Caricaturist and Cartoonist, Simon Ellinas:
The London Caricaturist

I was born with a pencil in hand (unfortunately for my mother) and drew all the way through school and college. So, it's what I do and the fact that my customers are grateful for the cartoons and caricatures is the icing on the cake.

As Director of cartoon agency, Squigglers, in the early nineties, I organised the mass production of approximately 1500 framed caricatures ordered through mail order house Kaleidoscope.

I launched my won satirical magazine, Ha! (Humorous Arts) in the mid nineties and it came close to being nationally published. A repository for its contents has been created at HumorousArts.co.uk.

Television has made the grave error of judgement several times by setting me loose on various sets. I was the caricaturist on the 100th edition of  Going Live in 1999 and I was the 'resident political cartoonist' for BBC News 24 during one day of their General Election coverage in 2005.

Performing live has always held a fascination for me and I co-founded the Poetry Shack in 2004. It was during this time that I practiced a unique stand-up Cartoon Poetry Act which aroused curiosity wherever it went.

Belonging to various organisations keeps me in touch with the cartoon and caricature world. The main ones are The Cartoonists Club of Great Britain, The Professional Cartoonists Organisation and The National Caricaturists Network.