Parable of Lost Sheep Finished.

I’ve finished my 5 cartoon set of cartoon illustrations which depict Jesus’ short parable about the Lost Sheep - see below.

As I wrote in the notes which accompany these 5 illustrations, in order to demonstrate the importance God attaches to little children, Jesus gave the disciples an illustration in the form of a parable, which is a word derived from the Greek. verb paraballo, meaning to “lay by the side of,” to “compare”; a “likeness, similitude.”

In the same way as the shepherd went out looking for the lost sheep in the story, God (referred to as “my/your Father in heaven” in Matthew 18:10) is concerned about these “little ones” or children and does not want to lose any of them. In fact we are all God’s children, so we can legitimately apply the term “little ones” to each & every one of us.

Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 01 - Sheep pen

Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 02 - Searching

Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 03 - Found

Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 04 - Cherished

Matthew 18 - Lost sheep parable - Scene 05 - Return home

Bible Cartoon used at New Wine conference 2012!

I received an email earlier in the year asking me to design a Bible Cartoon to be used at the Christian New Wine Summer Conferences events (www.new-wine.org). I created the required crowd scene, which had Jesus in the middle, accompanied by Moses, Joseph and the apostle Paul, surrounded by a crowd of cheering children. Notice the 2 camels on the left which were specifically requested from my Christmas activity book illustrations!

The finished design was then transformed into a 4 x 2 metre fabric backdrop for the 3-4 year old “Pebbles” marquee, where about 600 children were entertained & received good bible-based instruction.

The lady who worked so hard on converting my design into sewn fabric (Jane B.) said, “Your faces are so cheerful that they were a joy to work with but I did find it very emotional working on Jesus' hands.” I can quite understand that, as you can see the nail marks on Jesus’ hands. I sometimes have a strong emotional reaction myself when I’m drawing the wounds on Jesus’ body for one of my Bible Cartoons.

I received this email from the 2 “Pebbles” leaders, after New Wine had finished:

“Hi Martin,
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the art work you produced for the Pebbles banner.
It was fantastic. We had many many comments on the banner and the art work.
It certainly added the WOW! factor to the marquee.
We had quite few people ask about your art work and we referred them to your web site which we had printed down the side of the banner.
One lady who came into the marquee recognised your work immediately saying that their church had used your work in the past.
Once again many, many thanks for an amazing job.
Blessings,
April H. & Anna S.
New Wine Pebbles Leaders”

What a lovely email, I was delighted to read that.

The Bible Cartoons web address stitched onto the backdrop provided great publicity for us! The fact that one lady came into the marquee & instantly recognised the style of the artwork as belonging to Bible Cartoons is great... we’re getting known!

Here’s my design in black & white, with a photographs below of the finished backdrop - doesn’t it look great?! Well done to Jane B. who translated my paper design into fabric... such dedication & hard work!

 

Honesty is not dead!

I’ve just received an email from a German magazine called "Die Gemeinde", a monthly journal of German Baptists, which is published every 14 day to about 5500 people.

The email sender wrote that they wanted to use my Bible Cartoon (Matthew 13:45-46 - Kingdom of heaven like a pearl) to illustrate a bible story for children in the magazine... so far so good! Unfortunately they hadn’t read the copyright information I publish on the BC website, & they paid the "normal" price of £2 (GBP).

What was remarkable was the fact that the email was alerting me to this fact, & apologising - how brilliant was that! And wonderfully honest too!

I replied immediately, thanking the magazine emailer for his honesty. I explained that I would normally negotiate a price depending on the circulation of the magazine. I suggested the magazine could include the credit “Cartoon artwork supplied by Martin Young - www.biblecartoons.co.uk” which would make me happy & help to promote BC in Germany!

I think it is wonderfully uplifting that there are still people operating in this world who are honest.  As I wrote to the magazine emailer, “Thank you once again for your honesty, it really does make me glad & I’m sure that the Lord will honour & bless you for it.” I certainly pray that He will. Examples of this kind of upright & honest behaviour in business & life need to be applauded whenever we come across them, don’t you think?

Head cold... and email marketing?!

I’m suffering with a horrible head cold this week - yuck. Can’t hear properly, barking cough, bunged up nose, aching limbs, the hole 9 yards (or 8.23 metres if you prefer metric!) I haven’t really achieved much in terms of drawing & colouring Bible Cartoons, although I did manage to finish the Philippians 3 “Imitating Christ’s Humility” one, which is the first cartoon in that New Testament book of the Bible.

However, all is not doom & gloom! I am taking time to sip lemon juice & honey, which is nice! But apart from that, I am researching (on-line) Internet marketing. I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to create a regular news-sheet (bi-monthly?)which can be emailed to readers via an opt-in page on the BC website. That way I can remind people of my continued existence (!) & hopefully gather new viewers, readers & potential customers in the process. I can let people know what Bible Cartoons offers & keep people abreast of our progress & development.

That all sounds great... but there is a LOT to research & reading to do to make that actually happen! There are so many email management systems/programs out there... which one should I use? There are all sorts of anti-spamming rules, guidelines, etc to consider. Even creating an email list seems to take ages. Then I need to find a way to get people to opt-in to my newsletter, news sheet, or whatever it is. I looked into this several months ago & I gave up due to information overload & analysis paralysis... now I know why!

However, “nothing ventured, nothing gained” as the saying goes. So I’ll just have to trawl through all the on-line advice, information, teaching videos, & technical blurb & try to make a reasonably well informed decision about it all before I get better & am just back to drawing the cartoons... after all, once I’m better I won’t have time to look into the merits & pitfalls of email marketing!

Fear of failure... and success!

Which is scarier the fear of failure, or the fear of success?

The fear of failure is understandable, after all, who wants to fail, right? That can put you right off trying altogether! Although I have recently read & come to believe that failure is only failure if you remain failed! A single failure actually becomes a stepping stone to success, IF you get back up & try again.

But why would we fear success? I think that can occur if we realise that success brings performance pressure, at least in our minds. One success = an achievement, but then we wonder, "was that a fluke, or can I do it again"... whatever "it" happens to be. A string of successes is even worse, then we’ve “proven” that we are successful - arghhh! That brings even more performance pressure... once you're at the top you've got to try to stay there!

I wouldn't know... I haven't succeeded yet... but it makes me wonder what it could/will be like... what do you think?

Of course us Christians can take comfort in the following scriptural promises from the Lord God, our loving eternally present Father in heaven...

1) Deuteronomy 31:6 (ANIV)
Moses speaking to Joshua on God’s behalf, ‘”Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them (opposing forces), for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." ‘

2) Philippians 4:13 (ANIV)
‘I can do everything through him who gives me strength.’
That includes failing & getting up again, & overcoming fear of both failure & success!

3) 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ANIV)
Paul writting to the Corinthian church, ‘But he [God] said to me [Paul], "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.’

I’m sure there are a LOT more scriptures which refer to success & failure in the Bible. But that last one is noteworthy... because it suggests that even if we fail, that’s OK, because we are weak... that’s just human nature. And God is able to shine gloriously, even through our weaknesses. In that sense, even the failures (as we perceive them) can be seen as successes, since our weaknesses promote & glorify God! So there isn’t really a failure in a Christian’s life! How cool is that!