Artists' Biographies

Edwin Austin Abbey (1 April 1852 – 1 August 1911)
One of the greatest American illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration of the last quarter of the 19th century. His work was praised for its design and historical accuracy and he illustrated works by Marvell, Pope, and Shakespeare.

In 1902 King Edward VII appointed him official court painter of the coronation in Westminster Abbey. Amongst his many artist friends was John Singer Sargent. >!!
Source: The Illustration Art Gallery

E V Abbott (1899 - 1980; UK)
E V Abbott was a prolific illustrator of children's books and comics, including 'Tiny Tots', 'Bedtime Tales' and 'My First Book'.
Source: The Illustration Art Gallery
E V Abbott art

Chris Achilleos
Born in Famagusta, Cyprus, Chris moved to England with his family in 1960. With a prolific career now spanning over 30 years, Chris is famous for his celebrated paintings for book covers, posters, films, album sleeves and video covers. His work includes covers for authors Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock, Robert E Howard and J R R Tolkien, and for Star Trek and Doctor Who.

He has worked for film giants George Lucas, Ron Howard and Ray Harryhausen, and produced concept designs for the films Heavy Metal and Willow. His poster work includes SuperGirl, Bladerunner and Jackie Chan's The Protector. Chris is most famous for his hard-hitting fantasy works and his unique representation of Amazonian women.
Source: The Illustration Art Gallery

Neal Adams (15 June 1941 - 28 April 2022; USA)
Neal Adams was one of the innovators in comic strip art to hit American comic books in the late 1960s and 1970s, revitalizing and redefining the looks of the X-Men and Batman. Adams was also an outspoken advocate of creators rights and was central to the attempts to help Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster earn pensions from their creation of Superman and in the setting up of the Comics Creators' Guild.

Adams won the Shazam Award in 1970 and 1971, the Inkpot Award in 1976, Eagle Awards in 1977 and 1978 and has been inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Books Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1999.

Neal Edward Adams was born on Governors Island, a 172-acre island a half mile from the southern tip of Manhattan in New York Harbor used by the US Army, on 15 June 1941. His father deserted the family when Adams was only 13 and, with college financially out of reach, he attended the School of Industrial Art, a vocational school in Manhattan.

Graduating in 1959, and turned down by DC Comics, he submitted samples to Archie Comics where Joe Simon was creating a superhero line. A sample of The Fly earned him his first professional appearance when a panel from his sample was used in Adventures of The Fly #4 (Jan 1960). Adams was soon drawing fillers for Archie's Joke Book Magazine and was recommended to Howard Nostrand, who needed an assistant on "Bat Masterson", a syndicated newspaper strip based on the TV series.

Adams gained some much needed experience on the strip and turned to advertising, working for Johnstone & Cushing for a year. The company specialised in comic strip advertising and Adams found himself working on AT&T advertising strip "Chip Martin, College Reporter" for Boys' Life and similar work for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

Adams, following a recommendation by Jerry Caplin (brother of Al Capp), was asked to produce samples for a new strip to be based on the popular TV drama Ben Casey. The strip was successfully pitched and was syndicated from 26 November 1962 with a colour Sunday strip added on 20 September 1964. The TV series came to an end in March 1966 and the strip followed on 31 July 1966.

Adams attempted to return to advertising work but needed to fill in, ghosting a few weeks for Lou Fine on the syndicated hardboiled detective serial "Peter Scratch", Stan Drake's "The Heart of Juliet Jones" and was hawking around a strip of his own, "Tangent". He was offered work by Peter Scratch-creator Elliot Caplin on a proposed adaptation of Robin Moore's The Green Berets but Adams – opposed to the war – suggested Joe Kubert, who accepted the job.

Adams made his first splash in comic books drawing horror stories for Warren Publishing before exploiting the gap left by Kubert at DC Comics. After producing a handful of war and horror stories for anthologies like Our Army at War, Adams found himself working on The Adventures of Jerry Lewis and The Adventures of Bob Hope.

After producing a few covers featuring Superman and Batman for Action Comics, Lois Lane and The Brave and the Bold, Adams produced his first team-up story, "The Superman-Batman Revenge Squads" for World's Finest Comics in 1968. However, it was with the supernatural hero Deadman that Adams found his first real success. He took over the artwork with Strange Adventures #206 and illustrated the stories and covers for eleven issues, also taking over the scriptwriting with issue 212. Adams also briefly drew (and even more briefly wrote) The Spectre in 1968.

Adams was assigned numerous covers at DC and, in 1969, also began working for Marvel Comics, pencilling several issues of X-Men, then under threat of cancellation. He, along with writer Roy Thomas and inker Tom Palmer, are credited with turning the characters around, all three winning the Alley Awards (Best Pencil Artist, Best Inking Artist, Best Writer). That same year Deadman entered the Hall of Fame and Adams received a Special Award for "the new perspective and dynamic vibrance he has brought to the field of comic art."

Awards could not save X-Men, which folded with issue 66 (Mar 1970). Adams continued to draw horror comics for Marvel (Tower of Shadows) and Warren (Vampirella), but it was his debut on Batman which was to cement his place in comics' history. He debuted in Detective Comics (Jan 1970) with a story by writer Dennis O'Neil and, in the next eighteen months, introduced the characters Man-Bat and Ra's al Ghul. Adams' talent to draw realistic figures helped ground the series in the real after years of camp adventure that had overtaken the comic book following the success of the 1966-68 TV series. Adams and O'Neil gave Gotham back its brooding hero and reestablished characters like The Joker as a homicidal maniac rather than the prancing buffoonery of the ABC TV show.

Adams and O'Neill also performed a similar revamping of Green Lantern and Green Arrow. Green Lantern was renamed Green Lantern/Green Arrow with issue 76 (Apr 1970) and took the two characters on a journey across America that ran for two years and encompassed one of the pair's most controversial stories in which Green Arrow's ward, the clean-cut Speedy, was revealed as a heroin addict. The series ended with issue 89 (May 1972) ... the frustrating truth being that controversy in comics rarely translated into sales to the broader public. Speaking in 1978, Adams told The Comics Journal, "It takes a good year to get somebody used to a new idea, to get a market used to a new idea ... It takes a while for the news to get around. By the time the news got around to Green Lantern / Green Arrow it was cancelled."

With the exception of his work on Batman, Adams became a more sporadic contributor to DC, although he was involved in a number of 'event' comics, such as the inter-company crossover, Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man (1976) and Superman vs. Muhammad Ali (1978), the latter a 72-page story teaming Superman with boxer Ali to battle aliens.

In 1971, Adams and Dick Giordano, an inker with whom he often worked, set up Continuity Graphics Associates Inc. to produce storyboards for movies and produce comic art for advertising. A studio was set up in New York through which dozens of artists passed. Advertising work would often be passed around various artists with Adams and Giordano inking the main figures. This team effort was often credited to the "Crusty Bunkers", including numerous inking jobs for DC Comics, in the period 1972-77. Adams was also the art director and costume designer for Warp! (1973) a Broadway play by film director Stuart Gordon and playwright Lenny Kleinfeld.

By the late 1970s, Adams was almost invisible at DC or Marvel due, he said, to the introduction of a Work-For-Hire contract which he considered to be "against the intent of the new copyright law." In 1978 he helped set up the Comics Creators' Guild, which attracted 50 members. The Guild, says Adams, achieved many of its aims.

Adams also took time out to study a film course at NYU and filmed a full-length horror film, Nannaz, on a $30,000 budget. It starred Adams, his children Jason and Zeea and comic personalities Gray Morrow and Denys Cowan and told the story of two children who protect an invention of their father's from crooks with the aid of a toy monkey. It was reputedly released via Troma Entertainment in Europe in 1986 or 1987 under the title Death to the Pee-Wee Squad.

In the 1980s, Adams was tempted back into comics and produced Ms. Mystic (1982) and Skateman (1983) for Pacific Comics, the latter lasting only a single issue which was cited as the worst single comic of the past 25 years by Kitchen Sink Press's World's Worst Comics Awards (1990). Ms. Mystic, a witch in the modern world, appeared only twice from Pacific before transferring to Adams' own company, Continuity Comics in 1987.

Formed in 1984, Continuity launched a number of titles, including Zero Patrol, a reworking of a Spanish series by Esteban Maroto (2 issues, 1984-85) and Echo of Futurepast, an anthology which serialised a number of creations that Adams had planned as books to be published in Europe, including a Dracula-Werewolf-Frankenstein team-up by Adams (based on a 1975 comic book and record set, A Story of Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein from Power Records), "Bucky O'Hare" by Larry Hama & Michael Golden, "Tippie Toe Jones" by Lindley Farley & Louis Mitchell and "Mudwogs" by Arthur Suydam.

Continuity entered the superhero market with Armor (1985-92), Revengers (1986-89), Toyboy (1986-89), Samuree (1987-91), Zero Patrol (1987-89), Ms. Mystic (1987-93), Urth 4 (1989-90) and Megalith (1989-93). A 1993 relaunch saw a number of series revert to issue one and new titles appear, the Continuity line-up now including Armor, Cyberrad, Earth, Hybrids, Megalith and Ms. Mystic, with Samuree, Shaman and Valerie, She-Bat added soon after. Continuity were caught up in the collapse of the speculative comics' boom in 1994 part-way through a company-wide crossover. At the time, Adams was also involved in a court case – with Michael Netzer over the rights to Ms. Mystic – which was dismissed in 1997.

One Continuity success was Bucky O'Hare, which became an animated TV series in 1991-92 under the title Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars! on which Adams was credited as executive producer. Adams has worked as a concept designer on movies such as From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1987), Circuitry Man (1990), and the Skeleton Warriors TV series (1994-95).

Adams continues to work with Continuity Studios to produce material for companies, including motion capture comics (such as Astonishing X-Men: Gifted, scripted by Joss Whedon, in 2009 and the upcoming Neal Adams' Blood, based on his Dark Horse Presents series), animatics and CGI. He has also recently been involved with the Disney Educational productions to produce They Spoke Out: American Voices against the Holocaust, an online educational motion comics series that relates the stories of Americans who protested the Nazis or aided Jews during the Holocaust. The first episode was screened in April 2010.

Neal Adams' Monsters, the long-promised story featuring Frankenstein, the Werewolf and Dracula, appeared as a hardcover book in 2004. Adams has occasionally returned to mainstream comics including stories for Giant Size X-Men #3 (2005) and Young Avengers Special #1 (2006) for Marvel and Batman: Odyssey (2010-12) for DC. It was recently (May 2012) announced that Adams would be co-writing (with Christos Gage) The First X-Men, a 5-issue mini-series which Adams would be drawing. Adams has also been involved in a 5-part Wolverine project.

Adams has been twice married, to Cory Adams and Marilyn Adams. His children include daughters Kristine Stone and Zeea Moss and sons Jason (a sculptor under the name Spyda), Joel and Josh Adams.
Source: Steve Holland.


See illustrators issue 16 for a Neal Adams feature article.

Charlie Adlard (born 1966; Shrewsbury, UK)
Charlie Adlard was born in Shrewsbury, England in 1966. He attended art college in Maidstone, Kent, to study film and video. He did his first work in the UK on serials like 'White Death' with Robbie Morrison and the 2000 AD series 'Judge Dredd' and 'Armitage' in 1992. He continued to work for 2000 AD later on with serials like 'Nikolai Dante' (1997 onwards) and 'Savage' (with Pat Mills, 2004).

Charlie Adlard has been discovered and rediscovered a number of times in both the UK and US. After producing a string of short-lived strips beginning with Biggles Bear in 1989, Adlard approached Steve MacManus with samples and was offered a Judge Dredd strip. He then drew various strips for the Judge Dredd Megazine, notably Armitage, about a brutal Brit-Cit cop and his partner, Treasure Steel (who subsequently featured in her own series), and for Marvel UK, where his best work was probably Dances With Demons, a 4-issue mini-series penned by Simon Jowett; a second collaboration with Jowett, entitled 'Bloodrush', went unpublished.

By this time, Adlard had been discovered by American publishers, drawing stories for Black Orchid Annual, Marvel Comics Presents and Good Guys. After producing a five-issue run of Mars Attacks! for Topps, Adlard began working on the best-selling X-Files comic strip from the same publisher. The strip was a tremendous success and was still selling an average 130,000 copies per issue when Adlard decided to leave, claiming that the strip was straight-jacketed by the demands of the company and he had little artistic control.

He left to work on Shadowman for Acclaim and, although never short of relatively high-profile work (on, for instance, The Crow, Gen13, Superman and X-Men, it might be said that Adlard was critically discovered only when he began working on Larry Young's Astronauts in Trouble in 1999.

In the 2000s, Adlard was, again, kept busy on a range of titles, including Blair Witch: Dark Testaments and Double Image for Image; The Authority and The Establishment for WildStorm, Before the Fantastic Four, X-Men Unlimited, Peter Parker: Spider-Man, ThunderBolts and Warlock for Marvel and Batman/Scarface: A Psychodrama, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Harley Quinn and Batman: Gotham Knights for DC.

However, it was with The Walking Dead for Image that Adlard was yet again rediscovered in 2004. Adlard replaced original artist Tony Moore with issue 7 (April 2004) and has continued the series ever since. The post-zombie apocalypse storyline proved very popular with readers and The Walking Dead won the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 2010.

Adlard has retained his connections with the UK, drawing the graphic novel Playing the Game by Doris Lessing in 1995 and episodes of Nikolai Dante for 2000AD in the late 1990s. However, it was the relaunch of Pat Mills' Savage in 2004 that brought Adlard back to the attention of fans of British comics. He went on to draw three series of the character's revival between 2004 and 2007.
Illustration Art Gallery
Charlie Adlard art

Martin Aitchison (born 1919; UK)
Aitchison was born in Birmingham. He was educated at Ellesmere College in Shropshire, leaving aged 15 to attend the Birmingham School of Art and then Slade School of Art. He married fellow art student Dorothy Self.

He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1939. He was deaf, excluding him from active service in the Second World War, but he worked for Vickers Aircraft as a technical illustrator. He produced drawings for the bouncing bomb designed by Barnes Wallis for the Dam Busters air raid.

He became a freelance commercial artist after the war, producing drawings for a range of magazines. His earliest work was for Hulton Press' Lilliput magazine. He drew for Girl, filling in for Ray Bailey on Kitty Hawke and her All-Girl Air Crew, and illustrating Flick and the Vanishing New Girl in the first Girl annual.

He began to work for the Eagle in 1952, drawing the French Foreign Legion strip Luck of the Legion, written by Geoffrey Bond, for nearly ten years, including spin-off strips in ABC Film Review in 1952. He also drew spy series Danger Unlimited and adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World and C. S. Forrester's Horatio Hornblower stories for the Eagle, and Arty and Crafty, written by Geoffrey Bond, for Eagle's junior companion paper Swift. His work for comics displayed his talents in an exuberant and creative medium, working mainly from imagination.

He joined Ladybird Books in 1963, and with Harry Wingfield illustrated many titles in its new Key Words Reading Scheme books, also known as Peter and Jane, which were used to teach so many British children to read. The consistency, naturalistic style and attention to detail of the artist made him a favourite with the prolific British publisher and over a period of a quarter of a century, he illustrated at least 100 different titles. Martin Aitchison was not the only artist to make the switch from The Eagle to Ladybird; Frank Hampson and Frank Humphris also followed the same path.

He left Ladybird in 1987, and retired - apart from drawing a new comic strip, Justin Tyme - ye Hapless Highwayman, written by Geoffrey Bond, and later his son Jim, for the fanzine Eagle Times from 1998 to 2004.

Cecil Aldin (28 April 1870 - 6 January 1935)
During his lifetime, Cecil Aldin was described as one of the leading spirits in the renaissance of British sporting art. Following the death of Henry Aiken in 1851, sporting art had been in the doldrums—the comic art of John Leech aside—until the emergence of Aldin and Denholm Armour (1864-1949) towards the end of the 19th century. Between them, they founded a school of realistic portrayal of country pursuits which not only appealed to sportsmen but to the broader public.

He was particularly noted for painting of horses, dogs and hunting scenes—a hobby he particularly enjoyed. The anonymous writer of Aldin's obituary in The Times noted, "But there never yet has been a painter of dogs fit to hold a candle to him. Of all his immensely diverse interests the study of dogs came foremost. as an artist he had the ability to portray the character of his subject: as a man he understood that subject with the sympathy that enabled him to show us our very friend himself ... Somebody once complained that his drawings of dogs were 'too human'; they were not, but often showed character that even their owners had not noticed."

Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin was born in Slough, Buckinghamshire, on 28 April 1870, the son of Charles, a well-to-do builder and contractor, and Sarah Aldin. From an early age he was keen on sketching animals and the countryside and he was encouraged in his artistic aspirations by his father, who readily agreed to his studying art, after which he studied anatomy at South Kensington and animal painting at Midhurst, Sussex, under W. Frank Calderon, who went on to found the School of Animal Painting in 1894.

The Aldin family, which also included Cecil's siblings Arthur Reginald (1872-1937), Percy Charles (1874-1956), Mildred Lilian (later Dunn; 1876-1931), had moved to Clapham and lived in a house called Windemere on the south side of Clapham Common.

Aldin moved first to Chelsea and then to Bedford Park, Chiswick, where he found himself in a brotherhood of artists which included James Pryde and his brother-in-law William Nicholson—the Beggarstaff Brothers—and John Hassall, Phil May, Dudley Hardy, Lance Thackeray and many others; this wide range of friends and colleagues led to much cross-pollination of ideas and techniques.

One of his earliest commissions came from a Master of Foxhounds who wanted a portrait of a horse, an old polo pony, with the horse itself as payment, which Aldin housed in a bicycle shed. Before long, he could be found hacking on his own mount from Bedford Park to meets at Esher. Over a short period he accumulated a second horse (again in exchange for a portrait of a hunter), a Shetland pony, a donkey, two monkeys and thirteen dogs.

His artwork sales paid for his sporting hobbies and there was no shortage of magazines and newspapers who wanted Aldin's work. He found early success when he was asked to illustrated Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Stories in Pall Mall Budget (1894-95). He produced numerous sporting colour prints as well as a series on old inns of England (1919-20), illustrated R. S. Surtees' famous hunting character Jorrocks (Jorrocks on 'Uniting, 1909; Handley Cross, 1911), Dickens' Pickwick Papers (1910) and many other books, as well as contributing to Ladies Pictorial, Illustrated London News, Sketch, The Gentlewoman, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, The Queen, Penny Illustrated Paper, The Sphere, Country Gentleman, Printers' Pie, Windsor,Cassell's Family Magazine, Ludgate Monthly, Royal Magazine, Black and White, Good Words, Boy's Own Paper, The Captain, Animal World, Land and Water Illustrated, The Poster, Pearson's Magazine and Punch, amongst others.

In his autobiography, Aldin claimed: "I may as well state here and have done with it that I have no pretensions to Art. Art for the true artist should have a capital A. For me, I am ashamed to say, it has had a rather small one for my painting has always been founded on substrata of hunting possibilities, that is to say, it has had to provide me with the wherewithal to enable me to hunt, and has been tainted with this aftermath of sporting commercialism."

Aldin's talents did not go unrecognised: he was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists, the London Sketch Club and had many paintings exhibited. He was said to be a man of great charm and organised various shows, including childrens' pony shows at Cloutsham Ball and Dunster, le Touquet, and dog shows which were not always serious (with awards for the ugliest dog, for example).

Aldin suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, aggravated by falls in the hunting field, which forced him to give up the sport. He retired to the Balearic Islands, taking all his dogs with him (horses were left behind with approved new owners) and made his home at Camp de Mar, Andraitz, Mallorca. He died at 20 Devonshire Place, Marylebone, London, on 6 January 1935. He was survived by his wife and daughter, his son having been killed in action whilst serving with the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1916.
Source: Steve Holland.

Graham Allen (born 1940; UK)
Graham Allen was the son of variety performer Clive Allen. He joined Fleetway's staff, where he was working as an art bodger on Cowboy Comics Library by 1957. He drew comic strips for IPC titles from the mid 1960s on, including "Sir Munchkin" (1965) for Lion and "One Man and his Dog" for Buster. He also drew a weekly strip, "Lord Elpus" (1965), for the Sunday Extra newspaper. He then moved to Odhams Press, where he drew in a frenetic Leo Baxendale-inspired style for Wham!, Pow! and Smash!, including "Tuffy McGrew" and "The Nervs" for the latter.

When Odhams merged into IPC, Allen became a regular artist on their humour comics, drawing “Give a Dog a Bone” (1969) for Whizzer and Chips, "Mutt 'n' Chops" (1969), "Fiends and Neighbours" (1973, later in Cor!!), "Scruffy Dog and Shaggy Dog" and "Clarence Stringbean" for Buster, and “Eddie” (1970) and "Spoilsport" (1973) for Cor!!.

Other IPC titles he worked on include TV21, ("Mickey's Moonbugs"), Look-In ("Please Sir!" and "The Fenn Street Gang", 1972), Score 'n' Roar ("Trouble Shooter"), Whoopee! ("Spy School", 1974). He also worked for DC Thomson, drawing "Copycat" for Magic and "Digby the Human Mole" for Plug, and Polystyle's TV Comic, drawing "Nellie and her Tellie" (1974).

From 1981 he drew the daily strip Pub Dog for the Daily Express, and later the Evening News. Other newspaper strips he drew in the 80s and 90s include King Kat for the Daily Star, One Boy and his Dog for the News of the World and Rocky Starr in People Magazine. He also tried his hand at political cartooning for the London Daily News and Daily Express. He has also drawn for Viz, and is a prolific book illustrator.
Source: UK Comics Wiki http://ukcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Graham_Allen
Graham Allen art

Matias Alonso Andrés (born 1935, Spain)
Matías Alonso Andrés was born in Valle de Trapagaran (Euzkadi), near the Bay of Biscay in northern Spain, in 1935. An illustrator and painter from childhood, he won a Segundo Premio Nacional de Pintura (Second National Painting Prize) at the age of 16. He made his comic book debut in the pages of Colorin and Azucena but established himself at the age of 18 when he began drawing El Charro Termerario (1953), written by Pedro Muñoz for Barcelona-based Editora Grafidea. The character Juan Miguel, known as El Charro the bold, was first to be found in the wild west of Mexico and California, often fighting on behalf of the Aztec Indians. After 44 issues, Muñoz and Alonso changed the focus of the strip from Juan Miguel to a secondary character introduced to the strip, the teenage Flaviano, and his friend Knut.

The new series, La Capitana (1955), was set on the high seas and around the globe, from Africa to Australia, and Alonso could be seen developing as an artist: Jaume Salva i Lara has commented (and I'm paraphrasing because I know almost no Spanish and online translators are, at best, a little sloppy) that Alonso's artwork had taken on a lot of personality, the ships and military uniforms (such as those of the French foreign legion) drawn with an eye for detail and the exotic settings showing the influence of Hollywood movies. To counter this rather thankless attention to realism, Alonso tried to make the pages stylistically interesting, although the results could be somewhat mannered. After a further 44 issues, the focus changed again. Now married (although his wife falls ill and is soon left behind), Flaviano travels to India for his next adventure, El Amuleto Verde (1956; The Green Amulet), a somewhat disappointing finale to the trilogy as the artwork became hurried and less detailed, the action bowdlerised and the storyline less interesting. It was brought to an end after 24 weeks.

Alonso went on to draw more historical strips Jarko, el Temible (20 episodes, 1957) and Luis Valiente (24 episodes, 1957) before adapting a series of science fiction stories, commonly known as 'La saga de los Aznar', written by George H. White (the pen-name of Spanish author Pascual Enguídanos Usach, 1923-2006), into comics, producing 44 issues under the title Hazañas de la Juventud Audaz (Daring Feats of Youth), published by Editora Valenciana in 1959-60. Alonso then took over the artwork of the famous Spanish historical strip El Guerrero del Antifaz (The Warrior of the Mask) in 1961, which he drew in the style of the strip’s originator, Manuel Gago. He continued the adventures for 80 issues before Gago returned to the series. To some fans of the famous strip Alonso's artwork, influenced by Gago from the start, was a disappointing hiatus in a series that belonged to Gago; others consider the episodes featuring the clean, precise line of Alonso's artwork and storylines by Vincente Tortajada to be amongst the best. It was around this period that Alonso began working with Luis Bermejo, a Valencian artist who was one of the leading lights of Spanish comics (Aventuras del FBI, Apache). Alonso began working for D.C. Thomson's Commando in 1962 (probably via Bermejo and Selecciones Illustrades) whilst continuing to work locally, drawing various episodes of Espíritu del Oeste (1963, written by Pedro Quesada) for the Spanish publisher Maga.

Alonso also drew La isla del Tesoro (1964) for the magazine Flecha Roja and Las Aventuras de Marco Polo (1964) for Pantera Negra, the latter with Bermejo who, at that time, was also drawing Heros the Spartan for Eagle. In Spain, Alonso collaborated with Bermejo on illustrations for children’s books such as Vida y Costumbres de los Vikingos and África y sus habitantes (1965). By the mid-1960s he was firmly established in the UK market, drawing for Commando, Battle Picture Library, Air Ace Picture Library and War Picture Library, sometimes working in collaboration with Bermejo and with Eustaquio Segrelles. A fine example of his collaborative work with Bermejo can be seen in the "Heros" strip that appeared in Eagle Annual 1967, although his contributions to Boys World Annual 1968 and especially the 1969 volume, show what he was capable of working solo.

From 1967 he became a regular contributor to Victor, drawing dozens of weekly strips over the next 23 years. Often to be found drawing historical or war adventures, the titles alone offer an insight to the range of strips he drew: "Johnny Gurka", "The Lost Warriors of Tartary", "Task Force with Tusks", "Jungle Joe", "The Planet Seekers", "Vengeance Stalks the Veldt", "The Sons of Ra", "The Wild Colonial Boy", "The White Tiger", "Wings of Death", "Eagle of the Rising Sun" and "The Haunting of Running Bear".

Alonso also drew occasional strips outside of the pages of Victor and Commando, including a handful of stories for girls' comics Judy, Diana, Debbie and Emma and the boys' adventure comic Bullet ("Claws of Terror") in the 1970s.

His last known contributions to British comics appeared in the early 1990s when he drew strips for Judy Picture Library and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By then Alonso had established himself in Spain as a painter--noted for his landscapes of northern Spain and of Spanish ports with boats jostling in the water--and has had his work exhibited in Barcelona and Madrid.

See illustrators issue 22 and illustrators Commando Special Edition for feature articles on Matias Alonso.
Matias Alonso art

Alvaro ?Mendoza (possibly born 1952; Spain or Mexico)
Artist, possibly Spanish, about whom nothing can be traced. A number of other artists share this name – one, Alvaro Mendoza, a Mexican artist who has a similar signature (written in capital letters). Mendoza was born in Izlahuaaca, Mexico, in 1952 and clearly would not have been contributing to Look and Learn in January 1963 (!), when two images of Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, appeared in the magazine.

The signature on the above picture was removed when it was printed in Look and Learn, as was the colour: it appeared only in black & white.
Source: Steve Holland.

Wayne Anderson (born 1946, Leicestershire, UK)
Wayne Anderson is an illustrator of books for all ages, children and adults. He created and illustrated the multi Award Winning book RATSMAGIC. After studying a four-year course at Leicester College of Art, Wayne moved to London to become a full-time artist and illustrator before returning to Leicestershire.

Wayne's illustrations feature in over 160 UK books and also appear in animated films and many other formats, including these notable titles:
Ratsmagic (Winner, Gold Medal Best Illustrated Children's Book, Society of Illustrators, 1976)
Hirondelle Wine (Silver Award, most outstanding illustration for an Advertising Campaign, 1978)
The Enchanted World (Certificate of Merit, Society of Illustrators, 1985)
Gnomes & Gardens (Winner, V&A Illustration Awards, 2001)
The Tin Forest (Winner, Original Voices Award USA, Borders Books, 2001)
Dragonology (includes Wayne's work and featured on Children's Best Seller List, New York Times, 2018)

Source: Illustration Art Gallery

Andreas Martens (born 3 January 1951; Weißenfels, Germany)
Andreas, pen name for Andreas Martens, is a German-born Belgian comic artist best known for his science-fiction serials 'Rork', 'Arq' and 'Capricorne'. Born in Weißenfels, East Germany, Martens studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf. He eventually ended up at the Brussels Saint-Luc Institute, where he studied with young ambitious comics artists like Berthet, Foerster and Cossu.

Adapting his first name as his pseudonym, his first work appeared in the Saint-Luc magazine Le 9e Rêve, and subsequently created 'Udolfo' in cooperation with his teacher Eddy Paape in Tintin. In the same magazine, he embarked on the philosophical fantasy comic series 'Rork' in 1978. The series was collected in books by Le Lombard between 1984 and 1993 and in between his work on the 'Rork' stories, Andreas published many genre one-shot comics, which cleverly expanded the limits of the comics medium.

