Inkspot 43

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Number 41 : Wintr 2004

Inkspot

President’s Parlay

Number 43 Summer 2004

www.abwac.org.au (02) 9601 7688 ACA Board Patron Vane Lindesay (03) 9523 8635 President James Kemsley (02) 4871 2551 president@abwac.org.au Secretary Steve Panozzo (02) 8920 9996 secretary@abwac.org.au Treasurer Mick Horne (08) 9527 3000 treasurer@abwac.org.au Vice Presidents Brett Bower (NSW) (02) 9589 4717 nsw@abwac.org.au Rolf Heimann (Vic/Tas) (03) 9699 4858 vic@abwac.org.au Sean Leahy (Qld) (07) 3325 2822 qld@abwac.org.au John Martin (SA/NT) (08) 8297 8516 sa@abwac.org.au Greg Smith (WA) (08) 9409 5026 wa@abwac.org.au ABN 19 140 290 841 Inkspot is produced four times a year by the Australian Cartoonists’ Association.

PO Box 318 Strawberry Hills NSW 2012 ACA AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS National Cartoonists Society President Steve McGarry Secretary Rick Kirkman www.reuben.org Cartoonists’ Club of Great Britain President Graham Fowell Secretary Richard Tomes www.ccgb.org.uk FECO President-General Roger Penwill Secretary-General Peter Nieuwendijk www.fecoweb.org Australia Post Registration PP 533798/0015 Inkspot Insomniac: James Kemsley Inskpot Prifroader: Steve Panozzo Inkspot contributors: Michelle Baginski, Daryl Cagle, Jason Chatfield, Gary Clark, Lindsay Foyle, Rolf Heimann, Chris Kelly, James Kemsley, Steve Panozzo, Roger Penwill, David Pope, Ross Sharp, Dr. Leigh Summers, Ian C. Thomas

Cover caricature by Tom Jellett

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here is the year going? January is almost done! If the printer is over-worked or the postman overtly slow, it may already have popped itself on history’s dusty, crowded shelf by the time you’re reading this!

I hope not, but with the Ho! Ho! Ho! Hic! season in the middle of Inkspot’s production schedule our time-line is at the mercy of the Gods of pre-press.

You’ll see that the main thrust of issue #43 is a thorough report on Stanleys 2004. Of course they are definitely on the shelf, but we trust the memories will be sweet for those who attended and fill in gaps for those who couldn’t.

Next November seems like a long away off but for the Board and the Stanleys 2005 Steering Committee not long enough. Sleeves have already been rolled or scrunched up and planning, negotiations and the hard grind have already begun.

By the Autumn issue of this august newsletter details will hopefully be forthcoming. Various digits crossed.

Speaking with a lot of those who came to Bowral and later to some who didn’t, the broad consensus is that we continue with the “regional retreat” style of weekend.

It’s the model I personally prefer and support. If any members would like to contribute suggestions of a location or even a program of events, please email me or your chapter VP. Any input of how the weekend might be improved will be welcomed, as will volunteers to serve on the Stanleys 2005 Steering Committee.

The result of the Constitution “referendum” was overwhelmingly in favour of adopting the changes, something like 98% of those who voted supported the Board’s “Yes” recommendation. With the changes in place, I can now tell you the dates for Stanleys 2005 will be November 4, 5 & 6. Hope you can make it! Pencil them in now!

I did a round of acknowledgements via an ACA broadcast email the week after what will rank as one of the best Stanleys in the twenty years of the awards (I’ve attended all twenty and can say that with some conviction). However I would again like to go on the record,

in print, paying tribute to all those involved in the boiler room and to all those who attended and helped make Stanleys 2004 the gratifying success that it was.

Members travelled to Bowral from just about all States and three even came from New Zealand.

Good on yer Alex, David and Rod! The continuing presence of those from far-flung Perth and Darwin is especially appreciated. Thanks all.

A lot of people put a heap of work into the weekend and, at the risk of precluding some, I want to publicly thank Bill Leak, Warren Brown, Norm Hetherington, Jenny Hughes, Jason Chatfield, Mick & Dee Horne and Brett Bower along with the 2004 Steering Committee. Without their special input the Stanleys would not have had the special magic they did.

It would be remiss of me not to mention The Three Waiters who gave the audience a night they’ll always remember. A more professional trio has never graced the Stanleys. Wow factor: 15/10!!

The ACA has had a great eighteen months or so and it is the intention of the new Board to continue with the sprit and energy of their predecessors that has seen the ACA experience unprecedented growth, achieve financial security and make a distinct mark as a respected and significant part of our industry.

Positive feedback, support and the presence at the Stanleys of organisations like the MEAA, Viscopy, Auspac, Atlantic Syndication and individual editors, art directors and representatives from a number of newspapers and magazines confirm we are an intricate and important part of the publishing business.

As most ACA members know the Asthma Foundation is our selected Club charity for 2005. We have already raised $1000+ at the Highlands’ Stanleys and aim to add to that figure with an Australia-wide cartoon exhibition during the year. I ask that you all support the exhibition both with a piece of artwork and attending when it rolls into a city near you. Details can be found in this issue and will be emailed to everyone shortly.

A final thankyou to Chris Kelly, Steve Panozzo and Jason Chatfield who, with me, make up the NSW Inkspot 43 team (Okay, Jason’s a welcome WA blow-in! We luv ‘im!).

And Tom Jellet... wotagreatcover!

Your new ACA board 2005-2006 James Kemsley President

STEVE PANOZZO Secretary

JOHN MARTiN SA/NT VP

Rolf Heimann Vic/Tas VP

Joined the Sydney Black & White Artists’ Club in 1984 when the association boasted 26 members. Served as vice-president when the Club went national in 1985 and then president between 1988 -1990. Took the reins again, at the request of the Board, in 2003. Kems is the 4th cartoonist to create Ginger Meggs which is syndicated nationally and internationally in 25 countries. He is a four-time Stanley recipient, two for Comic Strip, a Silver Stanley and 2001’s Gold Stanley for Cartoonist of the Year.

His newspaper career began in 1985 at The Manly Daily in Sydney, after which followed 10 years working in newspapers in Perth and Sydney, including 15 years on The Australian and Daily Telegraph. The bulk of Steve’s printed work now spans a host of trade and specialty magazines, presentation caricatures and on-the-spot drawing at corporate events. A Life Member since 1993, Steve has, on-and-off, been involved with the ACA Board since 1988, serving as President in 1992-93 and 1998-99.

Has been a full time freelance cartoonist for 10 years, before which he was part-time while teaching art in South Australian schools. He has had work published throughout Australia and overseas, and is currently doing kids’ puzzle features, for the Melbourne Herald Sun and the NZ Herald on Sunday.

He survives mostly on commissioned work and teaching cartooning and art classes, and wants to be a barista when he grows up. This is John’s second term as an ACA Board member.

Born in Germany, Rolf was 15 when he escaped from the East prior to the construction of the Berlin Wall. At 18 he saw an advertisement to attract German migrants to Australia and decided to emigrate. His first cartoons appeared in Nation Review in 1975, followed by Punch, Playboy, Penthouse and The Age. Rolf is the Australasian correspondent for WittyWorld. In 2003 he was the recipient of the Gold Stanley as Cartoonist of the Year.

This is Rolf’s first appointment to the ACA Board.

Mick HornE Treasurer

BRETT BOWER NSW/ACT VP

SEAN LEAHY QLD VP

Greg Smith WA VP

A retired Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and former editorial cartoonist for the Mandurah Mail and Bay Weekly in Perth. No longer working for newspapers, he is happy with the slow pace of occasional catalogue fillers, caricatures, and any other little jobs passed on by fellow cartoonists (phone number on page 2 of Inkspot!).

Prior to being elected Treasurer in 2002 Mick was the WA state VP. He reckons his sense of humour has been sharpened by his time in the Navy, raising 3 kids and being ACA treasurer.

Has earned his stripes in animation, drawing for Hanna-Barbera and Yoram Gross, producing artwork for Scooby-Doo, Blinky Bill and Footrot Flats. After a number of years as an event producer he now produces on-the-spot caricatures and cartoon quizzes for stressed company executives. Based at Luna Park in Sydney, his on-thespot skills have made him busier than ever. Brett has served as Chairman of the Meetings Industry Association. This is his first appointment to the ACA Board.

Sean is the political cartoonist for The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and The Sunday Times in Perth. His cartoons also appear in over 150 publications internationally. In addition to his political cartoons he also writes and draws the popular widely syndicated comic strip, Beyond The Black Stump.

Sean has won several Australian cartooning awards including in 2003 the Stanley for Best Comic Strip Cartoonist and in the same year the Rotary award for Best Comic. In 2000 he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship.

Secretary’s 2004

Asthma Partnership Launched

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t Stanleys 2004 the ACA launched a one-year partnership with the Asthma Foundations of Australia. This was kicked off with a donation of $1,087.50 from the ACA , the amount being 10% of the total raised from the traditional auction during the Awards.

Robin Ould, CEO of the Asthma Foundation of Victoria, spoke to members about asthma and the opportunity to work with the Foundations to assist the 2.2 million Australians with asthma.

