Tjeerd Royaards
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tjeerdroyaards.com
Tjeerd Royaards
@tjeerdroyaards.com
5.2K followers 150 following 640 posts
Political cartoonist for Dutch newspaper Trouw and international media. Also editor-in-chief of Cartoon Movement. Cartoons in English and Dutch.
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tjeerdroyaards.com
For @cartoonmovement.com, I wrote an editorial about my trip to Slovakia, censorship by the Fico government (we weren't allowed to visit a high school to talk about cartoons with students) and the lack of diplomatic courage of the Dutch embassy: cartoonmovement.substack.com/p/how-space-...
November 25, 2025 at 9:09 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Distracted. Cartoon for @trouw.nl: www.trouw.nl/cartoons/tje...

#COP30 #climatecrisis #future #humanity
Cartoon showing people on a bus sitting with headphones on and all looking at their phones. The phone displays show ‘AI cat videos’, ‘Stupid sh#t’ and ‘Brainrot’ with like buttons underneath. A display with the bus route shows the stops: COP30, COP31, COP32, COP33, Climate hell. Outside the landscape is rushing by, changing from green to brown with skulls and an animal skeleton. A weathered sign reads ‘CLIMATE HELL 34’.
November 24, 2025 at 8:59 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
I spent a great week in Prešov in eastern Slovakia, to be a judge for a cartoon competition on AI and to attend the opening of the exhibition 'Vertigo' featuring some of my cartoons, as well as cartoons from Ukrainian and Slovakian cartoonists.
November 23, 2025 at 8:11 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Cartoon for @trouw.nl

#Trump #PeacePlan #UnitedNations
Cartoon showing a luxury 5 star beach-side resort. A golden sign says: ‘Gaza resort, UN approved’. A golden statue of Donald Trump stands in the background. People are drinking and laughing. Behind the resort, among the air conditioner exhausts and trash bins, is a tent camp with a sign ‘Living area for Gazans’. One door leads from the tent camp into the resort; this door is marked ‘Employee entrance’.
November 21, 2025 at 6:44 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
The great insect die-off. Cartoon from 2019.

#insects #ecology #extinction #life
Cartoon showing various types of insects walking towards the edge of a cliff and falling off. At the bottom of the cliff we see a heap of already dead insects. The final insect in the row in a dung beetle, not rolling a ball of dung, but the earth.
November 19, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Tjeerd Royaards
deliah.eu
We are interviewing every member of the DELIAH team, to give you some more insight into who we are, why we research humour and what we think is funny.

This time we talk to Marcos Engelken Jorge, a researcher at the University of the Basque Country: deliaheu.substack.com/p/research-s...

#DELIAH
November 12, 2025 at 12:49 PM
tjeerdroyaards.com
A very early morning as I’m heading to Prešov in Slovakia to take part in a jury for a cartoon competition and for the opening of a joint cartoon exhibition of Ukrainian, Slovakian and Dutch cartoonists.
November 18, 2025 at 4:42 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Gaskraan. Cartoon voor @trouw.nl: www.trouw.nl/cartoons/tje...

#Groningen #gaskraan #aardbeving
Cartoon waarop een dorp in Groningen te zien is. Huizen hebben scheuren en worden met balken gestut. In het midden van het dorp loopt een grote buis die in de grond verdwijnt, met een grote ronde kraan bovenop. Er staat een bord naast met de tekst: 'Den Haag heeft besloten dat de gaskraan momenteel dicht is*'. Het woord 'dicht' staat achter een open schuifje; als dit schuifje de andere kant op wordt geschoven staat er 'open'. Hieronder staat nog de tekst: '*onder voorbehoud van veranderingen in de politieke koers'. Onder de grond zien we dat de buis naar een holte leidt die gevuld is met veel geld.
November 17, 2025 at 8:22 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
COP30.

#COP30 #climate #globaleconomy #environment #NoPlanetB
November 16, 2025 at 1:24 PM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Groningen. Cartoon uit 2023.