À Suivre published several of the short stories he made with scriptwriter François Rivière, that were later collected in the album 'Révélations Posthumes' in 1980. From the early 1980s, he expanded his activities with 'Cyrrus' and 'Mil' in Métal Hurlant, 'Cromwell Stone' (Deligne), 'La Caverne du Souvenir' (Lombard), as well as an adaptation of 'Jane Eyre' for Je Bouquine. After publishing 'Raffington Detective' with Lombard in 1989, Andreas began an association with the publishing house Delcourt.

Delcourt reprinted all his non-Lombard albums, and published new works like 'Coutoo' (1989), 'Dérives' (1991), 'Aztèques' (1992), and 'Le Triangle Rouge' (1995). Andreas has also published his ongoing science-fiction series 'Arq' with this publisher since 1997. In that same year, he returned to Lombard to start another sci-fi serial based on a secondary character from his 'Rork' series, 'Capricorne'.

Andreas teamed up with Philippe Foerster in 1995 and created 'Le Styx' for the collection Signé of Lombard. He joined the magazine Brazil in 1994, where he drew 'Les Lettres' in cooperation with Jamsin and Antonio Cossu. Andreas has illustrated the third instalment of the series 'Donjon Monstres' for Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim in 2002, and he created the adventure one-shot 'Quintos' with Isabelle Cochet for Dargaud in 2006. As a scriptwriter, Andreas has cooperated with Berthet ('Mortes Saisons', Dupuis) and Christian Durieux (the detective series 'Mobilis', Delcourt 1999-2002).

His genre series include Arq, Cromwell Stone, Cyrrus, Rork and its spin-off, Capricorne, as well as a number of single works such as La Caverne du Souvenir (The Cave of Memory), Coutoo, Dérives (Adrift), Aztèques, and Révélations Posthumes (Posthumous Revelations).
Source: Lambiek

Colin Andrew
Colin Andrew has had a long and varied career in comics and as an illustrator and book cover artist, yet remains one of the lesser-known names in the field despite some high profile work.

Born and raised in Dundee, Andrew found work as a junior in Bill McCail's Mallard Features studio in Glasgow. His first published work was a cartoon in Lilliput magazine, and his first strip was for a local paper where he dreamed up the storylines and drew layouts for a story of anthropomorphic trains, in the spirit of Thomas the Tank Engine. After his national service, he moved to London and joined the King-Ganteaume studio, working mostly Westerns and historical strips for Pancho Villa, Rocky Mountain King, TV Heroes and other Len Miller titles. When the King-Ganteaume partnership split, Andrew continued to work for Kenneth King, contributing to Lone Star and Space Ace.

In the late 1950s, Andrew drew a great deal for Zip and Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, notably the Captain Morgan strip in Zip. In 1960 he assisted Syd Jordan, another McCail studio alumni, on Jordan's Daily Express strip Jeff Hawke. The strips were written by Willie Patterson, with whom Andrew collaborated on two newspaper strips in Lord Beaverbrook's Glasgow Daily Herald, both factual strips, one a history of the world cup, the other on famous football players.

His favourite strip was also penned by Patterson, What Is Exhibit X in Boys' World, starring John Brody, a scientific investigator for the Daily Newsflash. The strip was subsequently taken over and Andrew found himself drawing The Boy Who Knew Too Much in Buster as well as features for Boys' World, Eagle, Lion and Tiger over the next few years. He returned to strip work drawing Tomorrow West in Solo, followed by stints in Fireball XL5 and Stingray in TV Century 21 and Alias Smith and Jones for TV Action. Since the 1970s he has concentrated on illustration (including work for World of Wonder and Look and Learn) and book covers; in particular he supplied New English Library with many quickly executed covers in the 1970s. He has also storyboarded television commercials, including the UK Government's PowerGen sell-off. In the 1980s he also drew editorial cartoons for a local newspaper for three years.

Andrew returned to comics in the 1990s via his friend Syd Jordan, who suggested he submit samples to Fleetway and Marvel UK. He was contacted by the latter and worked irregularly on episodes of Dr. Who strips in Doctor Who Magazine.
Source: Steve Holland.
Colin Andrew art

Peter Andrews; UK
Peter Andrews was active as an artist and illustrator in Bristol for many years where he was an active member of the Bristol Savages Artists group. Most of his work is now held in private collections.

His output was very varied ranging from strong graphic style illustration to advertising art, Cornish landscape, pure abstract art and Pop art; also sculpture and large murals.
Peter Andrews art

Barrie Appleby; UK
Barrie Appleby is a British comics artist and illustrator who works mainly for Scottish publisher D. C. Thomson & Co., drawing strips such as Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger for The Beano since the 1970s. He has also drawn Cuddles and Dimples for The Dandy, as well as strips for Nutty, Hoot, Monster Fun and Buster. He also drew Bananaman in the BEEB comic. In 1999, he took over Bananaman in the Dandy from John Geering. He returned for a short time to do Bananaman in 2008.

In 2003, he took over Roger the Dodger after the death of Robert Nixon. Appleby's Roger strips were similar in style to Nixon's, although his own style was always evident. However, following the Dandy's revamp in October 2004, he relinquished Cuddle Dimples to Nigel Parkinson. A couple of years later, he drew two new strips for the Beano, with Pirates of the Caribeano beginning in September 2006 and London B412 following in October 2007, both were short-lived. He also provided the cover illustrations for the 2008 and 2009 editions of the Beano Annual. In February 2011, Appleby became the full-time Dennis the Menace artist, and he stopped drawing Roger shortly afterwards.

Barrie Appleby returned to draw new Roger the Dodger episodes in August 2012 after Nigel Parkinson took over as Dennis artist. He supposedly left in The Beano in July 2013 along with Barry Glennard and Dave Eastbury when Roger was taken over by Jamie Smart. In early 2014, Barrie returned to The Beano to draw Gnasher and Gnipper and returned to Roger the Dodger in July.

" I think the Beano still sells after all these years because it epitomises British humour - it's very surreal with a lot of slapstick, which goes right back to Charlie Chaplin. It appeals to that anarchic side of kids, the side that enjoys seeing someone get one over on adults. If somebody's trousers fall down or they get kicked up the bum, kids love it. I loved it at that age; it was the same with my kids and now with my grandchildren. At the age of seventeen I was lucky enough to get a position as an art assistant, working for the Walt Disney organisation. This meant leaving my home near Barnsley, South Yorkshire and moving to London. After a few years I married and moved to Canada where both my children were born. Again I was extrememly lucky to find a position with a book publisher in Toronto where I was soon made art director.

However cartoons were still in my blood and I returned to the U.K. It wasn't long before I built up a client base which included IPC Magazines, Marvel Comics and of course D.C Thomson, for whom I have drawn many of their famous characters. Many of which can be seen on this site.

I have lived for many years with my wife Eileen in a small village near Sudbury, Suffolk. Both my children Carrie and Jason and my six grandchildren live near by. After many years of hiding my head in the sand in the face of modern technology my son and grandson, Ben have dragged me kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, by setting up this website for me. " -- Barrie Appleby
Source: Illustration Art Gallery, Barrie Appleby
Barrie Appleby art

Luis Arcas Brauner (20 October 1934 - July 1989, Valencia, Spain)
A widely admired painter of portraits (including those of Spanish royalty), landscapes and still life. He enrolled in the School of Commerce at his father's insistence. Arcas, who wanted to devote himself to the arts, eventually entered the Escuela Superior de Bellas artes de San Carlos in Valencia, where he studied until 1954. In that year he held his first exhibition.

Arcas won numerous awards throughout his career as a painter, including the Silver Medal at the 13th Exposición de arte Universitario in 1952, the Premio extradordinario nacional at the 5th National Competition of Fine Arts in Alicante in 1956 and the Premio "La Coruña" at the exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in Madrid in 1960.

His work was widely exhibited in Spain and in North and South America. He was one of the artists who participated in the Setenta y cinco años de pintura valenciana (Seventy-Five years of Valencian painting) exhibition supported by the Valencia City Council in 1975. A retrospective of his work, Treinta años de vida profesional (Thirty years of professional life), was exhibited at the Caja de Ahorros de Valencia.

He died in Cambridge, England, in July 1989, aged 54. Five years after his death, his work was celebrated as part of Un siglo de pintura valenciana (A century of Valencian painting) in Valencia.
Source: Steve Holland.
Luis Arcas Brauner art

Michael H. Arens (2 December 1915 - 19 June, 1976, USA)
Mike Arens was born in California and began his career as an animator, joining Walt Disney Studios as a production artist in 1937. He worked on the Dance of the Hours segment of Fantasia, and on Pinocchio. After performing his military service in 1942-47, Arens became a regular newspaper strip artist with Hey, Mac! (1947-61).

He turned to comic books in the late 1940s, drawing artwork for Street & Smith's Top Secrets in 1949. From 1952, he drew dozens of strips for Dell Publishing, his first work mostly western strips such as Gene Autry (1951-52, 1954-55, 1957), The Frontiersman (1952-58), Buck Jones (1953-54), Rex Allen (1953, 1956-57), Flying-A's Range Rider (1954-55), Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955), Dale Evans (1956), Chuckwagon Charley (c.1958), and various for Western Roundup (1952-58).

Arens began producing Disney characters for overseas comics such as the British Huckleberry Hound comic in 1961-62. For Western Publishing he drew a variety of Disney and adventure strips, including Chip 'n' Dale (Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, 1962), Goofy (1963), Donald Duck (1963), Mary Poppins (Gold Key one-shot, 1964), My Favourite Martian (1964-66), Tarzan (1965-66) and Korak (1966).

For King Features he drew the Roy Rogers Sunday strip (1959-62), Uncle Remus and his Tales of Br'er Rabbit (1968), Mickey Mouse (1968) and both daily and Sunday episodes of Scamp (with inker Manuel Gonzales, 1969-76). Arens was also responsible for a number of Disney Christmas Stories--including Snow White's Christmas Surprise (1966) and Dumbo and the Christmas Mystery (1967)--and many newspaper adaptations for King Features/Walt Disney Productions, including Robin Hood (1973-74), Alice in Wonderland (1974), Herbie Rides Again (1974), (1976), Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1975), and many others.

Arens had a parallel career in animation from 1965, working as a story director for Grantray-Lawrence on their Spider-Man and Marvel Superheroes animated shows. In 1967 he became a layout artist for Hanna-Barbera, working on dozens of animated TV shows, including Fantastic 4 (1967), The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968-70), Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (1969-70), amongst many. He was also layout artist on Charlotte's Web, the 1973 Hanna-Barbera movie adaptation of E. B. White's classic novel about a pig trying to avoid being killed for Christmas. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Mike Arens art

Arnaud Dombre (4 January 1961 - 7 July 1996)
Arnaud Dombre, who used the pseudonym of Arno, was born in France and traveled all over the world (including Iraq, Uruguay and Chile) from a very young age because his father was a French teacher. His interest in comics was forbidden by his parents, but he insisted and continued to study art in France at The Academy of Fine Arts in Paris.

When he was nineteen, he published his first comics in the magazine Métal Hurlant. Here, he met Alejandro Jodorowsky, with whom he began a collaboration on the world-renowned 'Alef-Thau' series.

In 1985, Arno illustrated the collection of short stories "Kids". In 1993, "Agostino, La croisée des Chemins" was published in Casterman. Three years later, while he was working on the eighth 'Alef-Thau' album, Arno died in Paris.

A short Artography:
Print Media (non-comics)
Artist: Album covers: 1994 The Herberts' Oi! Generation [and for hard core music] > 94

French comics
SUIVRE~ (pen/ink/)
ALEF-THAU (pen/ink/) 1962/83-84/86/88-89/91/94 > 62 83 84 86 88 89 91 94
ANTOINE SIX~ (wr/pen/ink/) 1987 graphic album with Jose-Louis Boucquet > 87
AUGUSTIN, LA CROIS_E DES CHEMINS (wr/pen/ink/) 1993 > 93
KIDS~ (wr/pen/ink/) 1985 graphic album reprint > 85
KRIEGSSPIEL: LE JEU DE LA GUERRE (pen/ink/) 1992 > 92
L'ECHO DES SAVANES~ (pen/ink/)
METAL HURLANT~ (wr/pen/ink/) 1980-83 > 80 81 82 83
Various features (pen/ink/) 1980+ > 80 81 82 83
HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE~ (pen/ink/) 1982-83 reprint > 82 83

Note that there is another artist signing 'Arno' who is Arno Beijk (Dutch Artist).
Source: Illustration Art Gallery

John J Arnold
John J. Arnold was a commercial artist specialising in transport. He is known to have contributed illustrations to Look and Learn and Speed & Power magazines, and almost certainly contributed to other IPC Transport titles. His work for Look and Learn often involved beautifully rendered line & wash diagrams of cars, such as in his 'Classic Cars' series (1974) and 'Novelties of Mobility' (1974-75).

He also illustrated other forms of transport, including sailing ships and paddle steamers. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.
John J Arnold art

Martin Asbury
Martin Asbury grew up addicted to comics, trawling through newsagents and book shops looking for American comics. Influenced by Burne Hogarth's 'Tarzan', Classics Illustrated and Frank Hampson's 'Dan Dare', he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and studied painting at St. Martin's College of Art. Apart from illustrating a story for a comic book giveaway, his first illustrative work included the sheet music for Ron Grainer's The Maigret Theme and painting cardboard cut-outs for use on TV.

An advert in an magazine led him to apply for a job as an assistant for "an international cartoonist"; this was on Flash Gordon and Asbury moved to Austria for six months before clashes with Dan Barry led to his departure. Back in England he designed cards for Hallmark, rising to become their chief designer.

Married in 1969, he decided to go freelance and found work drawing for D. C. Thomson's Bunty. With the launch of Wizard in 1970 he graduated onto boys' adventure strips, drawing Soldiers of the Jet Age, The Crimson Claw, The Secret of Deep 16 and others for the paper. At the same time, he also found work on Joe 90: Top Secret, soon to merged with TV21, where he drew Forward from the Back Streets and Tarzan.

Some short-run strips in Countdown led to him drawing Cannon for TV Action and TV Comic before he was hired by Look-In, where, after briefly drawing Follyfoot, he had his first big hit with Kung Fu.

Asbury took over the Dr Who strip in TV Comic before returning to Look-In to draw more 'Kung Fu', and his biggest hit, The Six Million Dollar Man, which ran for four years (1975-79). At the same time, Asbury took over the artwork for Garth in the Daily Mirror following the death of Frank Bellamy. He was to draw the strip for 21 years, working initially with Jim Edgar. From 1995, Asbury also scriptwrited the strip.

In the early days of the strip, Asbury was also able to continue working for Look-In, his strips for that paper including 'Dick Turpin', 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'. However, an opportunity arose in the early 1980s for a change in artistic direction.

Asbury explained how he became a storyboard artist in an interview in Starlog: "When I was a strip cartoonist, I occasionally did TV commercial storyboards. A friend of mine (Dez Skinn) had an agency dealing with design and graphics and one day a man literally walked in off the street looking for a storyboard artist. I met this guy, production designer Stuart Craig, and he was about to start work on the film Greystoke with director Hugh Hudson. It was that simple.

"For Greystoke I did nearly 3,500 huge drawings, many of them in full colour. I didn't know they were going to be fed through a copying machine and come out as grey blotches. I learned my lesson on that.

Since the release of Greystoke in 1984, Asbury has storyboarded dozens of movies, a few sample credits would include Labyrinth, Willow, Alien 3, Chaplin, Interview with the Vampire, Fierce Creatures, Quills, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Thunderpants, The Hours, Troy, Alexander, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code, The Boat That Rocked, the last six James Bond movies (Brosnan/Craig) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

He continues to work as a storyboard artist, his most recent work being for the upcoming Between Two Worlds.
Taken from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Martin Asbury art

Peter J Ashmore (born c. 1923; Coventry, UK)
P J Ashmore was a prolific watercolourist, painting a wide range of illustrations from nature studies to busy Edwardian street scenes and paintings of bi-planes on behalf of Look and Learn magazine.

It is thought that Peter J H Ashmore was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, in 1923. He was married to Joyce Lovell in 1948 and had at least one son.
Source: Look and Learn

Pythia Ashton-Jewell
Pythia Ashton-Jewell is a published illustrator of children's books. Her published books include:

Warning: When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple by Jenny Joseph, Pythia Ashton-Jewell (Illustrator) (Souvenir Press, 1995)

What a Wonderful World! A Special Collection, edited by Pat Alexander (Chariot Victor Publishing, 1998)

The Secret of Skytop Hill by Enid Blyton, Pythia Ashton-Jewell (Illustrator) ( Award Publications, 1998)

Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes by Pythia Ashton-Jewell (Illustrator) (Award Publications, 1999)

Alphabet A to Z by Pythia Ashton-Jewell (Illustrator) (Award Publications, 1999)

Leslie Ashwell Wood (c.1903 - 1973)
Leslie Ashwell Wood was best known for his educational and detailed cutaway drawings and paintings of trains, boats, planes and all manner of mechanical inventions, often featured in Modern Wonder and in the centre page spread of Eagle in the 1950s.

See illustrators issue 4 for a Leslie Ashwell Wood feature article.

Leslie Ashwell Wood art

Ray Aspden
Ray Aspden has been an irregular comic strip writer and illustrator for 35 years, contributing Philpot Bottles' Orfice Boys Own to Denis Gifford's Ally Sloper in 1976-77, a cartoon strip that harked back to the 1930s penny comics, which would often feature a column from the paper's office boy recounting (in badly spelled text) what had been happening that week.

Ray, also a playwright, started writing for D. C. Thomson in the late 1970s, selling two stories to Victor, of which only one appeared (Stokehold Joe in 1980). In 1978, having spotted an advert in The Guardian, he contacted the editors of the upcoming science fiction pocket library, Starblazer, and began contributing scripts. His first submission, The Basilisk Face of Fear'- based loosely on the story of Perseus and the Gorgon's head, was accepted and published as Starblazer #2, 'The Domes of Death'. A second story, a reworking of the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, followed, published as 'Sinister City' (Starblazer #19).

Ray eventually became one of Starblazer's most regular writers, penning 28 issues published between 1979 and 1986. Discussing his work for the series recently, he admitted that the pattern set for those years was to have one in three of his outlines accepted, either immediately or after some amendment. One ploy used by the editors was to send a cover, bought through an agency, and have Ray write a story around it - 'Terror Tomb' (Starblazer #62) being one example.

His best-known work for the series featured Hadron Halley, the idea springing from a reversal of 'sci-fi' (science fiction) - that fi-sci could stand for Fighting Scientist. The concept of 'Moonsplitter' (Starblazer #50) was to contrast the rational scientific approach of Halley to the gung-ho militarism of General Larz Pluto, although in writing the latter as a buffoon he "transgressed Thomson's moral code of wanting figures of authority to be seen as worthy of respect." He considers the final book "a mess".

As well as his Starblazer writing, Aspden also began contributing strips to two Welsh language publications Sboncyn and Deryn in the early 1980s, writing and drawing two humour strips, Jac-Do and Alys Ofalus. Sboncyn was relaunched as Penbwl in 1989, for which Aspden wrote and drew Huwi Hurt, a Dennis the Menace-type character which Aspden turned into a Hungry Horace clone. The monthly comic folded in 1995.

Since 2004, Aspden has written and drawn two regular strips for Spaceship Away!. Both Mekki and Our Bertie owe a stylistic debt to the Knockout in the 1950s, rather than Eagle.

Ray's interest in history led him to produce illustrations for the series Cutha's Chronicles for the quarterly magazine Wiðowinde (Bindweed), for members of The English Companions (a study group for people interested in the Anglo-Saxon period of British history), since 2005; he has also drawn strips for the historical magazine Facts & Fiction and recently supplied illustrations for the book Derbyshire FolkTales (2010). Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Sergio Asteriti (born 13 February 1930, Venice, Italy)
Sergio Asteriti attended the Venice's Scuola di Magisterto d’Arte, intent on a career in advertising. His first comics work appeared in 1949 when he drew the series I bucanieri for Risveglio, which was distributed around schools in Venice.

After taking only one examination, he left school and moved to Milan, finding work with the publicity agency SPINTA where his workload included drawing movie posters featuring many of the actors in vogue at the time. Two years later, the company went bankrupt and Asteriti found himself in Milan without any work.

Not wishing to return to Venice in defeat, Asteriti hawked his portfolio around various publishers. His interest in comics had developed as a child and, whilst still in Venice, he had known Giorgio Trevisan and Leone Frollo, the latter a Venetian contemporary who introduced him to Giorgio Bellavitis, and other members of the Asso di Picche group, Faustinelli, Ongaro and Pratt.

In 1955 he joined the group of talented newcomers who began working for Caregaro's Edizioni Alpe around that era. Asteriti created the character Bingo Bongo, the comic adventures of a young black boy, for the weekly Cucciolo. Other strips from this period included Congolino and Capitan Jolando, as well as covers for Voici d'Oltremare di Bianconi/Missionari Combboniani and contributions to La Vispa Teresa.

In 1958, Asteriti began working for the English market via Creazioni D'Ami, Asteriti assisted on Fun in Toyland and The Funny Tales of Freddie Frog for the nursery weekly Jack and Jill and eventually took them over. 'Freddie Frog' was passed on to other artists in 1960, but Asteriti continued to work on 'Fun in Toyland' for many years. He continued to draw for the British market until the mid-1970s, also contributing to Bobo Bunny, and illustrations to Disneyland and Walt Disney's Now I Know.

His work also continued to appear in Italy. In the early 1960s he also drew Hayawatha for Corriere dei Piccoli in collaboration with Antonio Lupatelli. Asteriti has alos illustrated fairy stories for AMZ, Boschi and Carroccio.

In 1963, Asteriti produced Pippo e la vacanza culturale, his first strip for the Italian Disney magazine Topolino. Over the next decade he contributed to Disney Italia with increasing regularity and quickly became recognised as one of the leading contributors, both as an artist and, since 1974, a scriptwriter (a task he occasionally shared with his older brother, Franco), and eventually dropped his other work in order to concentrate on Disney characters full time, especially Mickey Mouse. Asteriti has described Mickey as "the best friend of my childhood", a character with whom he grew up. "The only drawback is that I have grown older while he has remained the same, young and healthy, without ever catching a cold!"

Having written and drawn hundreds of stories, Asteriti continues to be one of the major contributors to Italian Disney comics, his illustrative, decorative style perfectly suited for adventures set in medieval and fairy-tale locations. He was awarded Il Premio Papersera in 2008. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Michel Atkinson
Something of a mystery man with regards to cover artwork. Michel Atkinson was an irregular contributor to various romance and schoolgirl pocket libraries from 1961 until the 1970s, producing covers for Romantic Confessions Picture Library (1961), Love Story PL (1961-62, 1965, 1969-70, 1973-74), True Life Library (1961-62, 1965-66, 1968-69), Princess PL (1961-63), Schoolgirls PL (1961-62), School Friend PL (1962-63), June and Schoolfriend and Princess PL (1968).

There were some fairly substantial gaps during which time he was probably doing book covers. He is known to have been a regular cover artist for the Hank Janson novels published by Roberts & Vinter in 1961-65 and a wide variety of genres for Digit Books in 1963-65.

Although fairly prolific, it is likely that 'Michel' (as he signed most of his book covers) found more regular work outside of producing book covers for paperbacks and for Fleetway Publications from the mid-1960s onwards. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Michel Atkinson art

Richard Bache Ayers (born 28 April 1924; USA)
When Dick Ayers was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2007, it was in recognition of his talents as both an inker and penciller. In the former category, he famously inked the work of Jack Kirby when Kirby was at his peak in the 1950s and 1960s, including early episodes of The Fantastic Four; as a penciller he is best known for his work on Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos, his work winning the Alley Award for Best War Title in 1967 and 1968.

Richard Bache Ayers was born on 28 April 1924 in Ossining, New York, the son of John Bache Ayers, an insurance agent, and his wife Gladys Adelia (nee Minnerly), and could trace his ancestors back to pioneers who settled at Newbury Plantation, Massachusetts, in 1635. He was raised in Poultney, near Lake Cayuga, and later said that growing up on his uncle's farm contributed to his ability to draw horses. Ayers served with the Army Air Corps during the Second World War.

Ayers published his first comic strip in the military newspaper Radio Post in 1942. After leaving the army, he took an adventure story he had written and drawn to Dell Comics; they planned to publish it but the project was scrapped before publication. In 1947, he was taking evening classes at Burne Hogarth's Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York City where he met Superman co-creator Joe Shuster, who would drop in to visit classes, and Marvin Stein, who was teaching classes as well as being Shuster's chief assistant. Visiting Shuster's nearby studio, Ayers began producing occasional pencils for Funnyman.

Shuster also introduced Ayers to Vin Sullivan of Magazine Enterprises where he began drawing Jimmy Durante and Western strips for A-1 Comics and Trail Colt. Ayers co-created The Calico Kid as a back-up for Tim Holt comic.
Whenever trouble loomed, the spineless Calico proved to be a master gunfighter. After five episodes, he revealed an even deeper secret: he was in truth Federal Marshal Rex Fury. Attacked and left for dead, Fury is visited by the ghosts of those who tried to tame the wild west – Wild Bill Hickok, Kit Carson, Calamity Jane and others – and Fury survives with their skills somehow imprinted on him. Dressed in a phosphorescent costume and riding a white stallion named Spectre, he becomes The Ghost Rider.

After his debut in Tim Holt #11, The Ghost Rider soon earned his own title in 1950, which Ayers continued until 1954. He also added stories featuring Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders, based on the boy cowboy of the popular radio series, to his schedule in 1952. At the same time, he began working for Atlas Comics (the forerunner to today's Marvel Comics), drawing horror stories and a revival of The Human Torch.

Ayers was so busy, he employed Ernie Bache as an assistant and set up a small studio in the kitchen of an apartment owned by his wife's employer. In a 2001 interview, Ayers recalled: "Side-by-side we worked for—oh, that was '52. It wasn't until '55 when that damn Wertham thing came and killed all our books, The Ghost Rider and Human Torch. So we were down and we had, mostly, just Charlton. We didn't quite make it.
I lettered first and then I would pencil, and then I'd ink the outlines and then I'd give it to Ernie. Ernie would erase the page (laughs) and then he would finish it. He would put on all the blacks and the Kraft-Tone and bring in all that stuff. So we made a good team. I didn't bother throwing in heavy blacks. I would start them, maybe, but then he would accentuate the lines I'd put in, make them a little stronger. And he was very meticulous in his approach. I mean, everything had to be a certain formula so that we could knock out four pages a day, so he was a good asset for me."

The comic book industry was devastated by the introduction of the Comic Code Authority, who banned anything considered dangerous to juvenile morals. Horror and crime stories disappeared almost overnight and, after 167 stories, The Ghost Rider also fell victim to the sweeping industry changes. Work for Charlton Comics' Crime and Justice and Racket Squad in Action also disappeared.

Ayers' attempt at a superhero, The Avenger, lasted only one issue (it was continued by Bob Powell) and a Ghost Rider replacement, The Presto Kid (a cowboy magician who debuted in Red Mask #51), lasted only a few episodes.

Ayers subsequently concentrated on his work for Atlas, drawing back-up features with Kid Colt Outlaw, Outlaw Kid, Wyatt Earp and Rawhide Kid and, from 1959, inking Jack Kirby's monster stories in Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, Amazing Adventures, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense and over two years of the syndicated newspaper strip 'Sky Masters of the Space Force' (1959-61).

As Atlas introduced new characters, and because Kirby was their go-to artist for new strips, Ayers found himself inking the first appearance of The Rawhide Kid (revamped in 1960), Ant-Man (Tales to Astonish #27, 1962), The Human Torch (first solo story, Strange Tales #101, 1962), Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos (1963), and early issues of The Fantastic Four, Thor and The Incredible Hulk (all in 1962).

Inking was a means to an end. Ayers "only inked to survive in comic books and support my family, which included my wife, 4 children and mother-in-law." When asked in 2003 who he enjoyed inking for, Ayers replied, "No one."

In 1964, Ayers took over completely from Kirby as penciller of Sgt. Fury with issue 8, beginning an almost unbroken decade-long run on the comic that was to last until issue 120. The series was penned by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas and, from 1967, by Gary Friedrich. The team of Friedrich, Ayers and inker John Severin turned the book into a recognisable classic; the Howling Commandos and their cigar-chomping leader, Nick Fury, battled around the world in a series of gritty, strongly moralistic stories which were often as negative about war as they were celebrations.

Initially, Ayers had wanted to come off the title: "I didn't like Kirby's pencilling of Sgt Fury and asked off after the 3rd issue. I was in the Army 1942 – 1945 and it didn't connect with how I pictured "army." When Stan put me on to pencilling it, it wasn't until I recalled how it was when, getting into the combat zone, we would exaggerate out combat stories to each other and do anything we could to look different from the others around us. I got a shoulder holster and .45 and wore ski sox and a silk scarf. Then Sgt Fury and His Howling Commandos became real to me."

