Self-taught cartoonist Graham Harrop draws a daily online editorial cartoon for the Vancouver Sun. In 2013, he won a national cartoonist award for his work: Ten Cats. His editorial cartoon BackBench appeared daily in The Globe and Mail for more than 25 years. In January, Harrop published a book entitled The Sunshine Coast Is. The whimsical cartoon pays homage to the stretch of coastline between Gibsons and Lund where he spent his formative years.
What is your connection to Powell River?
I was born in Liverpool and came here at the age of seven. I went to Brooks and attended Max Cameron Senior Secondary. My sister and her husband still live here. I have connections and a feeling sense of the place, too. I really love Powell River.
How did you get into drawing cartoons?
I always knew I was going to be a cartoonist, even when I was 10. I mean it sincerely in a God-given way, to make people happy, that’s what I want to do. Life is so serious sometimes; I just want to give people a laugh. I went to Vancouver to work at the Vancouver Sun as a copy runner in 1960 and then came back and worked at the mill. For two and a half years I was in the steam plant and used to do cartoons for guys in the mill. Al Alsgard gave me a break by letting me put my cartoons in the Powell River News. Then I went back to Vancouver and started freelancing for The Province and Vancouver Sun. After a number of years, I got a job doing a comic strip for The Globe and Mail. In the interim I was freelancing, doing greeting cards and having fun.
What was your big break?
The Globe and Mail. That was just unreal because they wanted it seven days a week, across Canada, and that’s pretty amazing. It was a steady job. It made my family happy and certainly made me happy. I did other things before like driving taxi, working at Hudson’s Bay Company and working in a paint store, and sold my artwork in Stanley Park.
Do you have any advice for people pursuing artistic careers?
Just go with your heart. What you truly love to do: do it. Get it out there in the world and have fun.
A selection of Harrop’s art is currently on display at Magpie’s Diner in Cranberry. For more information, go to gryndstoneandfusspotpress.com.
