Upcoming Events
Alison Brown Young Comics Maestro Competition 2024
The Alison Brown Young Comics Maestro Award 2023 competition is now open and we are looking for the next big comic artist! Send in your very best comic strip, three pages maximum, to enter the competition and get your work in front of judges from The Beano, The Phoenix, and The Cartoon Museum.
There will be one overall winner and two runners-up. The winner will receive a £200 prize and the runners-up will each receive £50 prizes. We intend to announce the winners in July 2024.
The Comics Maestro Award celebrates Cartoon Museum staff member Alison Brown, who passed away from Covid in 2021 at the age of just 39. Alison loved comics and championed young comic artists.
To enter please send a three-page comic strip to either The Cartoon Museum, 63 Wells Street, London, W1A 3AE or hello@cartoonmuseum.org. Make sure you include your name, age, and contact details. If you are under 18 and sending your entry via email, please make sure a parent or guardian sends in your cartoon. Entrants must be aged 18 or under.
The deadline for entries is Sunday 30 June 2024.
Comic strips must be no more than three A4 pages long. We are accepting hand drawn comics on paper and we are also accepting digital art. Regrettably we will not be able to return any physical entries that are sent in.
For some inspiration, you can download free drawing resources from our website to help your lay out your comic and learn to draw cartoon faces – or you can have a look at the 2023 winners!
Relaxed Mondays
Our free Relaxed Monday events have been specifically designed for children and young people with autism spectrum conditions or sensory processing differences.
Workshop - Life Drawing Super Heroes Special
Join us for Life Drawing with an superhero theme - think dynamic poses and superhero costumes!
All abilities welcome. Expert advice will be available from Chris Geary if required.
Materials provided but you are also welcome to bring your own.
£15 in advance or £20 on the door.
You are welcome to arrive from 6pm to have a look around the Museum.
Spider-Potato
A special fun workshop for children aged 5-7. They must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian (at no extra cost). In this session we’ll draw some famous superhero faces using simple lines and shapes. Then we’ll create a silly superhero and draw it onto a blank Marvel-style cover.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be
collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
Caricatures: Fun with Faces
Using simple lines and shapes, draw some famous comic characters and real-life people as cartoons. Learn special techniques for drawing cartoon faces, and take part in a fun competition where you could win a special prize!
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
The Cartoon Museum Lates: Wallace & Gromit The Wrong Trousers Turns 30
We know you love Wallace & Gromit! You’ve been talking our ears off about it for months, selling out all our stock and booking all of our Aardman events up solid. So here’s one last one for you, our last hurrah with the boys before our museum says Goodbye for now. We’re having a PARTY!
Our event will start with an earlier party that kids will be able to enjoy without being late for bedtime and then transition into more of a classic Cartoon Museum Late with a full bar and music. What you can expect from both parts of the night though is:
A Cheese Bar
A Screening of The Wrong Trousers
Prizes for the Best/Wrongest Trousers
4pm-6pm: Fun for all the Family! Join a screening at 5pm of The Wrong Trousers and visit a child friendly bar for refreshments (there will be cheese!) Prizes will be awarded for the best costumes!
6pm - 10pm: Throughout: Cheese bar and late opening of our Wallace & Gromit: 30 Years of The Wrong Trousers exhibition.
6.10pm - Tour of the Exhibition
6.30pm Screening of The Wrong Trousers
7.00pm - Tour of the Exhibition
7.30pm Comedy with Luke Poulton aka 'Vegan Luke' - first chance to get a taste for his new show 'Cracking' all about his love for Wallace & Gromit
8.30pm Screening of The Wrong Trousers
9pm Fancy dress prize awarded
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Make a Mini-Comic
Lots of comic creators got started by making mini-comics. Learn how to create your own characters and draw them into a special booklet that you’ll easily be able to make copies of to give to your friends.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be
collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Drawing a Wallace & Gromit Storyboard
After a look around our exhibition 'The Wrong Trousers Turns 30', The Cartoon Museum's cartoonist and tutor Steve Marchant will show you how to draw Wallace & Gromit, and you'll be able to write and draw your own adventure in a comic-strip style storyboard. Characters used with permission by Aardman Animations.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Superheroes
Superheroes are going from strength to super-strength. Learn how to draw some favourite superheroes and create a brand new one of your own. Then we’ll showcase your character on a Marvel-style front cover.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be
collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Create a Comic Strip
Learn how to design your own cartoon characters and then draw them in a one-page comic strip story. Study best ways and bad ways to draw pictures for comics, and how to do proper speech bubbles. Great for beginners, and fun for those with a little more experience.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Advanced Manga
If you love manga and anime characters and would like to create your own, here's where you'll learn to draw faces, expressions, bodies and clothing, and then feature your character in a story page of artwork.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are suitable for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Manga
Whether you’re new to the world of Japanese comics, or if you love manga and anime characters and would like to create your own, we’ll be looking at the basics of drawing manga, creating our own character, and then featuring them in a page of manga artwork.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Book online at www.cartoonmuseum.org/learn
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be
collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Single Mothering
Join comic book artist Anna Härmälä and editor Niamh Jones for a Q&A discussing the graphic novel Single Mothering.
Make Me Manga!
What kind of manga character might you be? Stylish Shojo? Powerful Shonen? Cute Chibi? Perhaps you’d be a Pokemon-style creature. Let’s find out in a fun session featuring your manga self in a page of artwork.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Make a Mini-Comic
Lots of comic creators got started by making mini-comics. Learn how to create your own characters and draw them into a special booklet that you’ll easily be able to make copies of to give to your friends.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be
collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Workshop - Aardman Animation Model Making
We are super excited to be welcoming Aardman Animation to The Cartoon Museum to celebrate the Thirtieth Anniversary of Wallace & Gromit, The Wrong Trousers.