In the 1970s, Ayers switched from Marvel to DC Comics, where he pencilled war stories for Star Spangled War Stories, Army at War, All-Out War and other titles. At the same time he pencilled various other series, including Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth (1976-78), Unknown Soldier (1977-82), Scalphunter (1977-81), Sergeant Rock (1978-81) and Jonah Hex (1979-84). "I was able to accomplish 4 books a month. There'd always be a script for me every time I delivered my pencils," Ayers recalled. "As a result I think I did some of my best storytelling at DC. I was asked to pencil tight leaving the blacks and tones for the inker. It enabled me to do some of my best story telling in Kamandi, Jonah Hex and Unknown Soldier and all the other DC books they had me do."

In the 1980s, Ayers worked for a number of different companies, including Archie, Modern Publishing and Comico, and in the 1990s for Revolutionary and Topps. In 1984-85 he also drew promotional comics for Comic Shack featuring the Tandy Computer Whiz Kids. In 1985 he also accepted the National Cartoonists Society Award for Best Comic Book.

Ayers taught at the Joe Kubert School, his students including Tom Mandrake, Jan Dursemma and Karl Kessel.

Ayers' early work was rediscovered in 1990 and reprinted by AC Comics, although due to Marvel's copyright on a different character named Ghost Rider, the original had to became Haunted Horseman. Discovering the reprints, Ayers agreed to draw some new episodes.

In the new millennium, Ayers has continued to draw occasionally, contributing pin-ups and a number of short stories to benefit and tribute comics (Actor Comics Presents, 2006, The 3-Minute Sketchbook, 2007; The Uncanny Dave Cockrum, 2007). His latest work was an illustration of NY Police Detective John Wilson for the Marvel Mystery Handbook: 70th Anniversary Special (2009). Ayers' son, Rich, has also drawn comics.
Source: Steve Holland.

Chris Bachalo (born August 23, 1965)
Chris Bachalo is an American comic book illustrator known for his quirky, cartoon-like style. He became well known for stints on DC Comics’ Shade, the Changing Man and Neil Gaiman's two Death series. Chris has also illustrated several of Marvel Comics’ X-Men-related series, including Generation X (which he co-created), X-Men vol 2, Uncanny X-Men, and Ultimate X-Men. Beginning in April, 2000 Chris illustrated his creator-owned series Steampunk.

Bachalo was born in Canada but was raised in Southern California. He has told interviewers that, as a child, he wanted to be a carpenter until he discovered he was allergic to dust. He attended the California State University at Long Beach, where he majored in graphic art and illustrated a few underground comics.

After graduation, Bachalo sought work in the mainstream comic book industry. His first published assignment was The Sandman #12 (Jan. 1990), part of the "The Doll's House" story arc, for DC Comics. Although before working on that issue, DC had already hired him as the regular artist for Shade, the Changing Man, an older property revived as an adult-oriented series by writer Peter Milligan.

Bachalo’s early work shows strong influence from Sam Kieth, Bill Sienkiewicz and Michael Golden. As his style developed, however, Bachalo’s work became more idiosyncratic. His early 1990s style is minimalist with strong, thick lines, quirky characters and little concern for realism. Bachalo did not shy away from detailed landscapes but showed a rare penchant for pages with many small panels.

In 1993, writer Neil Gaiman selected Bachalo for the Sandman miniseries Death: The High Cost of Living, starring the Sandman’s older sister. At the time, Sandman was one of the most popular and acclaimed series in the industry and the miniseries helped boost Bachalo’s visibility. The creative pair also reunited for Death: The Time of Your Life in 1996.

After working at Marvel (below), Bachalo briefly returned to DC in 1999 for The Witching Hour mini-series with writer Jeph Loeb for Vertigo.

While at DC Comics, Bachalo illustrated the first issue of X-Men Unlimited, which Marvel published as an anthology X-Men comic book. Based on the success and fanfare from X-Men Unlimited #1, in 1994, Bachalo ended his stint on Shade and began working for Marvel Comics. He then illustrated the first three issues of Ghost Rider 2099, one of in a line of series reinventing popular Marvel characters in the year 2099. He also drew a cover for Runaways.

However, he was soon assigned to create a new junior team of X-Men with Uncanny X-Men writer Scott Lobdell. The group Lobdell and Bachalo created, Generation X, was purposely bizarre and idiosyncratic because the two wanted to avoid the recent trend in superhero teams, where each team member represented a recognizable stock character.

Generation X became a hit with the series’ namesake due to Lobdell’s realistically cynical and emotionally immature teen characters and Bachalo’s atypical artwork. Bachalo illustrated the series through much of its first three years, taking a break in late 1995 and early 1996 to illustrate the second Death miniseries, Death: The Time of Your Life.

During his time on Generation X, Bachalo’s artwork underwent a change. Heavily influenced by Joe Madureira, Bachalo's characters became more cartoony and manga-like, with large eyes, heads and hands. He gravitated towards extremes in anatomy, drawing characters that were previously portrayed as bulky, short, or thin as even more so.

In 1997, Bachalo left Generation X for Uncanny X-Men, arguably the comic book industry’s most popular title, remaining until the end of 1998.

In 2000, Bachalo launched Steampunk, a comic book series inspired by the genre of fiction of the same name, which emulates early science fiction and in an alternate version of the early 1900s. The series is written by Joe Kelly and is part of Image Comics’ imprint for creator-owned series, Cliffhanger. The series was criticized for Bachalo's overly detailed pencils, small panels and muddy dark coloring, which sometimes made it difficult to discern what was happening. Similarly, Joe Kelly's writing was not as straightforward as a mass audience typically preferred. Contrarily, the book's supporters praised it for those same reasons, as well as for the sheer imagination of the characters and story. The series, intended to be 25 issues, ended prematurely after the second story arc in issue #12. It is currently available in two reprinted trade paperbacks, Steampunk: Manimatron (ISBN 1-56389-762-8) and Steampunk: Drama Obscura (ISBN 1-4012-0047-8).

When Richard Friend inks Chris Bachalo's pencils, the piece is signed “Chrisendo”, a portmanteau of the names “Chris”, “Friend”, and “Bachalo”.

In the early 2000s, Bachalo completed occasional work on various X-Men series, including Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate War, Grant Morrison's New X-Men (collected in New X-Men vol. 5: Assault on Weapon Plus) and the sequel to the Age of Apocalypse crossover.

Bachalo was also the artist on Captain America for 6 issues (21–26, running December 2003–May 2004 cover dates) pencilling a divisive run written by Robert Morales. In an attempt to humanize Steve Rogers, the pair managed to split fans opinions fairly resoundingly with both leaving the title - Morales 10 issues short of his intended contract for the series.

From 2006 to 2008, Bachalo was the artist for the X-Men title along with new writer Mike Carey after completing his final story arc for Uncanny X-Men (#472–474). He was often filled-in for by artist Humberto Ramos, however.

Bachalo has also pencilled (and coloured) a number of cards for the Vs. collectible card game. These have been renditions of both Marvel and DC characters.

On top of his continuing work for Marvel, Bachalo finished issue #7 of Comicraft's Elephantmen, an issue 4 years in the making. The issue was done entirely in double-page spreads and marks his reunion with Steampunk writer Joe Kelly. The issue's story, “Captain Stoneheart and the Truth Fairy” also represents Bachalo's first work outside Marvel and DC since his fill-in issue of Witchblade.

Bachalo has also been one of the four artists who was originally part of the Spider-Man Relaunch. Brand New Day, along with Phil Jimenez, Steve McNiven and Salvador Larroca.

Starting with New Avengers #51, Bachalo will provide variant covers for the creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan to bring use the "Who will be the next Sorceror Supreme?" storyline.

Antonio Fabela is a regular colorist of Bachalo's work.
Source: Wikipedia

Geoffrey William Backhouse (16 November 1903 - 1 August 1978; b. Holywell, Flintshire, Wales)
In 1927, Backhouse began drawing Strongheart the Magnificent for Comic Life, the comic strip adventures of a magnificent German Shepherd modelled on a canine Hollywood film star. Strongheart, one of the earliest adventure strips to regularly appear in British comics, continued his adventures when Comic Life was relaunched as My Favourite and would continue to appear, drawn by a number of different artists, until 1949.

Shortly before the war, Backhouse drew The Stolen King for Comic Cuts and Buffalo Bill for Butterfly. After the war, Backhouse illustrated a number of books for Collins, including Mr. Mole's Circus by Douglas Collins and a number of books by Denis Cleaver, including Pongo the Terrible, On the Air, On the Films and A Dog's Life, which featured the adventures of two dogs named Pongo and Peter. Backhouse's association with Collins also included illustrations for The Children’s Picture Dictionary (1951) and modern editions of Alice In Wonderland and Enid Blyton’s Shadow the Sheepdog.

Backhouse’s expertise at drawing animals and nature made him the perfect choice to draw a colourful feature strip starring George Cansdale for Eagle in 1954, following Cansdale's trips around the countryside, and the adventures of Tammy the Sheepdog for Swift (1955-58). Backhouse subsequently contributed many wildlife illustrations to Look and Learn and Treasure, appearing in the former from 1962 onwards. Some of his most notable contributions were for a series of short animal stories written by F. St. Mars, Alan C. Jenkins and F. G. Turnbull that appeared in 1967-68. He died in Tollington Park, London N4, in 1978.
Source: Steve Holland.
G. W. Backhouse art

Jim George Baikie (28 February 1940 - 29 December 2017; Orkney Islands, Scotland)
Jim Baikie was a Scottish comic artist whose career stretched from the mid-1960s until the turn of the 21st century, taking in a wide and eclectic range of UK and US strips, from early Doctor Who and Star Trek adventures in titles like TV21, to a lengthy stint on the British girl's comic Jinty in the late 1970s, and work on US properties such as Star Wars and Clive Barker’s Nightbreed in the late 1980s and 1990s, for companies including the superhero giant DC Comics.

Yet his position as one of the finest artists the British comics industry has produced in the past half-century is based largely on his time with the cult British sci-fi comic 2000AD, in particular the first strip he worked on for the title, 1983's Skizz. Co-created with writer Alan Moore, who went on to become the definitive comics creator of his time via titles like Watchmen and V for Vendetta, Skizz was essentially the story of ET: The Extra Terrestrial – at that point a huge hit in cinemas – but transplanted to Birmingham and dressed up with references to unemployment and apartheid, placing it firmly in Thatcher's Britain.

Baikie served as a Corporal with the Royal Air Force in 1956–1963 before joining a printing company. Baikie joined Morgan-Grampian studio as an artist in 1964 and was an illustrator for the National Savings Committee in 1965–1966. Balkie was a bass guitarist in bands James Fenda and the Vulcans and Compass among others.

Baikie began his comics career illustrating the romance comic Valentine for Fleetway. Over the next twenty years, he built a solid reputation working for TV comics such as Look-in, including adaptations of The Monkees and Star Trek, all scripted by Angus Allan. He also worked extensively in British girls' comics such as Jinty. In the 1980s, Baikie drew The Twilight World in Warrior.

In Britain, he is probably best known for collaborating with Alan Moore on Skizz. Baikie was so attached to the character that he went on to both write and illustrate Skizz II and Skizz III for 2000AD. The 2000AD spin-off Crisis also saw Baikie produce the art for the New Statesmen story.

Baikie also worked extensively in the United States, on superhero strips such as Batman and The Spectre. In 1986, he co-created Electric Warrior with writer Doug Moench. A new collaboration with Alan Moore also appeared in the guise of the First American.
Source: The Scotsman; Wikipedia; Illustration Art Gallery
Jim Baikie art

Robert Bailey
World renowned artist, Robert Bailey, trained at Longton College of Art in England during the 1960s. He only just squeaked through with an ‘E for effort' rating at the bottom of a class of 36 students. There followed various careers in photography, journalism and television. The latter was shooting television commercials on film and hosting a children's television show. He then entered the field of aviation art, and became known worldwide in the genre for creating oil paintings of military action and having the veterans sign lithographs made from them.

Movie producer George Lucas came across Robert's aviation art website and asked him to work on Star Wars. After meeting with George at Skywalker Ranch, Robert's career took on a new twist…Star Wars and other movies. Lucas was sufficiently impressed by Robert's work to purchase originals for his private collection. Robert has gone on to create similar work for sale at comic conventions.

His favourite characters are C3PO and Yoda, although he recreates the full spectrum of Star Wars characters in pencil. He is now retired from oil painting but finds that pencil is more fluid and scenes can be created far faster this way. The number of fans at Comic-Cons who purchase Robert's original movie creations has increased in leaps and bounds over the past four years, and he loves to meet all of the fans who attend.

Besides being a licensed Star Wars and Disney artist, Robert is now also licensed for Marvel characters, after having been approached by the Marvel licensor. Characters are mostly The Avengers and Spider Man. Stan Lee, creator of Spider Man, says that Robert is his favourite artist. Besides all these movies and characters, Robert is also creating panels for Breaking Bad, Frozen, Harry Potter, Princess Bride, Games of Thrones, Despicable Me, Tinker Bell and Indiana Jones. Celebrities who have collected Robert's work include George Lucas, Linda Hamilton, Carrie Fisher, Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Elwes, David Prowse, Ian McDiarmid and Anthony Daniels.
Source: Robert Bailey

Alix Baker (born 1947; Southborough, Kent, UK)
Alix is a painter and watercolourist, born in Southborough, Kent. She came from and was married into a military family and specialised in military subjects. She lives in Hampshire and exhibits in national and local exhibitions and has two sides to her art - 'civilian' and military.

After studying at Sir John Cass School of Arts and Crafts, 1964-5 and being a member of SGA, she had various jobs, including briefly at No.10, before doing what she had intended to do since childhood: to work in intelligence which was in her DNA having strong connections on her mother's side going back a long way!

While serving abroad, she worked on military commissions and eventually Alix decided to leave, married an Army officer, had a family, lived and travelled abroad and built up her military painting side becoming collected worldwide by museums, armed forces units and individuals. Information of past commissions can be supplied on request. Nowadays she tends to paint the occasional military caricature but is still open to other types of armed services commissions. Some of her paintings are owned by members of Royal families at home and abroad.

While the family lived in Oman, she received a commission from the late HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said for a very large series of paintings of his armed forces, household troops and police which hang in public buildings in the country.

She had the honour to chair the Armed Forces Art Society for six years - the first non-military and first woman to do so. Alix has also served on the committee of several national and local art societies.

She has written numerous articles on the evolution of military dress for specialist international magazines and on the pursuit of painting as a profession or hobby.

Alix judges or helps organise exhibitions. She has been the subject of study by GCSE and A Level students on several occasions and enjoys mentoring young artists.

She has illustrated a number of books with military themes, such as Gunners at Larkhill. Was a member of the Society for Army Historical Research and had work in the collections of the National Army Museum as well as various regiments.

Last but far from least: Alix is married to Tom Bremridge and has 2 very artistic sons, Henry and Will Bremridge.
Source: https://www.alixbaker.com and Illustration Art Gallery
Alix Baker art

Bill Baker
Bill Baker is something of a mystery artist. Although it is possible to track his work through various comics over a twenty-year period, very little is known about the artist himself. He first appears with one-off stories in Top Spot, followed by a brief serial, New Rider at Clearwater, and illustrations for Girl in 1960-64. He remained active in girls' papers for the next decade, contributing to Tina (Two on Cockatoo) Princess Tina (Life with Tina), June (Call Me Cupid, Wedding in the Family) and Pixie Annual.

In 1974 he produced his first literary adaptation for Look and Learn, based on Jack London's The Call of the Wild. This was followed in quick succession by The Sea Wolf (London, 1974-75), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne, 1975), Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes, 1975), The Prince and the Pauper (Mark Twain, 1976), Moby Dick (Herman Melville, 1977), Westward Ho! (Charles Kingsley, 1977), A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens, 1977-78) and King Solomon's Mines (H. Rider Haggard, 1978).

It was during the publication of the latter – in August 1978 – that Baker disappeared from the pages of Look and Learn, the strip taken over with episode nine by C. L. Doughty. Taken from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Bill Baker art

Roberto Baldazzini (born 18 August 1958)
Roberto Baldazzini is an Italian illustrator and comics artist who specializes in writing and illustrating black and white and full-color erotic comic books.

Roberto Baldazzini is the creator of the Casa HowHard series and contributor to Penthouse comix. He was praised by Moebius (Jean Giraud) as being "An angel who allows us to glimpse the blind dreams of our desires".

His works include Casa HowHard, which tells anecdotes about the sexual adventures of an apartment full of transsexual residents. Everyone in the building, including the janitor, is a transsexual, who has a feminine face, breasts, a womanly derrière, and male genitals. Readers seem either to appreciate the art and to enjoy the stories or to find the former too simple and the latter too silly. The comic book is introduced by Moebius, who suggests that its characters exhibit a “guiltless innocence,” which creates a sense of fun rather than of debauchery.

Baldazzini has also written and illustrated Bayba: the 110 BJ’s, in which the title character, a nymphomaniac transsexual sex slave who lives to please men, transforms herself from a slender youth with a boyish figure into a well-endowed, womanly transsexual by applying a high-tech hormonal crème to her chest and then sets out on a self-imposed mission to satisfy as many men as she can by any means possible. Other than their genitals, her partners are seldom shown and rarely speak. When their faces are shown, they have the appearance of anthropomorphic pigs.

Bayba undergoes a sex-change operation and then enters the Ultimate Bitch contest, the cash prize for the winning of which is large enough that it would allow her to acquire her “freedom” to select her own sexual companions. To win, a contestant must break the previously established record by sexually satisfying 110 men in a single day by performing fellatio on them. However, she does not limit herself only to this method of satisfying her partners, and the comic book contains several scenes that have BDSM themes.

He received a formal education in commerce, after which he took several art courses and, in 1980, he founded Pinguino, for which he created the character Ronnie Fumoso, based on material that was written by Daniele Brolli. His first professional work was his illustration of Brolli's Alan Hassad series, which was published in Italian Orient Express comics magazine in 1980. Since then, he has created numerous other characters, has created advertising art, and has been featured in Penthouse Comix and many other well-known publications.

Although some of his work is executed as simple line drawings that he sometimes colors, others—especially, his pinups—are realistic, fully detailed illustrations or paintings.

In 2017 he teamed up with Korero Press to produce a monograph of his work titled Mondo Erotica.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Roberto Baldazzini art

James Elliott Bama (28 April 1926 - 24 April 2022; USA)
James Bama was an American artist whose work encompasses two major strands: his Western paintings and what can be described - but not dismissively - as pulp art. To the collector, his name is inextricably linked with the adventures of Doc Savage and the paperback covers he illustrated during his time as a commercial artist. He then turned to fine art, which proved even more rewarding commercially and raised his status to Artist and earned him comparisons with Norman Rockwell and N. C. Wyeth.

If one theme can be seen through Bama's work it might be described as "one man (or woman) in the wilderness", as his covers often featured isolated single figures, some alone against expansive backgrounds; it is a style that can be seen in such diverse Bama illustrations as Freedom Road by Howard Fast and Groupie by Johnny Byrne & Jenny Fabian (both Bantam) and Dell's edition of Desmond Morris's The Naked Ape.

James E. Bama was born in Manhattan, New York City, the second son of Benjamin Bama, a Russian-born apron salesman, and his wife Selma, also the daughter of Russian immigrants. Raised in New York City, Bama was inspired to draw by the adventure strips of the time, most notably Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, Burne Hogarth's Tarzan and Frank Miller's Barney Baxter. His father died of a stroke when Bama was 13, and his mother suffered a debilitating stroke the following year; Bama had to cook and clean and began earning money, making his first $50 sale, a drawing of Yankee Stadium, to The Sporting News at the age of 15.

He graduated from the High School of Music and Art and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps' Eastern Flying Training Command unit in 1944, where he worked as a mechanic and physical training instructor, as well as painting murals. On his discharge, he used the GI Bill to enrol at the Art Students League, where he was learned drawing and anatomy under Frank J. Reilly.

After freelancing briefly - his first sales including Western paperback covers A Bullet for Billy the Kid by Nelson C. Nye (Avon, 1950) and Dead Sure by Stewart Sterling (Dell, 1950).

He became known especially for the 62 covers he painted for Bantam Books' reprints of Doc Savage pulp magazine stories. Clark Savage Jr had been the star of 181 full-length adventures in the pages of Doc Savage Magazine (1933-49), 159 of them written by prolific pulpster Lester Dent.

Bama gave Doc a buzz cut, replacing the kiss-curl of his pulp days, and beefed him up, using Steve Holland, a muscular fashion model who had starred in the Flash Gordon TV series in 1954-55, as the basis for his vision of Doc Savage. The books sold incredibly well and all 182 stories were reprinted between 1964 and 1990.

Although much of his early work was Western covers for the likes of Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey, Bama quickly expanded his cover art repertoire to include everything from contemporary novels, thrillers, romances and non-fiction. A small sampling of his work would include A Rage at Sea by Frederick Lorenz (Lion, 1957), Requiem for a Gun by Burt & Budd Arthur (Avon, 1963) and covers depicting James Bond and the characters from Star Trek.

As well as Doc Savage, Bama painted many other covers for Bantam, including King Kong by Delos W. Lovelace (1965) and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1967).

Bama then changed tack after first visiting Wyoming in 1966; he and his wife, Lynn, a photographer whom he met in 1963, moved permanently to Cody, Wyoming, in 1968. During this period he transited from illustration to making more personal works, often inspired by his new surroundings. Much of his work was of contemporary Western and Native American subjects; wildlife and mountain men feature against stunning Wyoming backdrops.

Bama is inspired by real inhabitants of the state, visiting reservations and meeting trappers and cowboys; his prices rapidly escalated and, within three years, he was making far more than he had as an illustrator. He also sought inspiration in travel, to China, Mexico, Tibet and Turkey.

Bama was the recipient of the Spectrum Grand Master Award in 1998 and was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in June 2000. His work is to be found in the collections of Clint Eastwood, Nicholas Cage and Malcolm Forbes as well as numerous galleries.

Bama lived in Wapati, Wyoming, since 1971, and remained keen on physical training, regularly doing heavy exercise even in his eighties. He died on 24 April 2022, four days before his 96th birthday.

Bambos Georgiou (born December 1959)
Bambos Georgiou (known as 'Bambos') was born in December 1959. Of Greek Cypriot descent, and speaking only Greek, he has said that it was the discovery of comics at the age of four that helped him learn English, although this form of education was not appreciated by some. One English teacher was thoroughly frustrated that he was always reading comics and his collection - with TV21 being his comic of choice - was thrown out by his mother (along with his Marvels and DCs!!). This only led to him becoming more determined to create his own comics.

In the 1980s he could be found creating Ratman fanzines which were sold on Paul Gravette's Fast Fiction table at Westminster Comic Marts. His first professional sales were scripts to Starblazer, Sid's Snake in Whizzer & Chips and He-man and She-Ra for London Editions.

He co-founded Acme Press in 1985 which published Speakeasy, collections of Maxwell the Magic Cat and Power Comics. Before long he became a prolific contributor - lettering and inking especially - for Marvel UK, IPC, Fat Man Press, London Editions, Titan Books, Deadline, A1, Viz and Panini UK.

He has also contributed to US comics with his inking work appearing in Savage Sword of Conan and Marvel Comics Presents (Nick Fury & Shang Chi) and DC Comics The Ray and Doom Patrol. In 2012 he co-founded the on-line comic Aces Weekly with David Lloyd.
Source: The Illustration Art Gallery
Bambos Georgiou art

Edgar Henry Banger (27 February 1897 - 1968; Norwich, Norfolk, UK)
Edgar Henry Banger (rhymes with 'danger') - or as he was known, Harry Banger - was born in Norwich, UK and was well known for his amazing cartoon illustrations from 1926 and most proficient through the 1930s in which his colourful characters were included in comics such as Rattler, Dazzler, Rocket and Bouncer.

Banger's most famous was Koko the Pup for DC Thompson's Magic, and also Dully duckling which appeared in Sunny Stories through late 40s and into the 50s.

His artwork was also well recognised through Norfolk, being a regular cartoonist for the local papers such as The Eastern Daily Press, Evening News and the Norwich City Football club paper The Pink Un, in which a lot of his tongue in cheek cartoons were mostly Football based. He was famous for the characters Canary and Dumpling featuring debonair characters with a cartoon Canary or Dumpling head in the Norwich city Colours. A lot of his cartoons were monogrammed HB, Bang, or Harry Banger.

He did most of his work from home in his small studio room in the back of the terrace house that he lived in at Wood Street Norwich, with his wife Maud Banger, daughter Yvonne, and sons Ray and Neville.

After leaving school he had sports cartoons published in the Eastern Daily Press, and later began to work freelance for the Amalgamated Press, beginning in 1926 with "Steve Sticket" in Butterfly, "Enoch Hard" in Comic Cuts, and "Curly Crusoe" in Illustrated Chips.

He worked for the AP for the rest of the 20s and most of the 30s, drawing for The Monster Comic, Crackers, Funny Wonder and Jolly, before moving to DC Thomson, where he drew "Koko the Pup" on the cover of The Magic Comic in 1939-41.

From 1940 he worked for Gerald Swan's comics, where he signed his work "Bang", and after the war, for Paget Publications, Martin & Reid and Target Publications until the mid-50s.

He was one of a small group of comic artists based in Norwich, along with Don Newhouse, Roy Wilson and Louis Briault.

He died in 1968 at the age of 71.
Source: ukcomics.wikia.com & Wikipedia

Severino Baraldi (born 1930, Italy)
Severino Baraldi was born on 10 December 1930 in Sermide, a small village 50 kilometres from Mantova in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. As a boy, he entertained customers of the local barber by with his chalk drawings on the pavement. He worked as a carpenter, drawing cartoons for a local paper whose editor encouraged him to seek his fortune in the capital of the Lombardy region.

1962-63 was a major era for Baraldi with the publication of Ulisse ('Ulysses'), adapted from 'The Odyssey' by Gino Fischer, Lo Schianccianoci, based on the work by E. T. A. Hoffman, and Ciuffo Biondo, an adaptation of Peer Gynt by Anna Maria De Benedetti. Ulisse and Ciuffo Biono were praised by the reviewer for Radiotelevisione Italiana for their elegant illustrations, which helped to establish the name of the artist who often signed his work with the abbreviation Bar. At the same time, Baraldi was illustrating the story of Marco Polo and, for Milan publisher Casa Editirice, a variety of other books for children.

For seven years, Baraldi was also a prolific illustrator for the British magazine Look and Learn. More recently, Baraldi illustrated biographies of musicians Dvorak and Verdi for a publisher in Taiwan. In all, Baraldi has contributed to over 220 books and produced 7,500 illustrations. The village of Sermide dedicated an exhibition to his work in June 1997. He continued to work for Famiglia Cristiana and Il Giornalino until retiring a few years ago. Now he is content to be a family man, the father of three daughters and six grandchildren.
Source: Steve Holland.

See illustrators  Pirates! Special Edition for more art by Severino Baraldi.

Severino Baraldi art

Stefan (Steven) Barani
Stefan Barany has proved to be a particularly elusive artist. Best known for his cover artwork for the Sexton Blake Library, he seems to have appeared almost nowhere else, although the cover art from a 1962 issue of Princess Picture Library has been offered by the Illustration Art Gallery.

Barany's first Blake cover appeared on issue 482, Desmond Reid's Murder By Moonlight, in August 1961. Over the next few months he was the main Blake cover artist; a number of titles involved Barany combining images with other artists' work, including one image by Bruno Elettori, but primarily with Angel Badia Camps. His last cover was Lotus Leaves and Larceny, issue 521, April 1963.
Source: Steve Holland.
Stefan Barani art

Carl Barks (27 March 1901 - 25 August 2000; USA)
Carl Barks was nicknamed "The Duck Man" because of the quality of his work on Disney's Donald Duck. To Barks goes the praise for creating many of the inhabitants of Duckburg, the supporting cast featured in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories for which Barks was drawing in the 1940s.

Carl Barks was born in Merrill, Oregon, on 27 March 1901, the son of William Barks and his wife Arminta Johnson. Although he had a brother (two years older), Barks described himself as a rather lonely child, his nearest neighbour being over half a mile away from his parents' farm. The local school had only eight or ten students although Barks later recalled that it offered a good education. In 1908 the family moved to Midland, Oregon, closer to the railroad, where they established a new stock-breeding farm.

The immediate success of this venture meant that within three years the family were able to move to Santa Rosa, California, where William began cultivating vegetables and orchards. Profits were slim and William's anxiety over their financial difficulties led to a nervous breakdown and the family returned to Merrill in 1913.

Barks completed his education in 1916, in part concluded because he was suffering from a hearing disability; it was in the same year that his mother died and Barks had a range of jobs – farmer, woodcutter, mule driver, cowboy and printer. In 1918 he moved to San Francisco, California, and found work with a small publishing firm.