“We have agreed to assist the Foundations by encouraging each member to donate a cartoon”, said President James Kemsley.

“The cartoons will form the basis of a travelling exhibition to all States in Australia and then will be part of an online auction to raise funds. This is a great way for us as an association to support an important cause” said Kemsley.

Ould also indicated that with the support of corporate sponsors they would produce a book of

current cartooning in Australia.

This will highlight the work of cartoonists in influencing the debate in Australia on current issues and how cartooning adds to the character of Australians.

The funds will be used to undertake a significant innovative research project that will assist people with asthma.

“It is this type of spirit and commitment that helps us in our work”. Ould said.

Members are asked to get behind this great initiative and forward their donated cartoon, open theme, to: The Asthma Foundation, 69 Flemington Road, North Melbourne, VIC, 3051

by March 4th, 2005.

A short biography should also be included to be used in the book the Foundations will produce.

Following Stanleys 2004, the ACA also donated $400.80 to the Bowral Hospital Children’s Ward.

This was 10% of the funds raised by the Stanleys 2004 silent auction of current members’ work.

Smithy was born in Perth. He travelled to England in the mid 1980s where worked on various UK newspapers before returning to Perth to work as a press artist and cartoonist for the Daily News. He is currently the editorial cartoonist for the Sunday Times and News Ltd’s Community Newspaper Group which has a stable of 15 papers. When not chained to the drawing board , he likes to escape to the southwest and wet a line. This is his second term as an ACA Board member.

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AGM Report

he AGM was declared open at 9:10am, 6th November, at Grand Mercure Heritage Park, Bowral. The first order of business saw ACA Treasurer Mick Horne able to report an operating surplus of over $21,000, giving the ACA net assets of nearly $32,000. $25,000 of this is in a Term Deposit account and earning us 5.1% interest.

The ACA now has a solid core membership of around 200, with 30 Associate Members and a dozen or so Life Members.

The President, James Kemsley, reported that members have enjoyed regular issues of Inkspot - six since June 2003, in marked contrast with recent years when nothing was sent to members.

Produced on a rotating roster, Inkspot is now enjoyed by wider readership, which includes editors, industry professionals and overseas readers and is held in high regard internationally.

Other issues raised included strategies to encourage more members to use the ACA website (www.abwac.org.au), and a request to the meeting for submissions for a new ACA logo. The Board will be exploring re-advertising in the coming Yellow Pages and consider modifying the format of the Year Book for 2005.

The 2005-06 Board was announced (see above). Roger Fletcher’s retirement as NSW VP ends an almost continuous run as a Board member over a period of some 20 years and his contribution was noted by the meeting. Returning officers Lindsay Foyle and Brett Bower delivered the results of the ballot to update the ACA Constitution - 55 votes in favour, 2 against - and the amendments were declared adopted.

The AGM also heard that a percentage of proceeds for the Stanleys Auction, following a resolution from the 2003 AGM, will go to the Asthma Foundations of Australia and the Bowral Hospital Children’s Ward. The meeting adjourned at 10:37am.

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P a r z The 2004 Walkley Awards

The Herald Sun’s Mark Knight has made it back-to-back Walkleys taking out the prestigious gong for cartooning at a gala ceromony in Melbourne’s Crown Palladium. The Award for Excellence was for the Victorian scribbler’s take on Labor leader Mark Latham’s declaration that parents should read to their kids. Knight portrayed the Opposition Leader putting the policy into good political practice reading to a young Press Gallery in his Benefits of a Bedtime Story gag.

News Ltd’s Tom Jellett and freelancer Peter Sheehan were also finalists in the category.

The Walkley for Editorial Graphics and Design was awarded to The Australian Design and Graphics Team for their The Australian Megagraphics Series. The three Olympic-themed megagraphics enhanced the paper’s coverage of the world event.

The judges noted that the work showed “tremendous collaboration between all facets- design, illustration, editing and research” and that “the final design was dynamic and well structured”.

The Bulletin team of Michael Bain, James George Bennett, Soumali Chitdamrong and Stephen Murray were also finalists in the category.

d’Arenberg Wines in South Australia have produced their 2005 “Art of Being Different” Calendar, featuring work from Eric Löbbecke, Geoff Hook, Alan Moir, Andrew Weldon, Roger Fletcher, Michael Atchison, Matt Golding, Tony Rafty, Vince O’Farrell, Patrick Cook, Neil Matterson, Tom Jellet (above) and Peter Broelman (below).

The coveted 2004 Gold Walkley was awarded to the Australian Financial Review team of Neil Chenoweth, Shraga Elam, Rosemarie Graffagnini, Andrew Main and Colleen Ryan for their Rivkin’s Swiss Bank Scandal report.

The judges commented that the cartoon “had a soft bedtime light to it and that they liked the portrayal of Latham, big and fatherly poised on a tiny stool” and that “There are mutiple layers of jokes at work”.

Brisbane Sunday Mail’s Neil Matterson and The Age’s Bruce Petty were also nominated for the award.

The Age’s Andrew Dyson received the Walkley for Excellence in Artwork for his striking Media Software illustration.

It’s time to get serious….about having fun!!!!! Yes, it’s Bald Archy time again!

Artists are invited to enter this alternative version of the Archibald Prize, with comic or satiric portraits of Australians, which may range from the bizarre to the vulgar, light comedy to satire.

It’s irreverent, witty, a little crazy, and ‘just for fun’ and it is now recognised by the international media.

This is the only art competition in the world judged by a sulphur crested cockatoo, named Maude, who has declared - “It would defeat the whole purpose if anyone took it seriously. After all, how can anyone make genuine comment on something intended to defy criticism?”

Portraits may be in any style, not just ‘caricature’, as some mistakenly believe.

The Entry Form provides all necessary details of the competition. Forms are now available from the festival office as below.

The Coolac Festival recommends delivery of your entry by Coopers Couriers of Cootamundra (02 6942 3515 – 02 6942 3585) for reliability and reasonable cost.

Entries for the 12th Bald Archy Prize close 7 February 2005!

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Dyson’s bold style impressed the judges who commmented that work addressed “the content of the story perfectly.”

Following the traditional preview at Coolac, an extended tour of the finalists is planned, with exhibitions in Canberra and Coffs Harbour, prior to the announcement of the winner in Sydney early in May, with further locales to follow.

The drawings were originally commissioned by d’Arenberg to capture the unique characteristics of their unusuallynamed wines and have already appeared on a limited-edition poster. The merchandise is only available at the cellar door in McLarenVale. Enquiries: (08) 8323 8206.

Victorian cartoonists celebrated the end of the year at their customary haunt in Carlton with a cartoonist trivia quiz put together by Jim Bridges, prizes supplied

by Vane Lindesay. The 22 participants remembered their departed member Bruce Cavalier not with a minute of silence but rather with a session of telling jokes, at which Cav had always excelled.

In appreciation of Lindesay’s long service as Victorian/Tasmanian chapter vicepresident and his elevation to Patron of the Association, John Rogers presented Lindesay with the military uniform of his father, complete with puttees.

Being a collector of Australiana, Lindesay had many years ago expressed his desire to own it, and being a cop, John had not forgotten.

Lindesay is also an amateur historian and is currently putting finishing touches to his autobiography, due to be published next year.

The Bunker’s Tom Hamilton-Foster (below) was taken by surprise at the Board’s Thank-you soiree after the presentations at Stanleys 2004. Expecting only a quiet ale, and maybe one of the Board’s 2004 newly traditional Stanley mugs, in the Heritage Park Conservatory, HamiltonFoster was gob smacked when ACA President James Kemsley diverted from the rundown. Instead of a piece of crockery he handed him the ACA prized signed smock to the applause of the packed room. A tireless worker for not only the Bunker Cartoon Gallery but cartooning in general and the ACA in particular, Hamilton-Foster is the 36th recipient of the unique honour since it was instigated in 1938 with the first smock going to legendary Aussie (well... he was born here!) cartoonist H.M.Bateman.

gotiated, so at this stage, Bower needs to know who would like to join the trip.

The weekend will also include a BBQ at one of the vineyards on the Saturday night.

A couple of vineyards in the Barossa interested, so if any of our SA members want to get involved contact Bower!

Works by the aforementioned celebrated international cartoonist and artist Paul Rigby are once again the highlight of the summer season at the Vasse Felix Gallery, Margaret River, WA. The exhibition features a dazzling collection of brand new works including oils and watercolours as well as some brilliant editorial cartoons from different stages in his illustrious career.

Photo: Steve Panozzo

ACAer Jason Chatfield headed down to Margaret River and caught up with Riggers, who says his hip surgery was a success and he’s well on his way to a healthy recovery. He hopes to make it back up to Perth in the near future to catch up with the gang for a few drinks. The exhibition runs until 27 February.

The perpetual award is recognition for someone who has made an outstanding contribution to WA cartooning throughout the year. It was no surprise when Faigen (below) was announced as the winner in recognition of the enormous amount of time he spent researching and collecting work from all over the country to stage The Century of Western Australian Cartoonists exhibition.