#Groningen #aardbeving #gaswinning
Cartoon waarop een Gronings dorp te zien is met veel schade door aardbevingen. Er zitten scheuren in de huizen en de kerk, de daken zijn stuk, en muren worden gestut. Op het dorpsplein staat een groot monument, het woord 'SORRY' in grote witte letters. Op een bordje staat: Dit monument wordt u aangeboden door de Rijksoverheid, de NAM, Shell en Exxon.
November 15, 2025 at 7:13 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Sustainable capitalism. Cartoon for Dutch newspaper @trouw.nl: www.trouw.nl/cartoons/tje...

#capitalism #sustainability #COP30
Cartoon showing a giant bucket wheel excavator carving a large hole in the side of planet earth. The excavator is powered by large solar panels. Next to the large hole is a corporate office; through the window, we see the executive management celebrate the soaring profits, while a sign on the top of the building reads: 'Sustainable capitalism'
November 14, 2025 at 7:46 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
For @cartoonmovement.com, I wrote an editorial about the winning cartoon at the World Press Cartoon and other cartoons with very similar concepts, asking the question: should a prize-winning cartoon be 100% unique?

cartoonmovement.substack.com/p/should-a-p...

#awards #WorldPressCartoon
Should a prize-winning cartoon be 100% unique?
Editorial by Tjeerd Royaards
cartoonmovement.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:52 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Business model. Cartoon from early this year.

#socialmedia #profit #greed #Meta #Twitter
Cartoon showing people swimming in several swimming pools, one filled with likes, another filled with angry emojis and another filled with hearts and LOL emojis. A sign at the entrance to the pool shows the Meta and X logo with the text 'Free entry'. Below the pools is a system of pipes and machinery. Two big pipes are labeled 'Profit' and 'Data extraction', while a machine shows gauges labeled 'misinformation' and 'polarization' that are going into the red.
November 12, 2025 at 1:24 PM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Business model. Cartoon from early this year.

#socialmedia #profit #greed #Meta #Twitter
Cartoon showing people swimming in several swimming pools, one filled with likes, another filled with angry emojis and another filled with hearts and LOL emojis. A sign at the entrance to the pool shows the Meta and X logo with the text 'Free entry'. Below the pools is a system of pipes and machinery. Two big pipes are labeled 'Profit' and 'Data extraction', while a machine shows gauges labeled 'misinformation' and 'polarization' that are going into the red.
November 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Where we are headed under current management.

#COP30 #Trump #climatecrisis
Cartoon showing the inside of a bus. Trump is driving, a through the front window we see he's heading towards a cliff. People inside are looking out, scared. We see a sign that says 'Line 47; and shows the bus route with stops '1.5 degrees Celsius', '2 degrees Celsius', '2.5 degrees Celsius, '3 degrees Celsius'; the final stop is a picture of the earth burning. Next to the sign is an emergency brake with a sticker on it that says 'Out of order'.
November 11, 2025 at 8:29 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Progress. Cartoon for Dutch daily newspaper @trouw.nl: www.trouw.nl/cartoons/tje...

#nature #urbanization #future #progress
Cartoon showing an urban sprawl with high rises and large roads clogged with cars. One building has the word 'PROGRESS' in big red letters on the roof, and all the buildings have large air condition installation on their roofs. At the end of the sprawl we see cranes building new buildings, while trees are cut down and nature is demolished to make room for urban expansion. The urban area has the shape of a giant head with a gaping mouth, with a large roundabout where all the roads converge forming the eye, while the teeth are formed by the cranes and the buildings under construction.
November 10, 2025 at 8:58 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Another super-hurricane is about to hit the Philippines. I've been doing one hurricane cartoon almost every year and the point of all of them is basically the same. These are from 2024, 2022, 2020 and 2019.

#climatecrisis #hurricane #extremeweather
Cartoon showing a theater, with the text 'theater of climate change' above the stage. On the stage, three skeletons are dancing in tutus The tutus are actually hurricanes and the stage is flooded with roofs of houses sticking out. To the side a poster reads 'Now playing: Hurricane Season'. Cartoon showing the Grim Reaper wearing a sash that reads 'Climate change' hurling frisbees shaped like hurricanes towards planet earth. Cartoon showing a giant hair dryer labeled 'Climate change' blowing towards the earth with such force that the planet loses its skin, revealing a skull underneath. Cartoon showing two giant skeletal hands emerging from the sky, holding a circular saw, with the blade shaped like a hurricane.
November 9, 2025 at 12:25 PM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Proud and happy to be among the 15 nominees shortlisted for this year's European Cartoon Award!