His early interest in drawing had been developed through a correspondence course, although Barks had only taken four lessons because he had so little free time. Now in San Francisco and, in 1921, married to Pearl Turner, he began selling drawings to newspapers. Despite returning to Merrill in 1923 with his growing family (two daughters born in 1923 and 1924), he continued to submit drawings and sold to Judge and the Calgery Eye-Opener. He was offered the editorship of the latter, a Minneapolis-based cartoon magazine, where he earned $90 a month for scripting and drawing most of the contents. He and Pearl were divorced in 1930 and Barks met Clara Balken in Minneapolis and married her in 1938.

In 1935 he learned that Walt Disney was seeking artists and moved to Los Angeles where he was hired at a starting salary of $20 a week. He worked initially as an "inbetweener", drawing the movements of characters between key poses. In 1937, his success at submitting gags led to his transfer to the story department where he first worked on the Donald Duck cartoon Modern Inventions. Over the next few years he contributed to a number of Donald's cartoons, including the first appearance of Huey, Dewey and Louie in Donald's Nephews (1938).

Barks suffered from sinus problems caused by the air conditioning in the Walt Disney art studio and left in 1942. He had then recently collaborated with Jack Hannah – who also worked in the Donald Duck story department – on a number of comic strips for Dell, Pluto Saves the Ship published in Large Feature Comics and the 64-page one-shot Donald Duck comic Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold in Four Color Comics, both published in 1942.

Barks relocated to the Hemet/San Jacinto area east of Los Angeles where he set up a chicken farm, which failed. Barks, did, however, establish himself with Dell's Walt Disney's Comics and Stories as both the author and artist of numerous stories. His first story, The Victory Garden, was published in April 1943 and was followed by some 500 tales featuring the Disney ducks, his creations including Scrooge McDuck (1947), Gladstone Gander (1948), The Beagle Boys (1951), The Junior Woodchucks (1951), Gyro Gearloose (1952), Cornelius Coot (1952), Flintheart Glomgold (1956), John D. Rockerduck (1961) and Magica De Spell (1961).

During this time, Barks divorced his second wife and became acquainted with his third, Margaret Wynnfred Williams, known as Gare, who exhibited paintings locally. They married in 1954.

Although Barks' work was published anonymously, his name became known to fans around 1960. He continued to draw strips until 1966 when he retired, although he was persuaded to script stories until the 1970s. He painted in oils and exhibited and sold at local art shows. In 1971, he was granted permission by Disney's Publications Department to paint scenes from his various stories. When fans learned of this, Barks was inundated with requests and had to announce in 1974 that he was no longer taking commissions.

Duck paintings by Barks began to attract large sums at auction and unauthorized prints led to Disney withdrawing permission from Barks. They relented in 1981 following a campaign by Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz and Conan the Barbarian screenwriter Edward Summer. Summer edited Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life and Times (1981), a collection of Barks' tales alongside a new story illustrated by Barks with watercolour illustrations.

The ambitious Carl Barks Library was published in 1984-1990, the thirty volumes reprinting every Disney comic strip written or drawn by Barks. Gladstone Publishing subsequently produced the Carl Barks Library in Color (1992-98). Barks appeared at his first Disney convention in 1993 and, in 1994, embarked on an 11-country tour of Europe. A retrospective of Barks' work was first held in 1994 and was shown around ten cities, attracting over 400,000 visitors.

In the 1980s, Barks had moved to Grants Pass, Oregon, close to where he grew up. His wife died in March 1993. Barks survived a further seven years before he also died whilst undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia, on 25 August 2000, aged 99.
Source: Steve Holland.
Carl Barks art

David Barnett
David Barnett illustrated a number of Magic Roundabout books, including The Adventures of Dougal, Dougal Around the World, Dougal's Misadventures in Toyland, Dougal's Scottish Holiday and other stories written by Eric Thompson and based on the characters created by Serge Danot.
David Barnett art

Ken Barr (born 1933, Glasgow, Scotland)
Ken Barr created the iconic 'dagger' logo for Commando comics published by DC Thomson and is famous for his hundreds of covers and thousands of stories for Commando during the 1960s and for his numerous Marvel magazine covers in the 1970s and 1980s.

See illustrators  Commando Special Edition for a full feature article on Ken Barr.

Hilary Barta (born 17 June 1957)
Hilary Barta is an American comic book writer and artist. He began his career in 1982, assisting Marvel inkers Al Milgrom, Joe Sinnott and Sal Trapani to provide inks for the pencils of Don Perlin on The Defenders #108. He inked #115 solo and then inked Dave Cockrum's artwork for a backup feature to the Giant Size X-Men #1-reprint X-Men Special Edition #1 in February 1983.

Throughout the 1980s he worked only as an inker for both Marvel, First Comics and Eclipse. His credits include titles like 'The Thing', 'Starslayer', 'Warp', 'American Flagg', 'Power Pack' and 'Airboy'. As a penciller, he drew back-ups for Steve Rude's 'Nexus', and on stories for Marvel's 'What The--?!' and DC's 'Plastic Man'.

In the 1990s he was still doing mainly inking duties, among others on 'Alpha Flight', 'Power Pack', 'The New Mutants' and 'StormWatch'. He contributed stories to the Paradox Press 'Big Book' series and to Dark Horse's 'Urban Legends'. In 2000 he drew 'Splash Brannigan' stories for Alan Moore's anthology 'Tomorrow Stories'. Later on, he illustrated short stories for 'Simpsons Comics' and 'Treehouse of Horror' for Bongo Comics, 'Jimmy Neutron' stories for Nickelodeon Magazine, and 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' stories for both Mirage Comics and Titan Magazines.

Barta was the regular inker for most of the first 10 issues of John Byrne's The Thing during 1983–84, during-and-after which he moved from Marvel to First Comics to ink a couple of stories for their Warp comic (including some of the earliest work from Bill Willingham). Other inking work for First slowly saw Barta graduate from inks to pencils over a dozen issues of the John Ostrander-written Starslayer, while he also inked a couple of issues of Howard Chaykin's American Flagg! and drew back-ups for Mike Baron's Nexus. Barta also co-wrote and drew a number of stories for Munden's Bar, the back-up feature in Grimjack.

Towards the end of 1986, Barta inked a couple of comics for Eclipse, including an issue of Airboy (#11), before heading back to Marvel to ink Power Pack and various issues of other titles for Eclipse, Marvel and First, notable among them Marvel's adaptation of the horror film House II: The Second Story (Oct 1987). Late 1988 saw Barta launch two series - Marvel's What The--?! and DC's 4-issue mini-series revival of Jack Cole's Plastic Man, on both as penciler rather than inker. His work has a distinctive cartoon-like feel, erring on the surreal and exaggerated side more than the often-realistic work found in other superhero comics. As a result, Barta's art style is very well suited to humor, and it is no surprise that his major non-inking art credits are on humor titles.

In 1989, Barta returned mostly to inking duties on Marvel's Alpha Flight and Power Pack, but was also one of several pencillers in their Marvel: Year in Review - 1989 (1990), alongside Bryan Hitch, Dale Keown, Bob McLeod, Mike Mignola, Herb Trimpe and Lee Weeks. From April to October 1990, he inked Rob Liefeld's art on Louise Simonson's The New Mutants, and over the next couple of years flitted between companies as penciller and inker, as well as writer and cover artist (in particular on What The--?!). In 1993, Barta co-wrote (with Doug Rice) and drew Stupid #1 for Image comics. He wrote, penciled, inked and lettered "The Winning Ticket" in Dark Horse Comics' June 1993 offering Urban Legends, and also contributed "The Wonder of Gas" to DC/Paradox Press's Big Book of Urban Legends in 1994. He inked for Malibu Comics and Image Comics (including Image-branded issues of Jim Lee's WildStorm title StormWatch) and provided stories for further volumes of Paradox Press' Big Book of series in 1996/7/8.

Also in 1998, he inked penciller Kieron Dwyer's artwork on two Elseworlds titles, both written by John Francis Moore: Elseworld's Finest #1-2 (set in the 1920s) and Superman: The Dark Side #1-3 (Superman as raised on Apokolips by Darkseid). In March 2000 he fully illustrated the first of several Splash Brannigan story in Alan Moore's America's Best Comics anthology title Tomorrow Stories, and later contributed to Moore's Tom Strong #14 and the ABC Sketchbook (Dec 2001). Around this time, Barta also wrote and/or illustrated short stories for Bongo Comics' Simpsons Comics and Treehouse of Horror titles, before moving back largely to inking duties for Rick Remender and Dark Horse Comics on Bruce Campbell's The Man with the Screaming Brain.

June 2006 saw him work with Remender again, writing back-ups for the latter's Fear Agent comic, and since then he has mostly contributed in various ways to the many different Simpsons titles. He also inked an issue or so of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics/magazines for Mirage Comics and Titan Magazines. In 2009 he illustrated the Loathsome Lore feature in Creepy #1 for the book's revival at Dark Horse Comics, and in the fourth issue drew "Zombie Wedding at Slaughter Swamp", written by longtime comics writer Nicola Cuti. In 2011 Barta began drawing a series of stories for SpongeBob Comics.
Source: Lambiek and Wikipedia

Les Barton (8 December 1923 - 20 October 2008; Wareham, Dorset, UK)
A generation of children grew up giggling to comic strips in Sparky and Whizzer & Chips, drawn by my father, Les Barton, who has died aged 84. He was also a prolific cartoon artist, his gags - populated by wide-eyed folk and often signed Lezz - appearing regularly from the mid-1950s in Punch, Private Eye, the Daily Sketch, Daily Mirror and the Spectator.

The character he made his own from the late 1960s was I-Spy, in a serial in Sparky about a special agent whose face was hidden but whose cloak concealed myriad gadgets, used in animated fashion. He also drew Ma Kelly's Telly, about valve-shaped people who masterminded programmes inside a TV set and, for IPC, Harry's Haunted House and Billy Bunter when the regular artists were indisposed. Later, as IPC tried to re-energise the waning comic market with the irreverent Oink! (a junior Viz), he crafted the Slugs, about a punk band.

A founder member of the Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain in 1960, with a then unknown Ronald Searle, he became treasurer for 20 years. Friends and contemporaries included Chic Jacob, Larry (Terry Parkes) and Bill Tidy. He encouraged many young cartoonists to persevere in this most unsecure profession.

Dad left school at 14 and was a dispatch rider with the Royal Corps of Signals as D-day neared. A motorcycle accident led him to retrain as a draughtsman, and as a self-taught artist, he began submitting cartoons to publications in his spare time during a posting to Lagos, Nigeria.

After the second world war he became a process artist for Associated Press, but evenings were spent producing 20 cartoons a week, the first for Reveille in 1949, which earned him a princely £7. He worked as a war artist for the Sun during the Falklands conflict, thanks to a dearth of photos in the early stages.

He worked well into his 80s, having diversified into greetings cards and revisiting his talent for caricature as an on-the-spot artist at corporate events. He loved having an audience, once describing the best as "intelligent, well educated and a little drunk".

He is survived by my mother, Dorothy, myself, and my siblings, Lisa, Peter and Samantha.

Les Barton was born on 8 December 1923 in Wareham, Dorset. A self-taught artist, he started work at the age of fourteen as a telegraph clerk. His first published cartoon appeared in the Militant Miner in 1944. During World War II he served as a draughtsman in the Royal Signals and War Office Signals and produced his first regular cartoons for WAM (West African Magazine) when stationed in Lagos in 1946.

After the war Les Barton worked as a photographic retouching artist and commercial artist in advertising, and also drew strips for IPC and D. C. Thomson children's comics - including "Billy Bunter", "I Spy" and "Harry's Haunted House." Barton - who signed his early work "Lezz" - was a regular contributor to Punch from 1954, and his work has appeared in Reveille, Private Eye, Spectator, Oldie, Daily Mirror and the Daily Sketch.

Barton drew political cartoons and caricatures for The Statist in 1963 and 1964, and during the Falkands War in 1982 he was staff war artist on the Sun. He also designed humorous greetings cards for Camden Graphics, Rainbow Cards and Cardtoons. He died in Hayes, Middlesex, on 20 October 2008.
Source: The Guardian & British Cartoon Archive

John Henry Batchelor (born 1936; Essex, UK)
John Batchelor (J H Batchelor) has been one of the leading technical illustrators of hardware for five decades. Born in Essex in 1936, and growing up in Leigh-on-Sea during the Second World War, he witnessed dogfights between British and German aircraft in the Essex skies and, even at the age of four, put pencil to paper to draw scenes of aerial combat. The Essex coastline was one of the expected invasion points in Hitler's planned attack on a Britain softened up by the Luftwaffe, and Batchelor's early years were spent surrounded by fascinating military hardware, from tanks to machine guns. By the age of seven he could strip and reassemble a .303 Lewis machine gun and draw its constituent parts.

He left home at 16, travelling for two years before performing his National Service with the R.A.F. Batchelor began drawing for the technical publications of Bristol Aircraft Co., Martin-Baker Aircraft Co. and Saunders-Roe Ltd. One of his last jobs for Saunders-Roe was on the plans for a nuclear-powered version of the (ultimately cancelled) ten-engined Princess flying-boat.

In the early 1960s he turned freelance, contributing to Model Maker and Model Cars. Some of his earliest drawings were cutaways for the Eagle comic; in all he produced 44 episodes (making him the joint fourth most prolific contributor). His illustrations also appeared in Ranger and Tell Me Why. He also worked for the far more prestigious markets, including Time-Life Books, which led to his involvement in one of the most ambitious projects in publishing history: Purnell's History of the Second World War. Launched in 1966 under the overall editorship of Sir Basil Liddell-Hart, this massive partwork--for which Batchelor producing a total of 1,163 illustrations--had sold 10 million copies by 1976. To celebrate this momentous achievement, Batchelor was presented, by Douglas Bader, a solid silver model of a British Saladin armoured car from his grateful publisher.

He continued his association with Purnell as they launched History of the First World War and Encyclopedia of Modern Weapons and Warfare, which added to a total of almost 20 million copies sold. Many of the illustrations were reprinted in book form during the 1970s (the bibliography below is likely to be incomplete) and has also illustrated a wide range of other books--and continues to do so. He has also drawn countless illustrations for the American magazine, Popular Science and has had his paintings exhibited around the world.

Since the mid-1980s, he has also produced artwork for postage stamps via the Crown Agency for 40 countries around the globe, including many for the British Commonwealth. In 2003 he launched his own company, Publishing Solutions, to reprint selections of his work.
Source: Steve Holland
John Batchelor art

Lawrence Robb Batchelor (1887 - 1961; Canada)
Canadian artist and illustrator.

He illustrated (and wrote) a number of books including A Picture History of Canada (written by Jessie McEwen & Kathleen Moore; published by Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd) and Flatback and the Acorn Nuts (written and illustrated by L. R. Batchelor).

Batchelor did commercial work for numerous Canadian and government agencies including Bell Telecom, Canadian Pacific, Seagram's and Merck.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Lawrence Robb Batchelor art

Henry Mayo Bateman (15 February 1887 - 11 February 1970)
H M Bateman was a British humorous artist and cartoonist.

H. M. Bateman was noted for his "The Man Who..." series of cartoons, featuring comically exaggerated reactions to minor and usually upper-class social gaffes, such as "The Man Who Lit His Cigar Before the Royal Toast", "The Man Who Threw a Snowball at St. Moritz" and "The Boy Who Breathed on the Glass at the British Museum."

He was born in the small village of Sutton Forest in New South Wales, Australia. His parents were Henry Charles Bateman and Rose Mayo. His father had left England for Australia in 1878 at the age of 21 to seek his fortune, then returned to England briefly in 1885 before going back with an English wife. Soon after Henry was born, his strong-willed mother insisted that they return to London 'and civilisation'. He had one sister, Phyllis, three years younger.

Henry was always drawing from an early age, consistently producing funny drawings that told stories. He was inspired by comics, and he had a keen critical eye, and was enthusiastically drawing at every available moment. At the age of fourteen he had already decided that he would draw for publication. In 1901, the cartoonist Phil May, in response to a letter from Rose, showed interest in his drawings, and that year he was inspired by an exhibition of black-and-white art at the Victoria and Albert Museum. His father had initially decided that his son should follow him into business, but eventually, after many arguments between him and Rose, his father financed his study at the Westminster School of Art which he commenced at the age of sixteen. He did well, but was bored by the lifeless "life" classes and after qualifying at Westminster transferred his study to the New Cross Art School (now the Goldsmith Institute). He also did some practical work at the studio Charles van Havenmaet.

Bateman's first solo exhibition in 1901 was at the Brook Street Gallery, Mayfair. His first contract was in 1904, for ten drawings and two illustrations in a fourpenny monthly magazine called The Royal. At the age of 17, his style was already that of a mature artist. He then progressed to a contract with The Tatler and many other magazines besides, including the Illustrated Sporting News and Dramatic News and Pearson's Weekly. Bateman greatly influenced the style of American cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman.

Bateman was chosen by art instructor Percy V. Bradshaw as one of the artists to illustrate "The Art of the Illustrator", a celebrated collection of twenty portfolios demonstrating six stages of a single painting or drawing by twenty different artists and published in 1918.

He married Brenda Collison Wier and they had two children, Diana and Monica, both of whom became artists. They lived at Curridge, just north of Newbury, Berkshire.

In later life, he carried on an increasingly acrimonious battle with the Inland Revenue. His final years were spent on the island of Gozo. A centenary celebration of his work was exhibited at Festival Hall on London's south bank in 1987. An English Heritage blue plaque, unveiled in 1997, commemorates Bateman at 40 Nightingale Lane in Clapham.
Source: Wikipedia

See our original copies of The Art of the Illustrator published by Percy V Bradshaw in 1918.

Terence H Bave (born 1931; UK)
One of the stalwarts of British humour strips, Terry Bave retired in 2007 to enjoy some well-earned rest after worked in comics for 40 years. Bave's clear, unfussy humour strips were to be found in great numbers – he worked on six or seven characters at any one time – in Fleetway's humour comics in the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

Terry Bave was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire, in 1931. Inspired by American films and comics, which Bave sought out at newsagents selling American newspapers, he began drawing at an early age. His general education was disrupted by family moves and being twice evacuated during World War II. Bave estimated he attended eleven schools in as many years.

Returning to London in 1945, Bave took on full time work as a clerical assistant at the Post Office Savings Bank. One day a week he attended the Brook Green Day Continuation School until he was sixteen. It was here that he met his wife-to-be, Sheila Newton, who subsequently also worked at the Post Office bank.

From filling the margins and covers of his exercise books to posting regular topical cartoons on the Post Office bank notice board, Bave decided to turn his artistic inclinations into a career. At the age of seventeen he joined the Colonial Survey Department as a trainee cartographer, drawing maps with the aid of aerial photography. His first published cartoon was in the department’s magazine, The Drum.

Bave's combined interest in films and cartoons led to his first professionally published cartoons in the pages of the film magazine Picturegoer and the home movie magazine The Pathescope Gazette. With this success in specialist magazines, Bave sought out others and, by the late 1950s, was also publishing regularly in Do-It-Yourself, TV Times, Fire! and Scooter. In a year, Bave could earn £100 from his cartoons. By then, he had joined a firm of commercial map makers but was contemplating another move. A commission to draw a cartoon design for a dog ointment carton led to an offer of work as a packaging designer for Stable Cartons Ltd.; Bave later moved to C. H. G. Jourdan Ltd. where he successfully designed fancy packaging during the heady days of the psychedelic sixties. At the same time, he became the art editor of The 9.5 Review, put together by enthusiasts of home movies following the demise of The Pathescope Gazette.

In 1967, and still keen to work in comics, Bave targeted Wham!, a recently-launched comic published by Odhams Press. Invited to meet editor Albert Cosser at the publisher’s Long Acre office, he was offered the opportunity to take over the strip Sammy Shrink, about a nine-inch-tall boy with normal-sized parents, which was languishing in the lower regions of the popularity charts.

Bave and his wife created their own character, Baby Whamster, a half-pager which they also scripted; he proved immediately popular as a mascot for Wham! and Baby Smasher was added to the line-up of Wham!’s sister paper, Smash!.

Bave was determined to make a go of comics and used every opportunity to learn more about what his audience wanted, particularly by involving himself in the school attended by his son, Russell (born in 1959). He helped with the school magazine, performed as a ventriloquist at school fetes and wrote a school play.

With the addition of work for annuals and worked sourced locally (including posters, letterheads, leaflets, display advertising, cartoons, etc.), Bave was able to turn freelance. However, Wham! was soon to be merged with Pow!, which promptly folded a few months later. Bave found work on annuals via King Leo Studios but that had all but dried up when the Baves received a letter from Jack Le Grand offering them work on a new paper. This was Whizzer & Chips, a title unlike any other on the market in that it was two comics in one.

Bave created some thirteen possible strips and was invited to write (with Sheila) and draw however many he could reasonably cope with on a weekly basis. Thus, when Whizzer & Chips debuted on 18 October 1969, it featured six strips by Bave: the full-page Me and My Shadow, Ginger’s Tum, Hetty’s Horoscope and Aqua Lad, plus half-pagers Puddin’ Tops and Karate Kid to which Nipper was soon added.

Of these, “Me and My Shadow”, in which young ‘Smudger’ Smith is in constant battle with his own shadow, “Puddin’ Tops”, a brother and sister named after their pudding-top hairstyles, and “Karate Kid”, inspired by their son’s taking up of judo lessons, lasted until the mid-1970s.

One of Bave’s rejected ideas, Eager Beavers, was picked up by Buster, where it ran for eighteen months. The new comic Cor!! included Bave’s Donovan’s Dad and Andy’s Ants. In 1970, Bave and his family moved to a bungalow in Bembridge, on the Isle of Wight, where he and Sheila were to live for over forty years.

Promotional issues often involved creating new characters, and Bave’s creativity gave Whizzer & Chips Jimmy Jeckle and Master Hide, The Scarey’s of St. Mary’s and, most successfully, The Slimms in Cor!!, which capitalised on the contemporary slimming craze – although the portly Mum and Dad in the story had no desire to slim; it was their son, Sammy, who tried different ways each week to help them stick to diets or get some exercise. When Cor!! folded in 1973, the strip moved to Whizzer & Chips where it ran until 1979.

Another ‘two-in-one’ comic, Shiver & Shake, featured the spider Webster and, after a ghosting the strips on occasion, took over the lead characters of both sections, “Shiver” the ghost and “Shake” the elephant. New for Knockout was My Bruvver, in which poor Len is stuck each week with his tearaway younger brother, the little’un. Sammy Shrink was revived in Knockout before transferring to Whizzer & Chips and Bave also took over Desert Fox in Shiver and Shake and Odd Ball in Whizzer & Chips, the latter about a ball that could stretch and morph into any shape. Truly odd, it proved to be one of Bave’s longest-running strips, surviving in Whizzer & Chips until 1990.

The launch of Whoopee in 1974 brought with it two new Bave creations, Toy Boy (who, as his name implied, loved toys) and Stoker, Ship’s Cat, a hungry cat in the mould of Ginger. Other cat characters from Bave’s pen included Police Dog and Cat Burglar (Whizzer & Chips, 1975) and Scaredy Cat (Krazy, 1976-78). 1978 saw the creation of Calculator Kid for Cheeky Weekly but the late 1970s saw the merging of various papers, leaving Bave contributing only to Whizzer & Chips, Whoopee and various annuals and summer specials as the decade turned. Barney’s Badges (Wow!, 1982-83), Good Guy (Buster, 1983) and the feature Top Class Comics (School Fun, 1983-84) kept Bave busy.

The latter half of the 1980s saw fewer new releases from Fleetway, although Bave continued to contribute new characters, including Pete’s Pop-Up Book (Buster, 1985-88), Double Trouble (Nipper, 1987, Buster, 1987- ), Mighty Mouth (Nipper, 1987; Buster, 1987-90), Melvyn’s Mirror (Buster, 1990), The Figments of Phil’s Imagination (Buster, 1991-94) and Imagine (Buster, 1991).

Fleetway’s line of humour titles shrunk further, Whizzer & Chips finally merging with Buster in 1990 and Buster becoming a fortnightly in 1995, eventually folding in 2000. By then, Bave had established himself with rivals D. C. Thomson, ghosting a number of strips – including ‘Number 13’ and ‘Bash Street Kids’ for Beano before taking over ‘Winker Watson’ in Dandy (1991-2002). Over the next few years, Bave’s creations included ‘The Great Geraldoes’ (Beano, 1992-93), ‘Buster Crab’ (Dandy, 1998), ‘Inspector Horse and Jockey’ (Beano, 1999-2000 – a parody of Inspector Morse) and ‘Baby Herc’ (Dandy, 2003). From biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Terry Bave art

Leo Baxendale (27 October 1930 - 23 April 2017; UK)
Leo Baxendale has been one of the few artists in Britain to advance humour strips in the past sixty years. His work has been frenetic and violent at times, subtle and thought-provoking at others. No other artist has argued the case of humour in British comics as strongly as Baxendale and few (if any) have the credentials to back up their arguments so soundly.

Born in Whittle-le-Woods, Lancashire, on 27 October 1930, Baxendale had a grammar school education; as an artist he was self-taught. Between 1949 and 1950 he served with the catering corps. of the R.A.F., after which he worked as a staff artist for the Lancashire Evening Post, drawing sports cartoons, editorial illustrations, adverts and his own series of self-written articles.

Inspired by David Law’s Dennis the Menace, he submitted work to D.C. Thomson's The Beano, a comic he had read as a child, and was immediately accepted, his first original character appearing in 1953, Little Plum your Redskin Chum, followed shortly afterwards by Minnie me Minx, intended as a female counterpart to the popular Dennis. His third Beano set was the single panel "When the Bell Rings", later to become a full-page strip under the title The Bash Street Kids, Baxendale's first strip to introduce a team of characters.

The atmosphere of total mayhem that Baxendale was developing was certainly at odds with the traditional humour strip, particularly those of the Amalgamated Press, Thomson's main rivals. A contemporary of Baxendale's, Ken Reid, was similarly minded, and The Beano was unrivalled for humour at that time. Baxendale also drew The Banana Bunch for Beezer from its first issue, and would later create The Three Bears for Beano in 1959.

Ten years of tremendous output for relatively little reward left Baxendale suffering from exhaustion and depression, and after contracting pneumonia he left the firm following an invitation from Odhams Press to create a new humour title; this Baxendale did, and Wham! appeared in 1964 with a whole army of new Baxendale creations from General Nit and his Barmy Army, Georgie's Germs and The Tiddlers to Biff and the full-colour double-page Eagle-Eye, Junior Spy.

Most of the strips were passed on to other artists to continue after the first issue, and Baxendale even succeeded in tempting Ken Reid from Thomson's. Such was the success of the title that Smash! was created as a follow up for which Baxendale created Bad Penny, The Nerves, The Swots and the Blots and Grimly Feendish.

Baxendale's interest in politics inspired him to publish a weekly two-page newsletter, Strategic Commentary, written by radical strategist Terence Heelas, which he published for two-and-a-half years (1965-67).

When Odhams was absorbed by lPC Magazines, Baxendale continued to draw, taking on full-time some of the strips he had created plus many new creations, chief amongst them The Pirates and Mervyn's Monsters for Buster, Bluebottle and Basher for Valiant, The Lion Lot for Lion, Clever Dick for Buster and Sweeny Toddler for Whoopee!.

Baxendale left lPC in 1975, writing three books featuring Willy the Kid for Duckworth, who also published his autobiography, A Very Funny Business in 1978. Baxendale drew for Eppo in Holland whilst preparing a case against Thomson's for recognition as creator of his many Beano characters which had continued under various different artists. The case finally came to a mutually agreeable but undisclosed settlement in 1987 after seven years. Baxendale celebrated the result with the release of Thrrp! from Knockabout, his first work in the UK for 12 years. In 1990 he returned to the comic strip with I Love You Baby Basil, a weekly strip for the Guardian newspaper, which he continued to draw until March 1992.

Baxendale has written a series of books - The Encroachment, On Comedy: The Beano and Ideology, Pictures in the Mind, The Beano Room and Hobgoblin Wars: Dispatches from the Front - published through his own Reaper Books imprint. Most are autobiographical with an emphasis on Baxendale's views of comedy. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Pauline Diana Baynes (9 September 1922 - 1 August 2008; Hove, UK)
Pauline Baynes was an English illustrator whose work encompassed more than 100 books, notably several by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Pauline Baynes was born in Hove, Sussex. For a few years she was raised in India, where her father was commissioner in Agra, but she and her elder sister were sent back to England for their schooling. She spent much of her childhood in Farnham, studying at the Farnham School of Art (now the University for the Creative Arts) and eventually attended the Slade School of Fine Art, but after a year there she volunteered to work for the Ministry of Defence, where she made demonstration models for instruction courses. This work did not last long. She was soon transferred to a map-making department, where she acquired skills that she later employed when she drew maps of Narnia for Lewis and of Middle-earth for Tolkien.