NSW Chapter VP, Brett Bower, is organising a trip to the Hunter Valley for the weekend of the 12 - 13 March.

Photo: James Foley

The plan is to have cartoonists and caricaturists sketching at various vineyards providing cartoons and caricatures for the punters doing the wine tasting. He envisages it lasting approximately fivehours during the day. In return the artists will receive wine as payment.

Accommodation and how much wine each artist will receive is still being ne-

SA’s multi-Stanley recipient Michal Dutkiewicz has just been commissioned to do the cover for the American pin-up magazine Flirt. This is hot on the heels of his book Girl Crazy: The Art of Michal Dutkiewicz (Published by MG Publishing, Germany, and SQP Publishing, North America, ISBN 0-86562-097-0), receiving rave reviews in both Europe and the States. Word has it the mild, if somewhat hirsute, Picture contributor is being called a “frickin’ genius”, something we’ve being saying down here for years. The coffee table-size book is beautifully printed in full glorious colour. It’s available on-line through Amazon.com A definite collector’s item!

A goodly, ready-to-party crowd showed up the WA 2004 Xmas bash-come-awards night, held at cartooning fanatic Phil Faigen’s place. After consuming a truckload of grub and singing syrup , the night culminated in the inaugural presentation of The Rigger, an WA Chapter award named in honour of local cartooning legend, the aforementioned Rigby and featuring a statuette of his famous urchin and dog signature drawings.

Deadset! Ginger Meggs teaching English to Brazilians? That red-headed doyen of the Queen’s language, credited with being the first to utter the words beaut and Ocker, is about to do just that. The icon’s current minder James Kemsley has signed with a San Paulo publisher to supply Meggs daily strips for not one but two Portuguese-English text books.

G’day Pelé!

If you’d like to be part of the Bacchanalian group send Bower an email at brett@brettbower.com.au, with the heading WINE WEEKEND MARCH. He’ll then send you a registration form to fill in. It is vital that you register properly and not just show up. Artists will be allocated to vineyards and the public liability taken care of.

The Rigger was then followed by the presentation of a number of suspect Certificates of Honour, all off which apparently are going straight to WA VP Greg Smith’s pool room.

The exhibition has been huge success in Perth and is now, again thanks to Faigen, touring WA’s regional areas.

NSC president Steve McGarry has emailed Inkspot to let ACA members know the 59th annual Reuben Awards Weekend will be held May 27 -30 at the fabulous Fairmont Princess Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Five-Diamond Fairmont Princess is one of the most luxurious resorts in the world. Spread over 450 acres, the hotel boasts five restaurants and seven bars and lounges, five heated swimming pools, two family water slides, a fitness centre and a world class $14 million spa... and that’s $US!!. There are seven floodlit tennis courts, and one of the resort’s two 18-hole golf courses is home to the PGA Tour’s FBR Open.

Sounds like a nice spot to chew the fat with our northern hemisphere colleagues! Especially since silver-toungued McGarry has negotiated a NCS rate of only $US149 a night! Check out the facilities at http:// www.fairmont.com/scottsdale.

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For those who couldn’t make it, those who wouldn’t make it and those who did make it but can’t remember much, LINDSAY FOYLE has the details of one of the best-ever Stanleys.

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Sturt Krygsman

fter almost a year of planning, the 2004 Stanley Awards were handed out at the Grand Mercure Heritage Park Resort in Bowral on 6 November, 2004. Bill Leak did an excellent second turn as MC, aided and abetted by the auctioning expertise of Warren Brown, who took great delight in squeezing the hip pockets of the capacity crowd.

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For many the highlight of the night was the venerable Mr. Squiggle (accompanied by his agent, Norman Hetherington), who made a special appearance in an effort to do something to make Bill and Warren look good. While there was more than a little verbal sparing between Brown and Leak, Brown likes to think he did the better on the night, but won’t be quoted on the subject.

George Haddon was happy to tell anyone he did better than everyone. He’s been a member of the ACA since 1985 and is a four-time winner of Walkley Awards, but had never received a Stanley Award. That’s all changed. He’s now got two, one for General Illustrator and the big one, Cartoonist of the Year.

The Digital Illustrator Stanley went to first-time computer wizard John Shakespeare. David Rowe received his fourth (in a row) for Caricaturist, to go with his 2002 Cartoonist of the Year gong. David Pope got the Humorous Illustrator statuette, which will sit nicely next to his Humorous Illustrator Stanleys from 2001 and 2003 and his one for Editorial/Political Cartoonist from 2002.

They all contribute to Fairfax papers, which obviously did well on the night.

Pat Campbell had a great evening too when he collected the Single Gag Cartoonist Stanley. It goes next to the Humorous Illustrator Stanleys he received in 2000 and 2002, and his 1998 award for Single Gag Cartoonist, all of which stand alongside his Bill Mitchell Memorial Award from 1992.

And what a great night for James Kemsley. He took home (which was only a short walk from the hotel) the Comic Strip Cartoonist Stanley to go with the same award from 1990 and his 2001 Cartoonist of the Year Stanley.

Monty Wedd said he had a “great night” and took the Jim Russell Contributor to Australian Cartooning Award back to Williamtown. It’s sitting next to the two Stanleys he has at home for Adventure/Illustrated Strip Cartoonist from 1987 and 1989.

Peter Broelman said he’d always thought that winning a Stanley is some kind of self-indulgent wank, so he knew he was in fine company as he took his Stanley for Editorial/Political Cartoonist back to Adelaide.

Yes! What a great night!

Photo - Southern Highland News - Roy Truscott

The Class of 2004 (left to right) James Kemsley, Owen Heitmann, David Rowe, Pat Campbell, Peter Broelman, George Haddon, David Pope, Monty Wedd and John Shakespeare.

Stanley Award Nominees 2004 (recipients in bold)

AppleCentre Taylor Square Caricaturist Michael Perkins Eric Löbbecke John Tiedemann David Rowe Scott Bailey Wacom Digital Illustrator Pat Campbell John Shakespeare Tony Bela Chris Kelly Michael Perkins The Australian College of Journalism Single Gag Cartoonist Tony Lopes Andrew Weldon Pat Campbell Matt Golding Mark Lynch

Corel Humorous Illustrator Eric Löbbecke George Haddon Matt Golding David Pope Tom Jellett Viscopy General Illustrator George Haddon Tony Bela John Tiedemann Brett Lethbridge Sturt Krygsman Comic Strip Cartoonist Roger Fletcher Gary Clark James Kemsley Gerard Piper Sean Leahy Michael Atchison Allan Salisbury

The Daily Telegraph Editorial/Political Cartoonist Craig Mann David Pope Rod Emmerson Peter Nicholson Mark Knight Peter Broelmann Most popular cartoon drawn at the Stanleys conference using a Wacom tablet and Painter IX software Vince O’Farrell

Jim Russell Award for contribution to Australian Cartooning Monty Wedd The Australian Cartoonist of the Year 2004 David Pope David Rowe Peter Broelman George Haddon James Kemsley Pat Campbell

d’Arenberg Wines Cartoon on the Night “Cricket & Wine” Brett Bower The Australian Bill Mitchell Award Owen Heitmann

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The Jim Russell Award 2004

Monty Wedd

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djoining the Williamtown air base near Newcastle is the Monarch museum. Opened in 1998 it contains military uniforms, antique weapons, armor, photographic equipment, toy soldiers and collectables. In one corner is a collection of Australian comic art. At first this seems out of place. But there is a connection.

The museum is owned and run by Monty Wedd (above) and his wife Dorothy and the content reflects Monty’s fascination with Australia’s military history which grew from drawing comics.

“Comic strips played a big part in my life as a boy. Ginger Meggs and Bib and Bub were popular. The comic that excited me most was Syd Nicholls’ Fatty Finn.

“When the pirate dream sequence was introduced, I was from then on, sold on comics and knew I wanted to do with the rest of my life.” “ says Montague (Monty) Thomas Archibald Wedd, born in 1921 and the recipient of this year’s Jim Russell Award for his contribution to Australian cartooning.

On Saturday’s the young Wedd took drawing lessons with Oswald Brock at 2/6 an hour, which often extended to two or three for no extra. Leaving school during the depression he spent six months looking for work. Eventually finding some with Hackett Offset Printing. After six months he moved to Corkhill and Lang and then the Grace Brothers art department. It was short lived, World War 2 started and Wedd signed up in 1941. After the war he spent three years at East Sydney Tech and in 1946 sold his first comic, Sword and Sabre. It ran in Middy Malone Magazine, published by Nicholls. Eight more French Foreign Legion comics followed.

“Seeing I had found my feet, Nicholls suggested I create an Australian comic.” Wedd said. He researched weapons, artifacts and settings for the comic; to get the guns right he studied firearms and become an authority. Captain Justice first ran in Middy Malone Magazine, then the Fatty Finn Comic Book.

Nicholls Publishing closed in 1950 but Wedd continued with Captain Justice. The Scorpion followed, about a bad-guy who kept escaping his just deserts, but it was banned in Queensland.

