NATIONAL contributor Neil Slorance has said it's a "good time to be a cartoonist" in a new BBC documentary on his work. 

The Scottish comic artist promotes the idea of keeping politics "accessible" by poking fun at it. 

In the Loop documentary, Slorance, who creates a weekly political cartoon for The National, explains how he has been drawing since he was a primary school pupil.

But the artist says he really got interested in politics in particular during the 2014 independence referendum. 

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He told the BBC: "I never thought of myself as political. During the 2014 independence referendums so much more people got more kind of enlightened about Scottish politics, and that was what it was for me.

"Yes a lot of people see that 2014 referendum as very divisive. Of course it was, but a lot of people got much more involved in politics.

"I would live draw stuff during the leaders' debates, and it was just fun. But it caught some traction and people started to pay attention to it."

Slorance then explains how he had a regular cartoon strip with STV before moving on to The National. 

The artist says he is "quite fortunate" to have developed such a recognisable drawing style - which he says often features "cute faces with big eyes and no noses".

Slorance, who is also well-known for his work on the Dungeon Fun series, spoke about how exciting it is for him to see youngsters dressed up as his characters - especially because of how important comics were to him at that age.

You can watch the documentary here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07y38z9