Baynes is probably best known for her covers and interior illustrations for The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, seven books published, one volume a year, from 1950 to 1956 (the first five by Geoffrey Bles, the last two by The Bodley Head). Years later she provided some new illustrations for The Land of Narnia: Brian Sibley Explores the World of C. S. Lewis (HarperCollins, 1998), by Brian Sibley. (According to a School Library Journal review, "the artwork includes full-page illustrations in glowing color".)

When she began work on the Narnia books she was already the chosen illustrator of Lewis's friend and colleague J. R. R. Tolkien. In her obituary for The Daily Telegraph Charlotte Cory described how Baynes and Tolkien came to be associated: in 1948 Tolkien was visiting his publishers, George Allen & Unwin, to discuss some disappointing artwork that they had commissioned for his novella Farmer Giles of Ham, when he spotted, lying on a desk, some witty reinterpretations of medieval marginalia from the Luttrell Psalter that greatly appealed to him. These, it turned out, had been sent to the publishers "on spec" by the then-unknown Pauline Baynes. Tolkien demanded that the creator of these drawings be set to work illustrating Farmer Giles of Ham and was delighted with the subsequent results, declaring that Pauline Baynes had "reduced my text to a commentary on her drawings". Further collaboration between Tolkien and his Farmer Giles illustrator followed, and a lifelong friendship developed ... Later, when she showed him her artwork for a poster featuring Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, the author nodded approvingly and murmured quietly: "There they are, there they are."

Eventually drawings by Baynes appeared not only in Farmer Giles of Ham, but also in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Smith of Wootton Major, Tree and Leaf and (after the author's death) the poem Bilbo's Last Song, which appeared as a poster in 1974 and as a book in 1990. Baynes also painted the covers for two British paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings (in one volume in 1973 and in three volumes in 1981) and produced illustrated poster versions of the maps from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

However, Baynes's own favourite among her works was the set of illustrations she provided for A Dictionary of Chivalry, edited by Grant Uden (Longman, 1968), a project that required two years to complete. As a result, she won the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association for the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. In a retrospective citation, the Library Association calls it "a reference work that details the life and thoughts of knights". As a reference book it is unique among the winning works and only one other Greenaway Medal in almost sixty years has been awarded for the illustration of non-fiction.

Four years later, Baynes was a commended runner-up for the Greenaway, for Snail and Caterpillar by Helen Piers (Longman, 1972).

Baynes also illustrated The Borrowers Avenged by Mary Norton (1982), the fifth and final book in the Borrowers series, following the death of Diana Stanley, who had illustrated the previous four books. Baynes did the covers for a Puffin edition of the entire series issued in the 1980s.
Source: Wikipedia

J Beaven; UK
J Beaven is known to be the artist who created the picture (shown left) of an Elizabethan Theatre used in a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle created in the 1930s by G.J. Hayter & Co, Bournemouth, England. This picture was also used for a Macmillan Educational poster in the 1960s.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
J Beaven art

Walter Bell
Walter Bell was an artist of English children's comics. He was able to copy the styles of most of his contemporaries, so he was often assigned too fill in for other artists during the artists' holidays or illnesses. He created some characters of his own when he became a freelancer, working at an art studio and later running a studio himself. After being a soldier in World War I, Bell began his artistic career at the Byron Studios. His first published work was a cartoon in the Daily Chronicle, and he was soon assigned to illustrate Tom Browne's Weary Willie and Tired Tim for Amalgamated Press.

He also did cover illustrations for the weekly Illustrated Chips, until he took over the back-page panel Casey Court for ten years. From then on, Bell expanded his activities and took on a variety of independent weekly comics. He drew Mat the Middy for Merry Moments, Lottie Looksharp for The Golden Penny, The Sporty Boyees for The Monster Comic and Sonny Shine the Page Boy for The Jolly Jester.

In 1922, Bell began working exclusively for Amalgamated Press. He drew Geordie Brown in Funny Wonder and many characters for the Nursery Group, such as 'Children of the Forest', 'Fun and Frolic in Fairyland', 'Bobbie and his Teddy Bears', 'Redskin Chums' and 'Snow White and her Friends'.

From 1930, Bell illustrated seasonal comic books for Newnes-Pearson, including The Seaside Comic, Christmas Comic, Holiday Comic, Spring Comic and Summer Comic. Amalgamated Press was not amused by Bell's contributions to these rival publications and reduced his assignments. Therefore, Bell began drawing for the comic supplements of national and local newspapers. Among his line of characters were Molly the Messenger in the Daily Mail Comic and Jolly Jenkins in the Daily Express Comic.

He eventually moved from newspaper comics to the boys' weekly story department at Amalgamated, where he drew Mike, Spike and Greta for The Pilot, Mustard and Pepper for The Ranger and The Professor and the Pop for Detective Weekly. He also took over George W. Wakefield's Bud Abbott and Lou Costello feature in Film Fun. He later worked for several one-shot comic books at P.M. Productions, such as 'Starry Spangles', 'Jolly Jack-in-the-Box' and his final series, 'Flipper the Skipper'. In his retirement, Bell drew cartoons for his local newspaper, the Barnet Press, until his death in 1979.

Giorgio Bellavitis (1926 - 21 May 2009; Venice, Italy)
Giorgio Bellavitis was an Italian comic artist, born in Venice. He began his career at an early age, drawing illustrations for published by Montuoro and vignettes for the weekly Sior Tonin Bonagrazia. When Italy surrendered to the allies in 1943, Bellavitis and his family travelled to Pordenone to join the partisans. He provided illustrations to the Venetian partisan weekly Vento di Montagna, and was also imprisoned several weeks with Mario Faustinelli and Alberto Ongaro.

Shortly after World War II, Bellavitis, Faustinelli and Ongaro began the so-called "Group of Venice", together with Hugo Pratt, Paolo Campari and Dino Battaglia. The group launched the magazine Albo Uragano, which was later renamed to Asso di Picche. Bellavitis first comic was 'Robin Hood e gli Allegri Compagni della Foresta', that he published under the pseudonym George Summer in Asso Uragano. Bellavitis also worked with Pratt and Faustinelli on the title comic, 'Asso di Picche'. When the largest part of the Venetian group headed for Argentina, Bellavitis and Battaglia began an association with the publisher Ave in Rome. He created 'La Strada senza Fine' in Lo Scolaro and for Il Vittorioso, he made 'I Cavalieri del Corvo' (1951) 'Acqua Cattiva' (1952), 'Il Palio di Siena' (1953) and 'Amburgo 1947' (1954).

Bellavitis was one of the first Italian artists to draw for the British market, which he did after becoming art director of the agency Cosmopolitan Artists. He also introduced Rinaldo Dami, whose agency later provided most of the Italian artwork for British comics. Bellavitis himself drew 'Paul English' for Swift, shortly after moving to England. He drew 'Mark the Youngest Disciple' and 'Storm Nelson - Sea Adventurer' in Eagle, 'Rodney Flood' in Express Weekly, 'The Ghost World' in Boy's World and 'The New Adventures of Charlie Chan'. In Italy, Bellavitis's 'Stormer Nelson' stories were later reprinted under the title 'Kid Tempesta' in Giono dei Ragazzi.

Giorgio Bellavitis returned to Italy in 1958 to pursue a career in architecture, and was involved in many conservation and restoration projects in Venice. He taught art history at the University of Virginia in 1973, and in 1979 was Thomas Jefferson Foundation Visiting Professor at the university's school of architecture. He died on 21 May 2009.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia & Illustration Art Gallery
Giorgio Bellavitis art

Frank Bellamy (1917 - 1976, England)
Frank Bellamy was born in Kettering in 1917. His early artistic influences were the juvenile comics of his childhood, Rainbow and Chips, and he found the Tarzan strips of Hal Foster and Burne Hogarth much more to his taste than the rather static picture stories that mainly featured in British comics of the 1920s and '30s.

The young Bellamy had long been fascinated by big cats and other creatures of the African plains. One frequently-told story of Frank Bellamy's boyhood concerns a travelling circus that visited his home town sometime during the mid 1920s. After school hours Frank enjoyed wandering around the circus camp gazing at the caged jungle cats and, on this particular occasion, approached close enough to pluck a few hairs from a lion's tail. He kept his prize for years afterwards safely stored in a bottle! Such an act may now be deemed foolhardy – for even a well-fed, caged lion is a daunting target. But it does serve to show the sheer determination that Bellamy possessed, a quality that was, in adult life, to take him to the very pinnacle of his chosen profession.

His early work consisted mainly of spot illustrations for such magazines as Everybody’s Weekly and Outspan Magazine. His interest in ‘The Dark Continent’ was to the fore in both of these publications with an illustration to “King Solomon’s Mines” in the former and a number of African-related illustrations in the latter. Another magazine that made use of his talents early on in his career was the Boys' Own Paper.

After an inauspicious spell in advertising (Gibbs toothpaste), Bellamy’s big break as a strip artist came when he was offered the opportunity to work on Mickey Mouse Weekly, the prestigious photogravure comic published by Odhams. He left Norfolk Studios and went freelance. His main contribution to the comic was Monty Carstairs, an upper-crust adventurer whose exploits had been appearing in the comic since February, 1951.

1954 was a landmark year for the young artist, marking the beginning of his long association with Hulton Press. His first work for the publisher was a picture story adaptation of The Swiss Family Robinson for Swift, followed by King Arthur and His Knights, where he progressively used striking double sized frames to depict battle scenes, and Robin Hood and His Merry Men.

When Marcus Morris, editor of Eagle, offered him the opportunity to work on the comic’s prestigious back page, Bellamy was eager to begin. His enthusiasm was, however, tempered a little when he learnt that the work was to be a biographical strip of Sir Winston Churchill, The Happy Warrior. Up to that time the back page ‘historical biography’ had always concentrated on historical figures; to work on the biographical strip of, not only a living person but a great national hero as well, was a rather intimidating task and one that called for a great deal of careful research - as well as tact.

Early in 1959, Hulton Press had been taken over by Odhams and the new owners wanted to see some changes. They decided that Dan Dare, the famous cover character of Eagle, looked too dated and needed a face lift. They wanted someone who would inject a new vitality into the character and asked Frank Bellamy if he would take on the job. Bellamy was uneasy about taking over a character who had been created and nurtured by another artist (Frank Hampson), but during his agreed year on the Dan Dare strip, Bellamy created some stunning pages of artwork that glow vividly with life.

Also for Eagle, Fraser of Africa was one of Frank Bellamy’s greatest successes and it remained one of the artist’s own particular favourites. One feature of the strip that has contributed to its continual appeal is its philosophy of conservation, which was years ahead of its time. This was followed by the fantasy adventure strip Heros The Spartan.

In January 1966, Frank Bellamy began work on a strip version of Thunderbirds, the Gerry Anderson T.V. puppet series that has recently enjoyed yet another successful revival on BBC TV. Anderson's futuristic puppets were incredibly popular in the late 1960s and their exploits were avidly followed by fans in TV Century 21, and throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s Bellamy contributed to many quality periodicals including The Sunday Times, Look And Learn and Radio Times. His work for Radio Times, all featuring the popular character, Doctor Who, is amongst his most sought-after from the 1970s. In 1971 he took over the Garth strip in the Daily Mirror.

Frank Bellamy was a perfectionist who created some of the best colour work ever to appear in British comics. His meticulously-drawn strips were always vibrant and full of life and action. His artwork rarely showed any signs of changes or alterations: he would discard a piece of work and start again rather than resort to process white and paste on patches.
Extracts from Book & Magazine Collector no. 222 by kind permission of the publisher, and authors Norman Wright and David Ashford.

Click for the complete biography courtesy of the publisher and authors.

We also have special limited editions of Frank Bellamy BOOKS including Heros the Spartan, The Complete Adventures of King Arthur and Robin Hood.

Enjoy also the special feature in illustrators issue 5 on Heros the Spartan.

Manuel Benet (born 1946?)
Manuel Benet is a comics artist who has worked for Commando and the Judge Dredd Megazine, amongst other titles. In 2019, he drew the first Lord Peter Flint story to see print in over thirty years in Commando #5255.
Source: British Comics Database Wiki
Manuel Benet art

Mark Bennington (born 1963)
Professional illustrator with 30 years experience. Successfully published in all of the UK's major comic titles of the past 30 years, including 'The Dandy', 'The Beano', 'Buster', etc.

Mark Bennington first arrived at Fleetway to help fill some pages for a Whoopee summer special. He quickly became one of Fleetway's rising stars working as an artist and a writer.

His early work for Buster included Blub the Sub as well as writing for Tom Paterson's Buster strip, Gordon Hill's Chalky and Mike Lacey's X Ray Specs.

He stuck with Buster throughout the 1990s writing and drawing for The Crazy Characters centre page spreads and Whizzer & Chip's favourite Memory Banks. He was the second to last artist to leave the comic, ahead of Jimmy Hansen and JEO.

He has provided artwork for a variety of blue chip clients including the BBC, Walkers Snacks, Fleetway Publications and DC Thomson. My work has appeared in national and internationally distributed books, comics, magazines and marketing campaigns.

He has also produced work for a number of blue chip clients including: 'Hill and Knowlton International Marketing', 'BBC', 'Walkers Snacks' and 'Arsenal Football Club'.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Mark Bennington art

Thierry Benoit (born 1947; France)
Ted Benoit has, since the 1980s, been a prominent artist working in the ligne claire style made popular in the pages of the Franco-Belgian comics Tintin and Spirou.

Born Thierry Benoit in Niort, Deux-Sèvres, in rural France on 25 July 1947, he studied cinematography at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques in Paris and later worked in television. His first comics appeared in 1971 after he joined the editorial team of alternative magazine Actuel.

A fan of Hergé and Edgar P. Jacobs, whose works (principally 'Tintin' and 'Blake et Mortimer') filled the pages of Le journal de Tintin, Benoit shared his enthusiasm with other artists who were based around the Pigalle neighbourhood of Paris, leading one of its proponents, François Avril, to coin the term "École Pigalle". This "school" of artists -- including Jacques de Loustal, Charles Berberian and Philippe Petit-Roulet -- helped filled the pages of A suivre and L'Écho des Savanes and other popular French comics in the mid-1980s.

Benoit published a number of strips in the mid-1970s, Géranomimo (1974) and Métal Hurlant from 1976. He also began contributing to L'Écho des Savanes after meeting cartoonist Nikita Mandryka in 1975 and it was here that his Ray Banana strips began appearing in 1978.

His first album, Hôpital (Hospital), was published by Les Humanoïdes Associés in 1979, which won the award for best script at the Festival at Angoulême. His follow-up, Vers la Ligne Claire (Towards the Clear Line, 1980), gathering stories from Libération and Métal Hurlant, showed how his style of drawing was evolving from underground to clear line and had an introduction by Joost Swarte, who had coined the term "ligne claire".

More one-off stories featuring Ray Banana began appearing in A suivre in 1980, followed by the serials Berceuse électrique (Electric Lullaby, 1981) and Cité Lumière (City Light, 1984), both subsequently published in album form by Casterman. Further stories from A suivre were collected as Histoires vraies (True Stories, 1982), written by Yves Cheraqui.

In 1987, Benoit created Bingo Bingo et son Combo Congolais for Métal Hurlant and Métal Aventures as well as writing (for artist Pierre Nedjar), L'homme de nulle part (Nowhere Man, 1989), the memoirs of Thelma Ritter, Ray Banana's wife. A second volume of memoirs featuring Ritter was co-written by Madeleine DeMille and was to be drawn by François Avril but remains in limbo. (Ray Banana also appeared as a character in Philippe Paringaux's novel L'Homme qui ne Transpirait Pas in 1994.)

In 1993, Benoit was one of the artists responsible for reviving the continuing adventures of Blake and Mortimer, drawing two albums (#13 L'affaire Francis Blake, 1996, and #15 L'étrange rendez-vous, 2001) written by Jean Van Hamme.

Benoit's adaptation of Raymond Chandler's Playback, drawn by François Ayroles, appeared from Denoël in 2004.

He has also illustrated a number of books, prints and portfolios and has also been involved with l'association Le Crayon, whose members published The Naked Crayon in 2010. He has also been involved in advertising, notably for Jameson whisky and Bic. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

David Bergen
Although a popular fantasy artist in the 1990s, almost nothing is known about David Bergen's career. He was active in the 1970s, illustrating Sphere's H. G. Wells' reprints and the cover for SF Digest (1976), as well as books by Arthur C. Clarke and Samuel R. Delaney. He illustrated See Inside a Space Station by Robin Kerrod (Hutchinson, 1977) and an illustration appeared in The Flights of Icarus (Paper Tiger, 1977). Soon after, he could be found contributing covers to DAW Books in the USA (e.g. Barrington J. Bayley's Star Winds and E. C. Tubb's Incident on Ath, both 1978).

Bergen then seemed to disappear until 1990 when his work began appearing on various Pan fantasy and SF titles as well as the Puffin editions of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series. He continued to produce covers until at least 1997 when his work again disappears from sight.

What other areas he was (presumably) active in I have no idea; perhaps the lack of credits in the 1980s is literally down to the lack of credits that appeared on books. There can be no doubt as to the quality of his work and he was twice nominated (1991, 1992) for the World Fantasy Award.

Personal information on the artist is almost zero. I believe he was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1947 but a search of the internet turns up nothing else (and any search is rather confused thanks to there being a Canadian author (born 1957) of the same name). Taken from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
David Bergen art

Luis Bermejo Rojo (1931 - December 2015, Spain)
Luis Bermejo was born Luis Bermejo Rojo in Madrid in 1931, although the family soon moved to Albacete. It was in Albacete that Bermejo began his professional career, still in his teens, as an assistant to Manuel Gago, himself only in his early twenties but already recognised as a great talent in Spanish comics.

In 1944, Gago created El Guerrero del Antifaz [Warrior of the Mask], which would run for 668 issues, finally ending in 1966. Bermejo began as a letterer on the series in 1947 but, before long, was allowed to ink pages. With Gago’s aid, Bermejo launched his own series in 1948, creating El Rey del Mar (The King of the Sea) for Editorial Valenciana. Written by one of the top scriptwriters of the era, Pedro Quesada, it ran for 46 issues, over which time Bermejo began to assimilate influences other than Gago, notably Alex Raymond.

Bermejo’s comic work diversified. In 1949 he drew Diablillos (Mischief) for Chicos and, a couple of years later, Polín, Poli y Pol-Pol for the same paper; he drew similarly humorous strips for girls for the woman’s magazine Mariló.

Bermejo returned to Madrid to attend the Academy of Fine Arts at San Fernando, studying under illustrator Carlos Sáenz de Tejada. Bermejo’s schooling meant that a more realistic style and better figurework were on display in over 100 episodes of Aventuras del FBI (Adventures of the FBI), created for Madrid-based Editorial Rollán in 1951 and considered a classic in Spain.

Bermejo moved to Valencia and collaborated with a number of top Spanish writers, including Miguel González Casquel with whom he created Sigur (1954) and Federico Trotamundos for Chicos (1955) and Pedro Quesada on the juvenile adventure series Roque Brío (1956). The latter was an unexpected failure, lasting on 8 editions, but the two teamed up again for episodes of Pantera Negra (Black Panther), launched in 1956 with artwork by José Ortiz and, later, Miguel Quesada.

Bermejo had by now established himself at Editorial Maga, working closely with Gago, Miguel and Pedro Quesada and José and Leopoldo Ortiz. Here he produced his second famous work, Apache, scripted by Pedro Quesada, which he drew for over 50 issues from 1958.

Bermejo was already in demand elsewhere, having produced his first strip for the British market via the agency A.L.I. in 1957 - an issue of Super Detective Library featuring private eye Tod Claymore. Bermejo also contributed romance stories to Mirabelle, Romeo and Cherie in 1957-60. At the same time, he was still a busy artist in Spain, working for Bruguera on a series of literary adaptations: La conquista de los poles, Un yanqui en la corte del Rey Arturo (both published in 1957), Una vida aventurerea (1958), Las aventuras del Club Pickwick and Las aventuras de Pinocho (both 1959).

In 1960, Bermejo began drawing the character John Steel for Super Detective Library. The early stories were fairly commonplace war stories but when the stories switched to Thriller Picture Library, Steel was given a make-over and began featuring in a series of jazz-age, crime noir private eye yarns with Bermejo the main artist.

Contributions to War Picture Library, Battle Picture Library, Air Ace and Commando in 1960-62 firmly established Bermejo in the UK and he went on to draw Mann of Battle for Eagle (1962) and a series of stories featuring maritime adventurer Pike Mason in Boys’ World (1963-64).

To cope with the workload, Bermejo often worked with Matías Alonso and the two worked on a number of projects for Editorial Maga, including Marco Polo (1963), Vida y costumbres de los Vikingos (1965) and África y sus habitantes (1966). At the same time, Bermejo was having his biggest success in the UK when he worked on Heros the Spartan for Eagle, alternating adventures with Frank Bellamy in 1963-66.

Bermejo now had an informal studio set up which was responsible for many strips in the UK, notably UFO Agent in Eagle (1966) and The Avengers in Diana (1966-67).

Bermejo, solo, drew The Missing Link for Fantastic in 1967-68 and contributed illustrations to Tell Me Why, Look and Learn and Once Upon a Time, also painting the long-running fairy tale Princess Marigold for Treasure (1969-71).

Bermejo was a popular contributor to James Warren's horror magazines Vampirella, Creepy and Eerie in 1975-79, notably drawing The Rook. In 1979-81, he drew an adaptation of Lord of the Rings which was published throughout Europe. The recovering Spanish market also meant regular work in Cimoc, Metropol, Baladin, Hunter, Zona 84 and other magazines, as well as adapting books by Isaac Asimov and A. E. Van Vogt.

He worked on the revival of the famous adventure strip El Capitán Trueno (Captain Thunder) in 1986, but turned to painting and was able to retire from comics in the early 1990s. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.

See illustrators issue 22 for article on Luis Bermejo and enjoy his storytelling in our Fleetway Picture Library Classics collection JOHN STEEL.

Luis Bermejo art

Walter Berndt (22 November 1899 - 15 August 1979; Brooklyn, New York)
Walter Berndt was a cartoonist known for his long-run comic strip, Smitty, which he drew for 50 years.

Berndt's job as an office boy at the New York Journal put him in contact with leading cartoonists, as he recalled, "When I was 16, I worked as office boy for Tad, Herriman, Hershfield, Tom McNamara, also Hoban, McCay, Gross, T. E. Powers, C. D. Batchelor, Sterrett and Segar. Not much money but a million dollars worth of experience!

He stayed with the New York Journal for five years, sweeping floors, running errands, drawing strips, sport cartoons and what have you. Then one year with World Telegram. From there to the Daily News in 1922 where Smitty and Herby work for me! Golf used to be my love, but it is now taboo. So now it's a little swimmin' in my pool."

Berndt's first strip, That's Different, drawn for the Bell Syndicate, lasted less than a year. In 1922, he created Smitty, which he continued until 1973, working with his assistant Charles Mueller.

Berndt won the Reuben Award for 1969 for Smitty. He also produced the comic strip Herby from 1938 through 1960.

The Berndt Toast Gang, named in honor of Walter Berndt, is a group of Long Island cartoonists who meet on the last Thursday of each month, as explained by cartoonist Lee Ames:

-- When the Long Island group, Creig Flessel, Bill Lignante, Frank Springer, Al Micale and I got together to work for Hanna Barbera in the 1960s, we decided to have a Finnegan's Bar lunch every last Thursday of the month. During that period, Creig brought Walter Berndt to join us. We fell in love with the cigar-smoking old-timer (look who's talking!), as he did with us. After a couple of years he passed away and left us grieving. Thereafter, whenever we convened on Thursdays, we'd raise a toast to Walter's memory. On one such, my big mouth opened and uttered, "Fellas, it's time for the Berndt toast!" I wasn't trying to be cute at the time, but I'm not displeased that it stuck and we became the Berndt Toast Gang, one of the largest branches of the National Cartoonists Society. --
Source: Wikipedia

Jordi Bernet Cussó (born 14 June 1944; Barcelona, Spain)
Jordi Bernet is a Spanish comics artist, best known for the gangster comics series Torpedo and Jonah Hex. He was born in Barcelona, the son of a Spanish comic book artist, Miguel Bernet.

He made his debut in comics at fifteen, continuing his father's humorous series Doña Urraca (Mrs. Magpie) after his death in 1960, under the pseudonym "Jordi". While this could support his family, it did not satisfy his artistic ambitions that were inspired by artists such as Hal Foster, Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff. From 1962, Bernet developed a more realistic style, and took on smaller assignments from Italian and British publishers, until he started illustrating for the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou in 1965.

He drew the series Dan Lacombe with his uncle Miguel Cussó as writer, and created a similar series Paul Foran with writer José Larraz, but due to disagreements over editing decisions by Dupuis, Bernet ended the relationship with Spirou. Turning to the German market, in the 1970s he collaborated with Cussó to create Wat 69, a sexy and humouristic heroine for the magazine Pip, and Andrax, a science fiction series for Primo, which both became successful in Germany.

After the fall of Franco, Bernet returned to Catalonia and Spain and worked for several Spanish comics magazines such as Creepy, Metropol and Cimoc, eventually meeting three writers with whom he would form productive partnerships. With Antonio Segura he created the amazone fantasy series Sarvan, and the series Kraken, depicting a sewer monster terrorizing a futuristic fascist society.

Bernet first collaborated with Enrique Sánchez Abulí on several short stories, collected in Historietas negras. When Alex Toth, after producing two stories of Torpedo 1936 in 1981, decided he did not share Abulí's darkly humorous view of mankind and parted with the project, Bernet was asked to continue the work. This became the beginning of a long-lasting series, which became a popular success and was awarded at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. It eventually formed the basis of its own magazine, Luca Torelli es Torpedo in 1992. Later collaborations with Abulí include De vuelta a casa, La naturaleza de la bestia: Ab Irato and Snake: por un puñado de dolares.

Bernet also formed a creative partnership with the Argentine writer Carlos Trillo, resulting in the sexually explicit series Cicca Dum-Dum, the less lewd and more comical series Clara de Noche, and several one-shots, including Custer, Light and Bold and Ivánpiire.

Bernet's more recent publications include several albums for the Italian western character Tex Willer, and a run of work for the U.S. comics market, including a Batman story, and a trilogy detailing "the shocking origin" of Jonah Hex. Bernet has later continued to work with Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray on Jonah Hex.

American artist Will Eisner described his impression of Bernet's work in an anthology preface:
"Here was a man who was producing pure story-telling art. That is art that uses the kind of minimalism so singular to his draftsmanship that it is actually a narrative device in itself."
Source: Wikipedia

See illustrators  Spanish Special and illustrators  Crime Special Edition for feature articles on Jordi Bernet.

Jordi Bernet art

John Berry (9 June 1920 - 10 December 2009; UK)
John Berry was a prolific and popular contributor to Ladybird Books, his work appearing in 40 titles between 1961 and 1978, notably their "People at Work", "Public Services" and the "Hannibal the Hamster" books by Raymond Howe.

John Leslie Berry was born in Hammersmith, London, on 9 June 1920, his father the foreman on the railway at Hammersmith. His father "skipped" when his son was only 5, and Berry and his sister were raised by his mother on £1 a week. He was educated locally before attending Hammersmith College of Art in 1934. He earned a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy in 1939 but was bitterly disappointed to have his studies interrupted by the Second World War.

He volunteered for the R.A.F. in 1940 and served in the Western Desert and the Middle East. In a holding unit waiting to enter Tobruk, he offered to produce a poster advertising a national day of prayer. When the artwork came to the attention of Air Marshal Arthur Tedder, Berry was seconded to the 8th Army as a War Artist. Some of Berry's paintings were exhibited at the National Gallery and are now in the permanent collection of The Imperial War Museum.

Returning to the UK, Berry found work with a wartime acquaintance, Major James Riddell, who wrote children's and travel books. Berry drew a number of short books published by Riddell as Riddle Books, but his income was primarily from advertising.

Asked if he could draw a tiger for an ESSO oil company campaign by the secretary at McCann Erickson, Berry retorted, Yes, put a tiger in your tank. He was paid £25 for the famous slogan, but spent ten years from 1951 drawing tigers for the campaign.

He was a prolific portrait painter, his subjects including the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and Lady Astor. He also worked via Harrods, producing portraits of people who could drop off a photograph which he would turn into a oil painting.

In 1951 Berry married June East, a librarian, and the couple had three sons and two daughters. With a growing family to support, Berry produced book covers for Corgi, Four Square, Panther, Penguin and Readers' Digest. In the Sixties and Seventies, he considered the regular work provided by Ladybird Books to be his bread and butter.

At the same time he continued to produce portraits, his later subjects including the Princess of Wales and President George Bush Sr, and illustrations, including contributing to the 'Special Correspondent' series in Look and Learn in 1967.

