Drawn to success, the cartoonist of 16
HE is known as the ‘mystery artist’ at the local pub because he often draws on the blackboard menu there for fun.
Now 16-year-old Jack Magee’s name could become far more widely known after he won this year’s British Cartoonists’ Association’s Young Cartoonist of the Year competition.
His cartoon, inspired by the discovery of Richard III’s skeleton under a Leicester car park, tickled and impressed the judges, beating hundreds of other entries to the title in the under-18 age group.
Yesterday Jack, a pupil at Earlston High School in the Scottish Borders, said: ‘It only took me about 45 minutes to do. I’d like to get into this as a career.’
Previously, Jack’s artistic endeavours have been mainly appreciated by regu- lars and staff at the Buccleuch Arms pub, near his home in Melrose. His parents Maggie and Alain, both 52 and conservation advisers, say Jack has been ‘drawing since before he was walking’.
This year’s winner in the under-30 age group was James Hunter, 26, a graphic designer from East London, who entered a cartoon of a man shooting himself with a ‘bang’ flag gun.
The judges of the annual competition were cartoonists from nearly every national daily newspaper, including the Daily Mail’s incomparable Mac, and Oliver Preston, chairman of the Cartoon Museum in London.
The winners will be presented with their £250 prizes and certificates at the museum on Wednesday.