Ollie Randall, writing and cartoons
A friend commissioned me to draw him and his whole family! So here is the set of five framed portraits I put together for him:
These five pictures are now hanging in a line beside a staircase in his parents’ house. I always enjoy drawing a set of sketches: I like having several pictures that belong together.
Following from April cartoon batch 1 and April cartoon batch 2, here are some more of my recent commissions!
To start off, here’s a recreation of a bear sighting in Yosemite. Apparently there were so many great dogs on the trail that the bear caught them off-guard.
Next up: two cartoons commissioned by two proud new godparents (who are none other than Max and Alysha)! Here is Alysha’s godson in Nunhead Cemetery…
…And Max’s godson in Battersea Park.
Here’s what this one looks like in its frame, which I source from a local independent framers.
I also drew jockey Rex Dingle for his birthday, commemorating his exciting victory at the 2020 Cheltenham Races in which he came from the very back to win at the last moment (watch it here).
The other day I was commissioned to draw a quick cartoon of some workmen trying to repair a plane in flight. Apparently it was needed to illustrate a point in a presentation about the challenges of fixing something while it’s already in motion. It was a very tight turnaround but a fun change of pace.
And here’s another birthday present! This one was for the relay-running, long-jumping, saxophone-playing Paul.
And again, this is what it looks like in its frame!
If you want to hire me to gift a framed cartoon, please just get in touch! Tell me who I should draw; think of a funny memory or something they love; and I’ll do the rest…
Here are some more of my recent cartoon commissions! You can check out the first batch here and the third batch here.
For this one, I was told a hilarious family anecdote about a night-time car journey near Glastonbury. It’s one of those stories that I’m sure means more to the family in the picture than to people who don’t know the story!
And another anecdote: this two-panel cartoon was commissioned for someone’s thirtieth birthday, to remind him of the time he won a fight in a chip shop. Randall Writing does not condone violence but, if paid, will draw it.
And here it is in its frame:
A beloved dog, commissioned by the son of the dog’s owners:
Up next – a leaving gift from some colleagues (which was, I’m told, “the best present she has ever received”). I’m not going to lie, this one was one of the most complicated and specific set of instructions I’ve ever been given: five drawings and six verses of poetry. But, after some careful thinking, I squeezed it all in. If you think it all fits together nice and easily, don’t be fooled. I worked hard on it.
I drew this whale cartoon just for fun, but as soon as I put it on Instagram I got a DM from a follower asking if he could buy it. So it’s a sale, if not an actual commission per se. (If you enjoy it, you can find more on my page for Captioned Cartoons!)
There are about two dozen references in this birthday gift (more like forty, if you count each of the guide books as a separate reference). It’s a challenge to cram them all in, but the end result is that much more personal.
If you want to hire me to gift a framed cartoon, please just get in touch! Tell me who I should draw; think of a funny memory or something they love; and I’ll do the rest…
For the past few months I’ve been busy with a fair few cartoon commissions: Christmas presents, birthday presents and so on. I’m definitely overdue to post a bunch of them! (I’ve split them into three groups. You can view the second batch here and the third batch here.)
This first one was especially fun to draw, because the costumes were so distinctive and colourful. It was commissioned by the musical director of a pantomime as a thank-you for the cast, and I loved experimenting with more colour than I normally use.
The next one is a classic example of when I’m commissioned to draw an in-joke I don’t fully understand. Apparently the bride unintentionally gave a really harsh glare to her sister when they were signing the marriage documents… or something… and it was remembered as a moment of great hilarity. So the bride hired me to draw this for her sister to commemorate it. I made sure to check I was on the right track, and I’d got the expressions right, before adding any ink to this one!
The next picture actually features me – a friend kindly commissioned me to draw a memory of the two of us together, so I drew us at one of the Jam Sandwich gigs we went to before the pandemic.
A Christmas portrait: Hugo, in front of a house and a car that he loves!
And here it is in its frame, to give you some idea of what it looks like in real life.
Once again, I won’t pretend to fully understand what’s going on here… other than some father-daughter bonding, commissioned by the daughter as a gift for her dad.
And here’s a full family portrait! Commissioned by Fabia (far left) for her dad (EU t-shirt). Some references you’ll get, some you won’t!
If you want to hire me to gift a framed cartoon, please just get in touch! Tell me who I should draw; think of a funny memory or something they love; and I’ll do the rest…
For three years, I had a job that was both extremely interesting, and extremely difficult to explain in a sentence. It’s a long story.
In the autumn of 2017, I’d just returned from an accident-prone trip to South America, and I was at a bit of a loose end. Then I received an email from someone I knew, asking if I’d be interested in some freelance work for Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury.
