Karl Jeffery

Hi, I’m Karl.

I’m a cartoonist and illustrator. I have a habit of drinking too much tea. I’m also a self-confessed overthinker, which is why I took up meditation. I now face the inner battle about being Zen, or eating cake.

I spend a lot of time alone with my thoughts, making funny little drawings about life, especially the bits that make it surreal or a struggle. 

I know from experience that life can sometimes feel overwhelming and heavy, a bit like carrying a sofa upstairs on your own. That’s why I turn all the stuff that makes us feel stressed, worried or sad into something more uplifting. My hope is that you’ll leave feeling a little lighter than when you arrived.

Yes, if you’d like something drawn, or have a creative project in mind, feel free to get in touch — I’d love to help bring your ideas to life.

Yes. I’ve not got the online store set up yet. However, please email me with what you’d like, and we’ll take it from there!

Wow, yes please, I’d be honoured if you did. Supporting my work will help me to keep on making and creating. 

I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter on Substack where I share drawings, cartoons and occasional thoughts about life, and why it’s all a bit more manageable than we think.  You’ll be the first to see what I’ve been creating, plus other things that only subscribers get to see.

You can also support me for free online by following on social media and sharing my work with your friends. Your likes and shares are a like a virtual hug for my creativity, and really do mean a lot. Thank you.

I started drawing when I was 5 years old. Back then it was mostly dinosaurs and stick figures. 

I earned my artistic licence at secondary school by drawing cartoons of the teachers. I earned lots of money by selling them to the other kids. I got lots of detentions too.

I began working as a freelance cartoonist and illustrator in the 1990s. My work has appeared in magazines, on Christmas cards, online and in a few books (erm, some of them weren’t published, I just drew in them and returned them to the library).

I’ve had a some interesting creative jobs over the years, including 20 years as a professional ventriloquist. I wrote, produced and performed hundreds of magical puppet shows all over the UK. As a ventriloquist I spent twenty years talking to my hand for a living. 

I also trained to become a meditation teacher. It was while teaching meditation at Sunderland University that the students awarded me with my honorary spiritual title, ‘The Angry Buddha.’

That was where I discovered creativity, cartooning, humour and meditation all share one thing in common. The can all help to enrich our lives and benefit our wellbeing, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The challenges and struggles of everyday life can be transformed into something more manageable. And when life feel less heavy, we feel better. We can relax and enjoy it a lot more.

I’ve also worked for the NHS as a health care advisor, and independently as a holistic therapist, and a meditation teacher . . .  but this isn’t my CV and I suspect your eyes are already glazing over.

I finally made it into ‘art school’ at the age of 45. I graduated from Sunderland University with 4 things:

• a First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art (BA)
• a Foundation Degree in Applied Fine Art Practice
• the unique skill of being able to draw a talking slug
• a student debt that triples every time I blink

I’ve shaken hands with Ant and Dec, discussed magic with Stephen Mulhern, appeared on a TV quiz show called Win My Wage, given Lisa Mitchell a lift home after she performed at a gig in a laundrette, and got buzzed off Britain’s Got Talent in under two minutes. Amanda Holden didn’t like me. Simon was actually nice. Piers Morgan just stared at his phone.

Lisa Mitchell. I love her music, and she’s also a very lovely human being.

If I was to draw her album cover, this is what it would look like . . .

. . . this is also why she has never asked me to draw her an album cover.