Chewing Pencils

He sounds French, but resides in the sunny and warm United Kingdom. Michael has a wonderful style and uses some unique linework in his cartoons - plus he has set himself a challenge on his blog that is yet to come ‘unstuck’.

Read and enjoy Michael Renouf’s cartooning wisdom.

NAME: Michael Renouf
AGE: 46
LOCATION: London, UK
SITE URL: http://nonstickplans.blogspot.com

How long have you been drawing cartoons?

Ever since a friend gave me a pile of old ‘Whizzer & Chips’ comics when I was about 9 or 10. In one of them was a cartoon of a fish in the desert - underneath it said, “Long time no sea”. I thought that was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life. However I didn’t really discover how to cross wires till 10 years later at college.

What made you start to think more seriously about making some money out of it?

I studied Graphic Design at college and in my last year I started to realize I wasn’t cut out for typography. I started going to museums and drawing people and things everyday in the hope that I could change direction once I’d left. In the end the teachers threatened to throw me out if I didn’t buckle down, so I thought, well that’s what I want to do so that’s what I will do. They relented in the end and my final show was all cartoons, including a book about Pavlov full of silly jokes about dogs and bells and food.

Have you done any formal training? If so, what and where?

I did 6 years training to be a graphic designer, including post-graduate, but didn’t really start to learn to draw until after I left art college(!) I’ve done an evening class in life drawing once a week ever since, now life painting.

Where was your first cartoon published?

While I was at college the British Council was looking for cheap drawings for their in-house newsletter. The editor was really nice and encouraging and I did several cartoons for him until we cooked up a fake advert spoofing staff who wrote articles puffing up their own achievements to get promotion. It was advertising the newsletter like a washing powder for “a whiter than whitewash.” The editor was hauled over the coals and ‘transferred’, and that was the end of that.

What materials do you use to create your work?

On paper I use compacted charcoal and coloured pencils on cheap photocopy paper usually, or cheap cartridge paper for extra ‘quality’. Digitally I use an aging Wacom tablet with a nib that’s worn almost flat, and a brush I discovered in Photoshop elements, which doesn’t seem to exist in grown-up Photoshop, that gives a similar feel to compacted charcoal though it’s made up of randomly-sized bubbly blobs. I add the colour on layers below the drawing.

Matt: I love that linework. Thanks for sharing how you do it.

What hardware and software do you use?

Oops! See above. (I use a Mac).

From where do you draw your inspiration?

Everybody says it, but ‘everywhere’ is probably as narrow as it gets.

What are some of the resources you’ve found most helpful?

Online, Google Images and flickr are good sources for reference - a search for a particular thing often comes up with the unexpected, which is useful. Offline, I belong to two local libraries and at any one time borrow about 6 books from each, mainly books with pictures in, but also psychology/philosophy and science and novels. I also buy books on cartoonists and artists - usually second-hand - and reached the limit on shelf-space about 5 years ago (it hasn’t stopped me). Reading stories is the best way of exercising the daydream muscles. Getting into that imaginative place is sometimes the hardest bit.

What is the best piece of advice you have EVER been given? The worst?

I was worrying once that I didn’t have anything to say and a friend said, “Don’t think about what you want to say, think about what you want to see.” Another good piece of advice is from a book called ‘Improv Wisdom - Don’t prepare, just show up’ by Patricia Ryan Madson, which is “Be average”, meaning don’t try too hard to be ‘good’, or you’ll just get blocked. Both bits of advice, I think, redirect my focus away from myself, which, being a self-obsessed worrier, is just what I need.
I can’t think of any worst advice - I probably forgot it fairly quick.

Take us through the process you use to create one of your drawings:

To get ideas I stare at things menacingly until they surrender and give up their secrets. Then I attack them with a sharpened pencil. This may sound aggressive but I’ve tried asking them nicely - they just sit there looking ordinary (it doesn’t always work anyway). Once I’ve got a rough drawing I scan it, redraw it in Photoshop, then, if it’s to be a drawing on paper, print it out and trace it off. I’ll also play with colour in Photoshop so I don’t make any stupid mistakes on paper and have to start again (the undo command is the best thing ever invented).

How long does it generally take to create one piece?

It takes as long as it takes usually, which can be anything between 5 minutes and several days. Coloured pencil is labour intensive - that’s where the several days come in.

What do you find the hardest to draw?

Always people, and clothes that look as if they’re from this century. I much prefer drawing animals - they seem more human.

What do your friends and family think of you being a cartoonist?

Mostly they think I’m insane and should be locked up. They also complain about having to pay for everything because I’m so poor.

What do you think is the best part about being a cartoonist?

The best part for me is when I surprise myself.

What has been the standout post on Chewing Pencils for you? Why?

I love the Friday Feature Artist. It’s great to see what other people are doing and how they manage to survive in this mad business. Everyone is unique and has a different experience to share - we can always learn something from each other. I’m terrible at the business side of things so that’s often helpful, when it isn’t specifically about Australian tax rules (though I might need to know it one day when I get thrown out of here).

Matt: You wouldn’t be allowed in anyway…(grin)

Thanks Michael! If anybody else would like to be the Friday Feature Artist, just let me know!