Nicola Jennings studied theatre design at the Wimbledon School of Art. She spent several years working in theatre and illustrating books before she joined The London Daily News in 1987 as a caricaturist for the Diary. She then went on to draw caricatures for the Daily Mirror’s television pages and work for the Sunday Times and the Observer. Her first cartoon for the Guardian appeared in 1990.
Her drawings have also appeared in numerous other publications. Television work includes animated cartoons for Channel 4’s A Week in Politics (1995-1997), title sequences for political documentaries and live drawing on the BBC 2’s Midnight Hour (1994). She has also provided illustrations for Quentin Lett’s 50 People Who Buggered Up Britain (2008) and Letts Rip! (2010), John Crace’s Digested 21st Century and his recent book I Never Promised you a Rose Garden (2014). Nicola won Caricaturist of the Year in 2008. She teaches caricature workshops for the Royal Drawing School.
Nicola’s influences are many – Hans Holbein, James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson, the spy cartoons from Vanity Fair, Marc Boxer and Gerald Scarfe. She became a caricaturist to: “poke fun at the establishment and to tease out the truth from the bluff and the formal façade.” As noted in the introduction to the Hidden Face Exhibition catalogue in 2005: “Nicola uses caricature to peel away the mask and prick the pose of her subjects uncovering the real intentions of those we elect and applaud.” Guardian cartoonist Andrzej Krauze compares her work to Goya in recording the severity of what is going on in modern day life. He also praises her economy and puts her work in the tradition of Honore Daumier in whose work there was “only a face and a little bit of hand – masterpieces of drawing. This is how I think of her drawings.”
While focusing on caricature as the central element of her work, Nicola has also applied this to the editorial cartoon and comment drawing. Her work has appeared in a range of sections in the Guardian including Comment, Opinion and Editorial, g2, Review, Books, Birthdays, People column and the Diary page. The above caricature of Nelson Mandela appeared on the front page of the Guardian on 29 April 1994, two days after he had been elected as the first black president of South Africa. It was used to complement a UK exclusive interview that Mandela had given Johannesburg correspondent David Beresford, outlining his hopes for the country.
The time that Nicola has to do a caricature or cartoon depends on the newspaper section and when it is commissioned. For same-day cartoons she might have four hours but often they can be the very last minute. She was asked to produce a caricature of Nigel Farage for John Crace’s political sketch in two hours. She might get a brief from the section’s editor or designer, which could be a verbal description of the story. Sometimes she will receive a partly written piece from the journalist who is still working on it or she might get the finished article.
The GNM Archive collection has three drawings of the musician Marilyn Manson, the sketch, the pen and ink line drawing and finished caricature, which demonstrate the way in which Nicola plans and executes a commission. First of all she makes a preparatory sketch and then passes it to the editor or designer to look at. She will then trace her sketch on a light box onto good quality paper and then she will begin to create the caricature. She uses a dip pen and ink “to get a really sharp, textured line” and then colours it with Dr Martin’s inks or colour washes it with gouache.
Sometimes she might scan the black and white ink drawing and colour it in Photoshop with a digital pen and tablet. She can also draw the whole image on the computer but this takes a lot of time and she often has short deadlines. You can see the process of creating a caricature of George Osborne in the video below.
Nicola enjoys caricaturing politicians. She also likes drawing musicians as they often have “mad hair” which makes them interesting to do. One of her favourite subjects is the Queen as she has a fleshy face, always looks bad tempered and is hard to read - Nicola enjoys the challenge. By caricaturing she aims to: “arrive at an accurate description of the personality by analysing not only the proportions of the face but also its expressions and movements”. As Alan Rusbridger noted, in the introduction to the Hidden Face Exhibition catalogue, “It is her intelligence, her restrained and gentle sense of humour – she never surrenders to the cheap gibe – and her unshakeable belief in challenging the status quo that sets her work apart. Her work is both iconic and innately suited to the pages of the Guardian.”
A gallery to accompany this resource includes a selection of her cartoons and caricatures held by the GNM archive along with some more recent work.
You can see Nicola Jennings’ latest caricatures here.
A catalogue of Nicola Jennings’ cartoons is available to search online and the collection can be consulted in the GNM Archive reading room in London by appointment.
Past teaching resources of the month from the GNM Archive
More teaching resources can be found on our resources for teachers page
