Roger Davidson Illustration

In lordly regalia, a la William Pitt the Younger.

Today’s piece is a little tribute to the leader of the democratic opposition in Burma, a dedicated and inspiring woman who has stood as the sole hope for a democratic future for the people of her country, who have suffered long under the violent oppression of the ruling military junta, and its support by countries such as China and North Korea.

I’m quite interested by this Julian Assange chap and his Wikileaks caper.  To be honest, despite being a liberal and often critical of the machinations of the US government, I do worry that releasing all these reports about what goes on during the war might be endangering lives, and he’s not quite the hero ‘speaking truth to power’ that he obviously sees himself as being.  Anyway, he has an interesting look about him – he wouldn’t be out of place in a film adaptation of a Robert Ludlum novel (‘The Wikileak Conundrum’ or something).  So I drew him.

I was really just looking for something to draw today, so did this grand, manly lion tamer.

Another illustration for the new Oxford Forum, this time to accompany an article on the subject of international aid and whether it can have a negative impact on nations it is intended to benefit.  I also submitted this to Illustration Friday, whose theme this week was ‘spent’ – I thought my image fitted quite nicely with the theme, although in a somewhat darker and less cheerful way than many of the other entrants.

Last month Venus Febriculosa ran a competition to illustrate and design a book cover for an edition of Tadeusz Borowski’s collection of stories about the Nazi Holocaust, This Way for the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen.  Not having illustrated a book cover before, I thought I’d enter just to challenge myself and see what I could come up with.  I didn’t expect to win, and I was quite right, having seen the range of incredible work that was submitted (around 240 pieces).  It was a good experience, trying my hand at something different.  Here’s my entry.

A man whose work I read quite frequently and whose interviews I like to listen to while I work, Noam Chomsky.

This was a bit of stylistic experiment combining ink drawing with a painterly touch, and some handwriting.  The effect is interesting, but needs a lot of development….

For some reason I’m very fond of drawing Charles Darwin.  This is my favourite of all the drawings I’ve done of him – it just has a loose touch that I often aspire to but don’t always achieve.

Nick Cohen, journalist and author of What’s Left?, Waiting for the Etonians and other books, is a regular Facebook user.  Being an admirer of his work, I did this caricature for him, which he now uses as his profile picture.