In 2004, the Simon Finch Gallery hosted an exhibition of Ladybird work by Berry and Martin Aitchison. A show of Berry's work at the NEC in Birmingham followed in 2005.

Following June's death in 1986, Berry married a second time in 1989 to Jessie Showell. He died on 10 December 2009. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Alfred Edmeades Bestall (1892 - 1986, Burma)
Born in Mandalay, Burma, Alfred Edmeades Bestall (MBE) drew and wrote at least 273 Rupert Bear stories for the Daily Express for 30 years from 1935 until 1965, including 40 stories for the Rupert annuals. He also created the specially drawn endpapers of the annuals, where his imagination was given full expression.

Please note that we also have Rupert Bear art by John Harrold.

Alessandro Biffignandi (1935 - 21 January 2017; Rome, Italy)
Alessandro Biffignandi was one of Italy's finest painters of cover art and illustrations for comics and magazines. He was born in Rome in 1935 and died in Rome on 21 January 2017, aged 81.

He is primarily associated with his decade-long supply of cover art to British war pocket libraries published by Fleetway in the 1960s and his decade plus association with Italian erotic pocket books. His signature rarely appeared, so even in Italy he was little known and only in recent years has his work been celebrated.

He learnt the finer points of drawing at the Favalli studios. In 1960, he settled in Milan, where he started working for many important periodicals and publishers.

From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, he worked through the Milanese art agencies for the French market and for Fleetway in the UK. His covers for War Picture Library and Battle Picture Library are some of his finest paintings.

He painted covers for the pocket publications of the publishing house Lug, such as Nevada, Hondo, Kiwi, Yuma and Rodeo. He also drew some comics for the books, such as 'Flambo', 'Agent K-3', 'Peter Berg', 'John Kine' and 'Rombo Bill'.

In the late 1960s, he worked for the British Fleetway agency, doing painted covers of The Spider. Since the early 1980s, he has mainly been an illustrator and oil painter.
Source: Steve Holland & Illustration Art Gallery

See illustrators British War Comics Special for an Alessandro Biffignandi feature article.

Alessandro Biffignandi art

Enki Bilal (born 7 October 1951; Yugoslavia)
Enki Bilal is one of the leading graphic novelists to come out of Europe in the past forty years. Still very active, he has occasionally left the field for movies, but has always returned to create something memorable. Although his work has rarely appeared in the UK (although many of his albums are available in English language translation), his work has been championed by Paul Gravett, who says: "Bilal’s visions reveal a decadent dystopia, overwhelming and baroque, inspired by directors like Andrei Tarkowsky of Solaris and Stalker. His plotting is dense, unpredictable, and really repays close attention. There is also a dark, absurdist humour, from the freakish make-up of politicians and the stripped alien cat Gogol to the world chess-boxing championships."

Bilal was president of the 14th Salon International de la Bande Dessinée at Angoulême in 1987. His exhibitions have included two months at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris in 1991-92 and he was asked to illustrate a stamp in 2006.

Bilal was born Enes Bilalovic in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, on 7 October 1951. His Bosniak father was the tailor to Marshal Tito, Yugoslavia's prime minister and, from 1953, president, and his mother a Slovakian. The young Bilal's twin passions were drawing and the cinema, especially westerns, and these were combined in a movie that he starred in at the age of nine. A short film, it concerned two youngsters from rival gangs who wandered around Belgrade, stopping to sketch out battles between cowboys and indians in chalk on the pavements. The film was never completed: Bilal's family moved to Paris in 1960. At the time, families were prohibited from going into exile and Bilal revealed to a teacher at school that he was shortly to be joining his father in France. Fortunately, the teacher had an eye on their apartment and helped hasten the family's departure. Bilal became a naturalized French citizen in 1967.

Five years later, he met the editors of Pilote, René Goscinny (author of Asterix and Lucky Luke) and Jean-Michel Charlier. Goscinny encouraged him to apply his artistic talents to comics. Bilal studied briefly (three months) at the École des Beaux-Artes, at the same time submitting work to Pilote, where his first published story, 'La Bal Maudit', appeared in 1972.

He began contributing science fiction stories regularly, later collected in Mémoires d'outre-espace, Histoires courtes 1974-1977 (Memories From Outer Space, 1978), although he was sidelined into producing pages of topical humor on current affairs and caricatures for the weekly paper.

His breakthrough came when he began working with Pierre Christin. Their early collaborations included Légendes d'Aujourd'hui (Legends of Today), a linked series of dark, haunting tales, La Croisière des oubliés (The Cruise of Lost Souls, 1975; serialised as 'The Voyage of Those Forgotten', Heavy Metal, 1982), Le Vaisseau de pierre (Ship of Stone, 1976; serialised as 'Progress!', Heavy Metal, 1980) and La ville qui n'existait pas (The Town That Didn't Exist, 1977; serialised as 'The City That Didn't Exist', Heavy Metal, 1983), each set in a different town threatened by mysterious forces – military testing, developers and multinationals – which were later collected as Townscapes (2004).

Bilal became associated with the French magazine Metal Hurlant, and its American counterpart, Heavy Metal, where many of his stories appeared over the next few decades. Serials in Heavy Metal – including Exterminator 17 (1979, written by Jean-Pierre Dionnet), the three volumes of Legends of Today, two volumes of the Nikopol trilogy and The Hunting Party (1983) – introduced Bilal to a wider English-speaking audience than most European creators enjoyed.

Bilal's popularity in Europe had grown considerably with the publication of the political thriller Les Phalanges de l'ordre noir (The Black Order Brigade, 1979), about the revenge sought by a group of former comrades from the International Brigade following a terrorist bombing in a Basque village. The book won the 1980 Prix RTL for best adult graphic novel.

La Foire aux immortels (The Carnival of Immortals, 1980; serialised as 'The Immortals' Fete', Heavy Metal, 1981) introduced the character of Alcide Nikopol, who finds himself in a future Paris ruled over by a corrupt, fascist dictator bent on gaining immortality from Egyptian gods travelling in an alien spaceship. Nikopol allows himself to be taken over by a disillusioned Horus. In its sequel, La Femme piège (The Woman Trap, 1986; as 'The Trapped Woman', Heavy Metal, 1986), Horus is trapped in a block of concrete while Nikopol has been admitted into a psychiatric hospital, although their lives are about to become entangled with that of a London reporter, Jill Bioskop. The third volume of this trilogy was published as Froid Équateur (Cold Equator, 1992).

Bilal had, meanwhile, received rave reviews for Partie de chasse (The Hunting Party, 1983), written by Christin, about a group of aging Soviet political leaders who plot the death of a politician whilst reminiscing about their growing disillusion with the Russian socialist dream.

Meanwhile, Bilal had become involved in the film industry as the production and costume designer for La vie est un roman (1983), directed by Alain Resnais, having earlier designed a poster for Resnais' My American Uncle (1980). He was subsequently asked to design a creature for Michael Mann's The Keep (1983) and do graphic research for Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose (1986) and designed the sets and costumes for the show OPA Mia (1990) by Denis Levaillant and the ballet Romeo and Juliet (1991) based on Prokofiev and choreographed by Angelin Preljocaj.

His graphic novels continued to appear, including Los Angeles - L'Étoile oubliée de Laurie Bloom (Los Angeles - The Forgotten Star of Laurie Bloom, 1984) by Pierre Christin, Hors Jeu (Off Play, 1987, by Patrick Cauvin), Coeurs sanglants et autres faits divers (Bleeding Hearts and Other Stories, 1988) written by Pierre Christin and Bleu Sang (Blue Blood, 1994).

In 1989 he directed the futuristic, post-apocalyptic movie Bunker Palace Hôtel, co-written with Christin, where the elite of a totalitarian regime have fled to an ancient underground bunker to escape from rebels; amongst them, a spy (Carole Bouquet) observes the power struggle as they await the arrival of their leader.

Bilal's other excursions into movies have been equally divisive. As the reviewer of Tykho Moon (1996) said: "The film has admirable art direction but no narrative or directional discipline. Like his earlier effort Bunker Palace Hotel, pic seems destined for Bilal fans only, plus a few comic-strip festivals." Tykho Moon was another futuristic thriller, featuring an aging dictator on the verge of death. His soldiers seek out Tykho Moon, who unwillingly donated brain cells years earlier. Tykho – actually an artist named Anikst – suffers from amnesia and is unaware that he is being sought. The film received a Special Mention at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in 1997.

Bilal returned to graphic novels with Le sommeil du monstre (The Dormant Beast, 1998), the first of four volumes that tell the story of the downfall of a futuristic Yugoslavia split by wars in the 1990s. Three further volumes appeared to make up the Tétralogie du Monstre series: 32 Décembre (December 32nd, 2003), Rendez-vous à Paris (2006) and Quatre? (Four?, 2007).

Stand-alone titles published in the same period have included Un siècle d'Amour (A century of Love , 1999), by Dan Franck, Magma (2000) and Le Sarcophage (The Sarcophagus, 2001). In 2004, his film Immortel (Ad Vitam) was released, based on the first two Nikopol graphic novel (La Foire aux immortels and La Femme piège) with the action transferred to New York. The film was created in CG Animation using motion capture and was again met with mixed reviews that felt it was both inventive and incoherent.

Bilal's recent work has included Animal´z (2009), about a variety of survivors of global warming, Julia & Roem (2011) and Les Fantômes du Louvre (Ghosts of the Louvre, 2012).

The boxing scenes in Bilal's book Froid Équateur (1992) inspired performance artist Lepe Rubingh to organize the first chess-boxing bout – six rounds of chess plus five rounds of boxing – in Amsterdam in November 2003 (which Iepe won). The World Chess Boxing Organization continues to support championship fights of the hybrid sport around the world. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Enki Bilal art

Harry Bishop (born 3 May 1920; UK)
Harry Bishop is one of the finest artists in the UK who has turned his gaze – and talent – to the wild west. For most of his career he drew western comic strips, and it was his work on Gun Law – based on the television show Gunsmoke starring James Arness as Matt Dillon – for the Daily Express for which he is best remembered. With its superb figurework and accurate portrayals of horse and rider, Bishop drew on influences ranging from Tony Weare to Remington Russell and Norman Rockwell. He was awarded the British Cartoonists Award in 1965. He took over the Wes Slade strip in the Sunday Express in 1980 and this also earned him an award from the Strip Illustrators Society in 1981.

Born in Painswick, Gloucestershire, on 3 May 1920, Harry Bishop was a fan of illustrators like D. C. Eyles, Stanley Woods and H. M. Brock and was keen to attend art school, an interest supported by his parents. He was educated at Hatherley School and the Gloucester School of Art, leaving the latter in 1937 to travel abroad.

Bishop served in the R.A.F. during the war – mostly abroad and for some time with Bomber Command – and recommenced his art education in 1947, using his ex-serviceman's gratuity to began studying at Wimbledon College of Art. Graduating in 1952, he took up a position as a teacher at Mitcham Grammar School.

At the same time he began drawing comic strips for the Amalgamated Press, his earliest known work appearing in Comic Cuts, where he took over the artistic chores for the adventures of Cal McCord, the real-life cowboy and actor, in May 1953. Comic Cuts came to a close soon after, but Bishop was to find a regular home for his work in Swift, which was about to be launched in March 1954. His first strip, Tom Tex and Pinto ran for eighteen months, during which time he also took over the colour cover of Swift, drawing Tarna Jungle Boy from June 1954.

After this rapid rise, Bishop found work on Junior Express drawing Wyatt Earp, Red Cloud and Rex Keene, for Thriller Comics drawing Jesse James and for Sun drawing Billy the Kid. Through these strips he established himself as one of the leading western artists in the UK. In April 1957, he began drawing 'Gun Law' for Express Weekly, continuing the weekly strip until March 1961. A year earlier, in April 1960, the strip had begun appearing in the Daily Express. He continued to write and draw the strip for almost two decades.

Bishop continued to contribute to British comics, although often for brief periods only, drawing Smiley! (Swift, 1958-59), Billy the Kid (Lion, 1959), 'Tarna Jungle Boy' (Swift, 1962-63), Morg of the Mammoths (Lion, 1963-64) and numerous one-off features for TV Express, Boys' World, Eagle and Princess. In 1970-85, Bishop was also a prolific illustrator for Deans.

After drawing a second strip for the Evening Standard, Judy and the Colonel, Bishop drew Tarzan and The Saint for TV Tornado and Blackbow the Cheyenne briefly for Eagle before departing comics around 1967. He returned almost a decade later with The Wrangler, a brief one-off in Ally Sloper (1976), which year marked his debut in the Dutch weekly Eppo, where he drew the western Laben Tal until 1977. 'Gun Smoke' ended in 1978.

Bishop brought the 'Wes Slade' series to a close in 1980-81 following the death of its originator, George Stokes, after which he concentrated on painting. He has produced surprisingly few paintings on western subjects, although a 'modest number' (around 30) were sold via Frost and Reed of Bond Street, London; he has, however, painted landscapes and other subjects and worked in most media, although he prefers pen and ink.

In 1984-85, an eye infection caused him to give up painting completely. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Harry Bishop art

Simon Bisley (born 4 March 1962)
Simon Bisley is a British comic book artist best known for his 1990s work on ABC Warriors, Lobo and Sláine. His style, reliant on paints, acrylics, inks and multiple-mediums, is strongly influenced by Frank Frazetta, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gustav Klimt, Salvador Dalí, Egon Schiele, and Richard Corben. He also took inspiration from rock album covers and graffiti as well as traditional comics art. In turn he and his work has inspired various forms in media, including the Beast in the 2006 Doctor Who episode "The Satan Pit", and Simon Pegg's character graphic artist Tim Bisley on the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced.

While still a student, Bisley did a painting of a robot holding a baby that he sent to the offices of 2000 AD. The image was seen by Pat Mills and inspired him to relaunch the ABC Warriors strip, with Bisley as artist, in 1987. Following this, Bisley took over drawing of Sláine. Bisley also painted the intercompany crossover Judge Dredd and Batman, Judgement on Gotham.

As of 1997, Bisley is an occasional contributor to the comics magazine Heavy Metal.

Bisley has done design work for several music videos, including The Chippendales' "Room Service".

More recently (2014-2015), Bisley pencilled the hugely popular graphic novel The Tower Chronicles: DreadStalker written by Matt Wagner.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery & Wikipedia
Simon Bisley art

Basil Blackaller (1921 - 1958; Hampshire, UK)
Basil Blackaller was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, in 1921. His comics debut came at the age of 16, drawing "Hairy Dan" in the first issue of DC Thomson's The Beano in 1938. His best known strip was "Pansy Potter, the Strongman's Daughter" for the same title, which he took over from creator Hugh McNeill in 1939 and drew throughout the Second World War.

He also drew "Deep Down Daddy Neptune" (1939), "Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters" (1940), "Big Heep" (1940) and "Smart Alec" (1945) for The Beano, "Castor Oil Craddock" (1948) for The Dandy, and "Dick Turpentine" (1940) for The Magic Comic.

He moved to the Amalgamated Press and switched to adventure strips, drawing for Super Detective Library, in the 50s. He also drew the syndicated science fiction newspaper strip "Ace O'Hara", written by Conrad Frost, in the 1950s, and "Captain Falcon" for Rocket (under the pseudonym "Frank Black") in 1956. He died in Surrey in 1958, aged just 36.
Source: UK Comics Wiki

Janet Blakeley
Janet Blakeley was a regular contributor to Look and Learn and was one of their most prolific artists for nature articles in the late 1970s, appearing almost every week.

She also contributed illustrations to Watching Wildlife by Andrew Cooper (London, Usborne, 1982) and the children's novel Alice's Part by Vera Boyle (London, Macmillan Children's Books, 1983). From biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Janet Blakeley art

Michel Blanc-Dumont
Michel Blanc-Dumont started out publishing in Phénix, but eventually joined Jeunes Années, where he illustrated several Indian legends as well as several posters. His actual comics career took off in 1974, when he began the western series Jonathan Cartland with scenarist Laurence Harlé in Lucky Luke Magazine, one of the best western comics series.

Adriano Blasco Monterde (1931 - 2000; Spain)
Adriano Blasco is the younger brother of Jesús, Alejandro and Pilar Blasco. He started out drawing harmless humorous characters like 'Chispita' for the girls magazine Mis Chicas in the early 1940s. Since 1947 he was a regular at adventurous weekly Chicos contributing such works as 'Piratas en el Yukon' and 'El genio negro'.

He drew many stories for El Coyote magazine, like 'Pasarse de Listo' and 'Una heroína en Guerra'. For another girls magazine called Florita, he produced such comics as 'Marcela' and 'Lizzy'. In the 1960s, he joined the Blasco studios, where he worked alongside his brothers, Jesús and Alejandro under the only name of Jesús Blasco.
Source: Lambiek
Adriano Blasco art

Alejandro Blasco Monterde (1928 - 19 October 1988; Spain)
Alejandro Blasco was a Spanish cartoonist and illustrator, famous for the joint work with his brothers Jesús and Adriano Blasco.

As the second of the Blasco brothers, Alejandro Blasco also chose the comics profession. He started out drawing an innocent humorous character called 'Morronguito' for the girls magazine Mis Chicas in the early 1940s. Since 1944 he turned out a series of stories for Chicos, such as 'Dardo Amarillo', 'Por Tierras de Emoción', 'Policía Montada', 'El Ídolo del Lago', and 'Corsario X'. He created 'Gangsters' and 'Una Evasión Difícil' for El Coyote magazine. He also cooperated on Alcotán magazine. He also worked on British comics like 'Billy the Kid' for Sun and 'Buffalo Bill' for The Comet in the 1950s.

Alejandro began his career in 1943 in Mis Chicas, where he already worked his sister Pilar, making the comic strips of the anthropomorphic cat 'Morronguito'. According to Salvador Vázquez de Parga, both his style and that of brother Adriano "accused the influences of Anita Diminuta, the stories of Puigmiquel, and more remotely from those of Walt Disney."

It was successful and in 1945 the hardcover albums titled Morronguito in the river of Pearls were published ".

A year earlier, however, he had begun to collaborate with the magazine Chicos by creating a series of realistic graphics adventures, such as Yellow Dart, Mounted Police, Land of Thrill, The Idol of the Lake, or Corsair X before the magazine was forced to conclude these strips in 1949. He also published in El Coyote and Alcotán.

From 1947 he had begun to work together with his brothers Adriano and Jesús. Ten years later, the three of them set up a studio in a three-storey house in a residential area next to the Vallcarca bridge, dedicated to the production of cartoons for the British and French-speaking markets, always under the signature of the older brother Jesús. They created several comics throughout the 1960s and 1970s ('Steel Claw', 'Los Guerilleros'). Alejandro remained active in the comics field until the late 1980s.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery & Lambiek

Jesús Monterde Blasco (3 November 1919 - 21 October 1995, Spain)
From November 1954 when his first strip appeared in the UK, Jesús Blasco carved an astonishing path through British comics, producing some of the most popular stories of their times. British strips often played fast and loose with historical facts and physics and grounding them in Blasco’s photo realistic artwork made them believable to their youthful audience. His artwork inspired a generation of new artists, Dave Gibbons and Brian Bolland both acknowledging his influence.

Jesús Blasco Monterde was born in Barcelona, Spain, on 3 November 1919, one of five siblings—brothers Alejandro, Adriano, Augusto and sister Pilar—who, to one degree or another, all worked in comics. Entirely self-taught, Blasco began working professionally in comics shortly after his first prize-winning drawing appeared in Mickey when he was 14. Only 15, he created ‘Cuto’ for Biloche in 1935. The boy hero become one of Spain’s most popular comic creations following his appearance in Chicos in 1940 and Blasco added a second popular strip to his CV when he created ‘Anna Diminuta’ for Mis Chicas.

Blasco was called up to serve during the Spanish Civil War and, after the war, served three years military service whilst still managing to keep up a steady output of comic strips from war stories to nursery tales.

In 1954, he made his debut in the UK and continued to contribute to British comics for over 20 years. From drawing ‘Buffalo Bill’ and ‘Billy the Kid’ in Comet and Sun, Blasco took over the artwork of those most British of heroes, ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Dick Turpin’. He also turned his hand to fairy tales, drawing beautifully painted spreads for Playhour featuring Pinocchio, the Dancing Princesses, Rumpelstiltskin and others.

In 1962 he drew ‘Vengeance Trail’ for Eagle and, that same year, began work on his two longest-running strips: the darkly menacing adventures of ‘The Steel Claw’ in Valiant and the whimsical children’s fantasy ‘Edward and the Jumblies’ for Teddy Bear.

Thanks to inking help from his brothers Alejandro and Adriano, who did not receive any individual credits in the UK after 1955, the Blasco family were able to turn out an astonishing number of pages each week with no fall-off in quality.

In 1968, Blasco adapted ‘Montezuma’s Daughter’ for Look and Learn and went on to draw further features and stories for that paper and its companion, Treasure. In the 1970s, he also drew the adventures of ‘The Wombles’ and ‘Return of the Claw’, but the market in the UK was no longer able to absorb his output. In 1968 he had drawn ‘Los guerrilleros’, written by Michael Cussó, for Spirou. Now, in 1974, he became more heavily involved in the Portuguese comic Jornal do Cuto and the Spanish comic Chito and his output in the UK fell away. Apart from a few episodes of ‘Dredger’ in Action and the opening three episodes of ‘Invasion’ for 2000AD, Blasco turned his sights to Europe, where he was invited to adapt the Bible as a series of comic strips.

In 1982, Blasco was awarded the prestigious Yellow Kid at Lucca and the French honorary award Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1986 he worked with Victor Mora on reviving ‘El Capitán Trueno’ but the strip was caught up in the collapse of its publisher. Blasco turned to Italy and Bonelli’s long-running western saga ‘Tex’ and science-fantasy ‘Zona X’. He also teamed up again with Victor Mora to recount the historical adventures of ‘Tallaferro’.

Blasco died on 21 October 1995, survived by only one brother, Adriano.

There is an air of total realism about Jesus Blasco's work. Blasco is often almost photographic in the delineation of his characters and, although occasionally this tends towards a rather static look to some frames, his fine sense of composition and sensitive drawing style more than adequately compensates. Born in Barcelona, Jesus Blasco started drawing for Spanish comics while still in his teens. The eldest of five brothers, most of whom are illustrators and who are often engaged in inking his work, he has worked in practically every genre: Historical, Western, Detective, Fairy Tales.

In addition to Thriller Picture Library, he contributed many strips to the Cowboy Comics Library and picture strip versions of two Jeffrey Farnol historical romances for Look and Learn. He drew many strips for Lion, including probably the most celebrated of all his strips in this country - The Steel Claw. Biography extracts courtesy of David Ashford, Norman Wright and Steve Holland.
Jesus Blasco art

Stuart Bodek
Stuart Bodik's book cover art appeared on what would seem to be an American family saga, a genre that flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, although it had its roots in such popular novels as The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy and The Whiteoaks of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche.

The late Stuart Bodek was born in South Africa and was represented by Artist Partners in London.

Stephen Richard Boldero (1898 - 1987)
Boldero's cover artwork appeared regularly in the 1950s and 1960s, published by most of the leading paperback firms (Corgi, Digit, Arrow, Pan, Panther, Four Square, Consul). He also had a long association with Souvenir Press, producing numerous dust jackets.
Stephen Richard Boldero art

John Bolton (born 23 May 1951; UK)
John Bolton is best known for his painted comic strips, his dark, photorealist style particularly effective on horror stories, in which genre he became somewhat typecast through his work on adaptations of Clive Barker and Sam Raimi's film Army of Darkness and his series of voluptuous she-vampire paintings. Bolton's work in the broader field of fantasy is probably best exemplified by his collaborations with Chris Claremont, which included Marada the She Wolf in Epic Illustrated and the 6-issue mini-series The Black Dragon.

Born in London, 23 May 1951, Bolton trained as civil engineer, then worked as a clothes salesman in London. His first comics-related work came via Granddreams, illustrating annuals such as The Magician, The Lone Ranger, Planet of the Apes, Flash Gordon, New Avengers and Tarzan. His first strips appeared in House of Hammer in 1976, including adaptations of Dracula, Prince of Darkness and One Million Years B.C., and early episodes of the Steve Moore-written Father Shandor series. Switching to colour, he made an immediate impact drawing The Bionic Woman for Look-In. Bolton won the Eagle Award for Favourite Comicbook Artist (UK) in 1979.

His American debut came with Kull, written by Doug Moench for Marvel Preview in 1980. A year later, his first painted strips - The Llehs - appeared in Epic Illustrated followed in 1982 by Marada the She-Wolf. Dozens of short horror tales appeared in Twisted Tales, Alien Worlds, Pathways to Fantasy, Tales of Terror, Alien Encounters and Cheval Noir over the next few years, as did The Black Dragon. Bolton could also turn his hand to mainstream comicbooks, which he did with a run of back-up stories in Classic X-Men in 1986-89 and Wonder Woman Annual (1988).

Graphic novels like Someplace Strange (1988), written by Ann Nocenti, and The Yattering and Jack (1992), adapted from a Clive Barker story by Steve Niles, and his painting of the first issue of The Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman helped cement his reputation as Britain's finest weird-fantasy/horror artist.

He has since gone on to work on many other titles, chief amongst them Man-Bat (1995), written by Jamie Delano, Menz Insana (1997) by Christopher Fowler, Gifts of the Night (1999) by Paul Chadwick, Batman/Joker: Switch (2003) by Devin Grayson, God Save the Queen (2007) by Mike Carey, The Evil Dead (2008) by Mark Verheiden and The Green Woman (2010) by Peter Straub & Michael Easton.

Over the years, Bolton has also published portfolios, illustrated trading cards and worked as a storyboard and concept artist.

A Short Film About John Bolton (2003) was written and directed by Neil Gaiman, although it featured a fictional version of Bolton's life. Bolton is played by John O'Mahony, with Marcus Brigstocke playing an interviewer who discovers, to his cost, what inspires Bolton's disturbing art. Bolton himself had a cameo in the film.

His latest work is Shame: Conception for Renegade Arts Entertainment, released in July 2011; at the time of writing he is working on the second book in a proposed trilogy. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.
John Bolton art

George Bowe
George Bowe is a bit of a mystery. His career began at least as early as 1948 when he illustrated two books by Enid Blyton and continued until at least 1974 when he drew At the End of the Rainbow'in Bonnie. In between he contributed illustrations to Boy's Own Paper, Pony Club Annual, Robin Annual, Girl Annual and Swift Annual in the 1950s and 1960s.

For an artist with a career spanning at least 26 years, it is surprising that nothing else is known. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Leslie Bowyer
Leslie Bowyer was an occasional contributor to Eagle, illustrating a short story in 1951 and a feature on the Queen's post-Coronation tour of 1954.

He also produced advertising designs and watercolours and contributed to Children's Own Wonder Book (1947). Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Stuart Boyle; UK
"I was born, grew up and still live in London, England. My father, Stuart Boyle, was an artist. He illustrated a number of books including Evelyn Waugh’s The Loved One." -- Catherine Brighton.

Stuart Boyle painted a number of detailed illustrations depicting scenes from history and used in the Macmillan series of educational posters in the 1960s.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Stuart Boyle art

Eric Bradbury (born 1921, England)
Eric Bradbury was born in Sydenham, Kent, but moved to nearby Beckenham at the age of ten where he gained a scholarship to the local Art School in 1936. During the War he was an airgunner flying Wellingtons. Like Geoff Campion, Eric Bradbury began his strip career drawing Our Ernie and other "funnies" characters for Knockout in 1949.

Before long, however, thanks to the persuasion of Leonard Matthews, Bradbury began work on adventure strips. Starting on Knockout's Luck Logan Western strip and, later, as the best of the Campion imitators on the Buffalo Bill strip in Comet, he was soon creating his own strips such as The King's Thief for Comet based on the MGM film - a far more exciting strip than it was a movie!

By the 1960s, Eric Bradbury began to develop his own idiosyncratic, dark, somewhat sinister style, with such strips as Mytek the Mighty and The House of Dolmann for Valiant, Maxwell Hawke for Buster and Doomlord for the new 1980's Eagle. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright.
Eric Bradbury art

Guillaume François Brangwyn (Frank Brangwyn), (1867 - 1956; Belgium)
Frank Brangwyn was something of an artistic jack-in-the-box, estimated to have produced some 12,000 artistic works in a working career that spanned 65 years and a wide range of media, from stained glass windows and glassware to ceramics and furniture. He also painted murals on buildings, painted in oils, watercolours and gouache, made etchings and wood engravings and was a lithographer.

His work ranged from small woodcuts to a series of murals that were originally intended to be placed in the Royal Gallery at the House of Lords in Westminster but were considered "too colourful and lively" for the location. The 16 large works, painted between 1925 and 1932 and covering some 3,000 square feet, became known as the British Empire Panels and are now housed in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea.

