Amazing Chess Cartoons

It's been a mad few weeks, hence no blog posts, sorry!

I moved house a week ago, that took a fair bit of time to prepare for and we are still unpacking here at the new house!

I also got invited to attend a 12 hour (4 nights x 3 hours) workshop for Online Chess Arbiting - run by the Asian Chess Federation and sanctioned by FIDE. That was last week, I passed the exam and am now a Certified Online Arbiter.

But in the midst of all that, I have discovered (and hopefully many of you do know about this) a fantastic cartoonist who does chess cartoons.

His name is Tony Sullivan and his chess cartoon series is called CHESS PEACE.

Here are some examples of his work (see his Facebook Page for more):

He has been a professional cartoonist for more than 35 years and his work has been been published in newspapers, magazines and books.

At age 12, he decided to become a cartoonist. As luck would have it, his dad, who was working at a newspaper as a sub-editor, showed some of his cartoons to the Editor, who went on to hire Tony as the resident cartoonist on the newspaper at age 18!. This has led to his long and awesome career as a cartoon artist.

He is now semi-retired and lives in Australia, having migrated from London, England in 2004.

Tony has a Facebook Page

What's particularly awesome is that Tony has a book out - containing 70 of his chess cartoons. This book is available on Amazon - Chess Peace: Cartoons by Tony Sullivan It's well worth a look!

I have been chatting to Tony about his work and he kindly agreed to let me share the cartoon image above and to do a short interview!

Richie:
When did you learn to play chess and how good were you? Do you still play?
Tony:
Whilst my younger siblings were happy playing checkers, I wanted to play with the big boys. My dad and uncles played chess frequently and I sat there in total awe. Finally, when I was 8 years old, my dad taught me how to play chess, and by the time I was 9 I could beat him. I’m not a great player, but I showed promise and at age 12 I entered my first tournament and won a chess medal. Unfortunately, as I approached my teens and the hormones started kicking in, I found soccer and chasing girls became the theme. I rarely play now, but that tournament was the height of my chess career lol.

Richie:
Have you ever played anyone famous?
Tony:
No, I have never played anyone famous.

Richie:
Who is your favourite chess player?
Tony:
My favourite chess player of all time is Garry Kasparov. He was still at the top of his game for over 20 years.

Richie:
You most have a great love for chess to want to create chess cartoons, how did the idea of chess related cartoons come about?
Tony:
I was working on a series of cartoons called “The Bottom Line” and was sending them to a cartoon Syndicate in the United States. Out of the blue I did one chess cartoon and sent that over to the US too. Wow, I was so surprised at just how popular the cartoon was. This got me thinking of doing a new brand of cartoons, solely about chess. I’ve worked as a cartoonist for over 35 years and never saw another cartoonist doing chess cartoons. So, there I was, with this new idea of an extremely niche market that had not yet been exploited by a cartoonist. And, so, “Chess Peace” was born!

Richie:
Are you old school, drawing by hand or do you now embrace modern technology and use it to assist in your creations?
Tony:
For many years I used pencil and paper to draw my cartoons and then inking them with a magic marker. But, with the advent of Photoshop and graphic tablets for artists, all my cartoons have been drawn in photoshop using a graphics tablet and pen. It sped up the time it took me to draw my cartoons, especially with the use of layers in photoshop.

Richie:
How did the idea of a book of your cartoons come about?
Tony:
I was conversing with a famous cartoonist in the U.S. called Bill Abbott to whom I sent some examples of my Chess Peace cartoons. He told me that newspapers would not use my cartoons as they are too niche. He then planted the seed in my head to publish a book of my chess cartoons. That’s how the book came about and I’m so glad I took Bills advice as my fans love the book.

Richie:
What is your favourite cartoon (not one of your own!)?
Tony:
My favourite cartoon is one of Bill Abbott's cartoons. He has done a series of cartoons entitled “Spectickles” which are hilarious

Tony suggested I post his favourite cartoon here:

Note: the above image is copyright Bill Abbott.

Richie:
Why did you become a cartoonist?
Tony:
The reason I became a cartoonist is simply because I like to make people smile, especially if they’re having a bad day

Thanks so much for that Tony, hopefully many more people will get to know and love your work!

Blogging should be back to normal soon!