FEATURE
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Culture correspondent Roz Britnell talks to cartoonist John Child,
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from Mottingham, about life and art.
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How long have you been an Are your cartoons of real The best advice is draw what
22 artist for? situations or from your you see and not what you think.
Since I picked up a pencil and imagination? Most people tend to look at some-
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drew all over my parents’ walls Everyone has a view on situa- thing once and draw assuming its
when I was 5. tions and things that bug them. Life shape or colour. I still tell myself that
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What kind of art do you best is a jumble of contradictions and iro- advice whenever I’m drawing and
prefer? ny - all I do is put it down on paper. get too carried away. The worst ad-
Any which makes me wonder You’ve worked on TV shows vice I’ve been given is to grow up.
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‘how did they do that?’ like London’s Burning and What famous artists have
Have you always wanted to be Bombay Dreams. What was influenced you?
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a cartoonist? that like? I like a cartoonist from the US
I always did it for fun to mock My dad always said “you spend called Larson. His cartoons are
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friends and bullies but then stran- most of your life at work, so you very recognisable as they’re sin-
gers started to compliment my might as well do something you gle picture cartoons which are
34 work and eventually requested enjoy”. I loved movies and making very witty. However, lately I’ve
commissions. I soon realised models, so special effects was an been greatly influenced by ‘Roy’.
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that my cartoons might be good ideal combination of what I en- Pure genius as his art work is bold,
enough to be published, which joyed. But sometimes you think simple but says a lot.
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they now are. things are better than what they Interests outside drawing?
Where has your work been really are as in reality it’s a very I know this sounds very geeky
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published? clicky and competitive industry. but I love to go back to my roots
Recently, the Police Communi- …and where do you work of model making. Making things
ty Support Officer magazine, Traf- now? from scratch and building some-
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fic Wardens website and in Key As a graphic designer for thing that looks great. I mainly
Skills national exam papers. Pearson. now do it for table top war gam-
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What skill have you had to ing… but don’t tell anyone.
develop in your career? What advice would you give
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Imagination! Other than the to an artist just starting out?
written word, art lets you create a Practice, practice, practice, and
48 whole new world that doesn’t ex- develop your own style. As simple
ist and fool the viewer into believ- as some art works look, artists
ing it could be real. I surprise my- spend years developing their own
self sometimes and think where style and honing their skills.
the hell did that come from? You can see some more of
What is the best and worst John’s artwork online at
advice you’ve been given? www.sillyface.org
Help keep Eltham tidy! Put your litter in bins.
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