They are little flashes of commentary and humour, usually meeting our gaze as we flick through a newspaper or magazine.
And, just as a columnist uses words to get his viewpoint across, a cartoonist uses pictures from his mind to interpret or make a point, writes Sammy Jones.
And here in Milton Keynes we have a rather clever creator who has been raising the smiles for more than four decades.
Bletchley-born Derek Mynard has enjoyed all the fruits of a rich and varied life in work; Married to Maureen in 1959, he tinkered as a motor mechanic, signed on for military service in The Royal Engineers, and served in Singapore, Thailand and Borneo, then – with an American Mining company – operated as a Plant Manager in Sierra Leone.
And that only charts his career path to 1968!
Dubai beckoned next, where he was employed by Costain-Taylor Woodrow, a consortium building the first Port Rashid, as a Transport Workshop Manager.
He later moved to other Dubai-based companies, Oilfield Supply and Dubai Aluminium.
It was while doing the day job that Derek developed a sideline career as an illustrator, artist and graphic designer.
He began with calendars and cards, delivering pen and ink drawings of Emirate scenes.
Leaving his mark on the region, Derek is also a founding member of the Art Society of Dubai.
Having toured the world, he brought his family back home to Bletchley in the mid-1980s where his love of the creative won through and Derek set up shop as a freelance designer and illustrator.
His talent was in demand and the Universal Arts & Publication Services company serviced clients nationally and locally – business in MK making fine use of his wares included The Parks Trust and MKDC. Oh, and any spare time was mopped up when he took on the role of a Councillor too.
“It seems I have a cynical and humorous view of life in general,” Derek said, explaining his passion for cartooning, “...allied to my natural drawing ability, it was inevitable that one would become a cartoonist,” he says.
The late American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell was a huge influence on Derek, whose first serious work in the medium appeared in Dubai back in the seventies.
New Year Resolutions - click to enlarge
But where was the spark first ignited?
“My Uncle Stan, upon taking leave during WW2 from his Naval duties in the Mediterranean, would sit with me for hours as we drew old fashioned sailing ships, usually of the Viking sort,” Derek recalls.
“I was always artistic, although untrained.”
Derek's extensive catalogue of work sheds light on many great pieces past, but as with any artist, there are always favourite projects.
“My proudest cartoon work? In 1988 I was commissioned by HM Coastguard to produce a humorous 1989 calendar. I still like it a lot.”
And though some of the methodology might have changed since Derek first started bringing the social commentary to the fore (computers aid play today, of course), he has absolutely no plans to stop putting the humour to print. Work continues with gusto in his great home studio.
“Well, why not, where there is so much mayhem and controversy around today that one can adapt to humour? “I actually prefer situation cartoons as opposed to one-line gags,” he told Total MK, “But in the main I do 'whatever it takes.'
“Anyway, when I visualise myself as an old man, wearing a waistcoat and tartan slippers, slumped in the recliner with Corrie Street on the telly, I get the wobbles!”
> Total MK will begin a new weekly series of Derek's cartoons on Sunday, February 21.