“The authorities objected to the Scorpion not being brought to justice, if he had been I wouldn’t have had a series,” said Wedd.

More comics followed; Kirk Raven, Tod Trail,

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Lindsay Foyle

profiles an Australian comic legend

more Captain Justice, contributions to Stamp News and a 16-year association with The Australian Children Newspaper.

In 1958 he started contributing to Chuckler’s Weekly and for Woman’s Mirror he drew Children of Fortune, about a brother and sister in the Macquarie era.

Wedd began collecting items for reference in the 1940s, housing them in a museum which opened in 1960, and closed when he moved to Williamtown. He drew more Captain Justice in the early sixties and was invited to become a regular on Channel 9’s Tell the Truth and Play Your Hunch, taking in historical items from his collection.

“The programs lasted several years,” he said.

In 1964-5 Captain Justice was in Woman’s Day. Wedd said, “When the assistant Editor, wished to write it, only leaving me the drawing I reluctantly agreed, but the material downgraded Captain Justice and was historically inaccurate. I withdrew rather than see the character face ridicule.”

In 1966 Wedd was commissioned by the Decimal Currency Board to create the Dollar Bill comic; about 60 were given to hundreds of newspapers. Soon after he worked in animation on Marco Polo vs the Red Dragon Dragon, Charlie Chan, The Lone Ranger, Rocket Robin Hood and Super Friends.

In 1970 Wedd began illustrating Captain Cook’s Journal for the Daily Mirror. The Ned Kelly (right) series followed for the Sunday Mirror Mirror, it was to run for 25 to 39 weeks, but expanded to 146. The 400-episode Ben Hall was next, followed by an even longer Birth of a Nation.

Nation There was a book too: Australian Military Uniforms from 1800 to 1982 1982. It was the first time the story of Australia’s armed forces had been told.

Wedd received Stanley Awards in 1987 and 1989 for comics and the Order of Australia for services as an author, historian and illustrator in 1993.

Lindsay Foyle on what it takes to become COTY

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e had intended to be a carpenter/builder, until the principal of the Swinburne Art College in Melbourne saw some of his drawings and convinced him he had a career in art. A career that, in 2004, has presented him with two Stanley Awards - one for General Illustrator and another with the title, Cartoonist of the Year.

George Haddon was born Melbourne in 1937 and grew up Ashburton. He went to Swinburne Technical School and Swinburne Art College. His first job was with a process engraving firm, spotting negatives. Shortly after he began there, he discovered a mistake in a large advertisement and was offered a job in the art studio responsible. He spent three valuable years there, doing scraperboard illustrations for retail stores and designing press ads and theatre programs.

In 1959 Haddon joined the promotions department of The Herald in Melbourne and had the good fortune to have a desk next to Bill Green (WEG). He watched as Green drew

his pocket cartoons WEG’S DAY and WEG’S WEEKEND. In 1962 Haddon joined the Herald editorial art department laying out fashion and magazine pages, eventually becoming art director.

It wasn’t all work. He was a keen tennis player and in 1967 won the B grade Victorian Hardcourt Singles Championship.The following year he won a threemonth travel scholarship to study magazine and newspaper art departments in the USA, Europe and the UK and took his tennis racquets with him. He had hoped to get into the elimination tournament for Wimbledon but missed the draw.

During his time on The Herald, Haddon discovered the work of Feliks Topolski and became interested in drawing assignments, and in 1970 won the Walkley Award for illustration. It was the same year Stan Cross retired and Carl Lyon took over drawing his daily Wally and the Major strip. Haddon took on a three-deck weekly version, which he drew for three years before handing the duties to Vern Hayles. Haddon then drew the educational strip Wonders Of Wildlife in collaboration with Melbourne journalist Alan Trengove, which was also published in book form. Both comics were syndicated around Australia.

In 1974 he heard about an Aboriginal sports weekend at Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. The Herald wasn’t prepared to send him, so Haddon went in his own time.

The Herald published the drawings

he did while there and Haddon won his second Walkley Award for those drawings. This brought him to the attention of Les Carlyon, editor of The Age who offered him a job drawing feature illustrations. To induce him to stay, The Herald offered Haddon more sketching assignments and a trip overseas.

Haddon stayed at The Herald, but the trip overseas wasn’t quite what he had in mind. He was asked to lead a bus tour of Herald readers (mainly retirees) around Europe. He sketched what he saw and mailed the drawings back to The Herald.

The drawings were published as he travelled, and the result was the 1975 Walkley Award. He had a fourth win in 1976.

Haddon’s first regular cartoon spot was By George, a pocket cartoon in The Herald’s sports pages.

From 1984-1986 he drew the political cartoon for the paper, taking over from Aubrey Collette. Haddon would get into the office around 5:30 am as the cartoon had to be finished by 9: 30. With that done he would head off to his studio to take on his other freelance work.

Haddon had, in fact, been freelance since 1979 and The Herald was his first client. He has illustrated many books including children’s books, and designed a 50c stamp for Australia Post in 1988. His Welcome To series for RoyalAuto magazine, a spread of colour drawings and handwritten text of tourist destinations in Victoria and interstate, has given Haddon the opportunity to renew his interest in sketching and reporting.

Haddon still plays tennis but is a bit slow these days. He wasn’t much help to Neil Matterson when Spooner and Nicholson cleaned up the pair in Bowral before the Stanleys’ dinner.

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by DAVID POPE

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ewspaper editors are calling for Bancks XI team captain an immediate ban on all StanJames Kemsley (shoulder, knee, ley’s-related sporting fixtures after kidney) defended the match, saying a recent cricket match left scores of it was played in a spirit of camarathe nation’s finest cartoonists sufderie and friendship. “It’s not often fering soft-tissue damage, muscular that young cricketers like my son tears and cardiac arrest.

Hywel get the character-building The Australasian Roundtable opportunity that comes with having of Syndicates and Editors is urging the to face six bouncers in a row on an Federal Government to use its majorinternational-class turf wicket,” said ity in the Senate to outlaw any future Kemsley. attempts to field teams of unfit deskHywel appreciated the bound pencil-pushers in competitive quality bonding time with dad, sporting contests. hooking five to the boundary beThe call follows the release fore Kems senior sacrificed his reof new Treasury figures which show maining good arm to run out his a sharp decline in Gross Cartooning very own son on the last ball of the Product immediately following the day. inaugural Mailey–Bancks Cup. Mailey’s XI captain MatApproximately one and a half cricket teams A video released to the Al terson (bruised bat) said the call by Jazeera network by a Roundtable cell editors for a ban was “ridiculous” said a sporting ban must be the first and “unworkable” and warned step in tackling “woeful” productivithat outlawing cartoonist cricket ty levels in the Australian cartooning games would only send the sport industry, which see some cartoonists underground. “We don’t want to getting paid for drawing as little as go back to the days of unregulated one cartoon a day. “We are never go’back yard’ games, played at 3 in ing to reach internationally competithe morning in the hotel carpark,” tive benchmarks while allowing our he said, after an unbeaten knock of cartoonists to hurl small hard objects 31. “David Rowe’s seamers are hard at one another while still over 0.05 enough to negotiate in broad dayand having had as little as two hours light and a team of inebriated comic sleep the night before. And edistrip artists trying to hook him for tors will never accept anything that six using Roger Fletcher Fletcher’s guitar improves Warren Brown’s throwing would be a recipe for carnage.” arm.”

When asked if he thought the high Art departments in most casualty rate could be justified by metropolitan and regional centres the rare opportunity to play on such are only now beginning to return to Mark Lynch, Terri & John O’Shaughnessy, Kris Polson hallowed turf, John Spooner (drawnormal after struggling with severe ing thumb) was unrepentant. “I hit staff shortages and increasingly inventive injury claims in the a six on the very turf that the Don called his own… and where wake of the controversial cricket match. his ashes are now scattered,” rasped Spooner Spooner, shortly before his A police incident report has confirmed the match was family agreed to switch off life support. “Of course it was bloody played at the legendary Bradman Oval in Bowral and timed to worth it”. coincide with the 20th annual Stanley Cartooning Awards.

Newspapers are now bracing themselves for According to hospital admittance records, Bancks XI next year’s post-Stanley’s rugby match and the skeet-shooting won the match by 34 runs, despite a determined run chase by event planned for the 2006 event. the Mailey XI and an unbeaten partnership of nearly a ton by “There is the very real prospect that we may lose an enMailey’s team captain Neil Matterson and player-of-the-match tire generation of drawing talent in the next two years,” noted Grant Brown. an up-beat Owen Heitman, polishing his brand new Bustards of John Moses (anterior cruciate) and Tony Lopes (ham- the Bush statuette. “There’s never been a better time to be a Bill string) also featured highly with bat in an impressive open- Mitchell memorial award winner!” ing stand for Bancks XI XI, followed by an unbeaten 42 from Kris One editor, however, broke ranks with his colleagues, Poulson (hip). It was only some outstanding wicket-keep- expressing scepticism about wire reports of massive cricket-reing by Reg Lynch (cardio-respiratory) and a tight spell of lated sport injuries amongst the nation’s cartoonists. “It sounds bowling by Alex Hallatt (fingers) and Peter Al- like a beat-up,” said Jack Waterford Waterford, of The Canberra Times, speaklen (lumbago) that kept the Bancks XI innings from ing on condition that his quotes be just as fabricated as everyone blowing out beyond the final total of 169 after 30 else’s.“I imagine most of those bludgers were just too hung over overs. Chris Kelly’s sternum was also impressive to come in.” in the field.

