A Sylvania Heights cartoonist has won an award for his creative work.
Tony Lopes won Best Comic Strip for 'Insanity Streak', taking out a top prize at Australia's 'Oscars' of cartooning. He won the Best Comic Strip category of the Australian Cartoonists Association's 2021 Stanley Awards.
The Stanley Awards have been celebrating the best of Australian cartooning since 1985. The 2021 awards were delayed due to COVID-19 and held in Coffs Harbour, on February 26.
It is the 13th Stanley award 'Insanity Streak' has received since it became a daily comic strip in 2000.
It reaches an audience of more than five million people each day, and appears in more than 60 newspapers in countries including Australia, the UK, Scandinavia, Malaysia and Thailand.
Mr Lopes said he was humbled and honoured to receive a coveted Stanley Award. The winners are voted in by industry peers.
"Not every day you are blessed with a Stanley award. Grateful to be able to make people laugh by doing what I love," he said.
Mr Lopes grew his interest in cartooning as a primary school pupil, spending more time "doodling in the margins of my schoolbooks than studying."
"At home mum recalls that I always had to go off and draw cartoons. I especially loved to study the old Warner Bros cartoons," he said.
Mr Lopes turned a hobby into a career, and studied fine arts at a Sydney art college, receiving a diploma in fine arts, majoring in photography.
He said when coming up with ideas for inspiration, he often explored a "what if" scenario.
"[And] substituting modern or ancient customs, or a historical character or setting can often produce something. Also inserting animals, myths or legends into a scenario," he said.
"Finding a voice and comedic style has taken many years. Hearing that a particular cartoon resonates with a reader is very rewarding. Especially during the pandemic. I received hundreds of messages saying that my cartoons have cheered people up and took their minds off all the sad news. Even my local doctor has my cartoons on display in his waiting room to cheer up his patients."
