Mark Wiggett

Cartoonist

Email – cartoon@telkomsa.net

Cell phone - +27 (0)72 747-2363

Mark Wiggett is based in Knysna, South Africa, and draws cartoons for publications nationwide. Besides freelancing for advertising agencies, he also creates in-house cartoon strips for corporate clients, for example in training manuals.

He appeared on national TV in 2007 on The Weakest Link. Besides his cartoons for Workinfo.com, his work has appeared in Barry Ronge’s article series in the Sunday Times Magazine, and also Action Ads (the district publication for Knysna, Sedgefield & Plettenberg Bay), in which his cartoon, Lagoon Views, appears. His work can also be seen in Garden Route Living and Bike SA Magazine. He is currently the cartoonist for The Herald, the Eastern Cape daily newsletter, and for its sister publication, The Weekend Post. He received the Certificate for the Easter Region of the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award 2007: Cartoon Category and were nominated for the SA Comedy Award 2007: Cartoon Category.

His interests include drumming; his claim to fame being as a band member in the Rene Arnell Band, a curtain raiser act for the Chris de Burgh Tour in South Africa in the early eighties.

Drawing cartoons for in-house training programmes, Mark would use a theme for the training programme and a script of points that the training material would like to put across. Using a layman’s explanation of the system, he would illustrate and interpret the important points with cartoons, explaining how the programme would make the life of staff easier.

Versatile and applicable to different sectors, cartoons are effective whatever the product or industry. They portray human or animated characters effectively, unlimited by the rules of reality. Photography, on the other hand, is limited to photographing matter and is complex in comparison concerning cost and production processes. Cartoons are able to present complex ideas and even abstract matter, whether the target audience is literate or semi-literate.

Examples of what he has done include:

• Educating staff in using new computer software programmes

• Safety programmes for the mining sectors 

• Hygiene education for schoolchildren in rural areas 

• Sex education and AIDS awareness programmes 

• Book illustrations 

• The Sappi posters teaching kids the papermaking process

Short description
Mark Wiggett is cartoonist for the Workinfo.com Human Resources Magazine.

Keywords and relevant phrases
Biography, cartoon, training.