iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I'm down to the last nine copies of this ISS Cat print, so if you want one, please order soon. It's in my shop along with other prints, badges and a zine: www.tomgauld.com/

A view of the International Space Station floating in the stars above the earth. A cat in a space suit floats outside. An astronaut within the station looks out of a window and says "In? But I just let you out."

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Author Simulator. My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Title: Author Simulator

Level 1: Get to desk and begin! (Platform video game-style image of an author jumping from a block onto a cloud with desk and computer) Result: success!

Level 2: Press on despite distractions! (Author typing as the desk/clod moves past a ghost and a spider) ) Result: success!

Level 3: Deliver manuscript to editor! (Author jumping over fire pit onto platform where editor waits) Result: success!

Level 4: Accept minor criticism! (Author lying ded in fronto of editors desk) Result: better luck next time!

Along the bottom are controls for:
Left right jump crouch read write nap coffee

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

My latest @newscientist.com cartoon. many more here: www.newscientist.com/author/tom-gauld/

Image: A graph with lots of red dots clustered together in a curve. The are all looking upwards at a single red dot wearing sunglasses.

Caption: Mike was an outlier and would probably be excluded from the study, but all the other data points secretly thought he was really cool.

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Reposted by Tom Gauld

Manderley Press @manderleypress.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

From our bookshelf to your wall - we love our book covers so much we turn the most iconic designs into limited edition art prints. This is our rediscovered dystopian novel Woman Alive by Susan Ertz, transformed into wall art by one of our favourite illustrators of all time @tomgauld.bsky.social 📚🖼️✨

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Thanks! Somebody already reserved the drawing but if you email me I can let you know if that doesn’t work out, and other options. www.tomgauld.com/contact

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Notebook doodle and original art for the cartoon quoted below: www.tomgauld.com/art-for-sale

A small scatchy ink drawing.
A reader walks past bookcases, ghosts and clouds of ectoplasm.
Title: Haunted library is cool.

Ink drawing

Title:
Who is Haunting The Library of Forbidden Tomes?

Image: five panels showing characters in a gothic library

22% - tormented souls, frozen between life and death (a ghost reading a book)
4% - dank, fetid horrors from the icy depths below (a black slug like creature with a single eyestalk reading a book)
15% - cold, lifeless bones possessed by a corrupt sorcery (a skeleton reading a book)
11% - frigid and malevolent ectoplasmic vapours (a shapeless apparition reading a book)
48% - regular readers happy to away from the heatwave
(A mother, small child and toddler in buggy, all reading books)

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

There's something quite Dan Clowes / Death Ray about this

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/books/pictur...

Title: Methods for Encouraging a Reluctant Young Reader

Panel 1
Caption: Read Together
Image: A small child sits on a sofa, face buried in a book, between two adults doing the same.

Panel 2
Caption: Bribery
Image: The small child sits on a treasure chest wearing a crown, face buried in a book, in a room full of coins, jewels and precious items.

Panel 3
Caption: Element of danger
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, precariously balanced on a thin branch in a tall tree.

Panel 4
Caption: Reverse Psychology
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, beside a huge bookshelf and a sign that reads “Adults Only”

Panel 5
Caption: Pulleys and Pistons
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, amidst a complicated mechanism that provides endless new books.

Panel 6
Caption: Rituals and Incantations
Image: The small child sits, face buried in a book, in a circle of candles amidst clouds of smoke and mysterious phrases.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

I’m still locked out. I’ve reported it but no reply from X yet.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Kind of difficult when I am locked out by the hackers

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

It seems like my X/twitter account has been hacked. Please ignore any posts or messages from @tomgauld while I try to sort it out.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

If it’s just for fun / completely non-commercial, then go ahead.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I thought jpeg was by far the best known file type. Though they should probably be pngs really.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Currently just in @newscientist.com but I will definitely put it in a book and possibly make a print or stickers sometime

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I considered this but ran out of time before my summer break. I may well do it at some point.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I’m not even sure what that is

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Clip Art > Science > Failure > Cute My latest @newscientist.com cartoon.

Title:
Clip art > science > failure > cute

Image:
A series of science-related items (glassware, robots, fires, scientists) with smiley faces labelled this:

fire_small.jpg
graph_error.jpg
cracked_glassware.jpg
sad_at_desk.jpg
fire_medium.jpg
broken_robot.jpg
disproved_theory.jpg
fire_huge.jpg
sad_on_floor
toxic_cloud.jpg
rejected_paper.jpg

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

She’s reading the Penguin Classics version which is six volumes

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

She’s reading the Penguin Classics edition which is in six volumes.

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

She’s reading the Penguin Classics edition which is six volumes

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I think that might be a cartoon by the excellent Stephen Collins?

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I will be closing my web-shop and art-for-sale for the summer on Monday. So, if you'd like anything in the next month or so (such as the print shown) please order soon. www.tomgauld.com/shop www.tomgauld.com/art-for-sale

Two stick figures walk beside a lake, one asks "Do you ever worry that we are living in the reflection rather than the reality?"

They are reflected, upside-down, in the lake. The reflection of the second figure replies with an upside-down speech bubble reading "Sometimes".

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

A notebook doodle and original drawing for the cartoon quoted below. www.tomgauld.com/art-for-sale

A wobbly drawing in a notebook showing a building with commas, periods, asterisks etc blowing out of the window. "Window left open at punctuation factory" is written above.

Panel 1
Caption: With the windows open in the summer heat, a breeze blows through the punctuation factory, scattering newly-minted marks across the countryside.

Image: a small factory with windows open and punctuation marks coming out

Panel 2
Caption: Confused locals find their conversations peppered with unexpected pauses and unwanted emphasis.

Image: Two people talking as punctuation marks float around them One says

This, is “very odd”

The other replies

…(Indeed)*

Panel 3
Caption: Naturalists note that the effect is not limited to human communication.

Image: A duck on a pond surrounded by punctuation marks says
Qu’ack?

Panel 4
Caption: Fortunately, a cloud of exclamation points drift into a district council meeting which proceeds with unusual efficiency

Image: Councillors talk in a cloud of exclamation points
Something must be done!! !
Close the windows! !!
Install air conditioning! !!
Immediately!!! !

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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com. Inspired by recent news about the SpudCell. NS subscribers can read about it here: www.newscientist.com/article/2532...

Title: The artificial cell's diary

Panel 1: An oval green cell with a face opens its eyes.
Caption: Woke up to the scientists discussing whether I was alive or just exhibiting some of the symptoms.

Panel 2: The cell looks thoughtful
Caption: A bit heavy for first thing in the morning.

Panel 3: The cell eats some little dots in the liquid around it.
Caption: Had a swim, then ate some of the molecule soup that I live in. My day is pretty much all soup-based.

Panels 4: The cell looks uncomfortable
Caption: Then I began to feel rather odd.

Panel 5 and 6: the cell hseems to be splitting in two
Caption: But, I saved the big news for last:

Panel 7: The cell smiles. A new, smaller cell smiles back.
Caption: I made a new friend!

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