As a cartoonist I regularly receive emails with suggestions for cartoons. They are well-meant, but, I'm afraid, unwelcome. I like to come up with my own ideas. It's a bit like saying to a writer "I've got a sentence for your next book you can have" or to a musician "Here's

a melody you can use in your next song". Perhaps this happens, but you can see it's kind of absurd. If you DO have an idea for a cartoon I strongly urge you to have a go at drawing it yourself. Honestly, the drawing can be as simple and crude as you like. It's all about the idea.

A few years ago I mentioned I was thinking of making a book of my hippopotamus puns cartoons and someone kept tweeting me ideas, despite the fact I asked them not to. Eventually I blocked them, so they started emailing me them instead, quite angry that I wouldn’t listen.

You might think me a little hypocritical because I mentioned on the Rule of Three podcast that I drew a cartoon from an idea Jason Hazeley sent me. I occasionally make exceptions for great writers I have huge respect for :)

But also it’s about me being able to bring something

It’s also problematic because I’m, amongst other things, a professional cartoonist, so intellectual property rights becomes an issues. And however much you say “You can have it” I don’t feel comfortable earning money from it.