Frank William Brangwyn was born Guillaume François Brangwyn in Bruges, Belgium, on 12 May 1867. Frank's father, William Curtis Brangwyn, was an ecclesiastical architect who had moved to Bruges to paint murals and frescoes for Belgian churches as well as designing several buildings and reconstructing others (such as the church of Sint-Andries). Brangwyn did not receive any formal artistic training; instead, his father sent him to practice drawing at the South Kensington Museum where he met Harold Rathbone and Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo, who both encouraged his work. Through Mackmurdo, Brangwyn was introduced to William Morris, who employed him as a glazier.

Brangwyn began to develop as a painter and his painting A Bit on the Esk was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1885. A passion for the sea led him to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and he developed a good reputation for his seascapes and landscapes. His oil painting Burial at Sea (now in the Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow) won a medal at the Paris Salon in 1891. Brangwyn travelled extensively and his first one-man show was entitled 'From Scheldt to Danube'.

Commercial illustrations for The Graphic expanded his audience and his reputation amongst the artistic community was high: he decorated the façade of the L'Art Nouveau gallery in Paris in 1895 and was one of the artists, along with Rodin and Whistler, invited to show his work at the first exhibition of the Vienna Secession group. Between 1902 and 1920 he executed a great many murals for buildings in London, Venice, Cleveland, Manitoba, Jefferson City, Leeds, Taormina (Sicily) and elsewhere. He was made an associate of the Royal Academy in 1904 and a member in 1919.

During the First World War, Brangwyn was an official war artist, designing many propaganda posters. After the war he was commissioned to produce a series of murals for the House of Lords, paid for by Lord Iveagh. The initial designs, depicting battle scenes, were thought too grim and Brangwyn started afresh, using vibrant colours to depict the achievements of Britain's colonies during the conflict. These were rejected by the Royal Fine Arts Commission and Brangwyn was understandably devastated.

After executing another large commission for the Rockefeller Center in New York, Brangwyn became more reclusive and pessimistic, a situation that had begun years earlier and contributed to by the death in 1924 of his wife, Lucy (née Ray, a nurse whom he had married in 1896). Brangwyn began to dispose of many of his possessions; over 400 pieces were gifted to Bruges in 1936 in order to establish a permanent museum in his native city; a substantial collection was also donated to the William Morris Museum, Walthamstow. A museum of Brangwyn and of de Belleroche was established at Orange, France, in 1947.

Brangwyn was knighted in 1941 and a major retrospective of his work was held at the Royal Academy in 1952 - the first living Academician to be so honoured. He died on 11 June 1956 at his home in Ditchling, Sussex, aged 89. Biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Dan Brereton (born 22 November 1965; San Francisco, USA)
Dan Brereton is an American professional writer and illustrator who has produced notable work in the comic book field.

Barely out of art school, Dan burst onto the scene in 1989 winning his first industry award for the BLACK TERROR miniseries (Eclipse Comics) and hasn't looked back since. In the last two decades he's produced a prolific body of work in Comics, and has won and been nominated many times for several different industry and fan awards. He has also worked in Animation, TV, Film, Music, Publishing and Theme Parks.

Brereton is known for his skills as a painter and his distinctive character designs. He gained attention for his work on "Batman: Thrillkiller", "Superman and Batman: Legends of the World's Finest", and "JLA: Seven Caskets". His most famous work is his own series "The Nocturnals".

Outside the comic book field, Brereton's work includes the package illustration for a video game called "Machine Head", billboard and advertising art for Rawhide (a Wild West park in Scottdale), concept art for Pressman Films, the television show Numb3rs, development for Disney Television Animation and album covers for the bands Toto, Fireball Ministry, Sote, Ghoultown, and Rob Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe.

Image Comics published "Dan Brereton: The Goddess & The Monster," a collection of his best work, in August 2010.

Dan lives in California with his family and their many pets. Hobbies include Reading, Movies, TV, Comic Conventions, Pestering Sushi Chefs and Divining Parallel worlds. His favorite hobby, as it turns out, is his job.
Source: ComicBookDB & Wikipedia

Charles Edmund Brock RI (5 February 1870 - 28 February 1938; London, UK)
Charles Edmund Brock was a widely published English line artist, portrait painter and book illustrator from Cambridge, who signed his work C. E. Brock. He specialised in illustrating period books.

He was the eldest of four artist brothers, including Richard Henry Brock and Henry Matthew Brock, also an illustrator. And they all shared the same studio in Cambridge.

Brock was born in Holloway, London. The family later settled in Cambridge. He studied art briefly under sculptor Henry Wiles.

He received his first book commission at the age of 20 in 1890. He became very successful, and illustrated books for authors such as Jonathan Swift, William Thackeray, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot. Brock also contributed pieces to several magazines such as The Quiver, The Strand, and Pearsons. He used the Cambridge college libraries for his "picture research".

In illustration Brock is best known for his line work, initially working in the tradition of Hugh Thomson, but he was also a skilled colourist. As a painter he received plaudits for his realism and vibrancy he created in his work. Only a small quantity of his known paintings have been located which is why their prices have been so high.

He and his brothers maintained a Cambridge studio filled with various curios, antiques, furniture, and a costume collection. They owned a large collection of Regency era costume prints and fashion plates, and had clothes specially made as examples for certain costumes. Using these, family members would model for each other.

Unequivocally the most famous and valuable paintings in Brocks career were his golf paintings – The Bunker; The Drive; and The Putt – all of which were painted in 1894 as part of the same series. These paintings were famously acquired together by a Japanese collector in 1991 for $1.5 million. The most valuable of these is The Putt, which was famously repainted due to the position of the caddy and bystander as the commissioner of the painting wanted to bring himself, the putter, more into the fore front of the painting. Interestingly the initial unsigned painting is considered to be the more impressive of the two versions, and is even used as the print for postcards and posters sold in many Golf Museums.

C E Brock was chosen by art instructor Percy V. Bradshaw as one of the artists to illustrate "The Art of the Illustrator", a collection of twenty portfolios demonstrating six stages of a single painting or drawing by twenty different artists and published in 1918.

Brock did not publish any more work after 1910. He died on 28 February 1938 in Cambridge.

The approach of C.E. Brock's work varied with the sort of story he was illustrating. Some was refined and described as "sensitive to the delicate, teacup-and-saucer primness and feminine outlook of the early Victorian novelists," while other work was "appreciative of the healthy, boisterous, thoroughly English characters" – soldiers, rustics, and "horsey types." Other illustrations were grotesqueries drawn to amuse children looking at or reading storybooks.!!

See illustrators  Pirates! Special featuring C E Brock.

See our original copy of The Art of the Illustrator featuring C E Brock published by Percy V Bradshaw in 1918.

Charles Edmund Brock art

Henry Matthew Brock RI (1875 - 1960)
The youngest of a trio of brothers, all of whom were illustrators, Henry Brock shared a studio with brothers Charles and Richard in their large Cambridge house. H.M. Brock was an extremely prolific artist, turning his hand to every conceivable type of publication: classics, novels, poetry, essays, school stories, children's annuals and comics, as well as posters and other forms of advertising. When Leonard Matthews brought in H.M. Brock to draw his serial, Breed of the Brudenells in 1949, it was not the artist's first foray into comic strip work. During the 1930s he had been drawing spot illustrations for comics-notably for Happy Days - and even a strip adventure of school life, Study 13, for Sparkler. It was Breed of the Brudenells, however, later reprinted in Thriller Comics Library no. 9 as Hunted on the Highway, which brought the artist, then in his seventies, into the adventure strip in a major way.

The few issues of the Library drawn by Brock are all superbly evocative of the period in which they are set and - despite the onset of blindness - beautifully drawn and it is only in his very last work, Dick Turpin and the Followers of the Fang (no. 189), that it becomes obvious that his sight was really deteriorating and Pat Nicolle was called in to redraw faces and horses and generally "pull the artwork together". Pat Nicolle recalled just how much he hated having to "muck about" with the great man's work. In truth, however, Pat helped to make Brock's last work one of the best highwayman strips in the genre.
Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright.

See illustrators  Pirates! Special featuring H M Brock.

Richard Henry Brock (1871 - 1943)
Accomplished British artist and illustrator known for his paintings of rural scenes from British life, including horse-riding, country walks, children at play, farmers at work (herding, ploughing, driving cattle, feeding horses), and country pursuits.

Brother of the well-known artists Henry Matthew Brock and Charles Edmund Brock, the three brothers shared a studio in their large Cambridge house.
Source: Illustrators Art Gallery
Richard Henry Brock art

Robert Brook
Despite a great deal of digging, almost nothing is known about artist Robert Brook. He appears to have begun working for the educational weekly Look and Learn in around 1965. His work was often highly detailed, as shown in the illustration left that depicts a scene from Margaret Landon's novel Anna and the King, which was later turned into the musical The King and I (filmed in 1956, starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner).

This was one of a series of covers Brook produced featuring Famous Couples, others including Hiawatha & Minnehaha, Robespierre & Eleanor Duplay, Andrian Nikolayev & Valentina Tereshkova (two Russian cosmonauts) and Heathcliff & Cathy. Other cover series drawn by Brook included Animal Heroes and Famous Partnerships.

Inside Look and Learn, he illustrated the serial The Red Bonnet by Henry Garnett with some delightful black & white illustrations and a feature on The Literary Lambs (Charles and Mary). He often worked in colour, illustrating historical features such as The Tyrant of Mysore, about the Duke of Wellington's defeat of the Sultan of Mysore in 1799, and a long-running feature on Dancing Around the World, which ran for 20 episodes in 1968. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Robert Brook art

Mary A Brooks (7 Nov 1919 - 5 May 2008; UK)
Mary Brooks was a children's book author and illustrator, including illustrating Enid Blyton's Noddy Gets Into Trouble (1954) and Noddy Meets Father Christmas (1955), having earlier contributed to The Enid Blyton Holiday Annual at least as early as 1951.

She wrote and illustrated many books for nursery-age children in the 1960s ranging from early learning titles like One, Two, Three 123 (1966) and ABC 123 (1966) to illustrated animal books, books of rhymes and fairy stories.

She also produced illustrations for the magazine Treasure, where she also illustrated nature scenes. Her work also appeared in a number of books published by Purnell (1978-80) and Dean (1986-87) and it is said that, even in her late eighties, she continued to paint.

Mary A. Brooks was married to Laurence William Penn in Dartford, Kent, in 1947. He died in 1989, aged 73.
Illustration Art Gallery and Nicolette Kohly.
Mary Brooks art

Gordon Frederick Browne (15 April 1858 - 27 May 1932)
Gordon Frederick Browne was an English artist and children's book illustrator in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

He was born in Banstead, near London, the younger son of notable book illustrator Hablot Knight Browne (who as "Phiz" illustrated books by Charles Dickens). He studied art at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and South Kensington Schools and started to receive professional commissions while still at college.

From the 1880s, Browne was one of Britain's most prolific illustrators, his work appearing in newspapers, magazines and many books by children's authors including Frederic William Farrar, G.A. Henty, Juliana Horatia Ewing, Andrew Lang, Talbot Baines Reed, L. T. Meade, Catherine Christian and E. Nesbit.

Between 1894 and 1913, he did 9 illustrations for Arthur Conan Doyle's works.

Browne worked in watercolour and pen and ink. He was a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) and the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA). Browne was an early member of the Society of Graphic Art and showed three works at their first exhibition in 1921.

He died in Richmond, London in 1932.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery

Ralph Bruce
Ralph Bruce was a talented illustrator who worked for Look and Learn in the 1960s. Until the mid-1960s he was a regular artist for The Children's Newspaper and was probably brought to the educational paper by former Children's Newspaper editor, John Davies, who took over the editorship of Look and Learn in 1965.

His artwork covered a huge range of subjects. His historical illustrations ranged from ancient Greece and Roman Britain, to the eras of Shakespeare, Caxton and modern journalism. He was particularly adept at portraits and drew everyone from Dickens to the Beatles for Look and Learn as well as contributing covers for various series, including Famous Couples and When They Were Young in the late 1960s. Some of his best work was contributed to the long-running series The Story of Opera, penned by Robin May,

Prior to working for Look and Learn, Bruce had illustrated book covers for Digit Books in the late 1950s, titles including The Deep Six by Martin Dibner, I Came Back by Krysyna Zywulska, White August by John Boland, Air Patrol Biscay by Richard T. Bickers, Horns of the Dragon by Felix Trigg, Battle of the Bulge by William M. Stokoe, The God of Channel 1 by Donald Stacy, Nor Iron Bars a Cage by W. H. Aston, all in 1957.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Ralph Bruce art

Margaret Hedda Brundage (née Johnson) (9 December 1900 - 9 April 1976; Chicago, USA)
Margaret Brundage was an American illustrator and painter who is remembered chiefly for having illustrated the pulp magazine Weird Tales. Working in pastels on illustration board, she created most of the covers for Weird Tales between 1933 and 1938.

Brundage was born in Chicago, Illinois, of Swedish and Irish ancestry. Her father, Jonathan E. Loutitt (later Loutit) died when she was eight years old; she was raised by her mother (Margaret Jane Loutit Johnson) and grandmother Margaret (Houston) Loutit, for whom she was named, in a Christian Science household. Both her parents had come to Chicago from the Orkney islands off the coast of Scotland. Brundage's mother remained both a widow and a devout Christian Scientist for the rest of her life, and supplemented their income by instructing beginning Christian Science disciples

Margaret Hedda Johnson graduated from Girard Grammar School and attended McKinley High School in Chicago, where, coincidentally, Walt Disney was a classmate. ("I finished; he didn't," she later remarked.) She graduated from McKinley in 1919. As editor of the high school newspaper, Margaret Johnson was able to tell Walt Disney whether or not she would include any of his drawings in the McKinley newspaper. Immediately after high school, Margaret worked providing illustrations for Chicago newspapers - she would draw fashion designs in both colour and in black-and-white, from ideas and descriptions provided by an agency. Her education continued at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, 1921–23, (where Disney once again was her classmate); she later stated that her failure to graduate was due to her inept lettering though she continued her freelance work for the agency while she completed her coursework. During this period - Prohibition - Margaret also worked at the Dill Pickle Club, a speakeasy. where she met a sometime decorator and house painter nicknamed "Slim" due to his spare frame. This was Myron Reed Brundage, a notorious womaniser.

In 1927, she married Myron "Slim" Brundage in Chicago. Brundage was a former hobo, a man with tendencies toward radical politics and alcohol. They had one child, a son, Kerlyn Byrd Brundage (born 27 August 1927; died 1972), always called "Byrd". The marriage was not a success, and ended in divorce in 1939.

In Weird Tales, Brundage illustrates Robert E. Howard's Queen of the Black Coast, a story about Conan the Barbarian. Over the period from 1933 to 1938, Brundage executed cover art, first for Oriental Stories, later known as The Magic Carpet, then, famously, for Weird Tales. She was the most frequently-appearing cover artist on Weird Tales during her stint with the magazine. Her first cover appeared on the September 1932 issue; she created covers for 39 straight issues from June 1933 to August 1936. Her last original cover was for the Jan. 1945 issue, for a total of 66 original-artwork covers. (The total of 67, often cited in sources, includes a repeat of that final 1945 cover on the November 1953 issue.) She was paid $90 per cover—enough to support herself, her son, and her invalid mother (died 1940) in years when her husband contributed nothing to the family's survival. From 1936 through 1938, Brundage often alternated with others as cover artist; Virgil Finlay was her chief competitor.

Brundage's art frequently featured damsels in distress in various states of full or partial nudity; her whipping scenes were especially noteworthy and controversial. Her sensual images usually illustrated scenes from the pieces chosen by editor Farnsworth Wright as cover stories; her work was so popular among readers that some WT writers, like Seabury Quinn, cannily included scenes in their stories that would make good Brundage covers.

Since she signed her work "M. Brundage", many of the magazine's readers were unaware that the artist was female. (Complaints about the erotic nature of her work increased after October 1934, when editor Wright revealed that the "M." stood for "Margaret," that the artist was a woman.) After 1938, when the magazine's editorial offices moved from Chicago to New York City, a new 'decency' standard was imposed (primarily through the efforts of then-mayor of New York Fiorello La Guardia) on pulp magazines sold at newsstands, and the nude or semi-nude young women that had been the primary subjects of Brundage's covers were out. Practical problems with shipping Brundage's fragile pastel art from Chicago to New York also diminished her appeal to the editorial regime that followed Wright's 1940 departure.

She continued to draw after her relationship with the magazine ended, and appeared at a number of science fiction conventions and art fairs, where some of her original period works were stolen. Yet she never fully recovered financially from the loss of regular work at WT; her later years were spent in relative poverty. She continued to work until her death.
Source: Wikipedia

See illustrators  issue 25 for feature article about Margaret Brundage.

"I started back in 1976, with drawings inspired by Salvador Dali, and of course by the Album covers in the seventies, especially artists like Patrick Woodroffe. Later I discovered the fantastic work by Michael Parkes which has that romantic dreamlike thing that I love so much. Claude Verlinde for his expression in the faces of his figures, and very dreamlike landscapes.

All three I admire for there fantastic skills, and wonderful sense for composition. Other inspiration sources are the Victorian painters, such as John Anser Fitzgerald and Richard Dadd.

For many years I worked with the surreal expression “Dali/Ernst/Magritte.” But always with the fascination for the world of Fairies and other little creatures.

It was not until 1998 that the world of Nactalius. “The name of my own World.” Started seriously and became the only thing I from then on worked with, the discovering of the ordinary life of fairies and other small creatures has from that year been my only passion to Paint. The fascination of painting is, you are able to create a world that is entirely your own, it is indeed the 'Land of make-believe'." -- Claus Brusen

Juliana Buch Trabal (Active 1970s onwards; Barcelona, Spain)
Juliana Buch Trabal lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. She does artwork for various British comics, such as the girls' comics Bunty, Mandy and Tammy, including comic strips 'Rich Girl, Poor Girl', 'Jumble Sale Jilly', 'Sadie in the Sticks' and 'The Stranger'.

These stories are reprinted in foreign publications, such as the Dutch girls' magazine Tina (where her serial is called 'Marnie en Sanne'). She has also drawn exclusively for Tina, as well as the Dutch magazine Penny.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Juliana Buch art

Reg Bunn (born October 1905; active late 1940s - 1970; King's Norton, Birmingham, England)
Reg Bunn was the most prolific artist working on the Thriller Comics Library. Best known for his many Robin Hood strips, Bunn did excellent work on the U.S. Cavalry Westerns of Ernest Haycox (The Border Trumpet no. 32) and James Warner Bellah (The White Invader no. 88 and Sabre and Tomahawk no. 95) as well as on such diverse titles as Black Hood no. 21), The Scottish Chiefs (no. 58) and Captain Kidd (no. 105). The vast majority of his Thriller Comics output, however, was for the Robin Hood titles. So closely did he become associated with the character that often, when another artist was drawing the strip, Bunn would be asked just to fill in the faces, so that some sort of conformity of style would be achieved.

Reg Bunn was one of only two people signed up by Leonard Matthews after a nationwide campaign to find strip artists in 1949. The other was Geoff Campion. Coincidentally, both artists came from Birmingham, though neither knew the other. Through invalidity, Bunn was forced to take a sedentary job and, with an open, rounded, jovial, warm-spirited style (his Buck Jones strips, 1949/50 and his earliest Robin Hood work, 1949/51, both for Comet), it changed over the years until it had become decidedly angular by the time he came to draw The Spider and The Waxer for Lion in the 1960s. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright.

Enjoy Reg Bunn's great storytelling in our Fleetway Picture Library Classics JOHN STEEL, PIRATE TALES and CLASH OF BLADES collections.

Reg Bunn art

Sidney William Burgon (born 3 October 1936; Northumberland, UK)
Sid Burgon was born in Berwick-on-Tweed, Northumberland on 3 October 1936. He was taught to draw by his mother. He left school at 14 and worked as a mechanic for thirteen years, drawing as a hobby and taking night classes in art, until his co-workers at the garage encouraged him to follow his talents. After selling some cartoons, signed "SWAB", to The Weekly News, he quit the day job and became a full-time freelance cartoonist in 1963, working for various newspapers and magazines.

He started drawing comics in 1970, drawing "Hot Rod" for Whizzer and Chips, then "Joker" for Knockout. Other strips he drew at IPC include "The Invisible Monster" (1975) for Monster Fun, "Ivor Lott and Tony Broke" (1981), "Roy's Toys" and "School Funds" (1980s) for Buster, "Adam and his Ants" (1982) for Wow!, "Bookworm" (1978) and "Lolly Pop" for Whoopee!, "The Toffs and the Toughs" in Whizzer and Chips, "Milly O'Nare and Penny Less" for Jackpot, and "Hit Kid" in Krazy.

He won the Society of Strip Illustrators award for Best Artist in 1982. In 1987 he was recruited by DC Thomson, but he insisted that he still be allowed to work for IPC. Strips he drew for DC Thomson included "Biffo the Bear" in The Beano, "Adrian the Barbarian" for The Beezer, and "Bully Beef and Chips" and "Keyhole Kate" for The Dandy. He retired in the late 1990s or early 2000s.
Source: UK Comics Wiki
Sid Burgon art

Zdenìk Michael František Burian (11 February 1905 - 1 July 1981; Kopøivnice, Czechia)
Zdenìk Burian was a Czech painter, book illustrator and palaeoartist. Burian's artwork played a central role in the development of palaeontological reconstruction and he is regarded as one of the most influential palaeoartists of all time.

Burian began his career as an illustrator in the 1920s and became famous in his native Czechoslovakia for his illustrations of novels, mainly adventure novels and classic works. His illustrations of the novel The Mammoth Hunters (1937) by Eduard Štorch gained the attention of the Czech palaeontologist Josef Augusta, who collaborated with Burian as a scientific advisor. Their collaboration resulted in Burian's work being used in a number of books on prehistoric life written by Augusta, culminating in a series of six great illustrated volumes published in 1956–1966, the most famous of which was Prehistoric Animals (1956). After Augusta's death in 1968, Burian worked with numerous other scientists. He continued to produce artwork for further books, as well as for magazines and museums.

It is not known precisely how many paintings Burian produced, with estimates ranging between 1,000 and 20,000. Between 500 and 800 of his paintings were prehistoric reconstructions. In total, his illustrations were published in over 500 books, out of which approximately two dozen were on prehistory. Many of his paintings have reached an iconic status; they were extensively copied by later artists and influenced conceptions of dinosaurs and how they were depicted in popular culture.
Source: Wikipedia
Zdenek Burian art

Hilary Burn
Hilary Burn is a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists. Her work appears in many British bird books.

Jim Burns (born 1948)
Jim Burns is probably the best known contemporary British Science Fiction illustrator. He has perfected his own style by highlighting not only the traditional elements of SF but also its organic and erotic overtones.

His works are striking for their 'larger than life' portrayal of scenes of the far future and in particular his fantastic 'hardware'. His masterful technique depicts land, sky and space vehicles in gleaming metal and plastic so perfectly painted that one feels one can actually feel the cold metal touch of chrome or smell the pungent odour of plastic. He is constantly in demand for book covers. Jim has worked with Ridley Scott on Bladerunner and has books published of his work, notably Transluminal, Lightship, Planet Story and Mechanismo.

John Michael Burns (1938 - 29 December 2023; Essex, UK)
John M Burns' first work was as an illustrator for Junior Express and School Friend. During the 1960s, Burns worked on TV Century 21 and its sister magazines, including the Space Family Robinson series in Lady Penelope.

For a while he drew daily comics strips for newspapers The Daily Sketch, The Daily Mirror and The Sun, including The Seekers, Danielle and, for a period succeeding Enrique Romero during 1978-79, Modesty Blaise for The London Evening Standard.

He moved on to illustrate TV tie-in strips for now-defunct title Look-in, always scripted by Angus P. Allan. Burns was already well-known by the start of the 1980s. He also worked on the title story for Countdown. It was when he made the crossover to 2000 AD, along with fellow Look-in alumni Jim Baikie and Arthur Ranson, that his position in British comics was cemented.

Burns began by working on Judge Dredd, a strip to which he continues to contribute to this day. By his own admission (in a 2004 interview with David Bishop in the Judge Dredd Megazine), Burns does not enjoy drawing science fiction strips, and the look of Judge Dredd is one that he finds particularly unpleasant to draw: this is ironic, as his version has drawn much reader acclaim.

In 2007 Burns worked on the Nikolai Dante strip, and proved so successful that he is now considered the lead artist on the story. He also co-created (with Robbie Morrison) a contemporary adventure strip, The Bendatti Vendetta for the Megazine, this is unique for the title in having no science fiction or fantasy elements at all.

In 2008 he finished an adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, whose script was rendered by Amy Corzine, for UK publisher Classical Comics. Having previously worked on similar adaptations of Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore and, which is more, Wuthering Heights by Brontë's sister Emily, Burns was able to bring considerable experience to the project.
Source: Wikipedia; Illustration Art Gallery

See The Art of John M Burns illustrators  Special Edition.

Some of the most regularly requested art has been John M Burns' fabulous pen and ink artwork for Modesty Blaise, written by Peter O'Donnell.

We have original signed Modesty Blaise newspaper strips by JOHN M BURNS, NEVILLE COLVIN, JIM HOLDAWAY and ROMERO or click to see ALL Modesty artwork in stock and enjoy some highly collectable BOOKS ABOUT MODESTY BLAISE including our latest Expanded Edition of The Modesty Blaise Companion.

John M Burns art

Sir Frederick William Burton (8 April 1816 - 16 March 1900 (London); Co. Wicklow, Ireland)
Sir Frederick William Burton RHA was an Irish painter born in Co. Wicklow on 8 April 1816, the third son of Samuel Frederick Burton and his wife Hanna Mallett.

The old Burton seat was Clifden, Corofin, Co. Clare, which was built around the middle of the eighteenth century. The artist's grandparents were Major Edward William Burton, Clifden, who was High Sherriff of Clare in 1799, and his wife, Jane Blood of nearby Roxton.

Educated in Dublin, he was elected an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy at the age of twenty-one and an academician two years later. In 1842 he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. A visit to Germany and Bavaria in 1842 was the first of a long series of trips to various parts of Europe, which gave him a profound knowledge of the works of the Old Masters. From 1851 he spent 7 years working as a painter in the service of Maximilian II of Bavaria.

Burton worked with George Petrie on archaeological sketches and was on the council of the Royal Irish Academy and the Archaeological Society of Ireland. He was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours in 1855, and a full member in the following year. He resigned in 1870, and re-elected an honorary member in 1886.

Sir Frederick was appointed the third director of the National Gallery, London in 1874.

A knighthood was conferred on him in 1884, and the degree of LL.D. of Dublin in 1889. In his youth he had strong sympathy with the Young Ireland Party. He died in Kensington, west London and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin.

Burton's best-known watercolours, The Aran Fisherman's Drowned Child (1841) and The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (1864; also known as Hellelil and Hildebrand) are in the National Gallery of Ireland. Meeting on the Turret Stairs was voted by the Irish public as Ireland's favourite painting in 2012 from among 10 works shortlisted by critics.
Source: Wikipedia
Frederick William Burton art

John Busby
John Busby is a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists. His work appears in many British bird books.

Giovanni Natale Buscema, (11 December 1927 – 10 January 2002; Brooklyn, New York City)
John Buscema was an American comic book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop-culture conglomerate. His younger brother Sal Buscema is also a comic book artist.

Buscema is best known for his run on the series The Avengers and The Silver Surfer, and for over 200 stories featuring the sword-and-sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. In addition, he pencilled at least one issue of nearly every major Marvel title, including long runs on two of the company's top magazines, Fantastic Four and Thor.

He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002.

Buscema graduated from Manhattan's High School of Music and Art. He took night lessons at Pratt Institute as well as life drawing classes at the Brooklyn Museum. While training as a boxer, he began painting portraits of boxers and sold some cartoons to The Hobo News. Seeking work as a commercial illustrator while doing various odd jobs, Buscema found himself instead entering the comic book field in 1948, landing a staff job under editor-in-chief and art director Stan Lee at Timely Comics the forerunner of Marvel Comics. The Timely "bullpen", as the staff was called, included such fellow staffers as established veterans Syd Shores, Carl Burgos, Mike Sekowsky, George Klein, and Marty Nodell. Fellow newcomer Gene Colan, hired roughly two months earlier, recalled that "... John never seemed very happy in comics ... there always seemed to be something else he really wanted to do."

His first recorded credit is penciling the four-page story "Till Crime Do You Part" in Timely's Lawbreakers Always Lose #3 (Aug. 1948). He contributed to the "real-life" dramatic series True Adventures and Man Comics (the premiere issue of which sported one of Buscema's earliest recorded comic book covers), as well as to Cowboy Romances, Two-Gun Western (for which he drew at least one story of the continuing character the Apache Kid), Lorna the Jungle Queen, and Strange Tales.

