David Squires Interview

Here is an interview I did with football cartoonist David Squires who makes cartoons for The Guardian and has published a few books in his career. 

A drawing of Mike Dean, as he became the first Premier League referee to give out 100 red cards.  Image Source: David Squires Twitter Page                                                                                  

Tell me a little about yourself, where are you from and when did you begin to make football cartoons?

I grew up in Swindon in the 1980s, but have moved around a fair bit. Since 2009, I've been living in Australia. I can't remember the exact time I began drawing football cartoons, but about a decade ago I began to share them online via a blog. By promoting it on social media, I was able to build a small readership, which eventually led to the offer to provide weekly cartoons for The Guardian in 2014.

What do you believe was your biggest achievement in your career?

I would say the publication of my first two books ('The Illustrated History of Football' and 'Hall of Fame'), as they took so long to research, write and draw. They really did become a labour of love; I barely took a day off in two years and by the end I even had a shoulder injury. To get those books over the line, and to see them on the shelves remains a source of pride. 

How long does it take to draw each picture and make the full story? 

The Guardian cartoons take a couple of days. In my mind, I always plan that each panel will take about an hour to draw, but in reality it takes much longer than that. I'm constantly thinking of ideas for jokes and cartoons. At the beginning of each week, I sit down with my notebook and try to cobble a story together. On a good week, there is one big obvious story for me to focus on (eg. Marcus Rashford campaigning to end child food poverty, or a manager of a big club being sacked). More often than not, I have to find a thread between a number of different, unrelated stories, which is where the real challenge lies. 

Now that so much has gone digital in journalism, have you had a positive reaction to your work? 

I've been lucky that the reaction to my work has been largely positive. If I'm writing about controversial subjects (e.g. Millwall fans booing players taking the knee), then I get some abuse, but I don't always mind that, as it means I'm hitting the subject. Working in a field where your work is open for public comment and criticism can be a bit tough at times, but I find it useful to remind myself that very few of the people commenting know me, so it's helpful to keep in mind that there is a distinction between you and your work. 

Have you been worried about making a cartoon that was controversial or would get a lot of backlash from the public? 

In some ways, those cartoons are easier to draw, as it's harder to write about a subject you don't really have an opinion on. But yes, there are times where I know that commenting on a certain subject will result in a few days of ugly comments in my mentions. Also, I have a great editors at all of the publications I work for, so if I get something wrong, there is a bit of a safety net, where they will point out that something I've said isn't quite right, or could be misread in a certain way. 

Former QPR manager Harry Redknapp playing FIFA 06 

Image Source: FootyFair 

As your 1st published work was in the Swindon Town fanzine, how did you get the opportunity from the team?

That magazine was just something that was self-published by a few fans and sold outside the stadium for about 75p. It was literally just a few bits of photocopied paper stapled together. There was no formal process for getting something published in the fanzine, you just wrote it (or in my case, drew it), sent it off, and then waited to see if it would be included in the next issue. I got a great buzz seeing people on the terraces reading my cartoon and my friends treated me like a superstar for about six minutes.

Does being a fan of a certain team affect the storyline to your cartoons?

I try to stay impartial. It probably helps that I support a team that bounces between League One and League Two, so very rarely come into contact with the Premier League clubs I write about most regularly. I think it would be harder to remain objective if I supported one of the big Prem clubs.

What kind of advice would you give to a person who wants to be a cartoonist or illustrator? 

I'm probably the worst person to ask, as my career took a very strange and circuitous path, but I would say the main thing is to keep at it. There are times when the last thing you feel like doing is writing and drawing, but that's what the difference is between doing it as a hobby and a job; you just have to plough through it. I'd actually given up on my illustration career until a friend suggested I just spent an hour a day drawing. It didn't matter if what I drew was any good or not, but it just got me back into the habit of creating. I soon found that I had a huge pile of drawings, cartoons, and ideas (some good, some terrible). That was the basis for the website I set up, and the foundation of the readership I've got now. So yeah: stick at it. 

Is there any story you wish you wrote differently and if yes explain why?

Not really, there are a few individual jokes I look back on and think I may have approached differently, but as a whole, there's nothing I massively regret.  

What are your goals for 2021? 

I don't really set myself goals, but my next target is to improve my online shop and finally fix up a decent website. Both are long overdue.