I've been copying: Berger & Wyse

In recent months one of the main weapons of choice here at Copy + Paste Towers has been the humble pencil.

We're surrounding ourselves with illustrating and illustrators this month and before I leave you with a hint about a mini-series of posts Kirsty has planned, allow me to introduce you to a pair of my favourite humourists / illustrators / cartoonists, the reliably wry and wonderful .... Berger & Wyse.

*Copy*
Since they began in 2007 I've been following the cartoons produced by Joe Berger and Pascal Wyse in the food section of the Guardian newspaper's Weekend magazine.

[Click any of the images to be taken to the original item on the Berrger & Wyse blog.]

It probably says a lot about my priorities that each Saturday I flick through the pages, ignoring all the sophisticated recipes to find the food-themed-funny-drawings instead!

Their work is so clear and succint at expressing a single funny idea in a single funny drawing that I think it's safe for me to just shut up and not try to analyse anything, so i'll be quiet now.

You go ahead and enjoy: If you like what you see [and please don't tell me if you don't ... or else I'll have to reassess our relationship .... ] and your appetite has been whetted for some more food funnies, then you'll be happy to hear that there's an archive of all the Berger & Wyse food cartoons here.

Bon apetit!

*Paste*
I have a regular feature on my notes on paper blog [usually on a Thursday] in which I share a snippet of conversation I've overheard. I began illustrating these posts using photographs which had a suitable theme. But pretty soon I ran out of appropriate images or, quite frankly, the topic was a touch too esoteric for me to find something on my hard drive to suit it! So I decided to start illustrating some of them with my own drawings:

[Click the photos to read the original blog posts when hopefully these random images will then make sense!]

While I didn't strictly have Berger & Wyse in mind when I began, undoubtedly their influence and inspiration was working away on me when I decided to create visual punchlines for my overheard words:

Maybe I should mention that I don't only draw food ... it's just I thought I'd keep things foodie in this post. There are non-food-based illustrations in my 'Drawings' set of my Flickr gallery but while we're on the theme, here's my latest:

OK then, enough about me. I want to leave you with a final illustration and a bit of about what you can expect from Copy+Paste next week.

When not illustrating funny food tales, Joe Berger is also an illustrator of children's books and when I found some of the illustrations from one of his latest titles - Bridget Fidget Hold On Tight - I just had to share.

Not only do I love the colours and the simplicity of the storytelling I also wonder if my entire childhood [and indeed adult life] was the inspiration behind 'Bridget Fidget' in general and this drawing of a spectacular fall in particular!

Surely he must have met me at some point? Surely?

So, Bridget Fidget leads me tripping and stumbling along the way to tell you about the treat Kirsty has in store for you next week:As a writer and illustrator of children's books herself [although she's often too modest to talk about it!] Kirsty has prepared an inspiring mini-series of posts in which she'll share with us the works of some of her favourite book illustrators.

So make a note to drop in to revisit some wonderful drawings from your own childhood, from your children's generation of books and maybe you'll even be introduced to some artists you've never seen before.

Right then, I'm off to break-in a new sketchbook, Kirsty will see you soon so make sure you're ready for her...

.....sharp pencils and clean paper are optional, nice relaxing drinks, a comfy chair and a foot rest however will be essential!

It's going to be great!

Julie :)

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Links:

Berger & Wyse
@BergerandWyse on Twitter
Joe Berger Illustration
Joe Berger on Twitter