Ern Shaw and the Dalesman Magazine Yorkshire

In the 50’s and 60’s Ern Shaw drew for the Dalesman magazine and these are examples of his work.

The Cartoon in advertising

Quote by Ern Shaw’s book ‘ How to become a successful Cartoonist’

“Advertising presents almost unlimited scope for the artist who can emphasize the selling points of an advertisement in humorous pictorial form. Of course, it is not every commodity which lends itself to humorous treatment. In some instances its employment would be in rank bad taste and ‘good taste’ is one of the very first essentials in advertising”

“I did a series of advertisements for a Broadcast Relay Service, which was really ‘Radio on tap’ so to speak. Subscribers merely moved a switch and the programme flowed out of their loud speaker. I was asked to design a series of humorous cartoons which emphasized the fact that a subscriber could be so charmed with the excellence of the reception that he or she might forget an important appointment. In designing this class of advertisement, do not let your sketch occupy a larger proportion of the available space than is absolutely sufficient to catch the eye and convey your message. Room must be allowed for a number of lines of ‘copy’ as well as for the name of the commodity advertised.”

Using cartoon characters in advertising today

Harassed parents out shopping with their offspring may notice a distinct pattern to the products that children drag down from the shelves. The chances are that their choices will have nothing to do with the flavour, say, of a can of soup - or the exact specifications of a toy car. It's more likely that the kids are responding simply because the product is being sold by one of their favourite cartoon characters.

Companies selling breakfast cereals, crisps and sweets are some of the heaviest users of branded cartoon characters. Using cartoons to sell games and toys also remains as popular as ever. Through these characters advertisers can communicate the 'fun' elements of their products to kids. The advertisers know that children will recognise the character and start to pester their parents for the product.

‘Radiosities’

Ern Shaw’s (sometimes called Uncle Ern) humour and talent even led him to broadcasting a weekly feature on the 6KH Radio Relay Station at Hull between 1924-1931 called, ‘Radiosities’ From the radio studio he gave children grid references similar to ‘Dot to Dot’ to complete a drawing on a printed ruled grid which had been published in the ‘Hull Evening News’.

Examples of the grids

Ern Shaw's Greeting Card Designs

Ern Shaw's card games

The humour that Ern Shaw creates in his work can clearly be seen again in his card games.

Ern Shaw’s Books

An Ern Shaw quote:
“The sweetest of music is the laughter of children.
In recent years, I have had the pleasure of producing dozens of paintings and story books for young people.”

Some of the most famous names in publishing published his books, such as Mellifont Press who published one series of 100 books which Ern Shaw created and illustrated.
Other publishers who published his books were Hutchinson and Collins.

The following are examples of his work from his books...

Ern Shaw's Dingbats Characters

Tiny, Mac,Toodles, Mick and Twanky and many more, were names for the funny colourful pixie like characters that Ern Shaw created called the ‘Dingbats’. These characters appeared in annuals, colouring books and games.

His first ‘Dingbats’ annual published in 1950 sold at least 100,000 copies, and inside included stories, puzzles, jokes, games and lots of fun activities compiled and illustrated by Ern Shaw.