This month's cartoonist is Huw Aaron
Huw's cartoon (above) appears on page 12 of our October issue. A selection of his cartoons for Prospect will be published on First Drafts over the next month. Huw's book, "Aannual Aaron 2009" is published later this month and will be available from www.huwaaron.com
First, give me your autobiography in 100 words or so A hundred words? Tough. And there’s nine gone already. Well, it’s something like:
Born. Learnt to hold a pencil. Spent every waking moment drawing, scribbling, doodling - showing limitless creative potential. Education system did its bit. Became a chartered accountant. Epiphany: “Wait a sec. I hate this.” Quit. Cartooning happily ever since.
I know it’s a terrible question to ask a creative person, but where do you get your ideas from? Cartoons are almost invariably little slices of incongruity. Something appears where it shouldn’t, roles have been reversed, an inappopriate comment uttered, or a surreal dissonance occurs. The cartoonist’s job is to try and find such incongruities, by letting the mind wander, and bouncing thoughts off each other. Dreaming, basically.
The ideal environment for such fruitful idea generation is one where you’re completely trapped, in a semi-comatose state between awake and asleep, and holding a pen and some paper. I’ve found that joint Local Authority and NHS subcommittee meetings fit the bill perfectly.
Now that such meetings are, alas, unavailable to me, I try to recreate the same conditions sitting in a cosy armchair by a warm fire. In the seconds before dropping off, I’ll generate enough ideas to make up for the afternoon lost to napping.
How do you work – alone, hunched over a drawing board? On computer? Nine to five? My ideal working hours are about 9pm – 4am. Unbelievably, my wife isn’t too supportive of this regime, and thus I’m forced to wake in the morning, grimacing at the cruel sun, and drag myself to my drawing board, whereupon I’ll immediately fall back to sleep.
How do you cope with the rejections that accompany cartooning? I store up the bitterness inside, layering each new rejection onto my festering ball of solid bile. Hidden under a veneer of casual amiability, it may someday erupt, bringing terrible destruction. But it may just go away.
Do you ever laugh at your own cartoons? Every time! If I’m not laughing at them, there’s something seriously wrong.
What other cartoonists have influenced you, or do you most admire? I couldn’t really say who’s influenced my style, but I generally love anything by Charles Barsotti, Pont, Bill Watterson, Ronald Searle, Fougasse, Matt Pritchett, Ed McLachlan, Wilbur Dawbarn, Alexander Matthews, Royston Robertson...I could go on - cartoonists are definitely the biggest cartoon fans, I reckon.
Out of all the cartoons you’ve ever drawn, do you have a favourite? I’m not sure that it’s the funniest cartoon I’ve ever made, but the cartoon below was drawn before I made the jump from corporate finance to cartooning, and it very neatly sums up my outlook on that decision. Leaving a colourless, faceless, but steady, career, for one of humour, adventure, and leading inevitably to financial ruin and petty crime. Every parent’s dream.
Another favourite of mine, inspired by those depressing work wall planners [wall planner gag], always seems to get a decent response.
Are there any topics which you don’t think are appropriate for cartoons, or is anything fair game? It’s all fair game I suppose, but I’ve always been averse to publicly humiliating or pulling people down, so I tend to avoid that side of the cartooning coin. I’ll leave it to people angrier and more knowledgeable than I. Poor old Gordon Brown doesn’t need yet another cartoonist tearing him to shreds and giving him a jowly face.
How has the profession changed since you started? I’m a rookie – can’t really answer that one!
What would you change about the profession if you could? Government bail-outs would be nice.
Do you think the internet has been good or bad for cartoonists? It’s been good for the cartoonists who’ve embraced it. Those who refuse to accept that the internet will slowly but inevitably grind print media to an agonizing and bloody death will probably suffer. There is much debate among cartoonists on this point – but I personally think that there are thousands of untapped markets for cartoonists online. If the rest of my competitors choose to ignore it, all the better for li’l ole me.
What advice would you give a cartoonist starting out today? Have a good think about whether you were born to do this or not. If you’re pretty sure that it’s your destiny, writ in the stars above, then go for it with everything – if you research the markets thoroughly, relentlessly practice your drawing technique and writing skill, brace yourself for heartwrenching disappointment, and work extremely hard, it’s easy. If you weren’t a cartoonist, what would you be doing? Doodling on official documents.
The main occupational hazards in journalism are alcoholism and RSI. What are the risks for cartoonists? There’s always the risk you’ll murder the millionth person of the day to say ‘Ooh, that would make a good cartoon’ anytime a slightly amusing incident occurs. What do people tend to say when you tell them you’re a cartoonist? “Does ‘ew work for Disnee then, butt?” was the response I got last week when introduced to former British Lions captain, Gareth Thomas. It’s by no means a typical response, but is a good opportunity for me to shamelessly namedrop, thus demonstrating the glamorous circles we cartoonists move in. What do cartoonists talk about when they meet up? Conversations tend to circle around either congratulation at any mutual success (while internally seething at missing out on the opportunities that they’ve selfishly taken), or sympathising at any setbacks they’ve had – mentally noting the features of their droopy and depressed faces for use in future cartoons.
What’s the best thing about being a cartoonist? I draw silly pictures and people give me money. It’s unbelievable.