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by the Bradman Museum’s DAVID WELLS

T Bowral provided the perfect venue for the annual he Bradman Museum in the heart of picturesque

The winners of The Maileys were announced at the Stanleys 2004 awards dinner and presented by Mailey and Fahey. Melbourne’s Peter Nicholson (above left) from The Australian took out first prize and $2000 with his quintessential view of the Australian backyard, titled Field Positions (right top).

Fellow Victorian Will Goodwin (above right) was runner-up with his depiction of seagulls playing beach cricket (right middle) and collected $1000, while England’s Ross Thomson walked away with third prize money of $500 for his Watering the Wicket (right bottom). The winners also received unique Maileys trophies.

The exhibition is open to all visitors to the Bradman Museum until mid-February 2005, after which time it will tour various venues in the UK during the up coming Ashes series.

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Ross Thomson

Will Goodwin

In conjunction with the ACA, the Bradman Foundation staged a cricket cartoon exhibition, Silly Point, based on work

by The Age cartoonist, John Spooner, and contributions to the inaugural Maileys. The Bradman Foundation had launched the new cricket cartoon competition early in 2004. It was named in honour of former Australian Test cricketer and cartoonist/ journalist, the late Arthur Mailey. The competition attracted over 300 submissions, with nearly one third coming from overseas, many from non-cricket playing nations.

The judges were John Fahey, Chairman of the Bradman Foundation and a former NSW Premier, ACA president James Kemsley and Bradman Museum Director, Richard Mulvaney.

A final 33 works were selected for the exhibition with a sample of the overseas submissions. Spooner’s work, done over the last 20 years, illustrates how closely related cricket and politics have become. They provide a humorous look at developments in Australia over this period. Arthur Mailey Jnr, son of the legendary bowler, opened the exhibition at the start the Stanleys 2004 weekend after a welcome cocktail party for ACA members.

Peter Nicholson

gathering of Australia’s cartooning fraternity, during 2004’s Stanleys in the Highlands.

Federation of Cartoonists Organisations

Roger Penwill

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www.fecoweb.org

FECO

he FECO web site (www.fecoweb.org) has been in existence for some time. Thanks to considerable work by the webmaster, Andy Davey, it has become a very important part of what FECO offers to its members. This is the future for informing you about what has happened in FECO, what is happening and what will happen. The site has a large amount of information of use to members. It is already a considerable resource and one which will grow.

If you do not have a computer with Internet access at home or work on which you can access the FECO site, there are many Internet cafes around the world where you could look in. In one of these you can view the site whilst enjoying a coffee and a bun. Libraries also provide Internet access for the public, usually with staff who can explain how to use it. You just need the web address: www.fecoweb.org and to access the members area the username and password published in the FECONEWS Bulletin.

If you haven’t started looking at the web- site on a regular basis, why not? It is there as special service for you. As a FECO member we can assume that you are interested in what is happening in the world. The website is the place to find out about what is going on and to tell the world what is happening in your organisation.

In the members section, there is a comprehensive list of upcoming contests, and the rules of these have all been given our important Rules Rating. This rating tells you if the the rules are good for cartoonists. You can then decide if you want to participate in the contest. The criteria for judging the rules is explained on the site. With the kind, and much appreciated, help of various FECO members the rules are translated into SEVEN languages, which is unique for such sites.

PANPA

PACIFIC AREA NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS' ASSOCIATION

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ews Limited has begun a four-year $500 million upgrade and expansion of it’s Australian newspaper plants, with a heavy emphasis on increasing full colour availability.

Nearly half of this investment will go to the company’s Chullora print centre in western Sydney.

The upgrades will enable Chullora to produce all of the company’s major Sydney publications, and it’s flagship national daily, The Australian, with full colour on every page.

The $217 million to be spent includes $70 million for an additional wing that will house a new full-colour press.

This will print the majority of the group’s 18 NSW community newspapers, many of which are now being produced by Rural Press.

Contest organisers will also find FECO’s set of model contest rules, to guide them to score the maximum five points.

We do not have room to publish all contests in the FECONEWS Bulletin, so they are chosen by their score in the rules rating. This means that low-scoring contests are omitted. It is therefore in the organisers interests to have a good score.

Also in the members’ area is the very useful Almanac.

This is a table of all the regular international cartoon competitions known to FECO, together with their deadlines, rules rating and other useful information. Over 100 regular contests and events are now listed. There are links to pages showing previous winning cartoons in these contests, so you’ll be able to see the sort of work which wins international prizes.

Elsewhere on the website there is the history of FECO, contact details for all member organisations, news, reviews and photographs of events. There’s a page of links to member organisations’ webpages, members’ webpages and allied organisations.

The Internet and email has for some time been integrated into our world for business, education and leisure. It is particularly suited to our business and art. Indeed for many of us it is the main way we do our business. Electronic publication is ideal for organisations like ours and we should be embracing it.

So why, if the internet is so popular, why am I having to write this? Strangely, as a group of people that should be up-to-date and aware of what is happening in society and the world, cartoonists seem to be very slow to adopt new technology.

Here in the UK, nearly all of the country will have broadband available for always-on, fast Internet access (although at a higher price than anywhere else in Europe!). For many of us this is already an integral part of our lives and fundamental to how we run our business.

It is rare for me to receive a letter concerning FECO, it is almost always emails that come to me from around the world. It people have email, they also have Internet access.

There we have it and there it is. The FECO web site is for you. It is a major benefit of your membership of FECO. Look at it regularly, contribute to it, comment on it, but above all - USE IT!

Roger Penwill

FECO President-General roger@penwill.com www.penwill.com

News Limited chairman Lachlan Murdoch said the $500 million upgrade program would cover most of the company’s Australian operations, spanning national, metropolitan, regional and community newspapers.

“These investments are about creating better newspapers for our readers and more successful vehicles for our advertisers right across the country,” Murdoch said.

These investments also send a further message that Australia remains a vital part of News Corporation’s future.

The new press at Chullora that will be dedicated to printing the suburbans will replace the 32 year-old press at Cumberland Newspaper Group’s Parramatta plant.

“It will help ensure that we keep developing and growing the Cumberland business,” said News Limited chief John Hartigan.

Circulation of the 29 editions Cumberland publishes every week exceeds more than one million copies, with readership of 1,896,000.

The new press will capitalize on the growing popularity of our community newspapers and give us the technology and flexibility to further develop the mastheads and give readers and advertisers the full colour they want.” Hartigan said.

In addition to the major expansion in Sydney, News Ltd has already started work on a $60 million headquarters for Advertiser Newspapers in Adelaide and work is well advanced on a $32 million upgrade to increase colour capacity at Queensland Newspapers in Brisbane.

The ACA is an associate member of PANPA. The extract above is from a recent issue of the Panpa Bulletin. The article is by Jack Beverly and is reprinted with the permission of the Panpa Bulletin.

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Cagle, Dot ComDot Success

Former NCS president Daryl Cagle hosts one of the most visited cartoon web sites on the Internet with daily hits into the millions. He has built the dot.com success into one of the USA’s newest and most successful cartoon syndicates. With eight hundred clients, and climbing, and despite a hectic schedule, he found time to continue Inkspot’s regular NCS feature and let us know a little more than the pixels on cagle.com reveal.

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y buddy, Kemsley, asked me to write something for the Inkspot about what I do as a cartoonist and how I do it. I’m in the strange situation of being my own editor and syndicate. I run a huge web site in partnership with Microsoft at www.cagle.com.

The site features the work of editorial cartoonists from around the world, including the likes of Bill Leak, Peter Nicholson, Rod Emmerson, Alan Moir, Nik Scott, and Sean Leahy.

I also run a syndicate where I distribute a package of cartoonists and columnists to over eight hundred newspapers in the USA and Canada. The syndicated group includes the Illawrra Mercury’s Vince O’Farrell and can be found at www.caglecartoons.com.

Vince and Peter Lewis also participate in Politicalcartoons.com, which is my newest venture, a pay-per-use site where small publishers purchase the rights to reproduce cartoons on their VISA card.

Politicalcartoons.com is a huge database of high resolution images that are delivered to the customer immediately when they make their purchase.

We’re adding t-shirts, mugs, mousepads and other products which require hi-res images, to the site soon. I’m looking to expand politicalcartoons.com with more top illustrators and cartoonists.

I also have a new book coming out in December called “The Best Political Cartoons of the Year, 2005 Edition” which is our selection of the best cartoons from our site in 2004. You can order the book now from Amazon.com by going to www.caglebook.com.

The book features lots of cartoons by Australian cartoonists, but I believe it will only be in stores in the USA, Canada and Great Britain.

