Greyt Stuff GAP Supporter Blog: Rich Skipworth - Cartoonist

I was, for over 40 years, a freelance professional cartoonist. I’ve officially retired from commercial work now, but I don’t seem to have stopped cartooning. Especially when it comes to Greyhounds.

I work from home and my studio used to be shared with my constant companion Magic, my very large Greyhound (now sadly over the Rainbow Bridge). These days the floor space is often occupied by Bonnie the Lurcher and Cedric, the Jack Russell/Chihuahua cross.

Several years ago (probably ten-ish) I posted a few cartoons of Magic on Facebook. Much to my amazement, they proved to be popular. I was swamped with requests to do more, so I began drawing cartoons of my hound’s antics with “definitions” of this behaviour in the style of an imaginary dictionary. I soon realised they were never going to be alphabetical, so the idea became the Greyhound Glossary.

Very quickly, my hound became a Facebook celebrity, gathering over 45,000 followers, with thousands more on Instagram. The Greyhound Glossary was eventually published in physical form (Volumes 1 and 2 are still available!), and I remain utterly amazed at its success.

So, how did my cartooning career start? Well… not quite how you might expect.

I studied Physics at University in the 70s, thinking it was the route to a “proper” career. Halfway through, I realised I really wanted to follow my true interest, my first love: Cartooning. This caused considerable consternation among my tutors when I told them I wanted to change courses and become (gasp!) an Artist! Serious talks were had. They tried to talk me out of it. Some tried to convince me that "Science is like Art deep down you know…”  But I didn’t crack under the pressure. I was adamant in my resolve!

Changing courses wasn’t easy. I had to apply to a local art college. Bring your portfolio of work they said. And a potato and a knife and some toothpicks. That sounded weird. And I didn’t have a portfolio. Well not one of those posh ones that kept your pictures all nice and flat in clear plastic folders and that zipped up and had a carrying handle. I had a big cardboard tube.

The interview didn’t go well. There was a roomful of hopefuls, all clutching their potatoes and posh portfolios. We were told to take our potatoes and toothpicks and knives and “do something creative” with them while others were called in to another room to have their portfolios examined.

I was asked to present my portfolio of work. I unrolled my drawings from the tube. They all promptly rolled themselves back up again. There was a struggle to hold them all flat. It took about four of them to hold this curling, coiling, unruly paper beast down so it could be viewed by the Heads of Art. They weren’t impressed. Never mind I thought, they’ll love my potato/toothpick masterpiece…

By the time they had viewed everyone’s work, there wasn’t time to assess our creative attempts with the potatoes and toothpicks, so we were all sat there with basically chips with sticks in and told to bin the lot!

I was informed that, after due consideration of my rolled up curly artwork, it was apparent that I had little or no evidence of artistic ability and wasn’t going to be allowed on an Art course. Pah!

So I finished my Physics degree, then got on with building a proper portfolio (one that stayed flat). I worked in a newspaper as a layout artist, moved into graphic design, and eventually took the leap into freelance work.

During a quiet patch, I sent some cartoons to a greeting card company. I didn’t expect anything to come of it, so I was astonished to get an immediate response. Those first cartoons became bestsellers and the demand for more of my cartoons began to increase. I abandoned Graphic Design and became a full-time Cartoonist working for the Greeting Card industry, producing cards and giftware for many years (often at a fairly frantic pace, which I loved).

Now that I’ve kind of retired, things have slowed down quite a bit. I concentrate on publishing and selling my work online rather than working for other companies. This approach has put me in direct contact with my customers and it’s been really great to get feedback from them from all over the world about how much they like my work, particularly my Greyhound work. I seem to have become a bit of a celeb in the Greyhound adopting world!

You can purchase custom gifts featuring artwork kindly donated to GAP by Rich Skipworth (available until December 2026). 

SHOP HERE 👉 https://greyhoundsaspetsnz.digitees.co.nz/

https://shop.greyhoundsaspets.org.nz/