We live in a constructed world

I wonder how you grew up.

Were your parents strict or lenient? Did they believe in God, or in a better future, or in the power of the mind? Were they private or participants in public life? Introverted or extroverted?

Whatever your background, you will view this site differently. We all, from birth, assemble our pictures of what the world is like. We use words and pictures to teach, learn and discuss how closely our ‘constructed meaning’ matches the real world.

I earn my living from assembling words and images in ways that convey information and, perhaps, encourage action. You can find some of my constructions here.

Who am I?

Hugh Todd writes and designs in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia.

The glory of cartoons

Not long ago I read an account by Quentin Blake about his year as ‘Children’s Laureate’. The book was filled with his drawings of happy, lively people in his trademark loose style.

It so happens that I had a small job myself recently, adding some new drawings to the artwork for a van used by a team of early childhood professionals. Looking at the drawing reproduced here, I think Quentin helped loosen me up.

I love it when a drawing comes together like this one. It’s joyful, puts something into the world that didn’t exist before, evokes playfulness, attentiveness, love.

When a student, I spent a lot of time drawing cartoons, on the covers and in the margins of my notebooks, in dedicated pads. I wasn’t very good, but I was convinced that I could get there.

In my mid 20s I had the good fortune of landing a job as a political cartoonist on a newspaper. Four years of drawing for a living, with an editor who believed in me despite my inexperience and still-to-be-formed style. When I left to do community work in the Philippines he was heartbroken. And maybe he was right.

Here’s to the art of cartooning, subversive, human, shortcut to the heart.