The Caglecartoons.com and Politicalcartoons.com sites work because the audience on my cagle.com site with Microsoft is so huge. Occasional promotions from msn.com have built up a tremendous audience for the site. Editors know me from the site and I can direct a small proportion of the millions of visitors to Polticalcartoons.com. ven with the leg up from Microsoft, cartooning is a lousy business, with so many competitors who have driven down the prices for cartoons, and so few jobs for political cartoonists in America. When I partnered with Microsoft I was working as a full time cartoonist for the Honolulu Advertiser; I was soon laid off and I suddenly became the cartoonist for Slate (my partner site with Microsoft) because, that’s the only place where my cartoons were appearing, on my own web site. The move was a rude awakening for me and I realized that finding another job as a political cartoonist was increasingly unlikely. I set about creating the syndicate so that I could continue to work as a political cartoonist, without having to suffer again under an editor in an insecure job situation. It is a syndicate born of fear. The other cartoonists who joined the group have all had bad experiences in traditional syndication and were looking for something new. We now have more subscribing papers than any other political cartoonist or group of cartoonists.

We’ve had some rude bumps along

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the road, and Australia was among the worst of the bumps.

When I added Canadian cartoonist Cam Cardow to the group, we were successful in selling to a number of Canadian papers.

When I added Florida cartoonist Jeff Parker to the group, his local Florida cartoons were an attraction that sold us into two dozen papers in Florida. I thought I could do the same thing with Vince O’Farrell drawing on local issues in Australia and I didn’t sell a single paper in Australia. It seems that the idea of syndication doesn’t go down well, down under. Dealing with Australia was particularly frustrating for us because all of the editors answer their phones and are quite friendly and chatty. In America, if an editor answers the phone and is friendly, we make a sale. Not in Australia. We’ve had much the same problem in Britain. I wonder if a larger group of top Australian cartoonists could make syndication work in Australia - maybe not, those doors seem to be tightly locked. ales in the rest of the world, outside of the USA and Canada, have also been very frustrating. I added a group of top Latin American cartoonists to Cagle Cartoons and started a Spanish language service. We can sell the service to Spanish language papers in the USA with no problems, but in Latin America our clients just don’t pay their bills.

We have had different problems trying to sell foreign cartoonists to American editors. Cartoonists around the world all seem to have the same point of view about America, they don’t like President Bush and the War in Iraq. That’s fine with me, but most of the USA is composed of “red states” and editors are only interested in running a small percentage of cartoons that they disagree with. It doesn’t help that 80% of the American cartoonists also despise Bush and the war.

I’m happy to look at samples from any brilliant Australian cartoonists and illustrators who might be interested in politicalcartoons.com and our illustration repping. Both are nonexclusive, and, regrettably, both are modest little ventures -I’m sure our dollar will be worth less than yours when this column is printed.

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On a recent trip to China Rolf “Lofo� Heimann found himself reaching not only for a sketch book but a book on international diplomacy as well

irst I felt like a mongrel dog that bit the hand feeding it, then I felt like a total idiot.

Our hosts in Beijing were flabbergasted when the visiting cartoonists did not warm to their proposal of an International Union of cartoonists under Chinese domination. After all, they had treated us as VIPs, had arranged a spectacular opening of a cartoon exhibition and had served us several splendid dinners.

Argentinian cartoonist Mordillo who happened to sit next to me, whispered that he would not have come, had he known that this was to be sprung on us at the closing day. When he was invited to be the first to sign a ceremonial book as one of the founding fathers of that union, he regretfully declined. Total consternation was written on all Chinese faces. Why not, they wanted to know.

I felt that somebody had to say it.

Pre-ambling my little speech with the assurance that I would not say the following anywhere else in China but in this close circle of colleagues, I explained our reluctance.

had given a wrong answer. I put our interpreter out of her misery by telling her that she need not translate.

The worst that could happen to me, I figured, was that I would never be allowed into China again. I could live with that.

I could live with it, but would regret it very much. I had grown to love China and Chinese people, with all their talent, their humour, their generosity, their intelligence and diligence. any other things remained unsaid about the 6th International Cartoonists Conference in Beijing (October 3rd-6th). Splendidly staged and fittingly publicised in China, it seemed to me a limited interpretation of the whole genre. No one uttered the usual crap about fearlessly holding a mirror to society and attacking the mighty. But what was said was just as cliche-ridden: Market expansion for cartoon characters, global penetration, business opportunities, profit projections, merchandising scope, technological progress. All this surrounded by red flags and hammer-and-sickle emblems. What was primarily promoted was a Disney

Freedom of the Press was very dear to the hearts of cartoonists, I said, and therefore it was kind of hard to put trust into a government that had never come clean about things like the massacre on Tienanmen square, when peaceful students were killed simply for demanding democracy, and many people had been prosecuted simply for saying what they saw with their own eyes.

Our translator frowned as if my words did not make any kind of sense at all. All the Chinese present had suddenly turned away and were chatting to friends as if I wasn’t there. I was speaking to the backs of their heads, drowned by babble.

I looked around for Mordillo, but to my chagrin he had just left the room. ater I was told by representatives of America, Germany/Poland, the Ukraine and others that they totally agreed with me, yet not one of them had had the balls to clap, for fear of offending our hosts. Once again I had been left standing there like a silly schoolboy who

industry of make-belief, all super-heroes and cute faces, far removed from reality.

A light-weight, entertainment-oriented cartoon-world without balls.

I took the opportunity to video my private visits to cartoonists as well as to the animation academy of Beijing University, where 600 skilled animators now graduate each year, and this merely from one of many universities. In wellequipped but ramshackle surroundings students learn traditional animation as well as computering and claymation (translated here as rubber-earth). A whole army of animators ready willing and able to work on foreign projects at competitive prices.

In the end Mordillo did sign that ceremonial book, and we followed suit. It was agreed that the book was more or less a souvenir only. Souvenirs are okay.

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town itself proved to be a big hit with those attending. It sits in a bend in the River Severn, the river surrounding the town like a moat. This gives the town a compact feel, which worked well for the festival. Above all , much of the place is a visual delight, with many black and white timbered and historic buildings.

Among the four cartoon exhibitions was a new exhibition of the best of Dutch cartoons, collated by FECO Secretary General, Peter Nieuwendijk, who also attended.

The experiences of Nottingham and Ayr were of course invaluable in planning the Festival, and the success of Shrewsbury owes a huge debt to them.

The event is managed by Alison Patrick, Shrewsbury’s Tourism and Marketing Officer. (The event is currently primarily sponsored by the Local Council). It was when Alison Patrick visited the Ayr and Nottingham Festivals in her own time that I knew that my suggestion of a cartoon festival in Shrewsbury was really being taken seriously. he positive reaction from cartoonists, the public and everyone involved in its organisation means that we are doing it again in 2005. We have five exhibitions planned this time. There will be an exhibition of the best of French Cartoons, put together by Robert Rousso; your excellent Maileys exhibition is travelling over; a new FECO exhibition (celebrating 20 years of FECO) featuring

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Cartoonist group photo-call 2004

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fter a long period when the UK had no annual cartoon festival, the country has recently enjoyed the delights of having three of them.

The first of these was in Ayr in Scotland. Starting in 1998, it has since been graced by several Antipodean ambassadors, including your esteemed President, Mr Kemsley. An unfortunate accident to John Hamilton, the festival supremo, scuppered the 2004 event, but fingers are crossed that it will return to our social calendar in future years.

It’s traditional date has been the last weekend in September. Cartoon festival addicts could attend one weekend and the St.Just-Le-Martel Festival in France the next weekend. People have even survived to tell the tale.

The second festival to arrive on the scene was Nottingham, organised by Pete Dredge and team. First held in 2002, it’s date is the second weekend in July.

Nottingham is a lively university town with a thriving club scene, so a totally different population appears at night to the one seen in daylight. The festival is focused around the bars, cafes and cinema in Broad Street. The aim behind the event is to draw in to the street some of the crowds that frequent the near-by town centre shopping area. The Nottingham event has proved very popular with participating cartoonists and the public and we all hope it continues for many years to come.

The third festival is the new kid on the block, Shrewsbury, one with which I am closely involved alongside my FECO colleague, John Roberts, who is also President of FECO UK. ast year 32 invited cartoonists ventured into the picture-postcard English countryside of the county of Shropshire and discovered Shrewsbury. The

worldwide cartoon contest winners; an exhibition by participating cartoonists on the theme of Englishness; and a special exhibition that is being finalised at the time of writing this.

There will workshops and drawing-for-the-public sessions and special openings and viewings of the exhibitions.

A similar number of cartoonists will be invited this year, including a group of our French friends. We are calling the whole event an International festival this time, so overseas participants are specially welcome. If any of you expect to be in England for the 22nd24th April and would like to come along and join in, do please get in touch. It is in a lovely part of England and the local ales are something special.

Roger Penwill is FECO President General, a committee member of the CCGB, a member of the British Cartoonists’ Association and a lapsed architect. www.penwill.com

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Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery

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Chris Kelly

W

elcome to Ask the Doctor, a new, regular column dedicated to helping cartoonists use the tools of the technological age.

