Chris Shipton - Cartoons and Illustrations

Chris Shipton – Visual Thinking

Chris Shipton — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:34:30 +0000

I have just launched a new site which showcases some of my work around ‘Live Illustration’ and events. You can have a look here: visualthinking.chrisshipton.com and click on the images to see some of the info-graphics I have made for it!

Chris Shipton Visual Thinking

Merry Christmas – and check out my Moo Crimbo Cards

Chris Shipton — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:04:29 +0000

I have made a christmas card this year using Moo.com* who I use for all my business cards. I like the fact you can upload loads of different pictures and they have a nice finish. Anyway enough advertising, I have posted the images used below.

* thats an affiliate link just so you know

“Entrepreneurship is throwing yourself off a cliff & assembling a plane on the way down”

Chris Shipton — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:43:22 +0000

I have been working on a little project to illustrate Tweets that are generated throughout events. I found this quote from @tim made by Reid Hoffman the founder of Linkedin. It’s pretty true, I certainly feel like that at times in my entrepreneurial pursuits!

When a Predator attacks I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here

Chris Shipton — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:44:15 +0000

I watched one hour of ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here 2011′ and found myself wondering how the arrival of a Predator would spice things up a little bit.

It would blast through the gormless celebs and give them something to squeal about! Ultimately it would boil down to a cat and mouse game between Fatima Whitbread and the Predator. Fatima would win.

Chris Shipton Cartoons – overlooked in November 2011

Chris Shipton — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:17:59 +0000

Here are two cartoons submitted to a paper that shall remain nameless and subsequently haven’t appeared anywhere. But now they are here! Sending a fully rendered cartoon to a paper is a gamble. Most people doing on spec stuff send roughs..

This is a response to plans to turn off the internet during the riots.

This is what the Merkozy looks like..

Chris Shipton Cartoon – rejected October 2011

Chris Shipton — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:16:11 +0000

In a new feature on Chrisshipton.com I have decide to feature all my rejected cartoons. Illustrators have a business model that involves an art director commissioning a specific piece of work to go into a publication, website or whatever. Cartoonists do the same. But they also have another avenue. They send cartoons on spec to editors and see if they print them. A reply is nice, even if it’s no, but sometimes they just disappear into the ether. Bored of waiting for the phone to ring I have decided to post up these images.

I submitted this to the ‘i’ newspaper cartoon competition along with a cartoon of Dale Farm. i was chuffed that they printed the Dale Farm one, but I genuinely thought they would go for this one. It’s mad to think I only drew this a few few weeks ago and since then Papandreou and Berlosconi have both gone as leaders of their respective countries. Cartoons are a great historical record, even if I do say so myself!

The other thing that I do..

Chris Shipton — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:56:45 +0000

I have become a ‘Corporate Cartoonist’. Readers of chrisshipton.com, which has been around in one form or another since 2006, will be used to the zombies, robots and cartoons that get posted here from time to time (mental note must do more robots). I have discovered that there is a growing need for companies, events, groups and the rest for drawing. And while these businesses tend to use less zombies and Orcs in their work they still make use of drawing. Think of it this way, people in business are dominated by powerpoint (or PPT) and constantly have to go to meetings. Nothing is worse than arriving in a tiny beige room with uncomfortable seats and being told ‘lets brainstorm’. Everyone starts to look at their shoes, ers, ums, and finally the meeting leader suggests all the ideas they had before it started and no one gets anywhere. Believe me I know what its like, thats why I had to do ‘The Business Park of Doom‘.

Detail from a live illustration of Marcus Du Sautoy’s presentation made at TEDx Oxford 2011

What I do is go into these companies when they are coming up with ideas and draw them. By doing this the cycle of relentless power point is broken, processes that use the analytical ‘left brain’ suddenly use the creative ‘right brain’ too. David Sibbett says in his book ‘Visual Meetings’ using drawing adds 80 IQ points to the room.

This work can manifest itself in lots of different ways. It can be grabbing ideas as they are conceived and coming up with quick fire cartoons. It can be attending a speaking event and recording what people say on huge whiteboards and pieces of paper. And it can involve actually running a meeting and using drawings as the focal point for progress, rather than letting powerpoint and clip art do the work (can you sense I don’t like powerpoint?).
So now I have founded Livescribes with Rikki Marr and James Huyton and we are travelling the country using drawings for business. You can check out the website here where there is loads more info about what we do.

Detail of from a live illustration of Rory Sutherland’s presentation made at TEDx Oxford 2011

Is it selling out? Definitely. I have always said ‘I plan to sell out as quickly as possible’. Whilst I am waiting for Hollywood to call to option Orc-tober or The Business Park of Doom I am am very happy drawing anthropomorphised cheese and talking pharmaceutical bottles for corporate entities. It’s a way of rescuing people from that beige room. But most importantly, it’s fun!

Full sized image of Kevin Warwick’s presentation at TEDx Oxford 2011

My cartoon featured in the ‘i’ newspaper

Chris Shipton — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:55:05 +0000

Getting a cartoon in a national paper is a dream come true for any cartoonist. And today I have a cartoon in the ‘i’. I entered their cartoon idol competition and I am chuffed to bits it has been printed. But what I need now is some BUZZ so please let the ‘i’ know what you think of my cartoon! It would seem the competition is based on what readers feedback to the paper. Who knows where this could lead!

You could post on the iBlog post here: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/10/25/cartoon-idol-help-i-find-its-future-cartoonists/

Otherwise you can contact the paper by emailing comments to i@independent.co.uk, going on the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/i or tweeting @TheIPaper with the hashtag #iCartoons. If you have any feedback at all, don’t tell me! Tell them!!

Navy Seals – Rough Sketches

Chris Shipton — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:59:54 +0000

I read an interview with Dave Gibbons, one of my all time favourite comic artists (he did The Watchmen). He always draws all the characters and all the sets in a given comic first before actually starting on the panels. A great way to work…

Navy Seals – Top Secret Drawing Project

Chris Shipton — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 13:46:02 +0000

Readers of Chrisshipton.com are probably wondering where their zombies are.. well they are very slowly shambling in the direction of the blog. I am working on a NEW and very exciting comic that will rival the Business Park of Doom!! So here are some preview sketches as I work up to the first set of pages…