Williams, Mike b.1940

Mike Williams original cartoon artwork

Mike Williams is a self-taught artist, who started work in Henry Pybus & Littlewoods commercial art studios in Liverpool in 1957. In 1966, Williams became a freelance cartoonist. In 1967, Mike Williams sold his first cartoon to Punch, and his work has since also appeared in Private Eye, Spectator, Playboy, Daily Sketch, Oldie, The Times, and the Sun. He deputised for JAK in the Mail on Sunday during the 1990s. Advertising work has played an important part in Williams' career and his clients have ranged from BMW and Guinness to the Julius Baer Bank, for which he created the polar-bear image. In addition, he has produced greetings cards for Valentine's of Edinburgh and the Ink Group (Australia). In 1997 he was briefly Cartoon Editor of Punch. He is an admirer of Mankoff, Grosz, Michael Maslin, and the artists of the New Yorker.