I have been using most of this software for over a decade both as a cartoonist, as a graphic artist at NEWS Ltd and as a graphics teacher in Hobart, Canberra and Sydney. And read the manuals.

A brief outline of this column’s approach is that you email me info@chriskelly.net.au with your questions about Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand etc. You may also like to find out how easy it is to use all these programs in unison when creating artwork At the end of the column you’ll find links to various tips and tricks websites and to Painter masters (as suggested by Richard Dodd of Corel).

There will be other ideas as the column proceeds but we shall begin simply enough and build from there.

I’ll begin with some of the questions from the Painter workshop at the Bowral Stanleys.

BRUSHES: David Pope: Is is difficult to get the hang of brushes in Painter?

ATD: No. The improved interface of Painter 8 and 9 means that brush selection is as easy as pulling your favourite brush out of the jar on your workdesk.

In Painter, choose Window> Show Brush Selector. From the left dropdown menu, choose your desired category (Airbrush, Chalk, Pencil etc). From the right dropdown menu, choose the kind of Airbrush, Chalk or Pencil you want.

The Brush Selector bar shows various options to tweak your brush. Play with these to learn the effect they’ll have on any brush you’ve chosen.

For more complexity AND FUN, choose Window> Show Brush Creator.

Here in ascending order of complexity, you’ll find three tabs, Randomizer, Transposer and Stroke Designer.

In Randomizer, choose a brush as described earlier. Press the right-hand button with two cogs on it to generate a series of brushes based on your original choice. Paint in the adjacent panel next to it to trial the variations. Choose your preferred brush, click on your artwork and paint.

Transposer is a lot of fun too. How would you like a brush that is a cross between say an Airbrush and a block of Hard Chalk? In Transposer, choose TWO brushes, press the cog button and Transposer creates five brushes that combine varying percentages of your two chosen brushes (eg 90%Airbrush +10%HardChalk, etc). Trial the variations, click on your artwork and paint.

With Stroke Designer you’re getting serious and you can’t do better than using either the manual or the on-screen help for this. Having said that, there is no reason why you can’t just play with this section, have fun and learn.

COMPATIBILITY: Two questions were, “Can I work on a document in both applications?” and “Is it easy to use Painter if I’m already used to Photoshop?”

ATD: The answer is “Yes” to both. If you are familiar with Photoshop, you will find the Painter environment very similar To work on a document in both Painter and Photoshop you need to work in a format common to both. The Photoshop format (.psd) is common to both and a Photoshop document with layers, adjustment layers, masks, channels and (in the laterv ersions of Photoshop) layer sets, will open in Painter with all of these features intact and working in much the same way.

The Painter, Photoshop and Illustrator toolbars all share many of the same tools and most work in a similar fashion.

They’re not all identical, but you’ll find your Photoshop skills will help you to quickly understand how the Painter tool operates.

An important thing to understand is the concept of a program’s ‘native format’. This is the operating code written specifically for a program. It is usually the best format to work in if you want to use the program’s features to their fullest extent and if you plan to work on the document over many sessions.

Some program’s native format cannot be read by other programs. In this case you save the work in the native format and then save a copy in a format that can be read by other programs..

The Photoshop format (.psd) is both native to Photoshop and readable by many other programs.

Here’s how it works. If you open a document in Photoshop and save it in the .psd format you can also open this document in Painter and continue working on it, save and reopen in Photoshop. Because .psd is readable by both programs, switch between programs as often as you like as long as you keep saving the document in the .psd format.

You can also begin a document in Painter, save it in psd format and then switch back and forth to Photoshop.

By way of contrast, if you begin a document in Painter and save in Painter’s native .rif format, you cannot open this document in Photoshop because .rif is native to Painter but not readable by Photoshop.

Painter and Photoshop are so compatible, that you might never need to work in the .rif format. If you do, simply save it first in Painter’s .rif format, then save a copy in .psd format, open in Photoshop and carry on working.

LINKS: Tips and Tricks Website Links: Photoshop: http://www.digitalmastery.com/ companionsite/tips/index.html Painter: http://www.corel.com painterix/ product compatibility.html PAINTER MASTERS: CRIS PALONMINO One of seven native Angelenos still in captivity, Cris Palomino resides in the same area of Los Angeles where she grew up entrenched in the library devouring books on art, fantasy and anything that turned her head.

Cris worked in Walt Disney’s Consumer Product division for many years and enjoys creating her digital work with Painter, Photoshop, Cinema 4D, Lightwave, Poser and Bryce. Check her artwork at http://www.elektralusion.com/pages TheArtist.html.

Well that’s it till the next Inkspot. Send questions and suggestions to: info@chriskelly.net.au.

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Your View On...

Thank you to everyone who contributed to YVO. Unfortunately we were unable to use everything but trust you will enjoy those that found space.

The subject for the next issue will be

“Beer and crocodiles�. please email to inkspot@abwac.org.au

RoyBisson, NSW

Jack Ardill, NSW

Pierre de Dassel, NSW

24 Jason Chatfield, WA

Richard Jones, NSW

Phil Somerville, NSW David Sturt, Qld

Gerald Carr, Vic

Jack Edmunds, NT

Robert Mason, Vic

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Australian Manga anthologies: Moshi Moshi, Xuan Xuan, Oztaku, Generation & International Manga Reviewed by Ian C. Thomas

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ver the past few years an Australian manga scene has developed and become a burgeoning subculture, to rival that of the Australian comics scene itself. Manga is the Japanese print relation of anime, Japanese animation. The release over the past year of two issues of Gaijin, a glossy Asian pop culture magazine for Australia, and the rise of Madman Entertainment are two of the more evident signs of the broader cultural movement. Widely available “How To Draw Manga” books indicate the widespread interest in do-it-yourself manga, Technically, the manga books produced in Australia, by Australian artists are amateur manga, and should therefore be known as doujinshi. While the artists in Australian manga range from amateurish to professional, I’m happy to report that a growing number are already highly accomplished and producing work that truly is up to an international standard.

Arguably, the proliferation of Ausmanga could be seen as artists subverting their individual styles beneath a recognisable fashion, but this reckons without the natural part Japanese anime and video games have played in Australian culture over the past decades, the vast range of styles and visions possible within this broad category, and the role of Asian culture in Australia generally. Certainly, the manga influence in Australia permeates beyond the immediately recognisable boundaries of the subculture, already informing Australian art and comics in general, in a way comparable to the influence of U.S. comics in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

Moshi Moshi, the first Australian Manga title, is a photocopied compilation with a zine feel (it includes articles and reviews), now sadly about to cease with its twelfth issue. Editor and ongoing contributor, Komala Singh, is one of Australia’s finest manga artists, with a distinctive personal style, featuring clean linework and witty writing. Many of the artists who have had early work published in MM have gone on to polish their skills and continue to appear in various anthologies, or even publish standalone titles (such as Rebecca Clements’ Mahiru No Tsuki). Moshi Moshi has been an important and formative book for the local scene, and Singh continues to be one of our most prominent and imaginative artists. Later Ausmanga anthology titles have opted for higher production values, but none have reached as many issues yet. In particular, the trend with later books has been towards perfect binding and colour covers.

Xuan Xuan (pronounced “Swan Swan”), from Western Australia, grew out of the Newsletter of JAFWA (Japanese Animation Fans Western Australia), again reaffirming the manga/anime link). It’s a well-presented A5 book, edited by Colin Sharpe and Kate Langford, featuring longer, episodic stories, the majority of which have a fantasy leaning.

The stories vary widely, both in techniques and

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influence. The second volume is consistently strong – featuring coherent, engaging stories with tight writing and art – and is recommended for all ages.

Oztaku is the biggest Australian manga anthology. Edited by Avi Bernshaw and Kenneth Chan, it is a substantial B5 sized anthology. As with Xuan Xuan, it tends to feature longer serialised stories and, as with the other titles, has steadily improved with each issue. Oztaku demonstrates a committed approach to both compilation and distribution, with a comparatively large print run and distribution in major bookshops in all states. Among the artists are David Li, David Kerr (already well-known locally for his excellent web and print comic Worlds Away), Sang and The Insanity Team. Overall, Oztaku imparts a sense of real fun, with lots of comics, worthwhile articles and plenty of attitude.

Generation, an annual showcase compilation, edited by Poshua (AKA Katie Huang), is the most beautiful Australian manga anthology. The debut 2004 volume is a professionally presented, carefully compiled B5 anthology, featuring many names familiar from Australian manga (such as Pamela Ramali and Queenie Chan), and some artists from Australian comics in general. Captured in this book are a range of serious manga art styles, including Korean influences alongside the better known Japanese forms. The content is also wide ranging, contrasting gentle wordless romances against all action pieces.

International Manga, published

by One-Tree Media in Sydney, is an exception to the “Australian contributors only” approach, instead taking a global approach, with contributors from Australia, Japan, Canada and Brazil, among others. The curious numbering of the issues so far (-2, -1), has been to allow for the learning curve involved, in anticipation of #0. The second issue no.

