Harry Harrison
Cartoonist and illustrator Harry Harrison has put pen to paper documenting and satirizing everything from Hong Kong elections to the war in Iraq to Chinese zodiac signs for the South China Morning Post and other publications. He talks to Hana R. Alberts about backpacking with his portfolio, which politician is easiest to draw and life on Lamma.
I was born in England, but my dad was in the Air Force so I lived abroad. I lived in Libya and Singapore and various bits of Britain.
I tended to draw things from my head—pirates, soldiers and dinosaurs, usual boy stuff.
I pretty much left school at the end of the fifth form, [when I was] around 16 or 17. I started working in a supermarket. The supermarket offered me management training, which scared me into looking for something else. I ended up a sign-maker doing shop signs.
I didn’t know how you could earn a living through art. Where I come from [in northwest London], most people end up as builders.
I met some guys at an interior design company. They were quite impressed with the way I could draw, and they offered me training. Actually, I was rubbish at it. It was just a step [closer] toward what I wanted to do.
I reached a bit of a crossroads when I was tired of my job and my girlfriend gave me the elbow. I went to Australia and took a load of cartoons that I’d done. I was backpacking, but I took [them] just in case.