If you have an affinity with political cartoons (and you're in the area), come to Cartoons Day in The Hague on 12 December: europeancartoonaward.com/2025/10/02/t...

#EuropeanCartoonAward
Poster showing the 15 nominees of the European Cartoon Award 2025. Cartoon showing Netanyahu dressed as a king with crown and scepter, wearing the Israel flag as a mantle. He is walking on a red carpet, which is actually a stream of blood left behind by the Grim Reaper walking in front of him. The red, bloody, carpet crosses several red lines that have been painted by a UN official, who is busy painting yet another one.
November 8, 2025 at 8:10 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Left turn. Cartoon for @trouw.nl

#ZohranMamdani #NYC #Trump
Cartoon showing Zohran Mamdani driving in a car with the Statue of Liberty. They are taking a sharp left turn, breaking through a fence with a Road closed' sign, while an angry Trump stands on the pavement holding an only right turns sign. Meanwhile Lady Liberty is leaning out the window giving Trump the finger.
November 7, 2025 at 7:55 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Found this in my cartoon archive, made during the previous shutdown of the US government in 2019.

#USgovernment #shutdown #Trump
Cartoon showing Donald Trump as a gorilla sitting on the 'Off' part of a giant on/off switch.
November 6, 2025 at 12:54 PM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Loonkloof. Cartoon uit 2023.

#loonkloof #ongelijkheid
Cartoon waarop een staafdiagram te zien is, met een bordje 'loo' erbij. Op de hoogste, blauw gekleurde staaf, zit een man blij achter een gigantisch bureau. Op een lagere staaf ernaast, roze gekleurd, zit een vrouw achter een klein bureau en kijkt tegen de zijkant van de hogere blauwe staaf aan, waarop een overvol prikbord is bevestigd met briefjes en post-its met teksten als 'mantelzorg', 'kinderen ophalen', 'oudergesprek' en 'oppas regelen'.
November 5, 2025 at 8:52 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
I'm working on what will probably be my most detailed cartoon of 2025 (the photo shows about 25% of the cartoon).

I've been getting more and more comments recently on social media that my work is AI generated. It's not. It's all done by hand.

#AIfree #creativeprocess
Photo of my hand holding a digital pen hovering over a drawing tablet that shows a very detailed cartoon in the making.
November 4, 2025 at 8:43 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
Tweedeling. Cartoon voor @trouw.nl

#D66 #PVV #polarisatie #migratie #klimaat
Cartoon waarop twee buurten te zien zijn, met ertussen een groot betonnen hek en een poort met een slagboom. In de ene buurt wappert een vlag van de PVV. Er rijdt een SUV met zwarte rook uit de uitlaat, er staan borden met verboden voor islam en verboden voor vluchtelingen erop, en er is een reclamebord te zien met een grote hamburger en de tekst 'Eet vlees'. In de andere buurt wappert de vlag van D66. Hier is een elektrische auto met een sticker 'I love EU') aan het opladen en is een reclamebord met de tekst 'Doe duurzaam'. Een jongetje in de D66-buurt heeft per ongeluk zijn bal onder de slagboom door geschopt en rent hier achteraan; zijn moeder (moslima met hoofddoek) rent achter hem aan om hem tegen te houden.
November 3, 2025 at 9:28 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
European migration policy test centre. Cartoon from 2023.

#migration #refugees #Europe
Cartoons showing the European migration policy testing center: a boat filled with crash test dummies has collided with a border wall as European officials and scientists in the control room discuss the test results.
November 2, 2025 at 8:38 AM
tjeerdroyaards.com
A visual summary of inequality. Cartoon from last year.

#wealth #poverty #inequality
Cartoon showing a cliff with a giant pool on top filled with money, with a few superrich swimming in and lounging by the pool. A vertical conveyor belt transporting money from the bottom of the cliff to the pool is powered by people on unicycles, balancing precariously on a spinning rod. Signs on the cliff face read 'keep pedaling' One person has fallen off the unicycle and is falling down, passing a red painted line on the cliffside, with the text 'poverty line'.
November 1, 2025 at 8:03 AM