Ralph writes: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that has followed my cartoons over the years, even the person who presses the dislike button every single week without fail! It has been a great opportunity and I am incredibly grateful to Mark for giving me a platform to try and hone my skills, thanks Mark. Looking at my early scrappy efforts I am even more pleased you gave me a shot.
Since I started, I have developed a style (7 year old child I like to call it) and I think I have become even more radical in my conservation thinking. My cartoons usually have one of two purposes, the first is to show people they are not alone in feeling the way they do and that someone else sees how messed up the world is. The second is challenging thinking, like my last offering here – these may be less popular, but I feel they are just as important. To head off any comments I am not saying that facts are not important just that sometimes when we obsess about them, we can miss something bigger and more important. What is it about the story telling we can learn – In the case of Seaspiracy I think it was being totally clear about the cause of the problem. So much communication makes the destruction of our wildlife seem like an inevitable and passive act. Far too often we say “X species have been lost over the last ten years” rather than “Intensive and damaging food protection has caused X species to be lost over the last ten years“. When we don’t name the reason, people just feel fatalistic and that change is not possible….
Back to cartooning, if you are interested in continuing to see my work please follow me on twitter @cartoonralph, catch my weekly editorial cartoon for the @thecanary or follow me on the quite immoral Facebook. I have just finished illustrating my first book and have a few projects on the go so I can nearly call myself a proper cartoonist now! I look forward to a lot more cartooning in the future. Get in touch for all your cartooning needs at www.cartoonralph.co.uk.
Thanks again to Mark for giving me a space on the blog and for everyone who liked or disliked my cartoons over the years. It’s been a brilliant and fun opportunity, though I won’t miss the dread of still not having an idea at 9:30pm on Friday evening 😊
So long and thanks for all the fish
Mark writes: a long time ago, Ralph and I both worked at the RSPB – I had no idea that he drew cartoons. But he does, and his work has been an important part of this blog for most of a decade, and for hundreds of cartoons. I haven’t agreed with all of them (just most of them) but I’ve always found them challenging and thought provoking. And it has been interesting to see Ralph’s style evolving over time too, and to see him getting more paid opportunities as time went on. Thank you Ralph!
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Thank you, Ralph. And thank you, Mark. I was tempted to hit the DISLIKE button, just because … (It hasn’t been me, honest). But in fact I do dislike the thought of not seeing your cartoons here any more, so just this once it might have been the right choice. Still following you on Twitter!
Yes it was great of Mark to give you a platform Ralph, but that’s because he’s a smart cookie as well as being a very nice bloke. I’ve loved your cartoons, and I’m definitely a cartoon lover so the bar I set is probably a bit higher than most peoples’. I’ll definitely be following you elsewhere because I’ll miss you here – some of your cartoons have said more than ten page articles could, and I know certain people will have hated them as much as we loved them so they brought double delight. Surprisingly big changes for many of us, but at least one way or another we’re moving forward so it’s not really an ending. Thanks for helping make this blog what it is, best of luck Ralph.
Thank you Ralph. I have enjoyed your delightful cartoons, always topical often barbed. I hope you continue to find an outlet for them. I have an ambition to press the dislike button once before the blog winds down but there is so little here with which I disagree.
and thank you on behalf of