In my childhood, each year at Christmas the last present to be taken off the tree was the card I had drawn for my family. The cards always featured cartoon family scenes laced with slapstick comedy. At school, drawing funny pictures would not only occupy me during boring lessons but also gain me popularity among my peers. On occasion it even kept off the bullies.
I was ten years into my conservation career before I started using cartoons for a higher purpose – as a tool for communication and education. Over the years I have created dozens of cartoons for a diverse range of environment and development projects and institutions all over the world.
This section of the website contains my growing cartoon portfolio.
Stand-alone cartoons
Bob’s Blood Bar
Among other things my old university buddy Prof. Giles Duffield studies the links between mosquito-induced malaria infection and human circadian (sleep-wake) cycles.
Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS)
Commissioned to help expose greenwashing behind a hydrodam project in Indonesia, 2019.
International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED)
The ‘Formula 1 cow’ is a satirical statement on the absurdity of introducing geographically and culturally inappropriate policies and technology through well-intentioned but misguided development projects in sub-Saharan Africa. 2015.
IIED
Illustrates an article about cattle traders’ use of mobile phones in the remote borderlands of northern Kenya.
Teenage cow
Rare, 2017
The bee entrepreneur.
Rare 2020
Room service for cows
The ‘ARA’ mentioned in the cartoon refers to a special deal made between conservationists and ranchers to prevent water sources in private lands being contaminated by cattle. Rare, 2015.
Change the Chamber – Lobby for Climate
Online youth movement holding US corporations accountable for their climate impact. 2020.
Remote learning
This cartoon satirically celebrates the design of a new remote training system for local partners. Rare, 2016.
Fish Forever
The cartoon portrays the concept of a marine no-take zone. Rare, 2015.
A Rare staff member
The cartoon is of my dear friend and erstwhile colleague at Rare, Creative Director Dave Bellard. Rare, 2016.
A busy print shop
This was the motif of a Cristmas card for my brother’s very busy print shop one year
Cartoons for posters
Bioversity International
Environmental education on the effects of cadmium on cocoa farming in Peru, 2019.
Rare EVANS Awards
The cartoon represents Rare’s various conservation actions around the world and for a period of time was awarded to the staff members who best embodied Rare’s organizational values. 2012.
Paul’s Journey Map
Gifted to Paul Butler, friend and colleague at Rare, as a testimony to his remarkable conservation career. 2015.
Maned Wolf Conservation Project
Texts by Dr. Louise Emmons. Belief in folk medicine is affecting the endangered Maned Wolf in parts of South America.
Maned Wolf Conservation Project
Texts by Dr. Louise Emmons. Bringing awareness on the need for dog vaccination programmes in rural communities as a means of preventing the interchange of diseases between wild and domestic animals. Bolivia, 2006.
GapAid
GapAid is a UK charity that provides practical information and support to students traveling abroad on their gap year. 2010.
GapAid
Global Canopy Programme
A bill board to promote composting. UK, 2007.
Global Canopy Programme
A billboard to warn against the environmental harm caused by landfill.
Global Canopy Programme
A billboard to raise awareness about the toxic effects of aluminium garbage
Asociación Armonía
As founder of the Blue-throated Macaw Project, one of my areas of focus was environmental education. I invented this game as part of the materials used in local schools.
People’s Trust for Endangered Species
This ‘citizen science’ game board allows players driving off on vacation to gather data for the annual mammals road kill census. UK, 2006.
Comic strips
The Adventures of Cuencoso Part 1
While working at Rare in Colombia I couldn’t resist creating a comic strip to shake up our communications materials. The hero is a spectacled bear called Cuencoso. 2018.
The Adventures of Cuencoso Part 2
Asociación Armonía
Birdwatchers. This was one of my first comic strips. Bolivia, 2005.
Global Canopy Programme
‘The Carbon Businessman’ caricatures the irresponsible use of energy and raises awareness on how individual carbon footprints affect even distant ecosystems and wildlife. UK, 2006.
Global Canopy Programme
This comic strip aims to draw attention to the absurdity of unsustainable consumer lifestyles. UK, 2007.
Woolly Monkey Project
This short comic strip was used on T shirts to raise awareness about the plight of the highly endangered Woolly Monkey. Colombia, 2006.
Global Canopy Programme
Panel 1 of a five-panel comic strip contrasting the biodiversity of forest canopies in Britain with those of Borneo. Each panel was used on large billboards in the forest canopy walkways of the company Go Ape! UK, 2007.
Global Canopy Programme
Panel 2 of a five-panel comic strip contrasting the biodiversity of forest canopies in Britain with those of Borneo. Each panel was used on large billboards in the forest canopy walkways of the company Go Ape! UK, 2007.
Global Canopy Programme
Panel 3 of a five-panel comic strip contrasting the biodiversity of forest canopies in Britain with those of Borneo. Each panel was used on large billboards in the forest canopy walkways of the company Go Ape! UK, 2007.
Global Canopy Programme
Panel 4 of a five-panel comic strip contrasting the biodiversity of forest canopies in Britain with those of Borneo. Each panel was used on large billboards in the forest canopy walkways of the company Go Ape! UK, 2007.
Global Canopy Programme
Panel 5 of a five-panel comic strip contrasting the biodiversity of forest canopies in Britain with those of Borneo. Each panel was used on large billboards in the forest canopy walkways of the company Go Ape! UK, 2007.
Oxford Policy Management
This comic strip was commissioned to celebrate an extraordinary instance of professional accountability displayed by a colleague working in Afghanistan. UK, 2006.
Cartoons for publications
Click to view each project
