Brighton's own Harry Venning has been a renowned cartoonist for years, including his Clare In The Community strip in The Guardian and Hamlet, the perennially out of work thespian pig, in The Stage.

Each audience member was presented with paper and a pencil before Venning took us through a multitude of tips and hints on “the best job in the world”.

Venning told us you don't have to go to art school to be a cartoonist, you just need to be funny. “People do have to be able to recognise what you've drawn, however!”

Starting with “the eyes”, Venning gave us tips on creating movement and the varied uses of an asterisk (to mask swearing or illustrate a dog's bottom).

He revels in a cheeky gag and a mixture of delighted squeals and horrified gasps broke out as he drew a naked man and woman to illustrate a Karl Marx joke.

At the end, we all attempted our own comic strip creations. My teenage daughter's “space unicorn” was considerably better than my “punk rock granddad”.

But then her artwork is hanging above North Street while, even with Venning's help, I have yet to evolve much further than a stick man.