-1 is a massive 200 pages and features a wide range of styles. There is a certain logic to this borderless approach, given the significant contribution of international students studying in Australia to current Australian manga.

As well as the anthology titles, some contributors have published standalone, spin-off or related titles, such as Komala Singh’s Tabeshounen and Boys’ Love Remix, and I & I, by the Oztaku guys. Individual Australian manga series include the aforementioned Worlds Away and Mahiru No Tsuki, Gary Lau’s polished and popular suburban Ninja yarn, Knight-Edge, Master Pete’s Acacia Destiny and Loren Morris’ abstract Interiors. Other major Australian comics, such as Terinu and Phosphorescent Comics’ new title, Azerath, also feature manga influences in their art.

It is pleasing to see local artists distilling manga influences, tending to produce works that are at once manga and recognisably Australian. Also, it is encouraging to see the emerging popularity of this form of comics beyond traditional readerships.

Ian C. Thomas is a regular reviewer for Inkspot.

He currently draws serials for The Ink and manga comic Xuan Xuan.

He also contributes to Sporadic and Oztaku. His earlier work includes Maelstrom, Reverie and the Busker Jimstrip for Melbourne paper City Extra.

News from the Bunker BUNKER CARTOON GALLERY COFFS HARBOUR

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he Bunker Cartoon Gallery reluctantly farewelled the Rotary Cartoon Awards after a wonderful season. The Awards were, as ever, an unqualified success and strong audiences appreciated the ‘cream’ of Australian and international cartooning in Coffs Harbour. Neil Matterson’s exhibition titled, Neil Matterson: Politics and Play was also well received in the foyer gallery. Neil’s work is a particular favourite of mine, and staff and visitors marvelled at just how much Neil’s cartoons get away with. His very timely political works were hung prior to the elections and caused many visitors to comment on the cartoonist’s political savvy.

Bill Leak made a comment on the night of the Stanleys that perfectly captured the atmosphere of the event – there exists a sense of community and support among ACA members that is often hard to find in the fine arts ...

At VISCOPY, we deal with questions from fine artists on a daily basis – confronted with the minutiae of contracts and commissions, competition and exhibition conditions ... many artists just don’t know how to deal with it all, and can often make mistakes without proper guidance and advice about professional business practices.

New exhibitions installed over the next few weeks offer visitors many reasons to return to the Bunker. Judy Nadin, an emerging caricaturist living in Newcastle (who was awarded a Merit at the Rotary Cartoon Awards) is currently featured artist in the Bunker’s foyer gallery. Her exhibition, Noice, Unusual, Different is wowing visitors. The large scale, well painted, colourful works include insightful cheeky ‘portraits’ of Kylie Minogue, Russell Crowe , Molly Meldrum, Magda Szubansk, Bert Newton and of course, Kath and Kim.

Outside of these associations however, there exist a number of arts advisory bodies that, surprisingly, many artists still haven’t familiarised themselves with – The Australian Copyright Council (www.copyright.org.au) for example. ArtsLaw (www.artslaw.com.au). NAVA (The National Association for Visual Arts) (www.visualarts.net.au). These associations offer advice on a wide range of issues of interest to artists, such as sample contracts, defamation issues, licensing cartoon characters and design protection – much of it available for download from their respective websites.

Judy Nadin

Which is why membership of professional arts organisations such as the ACA is so important – establishing a network of professionals who can discuss these issues with each other, offer support, advice and encouragement by sharing their career experiences – highs and lows alike.

On VISCOPY matters, by the time this goes to print, our membership will have crossed the 5000 mark, almost a 400% increase over the last 3 years ... over two hundred new members come to us via an agreement with Artists Alliance in New Zealand similar to the one we have with the ACA. VISCOPY’s AGM was held last November and saw the departure and replacement of several board members. For their services and support to VISCOPY over many years, we’d like to thank former Chair, Mark Fitz-gerald and outgoing boardmembers Bronwyn Bancroft, Mark Williams and Brian Tucker (Brian has a regular column on arts and finances at <http://www.artshub.com.au/>http: //www.artshub.com.au). Oliver Freeman now takes the position of VISCOPY Chair, and new board members include Adam Simpson, John Fries, Joyce Parszos and artists Sally Smart and Banduk Marika.

Till next time.

Ross Sharp

VISCOPY Membership & Distribution Manager

Judy Nadin

Back to the Stanleys ...This year VISCOPY sponsored the Stanley Award for the category of General Illustrator. Our warmest congratulations to George Haddon for taking out the award in addition to the Gold Stanley at the end of the night! We look forward to continuing our sponsorship next year.

The main gallery currently celebrates the life’s work of well known and loved cartoonist, Syd Nicholls. As most readers will be aware, Nicholls was responsible for creating an Australian legend, Fatty Finn. The exhibition features the iconic Finn but also features Nicholls’ beautifully drawn Middy Malone and Phantom Pirate work, along with fine pencil drawings and neatly executed watercolour work by the artist. Nicholls’ drawing board and desk are part of the exhibition. Much of the material on display was graciously loaned to the gallery by Syd’s daughter Robyn Gillette, while Lindsay Foyle provided entertaining well researched historical detail on Nicholls.

New exhibitions scheduled for 2005 include work by Tony Lopes, Nick Scott and Sean Leahy, with the Bald Archys scheduled to arrive on a whistlestop tour in March. Should you wish to exhibit your work in the featured artist space in the foyer gallery of the Bunker, please give me a call or send an email. I have reserved this area of the Bunker as an exclusive area in which to promote Australian cartoonists. Hope to see you, and your cartoons, at the Bunker soon.

Leigh Summers (02) 6651 7343 bnkergallery@bigpond.com

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Even the avowed technoThere’s movement in the West! phobe Roger Fletch Fletcher Michelle Baggaz Baginski is now one has finally been dragged of three cartoonists ruffling feathreluctantly into the 21st Ceners on a new Fremantle newspaper tury. You can now find him on called The Rooster. The premier issue his website by visiting www. went to print earlier this month. rogerfletcher.com.au. It’s hard Baggaz is also opening an on-theto imagine how someone who spot caricatures stall at the popular has written a daily science ficFremantle markets with fellow tion comic strip for more than ACAer Jason Chatfield. Meanwhile twenty years can be so averse Chatfield is well and truly on the to progress, but there he sits in move! He has resigned from his job, his candle lit studio in front of doing layout and design for Worldhis kerosine-powered computer wide Online Printing, to begin carturning out tales of high adventooning for The Voice, The Fremantle ture in a far off age of technical Herald, The Melville Herald and The wonder. Last year after listenCockburn Herald. He is also about to ing to the Wacom presentation join Baggaz and Jet on the new Freat the Stanleys weekend, he mantle Rooster. If that’s not enough bought a Wacom tablet, because to keep the young sandgroper he was told he could draw busy he is also working nights on directly onto his computer with the Fremantle Herald as a graphic it. He has only one problem with the Wacom - after artist. Work or not he has assured us he’ll be devoting he’s used it, it takes forever to rub out the drawing! any spare time to maintaining his involvement with Roger’s happy for you to visit his home page - but Inkspot...Yet another award for one of the country’s don’t forget to bring a bottle - it’s only polite... Leigh most celebrated and talented scribblers. The Sydney Hobbs is a guest at the 2005 Perth International Arts Morning Herald’s Alan Moir has picked up second Festival in February in the literary component titled prize in the prestigious United Nation’s Political CarWords & Ideas. The Festival is mounting an exhibitoon of 2004, The Lurie Award. The awards are named tion of his artwork in the Perth Concert Hall Foyer Foyer. in honour of Newsweek cartoonist Ranan Lurie. Gary Focussing on cartoons , sketches, and Markstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel took out the paintings associated with first prize plaque along with $US10,000 (AUS$13,500).

Leigh’s books. This UK, where it appears Could Tony Lopes be sufwill coincide with in the Daily Mail. The fering an identity crisis? the publication of trouble is the politically Easily explainable if that is the prolific correct English thought the case. A collection of his children’s the strip’s original strip is about to be pubauthor’s latest name, Insanity Streak, lished in Australia and the effort, might not appeal to Hooray For British readers, so with Horrible Lopes’ reluctant perHarriet, mission, they changed the name to Odd due out Streak. Now techniearly cally die-hard collecthis tors of Lopes’ comic year... year will need to put two Colfirst editions away. The lectors of strips form a collection editorial cartoons of his very early work, will welcome the publication of some dating back web-supremo Daryl Cagel’s (see this to the mid-nineties.

“These cartoons are Inkspot page 20) The Best Political Cartoons of certainly more raw and the Year 2005. Cagle.com daily attracts some less polished than my of the world’s major editorial cartooning current work, however talent and now a selection of that work it’s good to see where has made the transformation from pixels I’ve come from,” Lopes to paper. The selection includes some of said. A second book, our top down-under talent. As Cagle menNo intelligent Life Here, tions in his NCS report, the book is currently is due to be published only available here in Australia online from in the coming weeks. www.Amazon.com or on www.caglebook.com...

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