2013 conference here, at the Pump House, Titanic Belfast with the Friday Night Mashup here, at the QUB Peace Journalism seminar here, St Joseph's PS Christmas craft fair 2013 here, at the Thriftway Travel christmas party 2013 here, at the Civic Conversation 2013 here. At a Christmas party (2013) here. At the DUP Conference 2013 here, and drawing the DUP politicians here. Doodling 6 guys in a pub here. At Culture Night Belfast 2013 here. At the GEMS NI Conference here. At Funtastics indoor play park here.

Live drawing in the Black Box with famous political cartoonist Ian Knox here. See my life drawings from the Loft Belfast at 99 North Street here, here and here. My thoughts on life drawing here. One of my favourite cartoonists Andre Carrilho talks about the challenge of caricature here.

Live drawing - Funtastics

On January 5 2014 I enjoyed a live drawing at Funtastics indoor play area in Carryduff, Belfast. Above you can see me at work and with one of the happy customers! Click below to see more pics from the day.

If you would like me to attend an event, draw at your wedding, party or business conference, please do get in contact. Below is a list of past clients and prior events.

With the Arts Council NI at their 2013 conference here, at the Pump House at Titanic Belfast with the Friday Night Mashup here, the QUB Peace Journalism seminar here, St Joseph's PS Christmas craft fair 2013 here, at the Thriftway Travel christmas party 2013 here, at the Civic Conversation 2013 here. At a Christmas party (2013) here. At the DUP Conference 2013 here, and drawing the DUP politicians here. 6 guys in a pub here. At Culture Night Belfast 2013 here. At the GEMS NI Conference here.

Live drawing in the Black Box with famous political cartoonist Ian Knox here. See my life drawings from the Loft Belfast at 99 North Street here, here and here. My thoughts on life drawing here. One of my favourite cartoonists Andre Carrilho talks about the challenge of caricature here.

Live Drawing - Christmas Party

I was at a Christmas party and took on the task of entertaining the kids with my grand selection of pens, pencils, crayons, felt-tip pens and paper. Below are some of the cartoons I produced as well as one of baby Henry.

The artist's journey, Ctd Model Decano Man

Above and below you will see a sample of images of a clay model I made in the spur of the moment after a flash of inspiration. The model is of Michael Deane's Decano man which was originally produced for my exhibition, Belfast Faces and Famous Places and then used on Michael Deane's Chez Deaneo wine bottle (read about that process here). Click here to see the combinational, remix and networked creative process that helped to create the Decano Man in that started all this. That then lead onto the Horse Meat series of paintings here which placed the Decano figure into a series of culinary, gastronomical and animal settings. This was then followed by a commission to produce an image for Michael Deane's signature Prosecco (read about that process here). 

This also coincided with a commission to produce a 6 foot wall painting which further built on the look, feel and style of the Decano man series (see that process here). This then led onto a 4 foot wall painting which built again on all of the work made up until that point (see that process here). At that stage, the process slowed in terms of output but undoubtedly continued internally. Then came the inspiration to create the clay model. From this point I hope to create a fuller model by colour and detail.

Surveying the whole process it is interesting to see that, from that one drawing of Michael Deane has exploded a fountain of creativity which hasn't stopped flowing. And the clay model Decano man is just the latest in a serial and sequential creative process. Long may it continue.

• Belfast Faces and Famous Places here.

• Deaneos wine here.
• The combinatorial and remix creative process that created the original Decano Man here.

• Horse Meat exhibition here.

• Deane's Wall art here, here and here. 

• Deaneo's Prosecco here.

Overview the whole process from start to finish by viewing here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Live Drawing - DUP politicians

I spent the Saturday of November 23 2013 with the Arts Council NI at the DUP Conference drawing politicians and the proceedings. To see a selection of my drawings of the proceedings click here. To see a selection of my drawings of the politicians click and see below.

Also see my blog post on drawing Edwin Poots here.

Getting Simpsonised

Here it is the @originpartners team in all it's Simpson glory! Illustration by @brianjohnspencr pic.twitter.com/ukY2n9NX9I
— Caroline Smith (@carolinepixels) December 19, 2013

And click below to see the full "Simpsonisation" process from start to finish.

The artist's journey and combinatorial creativity Ctd

 

Drawing Edwin Poots

Check out my drawings of Edwin Poots above and below. See my Slugger O'Toole cartoons of Edwin Poots here, here and here.

The artist's journey, Ctd Deane's wall painting #2

Check out how I went from brief to final product in the images above and below.

The artist's journey, Ctd From Deaneos Wine to Horse Meat

Maria Popova writes about combinatorial creativity and networked learning in the 'about section' of Brain Pickings here:

"The core ethos behind Brain Pickings is that creativity is a combinatorial force: It’s our ability to tap into the mental pool of resources — ideas, insights, knowledge, inspiration — that we’ve accumulated over the years just by being present and alive and awake to the world, and to combine them in extraordinary new ways. In order for us to truly create and contribute to culture, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these ideas and build new ideas — like LEGOs. The more of these building blocks we have, and the more diverse their shapes and colors, the more interesting our creations will be."

This is my experience of being an artist.

Live Drawing - #DUP13 Conference

Sluggerotoole caricaturist brian john spencer will be at arts council stand over lunch. Come along #dup13 pic.twitter.com/jmb59Y9BaW
— ArtsCouncilNI (@ArtsCouncilNI) November 23, 2013

The Arts Council Northern Ireland asked me to come an draw DUP politicians and delegates at the DUP Conference 2013. See my drawings at the Arts Council NI workshop day at W5 in the Odyssey Belfast here.

Live Drawing - Thriftway 2013

Mukesh Sharma asked me to come along to the Thriftway 2013 Christmas party at the Crumlin Road Gaol. Above and below you can see a selection of cartoons I did of the attendees during the proceedings.

Live Drawing - Pub guys

A doodle of some guy I met in the The John Hewitt bar in Belfast. More doodles of his mates below:

The artist's Journey, Ctd Deane's Painting #1

See the image above, the images below explain how I travelled from brief to final product.