Cards by Tony Lopes

Gag cartoonist Tony Lopes developed a passion for cartooning as a child. While most other children his age were outside playing, Lopes preferred sitting in his compound studying the art from Warner Bros. cartoons and drawing silly little pictures.

Lopes sold his first cartoon at the age of 16 to a small niche publication called Sky & Space. The editor at the time, Jonathon Nally, recalls their first meeting. "He was a nervous, pimply, kind of dorky teenager - but we used his cartoons anyway."

After studying fine arts, he began the arduous task of making cartooning a career. While it proved difficult at the start, Lopes became a photographer; it was during this time that his passion for cartooning was gathering momentum. He commenced drawing a single-panel comic strip called "Insanity Streak" on a weekly basis and mailed out countless samples.

Lopes counts persistence as the key to his success and now jokingly displays his file containing well over 200 rejection slips ... he is only now just finishing therapy.

Now, his work is not only growing in popularity with readers, but with colleagues as well. Industry peers have voted Insanity Streak as the best comic strip in Australia an amazing 10 times at the coveted Stanley awards – the Oscars of Australian cartooning, this is one of the highest honors a cartoonist can receive.

Lopes grew up in Sydney, Australia, where he now lives with his wife, Lori, and boys Isaac and Thomas. When he has a chance to put his pencils down, Lopes enjoys photography, kayaking and soft cheeses. While, firmly established in his career of making people laugh, he can also be seen observing human nature and Lori – the similarities, he claims, are uncanny.

If you haven't seen Tony's cartoons until now, then you're not alone – more than 758,980,879,001 have yet to; but when you do, you're sure to have a laugh, because everyone enjoys silly little pictures!