Cartoonist Brian Platt started his career in the late 1960s selling single jokes to national newspapers and popular magazines in those days long ago when they all had pages or columns full of single-frame jokes.

Once a month he would travel from his home in Mid Wales to Fleet Street, then the home of the national press, to offer his work to cartoon editors.

Brian now lives in Hay-on-Wye, notable for its vast number of bookshops, and every day strolls the 200 yards or so from his home to work at his studio in the town's Craft Centre.

The studio is open to the public, and visitors can watch him at work, or browse among the cartoon originals and prints displayed on the walls - and all for sale.

Customers can also pose for a five minute hand drawn cartoon of themselves.

Brian does a wide variety of work, because, as he says, it is virtually impossible to earn a living simply doing freelance cartooning.

Over the years he has diversified, so that as well as doing single frame cartoon gags, he also draws strips, and produces work for magazines and children's comics. During the 1970's he was also drawing five pages of comics each week - regular work which helped pay the bills as he raised his young family.

Brian also draws cartoons for advertising projects, as well as designing brochures, leaflets, logos and company newsletters, and recently wrote and illustrated a book, called How to Draw Cartoons, published by Accent Press for £ 7.99

Says Brian: " I have always admired simplicity of line. When I was young I used to like the clean lines of the American comic book heroes - my favourite was Captain Marvel.

I didn't worry about whether I could draw or not, I just copied bits - I would copy his ear, then his eyebrow, then the shape of his nose, then put them all together - and there was Captain Marvel. "

Brian uses the same sort of technique in his book and firmly believes that anyone who is interested enough can learn to draw simple cartoons.

He loves cartooning, it is, he says, " better than going to work " - and points out that the best thing about drawing is that you get better as you get older.

Another advantage is that no one cares how old an artist is, he says, adding " if you can draw the rabbit, no one is interested if you are 16 or 60. "