I sometimes forget that I am actually an award-winning cartoonist

I've published thousands of cartoons over the last two decades

Back in 2005, I was retrenched from a boring corporate job in mobile technology research and development. It was still the days of the Nokia 3310 with its interchangable cover and Axel F monophonic ringtone.

Deciding to pursue a childhood dream after failing art school a few years earlier, I finally achieved my goal of becoming a professional cartoonist. After all, what better time to become an artist than when art school advises against it?

It wasn’t easy being a failure, of course, but I didn’t give up. Being a varsity dropout and succeeding in what I dropped out of is very punk rock, bro.

Over the years, I won a bunch of awards, published a few books and worked for a wide variety of publications across South Africa and other countries. In fact, my cartoons were translated into multiple languages across the world and were even briefly featured in the New York Times.

I won South Africa’a largest cartoon award back in 2011

Despite what the award claims, I am not a journalist. It was categorised that way because my satire was political and I worked for mainstream newspapers, magazines and websites.

Unfinished cartoon, circa 2010

No political position

For the first few years of my cartooning career, I had no political position. I didn’t know what it meant to be liberal, libertarian, conservative, and so on. (I still don’t. Ha ha!) I remember the rule of thumb my editor gave me in 2010: ‘Knock them down when they’re up and lift them up when they’re down.’

Naturally, I was naive and didn’t know what I know now, but I still apply his advice to this day. The problem is, there’s an infinite number of them to knock down.

Find more of my cartoons here

The first shift

Ideologically, my worldview began to shift around 2016, and my cartoons gradually became more independent, aided by an increasing number of publications that fired me for no longer toeing the line. I remember the time I drew a cartoon ridiculing the very newspaper I was working for, putting my editor in a conundrum. He decided to run the cartoon to show that his newspaper was open to criticism, although I’m sure it left a sour taste in his mouth.

The shift occurred while my wife and I were living in a small coastal town for about a year. You could say it was a ‘Damascus moment’, although I don’t remember seeing a bright light—despite there being one at the end of the tunnel (which, thankfully, wasn’t a train heading my way).

Find more of my cartoons here

The second shift

My social commentary slowly migrated away from local news to larger talking points, including culture wars and international affairs.

And then the big moment arrived.

Like 9/11, everything I thought I knew was violently hit and turned to dust.

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Mark Conlon on there being no planes on 9/11

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What was the big moment? What triggered the second and seismic shift in my outlook? What was the earthquake that tore open the foundations of my paradigm? What was the injection that suddenly killed my former self? What was the climatic change that heated up my world to boiling point?

You know what I’m referring to.

So I won’t type it.

Instead, I’ll share some cartoons. (There are lots more here. Please buy a personally signed print while you’re there.)

Current day

So, where am I now?

Well, I no longer draw for any mainstream publications. The last one fired me in 2020 because I wasn’t buying the COVID™ nonsense.

My work is now fully independent, supported by individuals around the world and the occasional alternative publication or newsletter here and there.

I’m enjoying the freedom to satirise the world without the constraints and restrictions of the establishment. If you want to join the amazing network of people supporting my work, go here.