I mentioned a while ago that Currencies.co.uk had asked me to draw the latest Currency Hound cartoon with a hint of Alice Cooper about him for their latest press ad. Well, here he is...

This afternoon was spent in the good company of Orchard Infant School's Reception classes. They've been looking at telling stories, with an emphasis on a few popular fairy and traditional tales, and they will ultimately be creating their own books with what they learn.

I love going in to Reception. The children are still familiarising themselves with how a school works and sharing their time and space with a large group of their peers, so something always happens that you could never predict. Always a giggle.

I was asked to go in wearing my author and illustrator hat to talk about why I like writing and illustrating stories, why I enjoy it, and how I go about it. Obviously there's only so much you can share with four to five-year-olds, but they were wonderfully responsive and attentive. I then did some large cartoon illustrations to show how the story's words become a picture, and on both occasions I was asked to draw the three Billy Goats Gruff and the inevitable troll (clearly a current favourite). The children then set off to have a go on their own, and the pictures they created, bearing in mind many of them were still getting to grips with the motor skills to wield a pen, were fantastic, from Big Bag Wolves to Goldilocks, and from Jack to the Golden Goose; there was oodles of imagination and a palpable sense of fun. We even managed to embrace diggers and Spider-man into the artwork.

So, for a change, I've not illustrated this blog post with one of my cartoons, but with one of the children's pieces of art from today - one of the three little pigs. I think it's great.

Had a great time with Year 2 at Southsea Infants in Portsmouth yesterday. We started the day with cartooning tricks and tips to help them create their own cartoon superheroes, looking at everything from different ways to draw cartoon facial features to how to cope with that tricky cape hanging down their character's back. 

In the afternoon the plan was to create a forty-minute six panel cartoon strip about a woodlouse, with the children making the suggestions and me cartooning on a huge sheet of paper. It was an opportunity for them to see how a strip is put together, and get their heads round visual narrative (we even managed to give it a great punchline in the final panel too). Really good fun, and splendidly different, so thanks for having me Southsea.

The theme for this month's Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain magazine is flight. This was my take on it...

I'm pleased to see that the latest edition of Waterside Focus, the magazine I put together for the Waterside Network Group, is dropping onto doormats and generating plenty of response. There are a steady stream of responses coming in and plenty of competition entries.

It's a genuine pleasure to be part of a process that supports local businesses and helps to introduce them to the surrounding community. By reminding the local population of their existence and the services they offer the members are positively promoting themselves and the readership are able to take advantage of the local talent, products and services available.

Have just been commissioned to produce another cartoon for Currencies.co.uk for their ongoing advertising campaign. Have done a few of these now, my favourite of which so far was the above one featuring a howling mad hound out on the moor. I don't produce the whole ad for them, just the cartoon, so to see the finished item you'll have to keep your eyes peeled in the press.

The brief for the new cartoon had me grinning from ear to ear - I've just sent them a rough to approve, so fingers crossed they like it and I can start doodling!

A couple of weeks ago now I spent the day at Ranvilles Junior School in Fareham as part of their Big Button Day. Children arrived at school only to be ushered into an urgent assembly in the hall. Once there the headteacher told them of some strange goings on in the school over the half-term which concluded with what sounded like giant footsteps thumping across the hall's roof and local police officers telling the children that a giant button had been found and partioned off in the playground. Whatever had made the noise and lost the button was long gone, so I was there to help children visualise what they thought it could have been.

Groups of children joined me in the hall and made their suggestions, then I had a stab at drawing them while the children copied. It was a great opportunity to share cartooning tips, and we got through several drawings with each group, ranging from giants and ogres to witches and aliens, and even a giant centipede. My favourite was the Vampire Viking which was a right giggle to draw.

The purpose of the exercise was to not only build on the children's drawing techniques and confidence, but give them some visual pointers to help them develop their story writing as they were going to be challenged to turn that morning's events into a work of fiction.

It was a busy, intense day, but a lot of fun and a great excuse to let imaginations run wild. Certainly one of the most entertaining events I've taken part with at a school, and that's saying considering how much I enjoy them.

I've already read one of the stories - very funny - and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Enjoy the photos.

When you've a lot of information to impart paragraphs of text can become too much of a trawl for the reader. One way around this is to show the information graphically, such as with this data map produced for Hampshire FA.

Every year Hampshire FA chart the number of active participants involved with structured, regular football. The data is divided up between adult 11 v 11 and female 11 v 11 football, youth male and female 11 v 11, mini soccer and FA charter standard clubs, requiring a map for each. Then each map charts how each district within the county compares to the national average and what change there's been since last year. With the traffic light colours and simple labelling the data is obvious at a glance.

The maps have been adapted to cover other requirements, such as the whereabouts of clubs and investment in facilities. Neighbouring county FAs have also been commissioning them, and have included the availablity of referees and the reach of local leagues.

In most cases the artwork is supplied as PDFs to be shared as needed with colleagues, but occasionally the maps are created to illustrate the availability of upcoming training courses for the public. In those cases, interactivity can be built into the PDF so a click on the map takes you to an online booking form on Hampshire Fa's website.

And all so much nicer to look at than paragraphs of text and tables.

Here's a friendly little cartoon character I was asked to create for a new company called Canna Seeds. The client had a good idea as to what he was after so it only took one pencil rough before approval was given to go ahead with the final artwork. The client also explained the character was to feature on the logo so I was able to create the lettering for that at the same time.

Development Done Right have just launched their new website and were good enough to ask me to contribute by creating some cartoon representations of the team, plus a character to promote one of their services they offer. Pop over to their site and take a peek.