About 20 young Port artists aged 6 to 12 spent the past eight weeks taking part in cartooning workshops called Tooning in the Terrace – a collaboration between Port Stephens Council and Toonworld.

“The children in the workshop learnt simple skills on building a character and then halfway through were asked to design a character for a new garbage truck Port Stephens Council are unveiling,” Toonworld director Mike Wheeler said.

The young artists were asked to design a character that had a theme of waste or recycling.

After the students submitted their final designs, complete with instructions how they wanted it coloured, Toonworld technicians turned the drawings into cartoons, which were professionally printed.

Students unveiled their designs at the Tooning in the Terrace graduation at Raymond Terrace Library on Thursday, December 6.

Port Stephens Mayor Ryan Palmer presented the young cartooners with graduation certificates.

At the graduation, parents and members of the public were asked to judge which of the works were their favourite design, and suitable for the garbage truck, in a secret ballot.

“The winning entrant will be contacted once their design has been installed on the truck,” Mr Wheeler said.

While only one design will be featured on the garbage truck, it is anticipated that all designs created by the young cartooners will be used by Port Stephens Council in some way.