Come and make your own Wallace & Gromit characters to take home with you, ably assisted by Jim Parkyn - one of Aardman Animation's own modelmakers.
Workshop - 'Relaxed' Aardman Animations Model Making
*Guests will be making the same model as the other model making workshops*
This workshop is for children and young people with autism spectrum conditions or sensory processing differences. We have a reduced number of tickets for this workshop so it’s a quieter environment, which means it might sell out quicker than the other sessions.
Spider-Potato
A special fun workshop for children aged 5-7. They must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian (at no extra cost). In this session we’ll draw some famous superhero faces using simple lines and shapes. Then we’ll create a silly superhero and draw it onto a blank Marvel-style cover.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be
collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
Superheroes
Superheroes are going from strength to super-strength. Learn how to draw some favourite superheroes and create a brand new one of your own. Then we’ll showcase your character on a Marvel-style front cover.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be
collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
Create a Comic Strip
Learn how to design your own cartoon characters and then draw them in a one-page comic strip story. Study best ways and bad ways to draw pictures for comics, and how to do proper speech bubbles. Great for beginners, and fun for those with a little more experience.
Places on all workshops are limited, so advance booking is essential.
Workshops are for children aged 8-14 and cost £12 per person attending.
Any children attending 2 separate sessions at the museum on the same day must be collected at lunchtime so the classroom can be made ready for the afternoon workshop.
For any enquiries, please email learning@cartoonmuseum.org
ACCESS REQUIREMENTS
Please let us know if you have access requirements.
The Clangers
Simon Postgate - son of Oliver Postgate - will be hosting a live talk exploring the making of Clangers from his perspective as a young boy in the seventies. Whether you're a recent fan or have a nostalgic love of these pink aliens, you're guaranteed to enjoy this trip down memory lane about these inspirational knitted characters! (They helped inspire Nick Park too!)
Cartoon Conference 2024
Join us for our third annual conference and learn how to survive and thrive as a comic artist and creator by learning from industry experts and specialists all under one roof for one day only.
Make a Mini-Comic
Lots of comic creators got started by making mini-comics. Learn how to create your own characters and draw them into a special booklet that you’ll easily be able to make copies of to give to your friends.
Manga
We’ll be looking at the basics of drawing manga, creating our own character, and then featuring them in a page of manga artwork.
Storyboarding Workshop
After a look around our exhibition ‘The Wrong Trousers Turns 30’ The Cartoon Museum’s tutor Steve Marchant will lead you in a storyboarding workshop, inspired by Wallace and Gromit. He will show you how to draw the characters, and you’ll be able to write and draw your own adventure in a comic-strip style storyboard.
Superheroes
Tuesday, 13 February 2024
14:00 15:30
With so many Marvel and DC characters on TV and at the cinema, it’s a great time for superhero fans. If you like drawing superheroes and villains, we’ll show you how to draw your own in dynamic and dramatic poses that will get your artwork noticed!
Create a Comic Strip
Learn how to design your own cartoon characters and then draw them in a one-page comic strip story. Study best ways and bad ways to draw pictures for comics, and how to do proper speech bubbles. Great for beginners, and fun for those with a little more experience.
Young Cartoonist in Residence application information
In this page you will find information on how to apply for our Young Cartoonist in Residency Programme as well as what is involved in the programme. This has been kindly funded by John Lyon's Charity. In our first year of trialling the residency we were lucky enough to win the Museum and Heritage Award for Community Engagement Programme of the Year. This is a six month residency for Autistic young people between the ages of 15 and 30 who live or go to school in the boroughs of Brent, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Camden.
Life Drawing at The Cartoon Museum
Self-guided life drawing at The Cartoon Museum with assistance from the talented Chris Geary if required.
The First Graphic Novel Award 2023
The First Graphic Novel Award, the Cartoon Museum and SelfMadeHero are delighted to invite you to join us as an audience member at an event to meet the shortlist and discover the winner of The First Graphic Novel Award 2023.
We will also display the 30-strong longlisted entries for all to browse. The seven shortlisted creators – Alex Taylor, Cathy Brett, Anna Trench, Corban Wilkin, Gareth Cowlin, Myfanwy Tristram and Mereida Fajardo – will present and discuss their work with host Alex Fitch and fellow judges Emma Hayley, Sabba Khan, Ayoola Solarin, Steve Marchant, Mark Wallinger and Corinne Pearlman.
Crumb
The Cartoon Museum is screening Crumb. Director Terry Zwigoff and Producer David Lynch come together to make this documentary detailing the life of one of the most prolific voices of underground comix, R. Crumb. It’ll be presented by programmers Joel Whitaker and Molly Miles. The screening will be in a pop-up screen and the film will be preceded by a short introduction.
Workshop - Life Drawing
Join us for Life Drawing with an animation theme - poses to help your character drawings come to life!
All abilities welcome. Expert advice will be available from Chris Geary if required.
Materials provided but you are also welcome to bring your own.
£15 in advance or £20 on the door.
You are welcome to arrive from 6pm to have a look around the Museum.
Online Screening and Talk: A screening of The Wrong Trousers followed by a panel discussion with Nick Park and Dave Alex Riddett.
As part of the Cartoon Museum exhibition showcasing Wallace & Gromit artwork and production artefacts over the years (September 2023 – April 2024), we’re delighted to announce a one-off, online panel discussion with Wallace & Gromit creator, Nick Park, and renowned cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett. The event will start online at 7pm with a screening of The Wrong Trousers, followed by the panel discussion.
