Express News

Cartoon Club

We have a new page called the Cartoon Club. On this page you will get free lessons as worksheets that can be downloaded and printed for use at home. They will cover a range of topics. The first one is a character running playing basketball. Keep an eye out as we upload new ones over the next few months.

Click here or on the image to check out our new page and the free worksheet.

If you have ideas for fun cartoon worksheets feel free to let me know.

Cartoon Workshops

Phil Judd from Comic Express held a number of workshops in Brisbane over the September/October school holidays.
These classes were both private and for the Brisbane City Libraries.

The classes for the libraries were on the theme of drawing Monsters. They covered basic drawing skills and using the imagination to create a monster from scratch.

The private classes run by Comic Express covered basic drawing skills in creating characters using basic shapes and then adding action to them.

Phil said "In the class I try to get the kids to go through the development of a character, including body and head, give it action and then go on to ink it in (like the professionals) using felt tip pens of different sizes to get different lines. The kids can draw straight over their pencil drawing and rub the pencil out or they can use the light box to draw over their pencil drawing onto a new piece of paper like the professionals do".

The classes were a great success with most being booked out. The feedback from the kids was positive with a number saying they had a great time and learned lots of new ideas to inspire their cartooning and drawing.

Both these classes will be repeated for 2010.

If you'd like to book in for future classes use the 'contact us link' to email us and add yourself to our email list to be notified when a new workshop is coming up. All workshops run anywhere from one and a half hours to two hours, have all materials supplied and usually include a handout to take home.
Drop us a line and book in, we'd love to see you there.

Phil Judd wins Cartoon Award.

Phil Judd has recently won a first prize in the National Rotary Cartoon Awards held in Coffs Harbour, Australia in November 2008. Phil's winning cartoon was in the 'Best Sport's theme' category.

This competition is held every year in conjunction with the Rotary Club and the 'Bunker Cartoon Gallery' in Coffs Harbour NSW Australia. The competition has a number of different categories including: Best Political Cartoon, Best Gag cartoon, Best Strip cartoon, Best Caricature, Best International cartoon, Best Special theme cartoon (a different theme is given every year) and Best Overall Cartoon for the year. Around six hundred cartoonists entered with multiple entries in each of the different categories. Phil had a number of other cartoons in various categories that made the final round.
The winning cartoon is to the right. Click on it to view more sports cartoons through the search page. Enter sport into the search box and click the gag cartoon option. There are lots to view.

Cartoon Workshops

Phil Judd from Comic Express holds a range of cartoon workshops. Phil does Workshops for both those who were starting out and those with more experience in the field of cartooning. The ages covered ranged from 5 to 13 years of age.
Some of the workshops explored creating funny faces from scratch with a focus on emotions and how to convey them through simple drawings.
simple face 1
Others focused on drawing the body and giving it action.
rough figure drawing showing action 2
Some of the popular workshops focused on drawing animals.
simple drawing of fish
Phil has held workshops for the Police Citizens Youth Club and a range of Art stores in-house.
If you want a cartoon workshop feel free to contact Comic Express and book one. The classes need to be made up of a minimum number of 8 to 10 children. The classes last for two hours and cover all the drawing basics of creating cartoon faces and bodies with the aim to create original cartoon characters. If you are interested in cartoon workshops please contact Comic Express.

Olympamania

Well the Olympics have come and gone. What a great event. If you're missing them then we have something to help you relive them in a fun way. Comic Express has put together a package for the Olympic Games 2008 called 'Olympamania'.

It consists of a wide selection of single panel cartoons based on the spectators, ceremonies and sporting events held at the Olympic Games.

It is designed to be used on the Sports or Olympic pages in a newspaper, magazine or on a website.

Cartoons can be selected to match the Opening and Closing ceremonies and everything else in between!

Click on the image to view the 'Olympamania' Cartoons Package.