Walkley Award-winning newspaper cartoonist John Shakespeare Dead on 63: ‘Treasure the Small Stuff’

One of the most loved and widely read newspaper cartoonists, John Shakespeare, has passed away cancer63 years old.

Tribute has arrived for the ‘large -hearted’ illustrator who died on Monday evening and is survived by his partner Anna-Lisa Backlund, and their son, Lukas.⁠

The career of Shakespeare in Australian journalism included almost four decades, spending most of this time as a cartoonist at the Sydney Morning Herald, where he created nearly 20,000 illustrations and won a Walkley Award for his work in 1995.

When he announced his death and his partner shared an emotional tribute to the cartoonist on Instagram, in addition to an illustration of Shakespeare who said on a motorcycle and the words, “Gotta Fly,” while his dog is waiting behind it.

“Drive free candy!” Backlund wrote. “He died tonight on the couch with Lukas and me.

‘Get a magazine from his book and laugh at the hard things and cherish the little things. To honor it, go out as quickly as possible and do your favorite thing. ‘

Backlund, a former magazine designer and columnist in style, said that the memorial service will take place after July 6 ‘when friends return from abroad’.

Jordan Baker from Sydney Morning Herald shared a suitable tribute to the cartoonist and revealed that he was lovingly known as ‘Shakes’ among colleagues.

Beloved Sydney Morning Herald -Cartoonist John Shakespeare (photo) died of cancer, aged 63 years

The career of Shakespeare in Australian journalism included almost four decades before he took a voluntary resignation from the Sydney Morning Herald last year (depicted, a cartoon that Shakespeare made for his son Lukas)

‘The shy smile and boundless friendliness of “Shakespeare were intertwined in the structure of the newsroom, and his loss will be deeply felt by generations of staff and readers,” Baker wrote.

Colleague -Cartoonist and long -term Sydney Morning Herald colleague, Cathy Wilcox praised her friend and his work.

“They are not filthy,” she said about his cartoons. “He can make them a bit ridiculous, but not from a place of condemning superiority.”

Wilcox described Shakespeare as an infallible ‘big -hearted and generous’, both in life and in art.

Peter Fitzsimons, whose column De Fitz files were illustrated by Shakespeare for 15 years, said: ‘The most beloved figure at the SMH in the 40 years that I have been there. Nice man. Vale, Johnny. ‘

James Brickwood, personnel photographer at Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review, said that the deceased cartoonist had ‘such a beautiful, friendly soul’.

He was “warm, encouraging and modest (besides his love for fast engines).”

‘Warm and hospitable’ Shakespeare (photo) will be missed enormously by his loved ones, former colleagues and readers

‘I started the newspaper more than 20 years ago. It was a pretty intimidating place to come in. John was one of those who made the experience less from the start, “he wrote further Instagram.

‘The next 20 years I saw it time and time again when new young faces joined the newspaper, he was warm and hospitable. It is a small gesture, but it mattered. ‘

Shakespeare started his career at Brisbane’s Courier Mail, where a function that flew up photocopiers, despite no formal training led to a role in the art space.

He moved to Fairfax’s Sydney Sun in 1985, and when it was closed, he went to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Shakespeare stayed with the newspaper for 39 years before he resigned last year.

He produced thousands of illustrations during his career from political portraits to pop culture phenomena, including Taylor Swift ‘Mania’.

Shakespeare explained how he created his art and told the Proctor newsletter from the Queensland Law Society: ‘The process of creating a funny cartoon can be quite unbearable.

“I don’t really enjoy that part. As soon as I have the idea, I can relax and draw that I enjoy. ‘