Testing... Testing

                                               Rob Kirbyson

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As some of you will already know, I now reside in Dunfermline (It's in Scotland), with my partner Kosana. I am lucky in that she is from Dunfermline and not Kilmarnock. If the world needed an enema, Kilmarnock is where you would ram the pipe.

Dunfermline is rather different to Pershore (Worcestershire) in many ways. Pershore inspired cartoons such as these, which aimed to provide an insight into life in a quaint backwater town in rural middle England...

Cartooning and painting are entirely different. Two very different disciplines. I love cartooning as it engages my interest in writing / comedy and delivers preconceived comedy / ideas quickly. I also love painting, as the dialogue / intent, isn't forced and the viewer is left to interpret what they see in their own way. It's their experience. Nobody should influence what a person likes. To me this is truly liberating, creating work without presenting a script. I've sold paintings ranging from a sunflower to a portrait of a serial killer. I loved painting both but the serial killer made me six times more money than the sunflower. It's a strange world and I've always embraced that. I like artistic honesty...When the guy payed me for the portrait of John Wayne Gacy, I thought 'Who would pay all that money for a weird portrait of a guy who murdered 33 people?' Then I thought, 'Shit... not even as a commission, I painted that and I enjoyed it... ' I've always produced exactly what I wanted and never repeated anything. I know that's not the way everyone paints but personally and ethically, that works for me. Painting allows me to explore my head, in silence. Strips and cartoons are my voice in a way and a way to express my comedic side. The strangest thing, is that cartooning is a more difficult process, despite the appearance. A painting is developed from a simple idea and a visualisation...a cartoon is developed firstly as a written gag, then a process of artistic representation to deliver the gag within the fastest time, unambiguously and in the best comedic /artistic way you can. It's a hard life...

This gag was  inspired by Vincenzo Foggini's 3D work (statues - remember them?) 'Samson and the Philistines'. That's worth mentioning if you don't recognize the iconic composition or know little of 16th century Italian sculpture.