Great cartoons throughout Hamilton Race Week!

by Helen Hopcroft on 18 Aug 2007 Regular Sail-World viewers will have a treat this week, with cartoonist Mark O'Brien drawing a new image every day at Audi Hamilton Island Race Week. Viewers will remember O'Brien's cartoons which accompanied our coverage of the America's Cup. They were so popular that we asked him to do the same for Hamilton Island.

Mark O’Brien started drawing as a child in his home town of Dunedin, in New Zealand’s South Island. It was the pre television era of the 1960’s and Mark entertained himself by cartooning. Inspired by Mad Magazine and Asterix he drew on every flat surface he could find, including the margins of his school books. Little did he or his family know that this early passion would become his full time occupation.

His first MONSTA character was one of the drawings that appeared in his school books sometime around 1976. They kept appearing throughout the rest of his education: he finished high school and then completed an Economics degree at Waikato University.

His first job after graduating was as an economist for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Posted on a Ministry outpost on a Pacific island, the 22 year old found himself with a good salary, beach house and a maid. He says that the experience ruined any chance he would ever have of holding down a normal nine to five job.

In 1984 he decided to follow his passion and set up MONSTA Mail Marketing which sold his MONSTA t-shirts by mail order throughout New Zealand. The unlikely business venture was a success and led to a MONSTA cartoon strip running for three years (1989-1991) in The Auckland Star. There were also spots on a children’s television show where he drew his MONSTAs live.

In 1990 the Whitbread Round the World Race fleet arrived in Auckland and O’Brien, a keen dinghy sailor himself, drew cartoons of the boats. These were so popular that he scored the newly formed position of official race cartoonist for the 1993/1994 Whitbread.

He landed the same job for Swedish Match in 1997/1998 and followed the fleet from port to port.

Team New Zealand brought the America’s Cup back to Auckland and about the same time MONSTAs began their association with Prada, the Louis Vuitton Cup and the 2000 and 2003 America’s Cup campaigns. This year he was the team cartoonist for the Luna Rossa Challenge in Valencia.

O’Brien continues to expand his talent for drawing and cartooning. He draws live at conferences, parties and events, paints monstrous murals and is considering a move into political caricatures. He is available for commissions and is able to draw a wide range of subjects.

http://www.monstacartoons.ifp3.com/

Email: mark@monsta.co.nz

Telephone: +64274954596