Until the bullpen was dissolved a year-and-a-half later, as comic books in general and superhero comics in particular continued their post-war fade in popularity, Buscema penciled and inked in a variety of genres, including crime fiction and romance fiction.

Buscema married in 1953. He continued to freelance for Timely, by now known as Atlas Comics, as well as for the publishers Ace Comics, Hillman Periodicals, Our Publications/Orbit, Quality Comics, St. John Publications, and Ziff-Davis.

Buscema's mid-1950s work includes Dell Comics' Roy Rogers Comics #74-91 (Feb. 1954 - July 1955) and subsequent Roy Rogers and Trigger #92-97 and #104-108 (Aug. 1955 - Jan. 1956 & Aug.-Dec. 1956); and the Charlton Comics series Ramar of the Jungle and Nature Boy — the latter, Buscema's first superhero work, with a character created by himself and Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel.

Buscema next produced a series of Western, war, and sword and sandal film adaptations for Dell's Four Color series. Buscema recalled, "I did a bunch of their movie books ... that was a lot of fun. I worked from stills on those, except for The Vikings. ... I think one of the best books I ever did was Sinbad the Sailor."

He drew at least one issue of the radio, film, and TV character the Cisco Kid for Dell in 1957, as well as one- to eight-page biographies of every U.S. president through Dwight Eisenhower for that company's one-shot Life Stories of American Presidents.

During a late 1950s downturn in the comics industry, Buscema drew occasional mystery, fantasy, and science-fiction stories for Atlas Comics' Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Strange Worlds, and American Comics Group's Adventures into the Unknown, and Forbidden Worlds before leaving comics to do freelance commercial art. He began a freelance position for the New York City advertising firm the Chaite Agency, which employed such commercial artists as Bob Peak and Frank McCarthy.

Buscema spent approximately eight years in the commercial-art field, freelancing for the Chaite Agency and the studio Triad, doing a variety of assignments: layouts, storyboards, illustrations, paperback book covers, etc. in a variety of media. Buscema called this time "quite a learning period for me in my own development of techniques".

He returned to comic books in 1966 as a regular freelance penciller for Marvel Comics, debuting over Jack Kirby layouts on the "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." story in Strange Tales #150 (Nov. 1966), followed by three "Hulk" stories in Tales to Astonish #85-87 (Nov. 1966 - Jan. 1967). He then settled in as regular penciller of The Avengers, which would become one of his signature series, with #41 (June 1967). Avengers #49-50, featuring Hercules and inked by Buscema, are two of his "best-looking issues of that period", said comics historian and one-time Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who wrote those issues. Thomas and Buscema introduced new versions of the Black Knight and the Vision during their collaboration on The Avengers.

In order to adapt to the Marvel Comics style of superhero adventure, Buscema "synthesized the essence of (Jack) Kirby's supercharged action figures, harrowing perspectives, monolithic structures, mega-force explosions, and mythological planetscapes into a formula that he instantly integrated into his own superbly crafted vision," wrote comics artist and historian Jim Steranko. "The process brought Buscema's art to life in a way that it had never been before. Anatomically balanced figures of Herculean proportions stalked, stormed, sprawled, and savaged their way across Marvel's universe like none had previously".

Buscema would pencil an average of two comics a month in collaboration with such inkers as George Klein, Frank Giacoia, Dan Adkins, Joe Sinnott, his younger brother Sal Buscema, Tom Palmer, and, occasionally, Marvel production manager and sometime inker-cartoonist John Verpoorten. John Buscema named Frank Giacoia, Sal Buscema, and Tom Palmer as his favorite inkers.

Among Buscema's works during this period fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books are The Avengers #41-62 (June 1967 - March 1969) and The Avengers Annual #2 (Sept. 1968); the first eight issues of The Sub-Mariner (May-Dec. 1968); The Amazing Spider-Man #72-73, 76-81, 84-85 (ranging from June 1969 - June 1970 providing layouts finished by either John Romita Sr. or Jim Mooney), and two issues he himself finished over Romita layouts. Buscema drew the first appearance of the Prowler in The Amazing Spider-Man #78 (Nov. 1969).

In August 1968, Buscema and Stan Lee launched a new title, The Silver Surfer. That series about a philosophical alien roaming the world trying to understand both the divinity and the savagery of humanity was a personal favorite of Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, who scripted. Buscema penciled 17 of its 18 issues — the first seven as a 25¢ "giant-size" title at a time when comics typically cost 12¢.

Toward the end of the decade, Buscema drew some fill-in issues of superhero series and returned to familiar 1950s genres with a spate of supernatural mystery stories in Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows, and romance tales in My Love and Our Love. He then returned to his signature series The Avengers for 11 issues inked by Tom Palmer.

The creative team of Roy Thomas and John Buscema introduced new characters such as Arkon in The Avengers #75 (April 1970), Red Wolf in #80 (Sept. 1970), and the Squadron Supreme in #85 (Feb. 1971). With Jack Kirby's departure from Marvel in 1970, Buscema succeeded him on both of Kirby's titles: Fantastic Four (penciling issues #107-141, following John Romita Sr.) and Thor (#182-259). He additionally launched the feature "Black Widow" in Amazing Adventures vol. 2, #1 (Aug. 1970).

Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, who collaborated with Buscema on many stories up to this time, wrote:

"One thing I loved about Big John is the fact that I didn't have to spend time writing synopses for him ... He'd always growl over the phone, 'Don't bother sending me any outlines, Stan. I hate to waste time reading them. Just tell what you've got in mind over the phone. I'll remember it.' So I'd tell him the story I wanted, and I have a hunch he didn't even write any notes while I spoke — because I spoke too fast — but it didn't matter. He remembered every last detail and the stories always came out perfect — at least as far as I was concerned. "

Buscema began penciling Conan the Barbarian with #25 (April 1973) following Barry Smith's celebrated run, and debuted as the Conan artist of the black-and-white comics-magazine omnibus Savage Sword of Conan with issue #1 (Aug. 1974). He would eventually contribute to more than 100 issues of each title, giving him one of the most prolific runs for an artist on a single character. He additionally drew the Conan Sunday and daily syndicated newspaper comic strip upon its premiere in 1978, and even contributed some storyboard illustrations for the 1982 Conan movie, as well as painting four covers for the Conan magazines. In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Buscema's work on Conan the Barbarian seventh on its list of the "Top 10 1970s Marvels".

For about ten years, he would produce an average three to four books' worth of pencils a month, such as Nova (1976) and Ms. Marvel (1977). In addition to his regular assignments he would pencil covers and fill-in issues of titles including Captain America, Captain Britain (Marvel UK), Daredevil, The Frankenstein Monster, Howard the Duck, Master of Kung Fu, Red Sonja and Warlock. He also drew a story for the science-fiction anthology Worlds Unknown.

Buscema contributed as well to Marvel's black-and-white comics magazines, including the features "Ka-Zar" in Savage Tales #1 (May 1971) and "Bloodstone" in Rampaging Hulk #1 (Jan. 1977), and Doc Savage #1 and 3 (Aug. 1975, Jan. 1976). Other magazine work ran the gamut from horror (Dracula Lives!, Monsters Unleashed, Tales of the Zombie) to humor (Crazy, Pizzaz).

Buscema left the Thor title for a time to launch the Marvel version of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character Tarzan in 1977. Other licensed projects include a 72-page The Wizard of Oz movie adaptation in an oversized "Treasury Edition" format with DeZuniga inking. For Power Records, which produced children's book-and-record sets, Buscema drew Star Trek and Conan the Barbarian comics. He contributed some superhero drawings for Pro, the NFL official magazine (1970), and penciled some chapters of the first issue of Marvel Comics Super Special featuring the rock group Kiss (1977).

In 1978, small-press publisher Sal Quartuccio released The Art of John Buscema, a retrospective that included an interview, previously unpublished sketches and drawings, and a cover that was also sold as a poster.

Buscema capped off the decade penciling writer Doug Moench's three-issue Weirdworld epic-fantasy tale "Warriors of the Shadow Realm" in Marvel Super Special #11-13 (June-Oct. 1979). Pacific Comics released an accompanying portfolio of six signed, colored plates from the story.
Teaching

In the mid-1970s, Buscema ran the John Buscema Art School, which advertised for students in the pages of many Marvel titles. Stan Lee made appearances as a guest lecturer at Buscema's school, and some of the school's graduates (including Bob Hall and Bruce Patterson) went on to become professional cartoonists. Buscema later said that teaching the class was "very gratifying" but that having to make the 60-mile drive after a day's work was too exhausting, and ultimately forced him to give it up. Buscema then collaborated with Lee on the book How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (Marvel Fireside Books, 1978), a primer on comic book art and storytelling based on the comic art classes Buscema had given a few years prior, and has remained in print for over 25 years, in its 33rd printing as of 2007.

After drawing the first issue of The Savage She-Hulk (Feb. 1980), Buscema abandoned regular superhero work in order to spearhead art duties on all three Conan titles. The popularity of the character spurred the release of a Conan movie in 1982; Buscema provided pencils and inks for a 48-page movie adaptation.

He continued to tackle other high-profile projects such as a Silver Surfer story for Epic Illustrated #1 (Spring 1980), a King Arthur story in Marvel Preview #22 (Summer 1980), the St. Francis of Assisi biography Francis, Brother of the Universe (1980), the second Superman and Spider-Man team-up (1981), and an adaptation of the 1981 movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.

He left King Conan in 1982 after nine issues, although he remained with Marvel's Robert E. Howard franchise with a revival of the Kull series for 10 issues, and left The Savage Sword of Conan in 1984 with #101 with a series of stories that he plotted himself. After pencilling the Conan the Destroyer movie adaptation in 1984 and the Conan of the Isles graphic novel in 1987, he left Conan the Barbarian with #190 in 1987, ending a 14-year association with the character.

After nearly five years away from superheroes, except for the first two issues of the X-Men-related, four-issue miniseries Magik (Dec. 1983 - March 1984), Buscema returned to familiar ground as regular penciller on The Avengers from #255-300 (May 1985 - Feb. 1989). He was regular penciller on Fantastic Four for its 300th issue, during a 15-issue stint from #296-309 (Nov. 1986 - Dec. 1987). Additionally, he fit in the three-issue film adaptation Labyrinth (Nov. 1986 - Jan. 1987) and the four-issue miniseries Mephisto (April–July 1987), starring a character he created with Stan Lee in The Silver Surfer.

Buscema reteamed with Lee on the Silver Surfer himself with the 1988 graphic novel Silver Surfer: Judgment Day, self-inked and done entirely as full-page panels. That year he and inker Klaus Janson drew a Wolverine solo feature in the biweekly anthology Marvel Comics Presents, followed by self-inked Wolverine series in that title. He pencilled the first 14 issues (Nov. 1988 - mid-Nov. 1989) of the first Wolverine ongoing series, self-inked on #7-8.

Buscema began his sixth decade in the field by joining Roy Thomas for a return to The Savage Sword of Conan with #191 (Nov. 1991) for a 20-issue run. Conan the Rogue, a graphic novel Buscema plotted, pencilled, inked, and colored over a period of five years in his spare time appeared that same year.<Actinic:Variable Name = '54'/><Actinic:Variable Name = '55'/> He both penciled and inked the graphic novel Wolverine: Bloody Choices (Nov. 1993).

Buscema returned to crime fiction with The Punisher War Zone #23-30 (Jan.-Aug. 1994, self-inking #26-29), that title's 1993 summer annual, and the 1994 graphic novel A Man Named Frank, a parallel-universe Punisher Western tale. He pencilled the Punisher portions of 1994's Archie Meets the Punisher team-up. No longer attached to a regular series after his Punisher run, he penciled and inked The Avengers Annual #23 (1994) and five more black-and-white Conan adventures, serving as that Marvel franchise's final artist on The Savage Sword of Conan with #235 (July 1995) and on the short-lived spin-off Conan the Savage with #10 (May 1996). Through 1999, he penciled a variety of superhero comics; both penciled and inked a black-and-white short story for Shadows and Light (1998); and made a final return to Conan with the Death Covered in Gold three-issue miniseries (1999).

Buscema worked with DC Comics for the first time in 2000, initially doing both pencils and inks on a "Batman Black and White" short story in Batman: Gotham Knights #7 (Sept. 2000). He reunited with Stan Lee on the 2001 one-shot Just Imagine Stan Lee and John Buscema Creating Superman.

He finished the pencils on 2003's Superman: Blood of my Ancestors, begun by Gil Kane, who had since died, and had just signed on for a five-issue miniseries with Roy Thomas, JLA: Barbarians, though he died after finishing the first issue.

Buscema's passion for drawing was such that he continued to draw and sketch in his spare time, often on the back of comic book art pages, and these images form a considerable body of work in their own right.

Adolfo Álvarez-Buylla Aguelo, (1927 - 18 January 1998; Spain)
Adolfo Buylla was a Spanish artist specializing in the science fiction genre. He teamed up with fellow artist Braulio Rodriguez and together they illustrated the 'Flash Gordon'-like 'Diego Valor' series in the 1950s. A noble hero, fighting for justice and morality, 'Diego Valor' was also adapted into a television series. In the early 1970s, he created the science fiction satire 'Yago Veloz', in which many clichés of the genre were ridiculed.

Buylla additionally drew 'Carlos Audaz' in El Campeón de las Historietas, 'Hazañas del Mío Cid' in Flecha Roja and 'El Capitán Trueno'. He contributed to Maga collections like 'El Defensor' and 'Inspector H. Diario de un Detective'. His 1969 series was published in titles like Gaceta Junior, El Wendigo and, in the 1980s, in Transformers.

Since the 1970s, Buylla also worked for foreign publishers. He was present in Marvel's Chiller Giant and Epic Illustrated and DC's war and mystery titles ('G.I. Combat', 'House of Mystery', 'House of Secrets'). He contributed to many of the Gold Key horror titles in the 1970s ('Ripley's Believe it or Not', 'Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery', 'Grimm's Ghost Stories' and 'Twilight Zone').

Buylla additionally worked for Pacific Comics ('Alien Worlds', 1983), Renegade Press (Revolver, 1986), Charlton ('Space": 1999', 1976) and Warren (Creepy, 1981). For the British market, he worked alongside artists like Mike McMahon, for such magazines as 2000 AD. Among his UK credits are the Marvel UK titles 'Doctor Who' (inks, 1981-82), 'Warheads' (inks, 1990) and 'Knights of Pendragon' (inks, 1992).
Adolfo Buylla art

Douglas Cameron
Born in Broxburn, West Lothian, Scotland. Now living in Glasgow. Influences include: Lucian Freud, Rodin, Van Gogh, Hockney, Munch, Pollock, Hirst, Gerhard Richter, Ralph Steadman, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley. Music including: Mogwai, Spiritualized, Arab Strap, minimal techno, the Just Joans, folk, electronica, spoken work Bleakness Less.
Source: *Check*

Arthur Geoffrey Campion (19 November 1916 - 18 December 1997; Coventry, England)
Arthur Geoffrey Campion was a British comics artist who drew adventure strips for Amalgamated Press/IPC.

He started out as a tax inspector. As a staff officer in the British Indian Army in World War II he began drawing cartoons for the forces' magazine, Jambo. Returning to England, he responded to an ad from the <i>Amalgamated Press</i> looking for artists in 1948. He was hired by editor Leonard Matthews to draw humour strips like Professor Bloop in Knock-Out, and filled in on a variety of strips for AP artist Hugh McNeill, including a Thunderbolt Jaxon comic for publication in Australia in 1949.

Geoff Campion brought real punch and vigour into British adventure comics. His characters would charge straight at the reader on horseback or throw an enemy bodily at him. All through the 1950s and 1960s, it was the policy at Fleetway House that their action artists based their styles on the work of Campion. As one editor put it: "When I get a prospective artist in here, I give him a handful of Campion's strips and tell him to draw it exactly like that and you've got it made." But no one could do it quite like Campion could.

Geoff Campion was one of Leonard Matthews' major discoveries. In 1948, he answered an advertisement for new comic artists and, after a short spell of drawing humorous cartoon strips for Knockout, was soon "bagged", as he said, by Leonard Matthews for a new series of comics to be known as Cowboy Comics Library. When Matthews told him he wanted him to try his hand at Westerns, Geoff replied that he couldn't draw horses. Matthews' reply has gone into adventure strip folklore: "Bloody well learn then!" Campion learnt.

As Campion said, "It was advice I've been extremely grateful for ever since." He became one of the country's finest horse artists, and one of the great exponents of the Western genre. Campion was never really at home with other historical periods, however, and his American Civil War saga, Stonewall Jackson Wins His Spurs (no.147) seems far superior to Quo Vadis (no.19), however accurate his portrayal of the film actors involved, and The Last of the Mohicans (no.15) more authentic than Robin Hood's Jest (no. 10). Although Campion was only responsible for one Robin Hood strip, he drew two Dick Turpin strips: his first for the Knockout Fun Book 1954, and the other for Sun, the only Turpin strip printed in the comic in full colour. He also drew a little-known strip featuring a highwaywoman, Black Velvet, for Poppet, the short-lived girl's comic.

Born in Coventry, England and mainly self-taught as an artist, Geoff began his working life as a tax inspector but, during the War as a staff officer in the East India Command, he contributed cartoons to the forces' magazine, Jambo, and, in 1948, successfully answered an advertisement put out by the Amalgamated Press for new artists. For a period during the 1950s, Campion drew the majority of covers for Comet and Sun, as well as most of the long strips, Strongbow the Mohawk, Buffalo Bill, Billy the Kid and Battler Britton. He drew the opening episodes for all these series and the artists who later worked on the series were required to follow his lead. Campion's work was used as a "template", and was continually sent out to artists as examples of what was required. In the 1960s he became a stalwart of Lion, drawing Spellbinder, his own favourite strip, and in the 1970s, his work could be found in Battle Action, as forceful as ever.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Geoff Campion art

Angel Badia Camps (born 1929; Spain)
Ángel Badia Camps was born in Puig-reig, in the Cataluña area of Spain, which borders southern France, in 1929. His father was exiled to France following the Spanish Civil War, only returning after nine years when Franco offered a conditional amnesty and allowed him to return and move with his family to Barcelona.

His love of drawing had begun early and Camps was encouraged by his parents but his knowledge of comics was limited to En Patufet and his education came with the discovery of American comics at the Sant Antonio market. Camps developed a fascination with American culture – with artists Milton Caniff and Alex Raymond and the films of John Ford and Howard Hawks, with American literature and the music of Glen Miller and jazz.

Camps attended the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes. He began working professionally in Ameller, drawing fairy stories, and his work began appearing regularly in Florita, Aventuras de Capa Negra (17 issues written by Salvador Dulcet, 1953) and Pulgarcito (1954).

Although he drew comic strips, including the humorous stories of "Pilaropo al servicio de las damas" for La Risa (1956) and medieval historical tales Aventuras de Flecha Roja [Adventures of Red Arrow] (1956-57) and Flecha y Arturo (1956) for Ediciones Gráficas Ricart.

However, it was his work for romance comics such as "Marisol" (Lupita, 1950), Mariló, Sentimentale, Modelo, Dalia, Merche and Sissi that he established himself. He illustrated Bernadette (1956) for Editorial Bruguera. Through this romantic work, Camps developed a lengthy association with the British romantic comics' market, first appearing in Valentine in 1961. Over the next few years he contributed strips to Serenade, Roxy and True Life Library (1964). According to David Roach, "At first glance his drawing style was almost indistinguishable from (Jorge) Longaron's as he mixed a thrillingly loose and expressive line with an inventive and sophisticated sense of composition. His girls were the very epitome of 'the Spanish look' – heavy-lidded, thickly mascara'd eyes, big hair, big lips and lithe, languid bodies."

To give his work accuracy, Camps travelled to the UK and took over 300 reference photos of hospitals, buses, bridges, streets... everything had to be English which was not entirely a chore as his work coincided with the era of The Beatles, swinging London models and MG sports cars.

Camps is perhaps better known in the UK as a cover artist. Following his first appearance in 1960 on the Sexton Blake Library, he produced hundreds of covers for True Life Library, Star Love, Love Story Library, Oracle, Pop Pic Library, Charm, Young Lovers and other titles. The 1950s and 1960s were the heyday of magazine illustration before colour photography became the norm and Camps's paintings were widely reprinted throughout Europe and Scandinavia, often appearing in women's magazines before being reused as covers elsewhere.

For his native Spain, Camps produced heavily illustrated translations of Heidi (1966) and Otra Vez Heidi (1966), based on the works of Juana Spyri, Los Hijos del Capitan Grant (1968) and Viaje al Centro de la Tierra (1969), both by Jules Verne, Aventuras de Tom Sawyer (1969) by Mark Twain and stories featuring Robin Hood (by Norman R, Stinnet) and Davy Crockett (by Elliot Dooley) for Editorial Bruguera.

By the late 1960s, he was working again almost exclusively for Spanish markets, Editorial Bruguera employing him on various lines of paperbacks, including Libro Amigo, La Conquista del espacio, and Selección Terror. Camps also produced work for Molino, Toray and Ceres.

Although he was still earning a good living, and demand for cover artwork slowed in the 1980s as video became a more popular form of home entertainment than reading, Camps set up a school with fellow artist Rafael Cortiella, which ran for ten years. Camps subsequently concentrated on painting, although he had been exhibiting paintings since 1974.

Camps relates the story that he was painting whilst on holiday in Olot when the owner of a Barcelona gallery approached him and asked if he had ever exhibited his work. Camps said he was merely a Sunday painter but the gallery owner was persistent. "He asked if he could come to my studio and took almost everything I had." His work has, from 1986, featured in numerous solo exhibitions in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Brussels, Castellon and New York. His most regular exhibitor is the prestigious Sala Pares in Barcelona. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Angel Badia Camps art

See illustrators issue 1 for an Angel Badia Camps feature article.

Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (28 February 1907 - 3 April 1988; Hillsboro, Ohio, USA)
Milt Caniff was one of the most famous and highly respected American comic strip artists. His newspaper strips Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon were syndicated all over the world. Terry and the Pirates ran for over 12 years and featured a host of very memorable characters brought to life by his skilled draughtsmanship. Pat Ryan, Dragon Lady, Burma, Chopstick Joe, Singh Singh and April Kane are just a few of his characters that became household names. Terry and the Pirates finished in December 1946, principally because Caniff did not own the rights to his own creation.

He quickly created a new strip Steve Canyon which was to prove equally popular and it ran successfully until his death in 1988.

Caniff was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was an Eagle Scout and a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. Caniff did cartoons for local newspapers while studying at Stivers High School (now Stivers School for the Arts) in Dayton Ohio. At Ohio State University, Caniff joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity and later illustrated for The Magazine of Sigma Chi and The Norman Shield (the fraternity's pledgeship/reference manual). Graduating in 1930, Caniff began at the Columbus Dispatch where he worked with the noted cartoonist Billy Ireland, but Caniff's position was eliminated during the Great Depression. Caniff related later that he had been uncertain of whether to pursue acting or cartooning as a career and that Ireland said, "Stick to your inkpots, kid, actors don't eat regularly."

In 1932, Caniff moved to New York City to accept an artist job with the Features Service of the Associated Press. He did general assignment art for several months, drawing the comic strips Dickie Dare and The Gay Thirties, then inherited a panel cartoon named Mister Gilfeather in September 1932 when Al Capp quit the feature. Caniff continued Gilfeather until the spring of 1933, when it was retired in favor of a generic comedy panel cartoon called The Gay Thirties, which he produced until he left AP in the autumn of 1934. In July 1933, Caniff began an adventure fantasy strip, Dickie Dare, influenced by series such as Flash Gordon and Brick Bradford. The eponymous main character was a youth who dreamed himself into adventures with such literary and legendary persons as Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe and King Arthur. In the spring of 1934, Caniff changed the strip from fantasy to "reality" when Dickie no longer dreamed his adventures but experienced them as he travelled the world with a freelance writer, Dickie's adult mentor, "Dynamite Dan" Flynn.

In 1934, Caniff was hired by the New York Daily News to produce a new strip for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Daily News publisher Joseph Medill Patterson wanted an adventure strip set in the mysterious Orient, what Patterson described as "the last outpost for adventure," Knowing almost nothing about China, Caniff researched the nation's history and learned about families for whom piracy was a way of life passed down for generations. The result was Terry and the Pirates, the strip which made Caniff famous. Like Dickie Dare, Terry Lee began as a boy who is travelling with an adult mentor and adventurer, Pat Ryan. But over the years the title character aged, and by World War II he was old enough to serve in the Army Air Force. During the 12 years that Caniff produced the strip, he introduced many fascinating characters, most of whom were "pirates" of one kind or another.

Introduced during the early days of the strip was Terry and Pat's interpreter and manservant Connie. They were later joined by the mute Chinese giant Big Stoop. Both he and Connie provided the main source of comic relief. Other characters included: Burma, a blonde with a mysterious, possibly criminal, past; Chopstick Joe, a Chinese petty criminal; Singh Singh, a warlord in the mountains of China; Judas, a smuggler; Sanjak, a lesbian; and then boon companions such as Hotshot Charlie, Terry's wing man during the War years; and April Kane, a young woman who was Terry's first love.

But Caniff's most memorable creation was the Dragon Lady, a pirate queen; she was seemingly ruthless and calculating, but Caniff encouraged his readers to think she had romantic yearnings for Pat Ryan.

During the war, Caniff began a second strip, a special version of Terry and the Pirates without Terry but featuring the blonde bombshell, Burma. Caniff donated all of his work on this strip to the armed forces—the strip was only available in military newspapers. After complaints from the Miami Herald about the military version of the strip being published by military newspapers in the Herald's circulation territory, the strip was renamed Male Call and given a new star, Miss Lace, a beautiful woman who lived near every military base and enjoyed the company of enlisted men, whom she addressed as "Generals". Her function, Caniff often said, was to remind service men what they were fighting for, and while the situations in the strip included much 'double entendre', Miss Lace was not portrayed as being promiscuous.

Much more so than civilian comic strips which portrayed military characters, Male Call was notable for its honest depiction of what the servicemen encountered; one strip displays Lace dating a soldier on leave who had lost an arm (she lost her temper when a civilian insulted him for that disability). Another strip had her dancing with a man in civilian clothes; a disgruntled GI shoved and mocked him for having an easy life, but Lace's partner was in fact an ex-GI blinded in battle. Caniff continued Male Call until seven months after V-J Day, ending it in March 1946.

In 1946 Caniff ended his association with Terry and the Pirates. While the strip was a major success, it was not owned by its creator but by its distributing syndicate, the Chicago Tribune-New York Daily News, a common practice with syndicated comics at the time. And when Caniff, growing more and more frustrated with the lack of rights to the comic strip he produced, was offered the chance to own his own strip by Marshall Field, publisher of the Chicago Sun, the cartoonist quit Terry to produce a strip for Field Enterprises. Caniff produced his last strip of Terry and the Pirates in December 1946 and introduced his new strip Steve Canyon in the Chicago Sun-Times the following month. At the time, Caniff was one of only two or three syndicated cartoonists who owned their creations, and he attracted considerable publicity as a result of this circumstance.

Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon, although not gaining the popularity of Terry and the Pirates, nevertheless enjoyed greater longevity. Like his previous strip, Steve Canyon was an action strip with a pilot as its main character. Canyon was portrayed originally as a civilian pilot with his own one-airplane cargo airline, but he re-enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War and remained in the Air Force for the remainder of the strip's run.

While Steve Canyon never achieved the popularity that Terry and the Pirates had as a World War II military adventure, it was a successful comic strip with a greater circulation than Terry ever had. A short-lived Steve Canyon television series was produced in 1958. Steve Canyon was often termed the "unofficial spokesman" for the Air Force. The title character's dedication to the military produced a negative reaction among readers during the Vietnam War, and the strip's circulation decreased as a result. Caniff nonetheless continued to enjoy enormous regard in the profession and in newspapering, and he produced the strip until his death in 1988. The strip was published for a couple of months after he died, but was ended in June 1988, due to Caniff's decision that no one else would continue the feature.

The character of Charlie Vanilla, who appeared frequently with an ice cream cone, was based on Caniff's long term friend Charles Russhon, a former photographer and Lieutenant in the US Air Force who later worked as a James Bond movie technical adviser. The character of Madame Lynx was based on Madame Egelichi, the femme fatale spy played by Ilona Massey in the 1949 Marx Brothers movie Love Happy. The character stirred Caniff's imagination, and he hired Ilona Massey to pose for him. Caniff designed Pipper the Piper after John Kennedy and Miss Mizzou after Marilyn Monroe.

Caniff was one of the founders of the National Cartoonists Society and served two terms as its President, 1948 and 1949. He also received the Society's first Cartoonist of the Year Award in 1947 for work published during 1946, which included both Steve Canyon and Terry and the Pirates as well. Caniff would be named Cartoonist of the Year again, receiving the accompanying trophy, the Reuben, in 1972 for 1971, again for Steve Canyon.

He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1988. He received the National Cartoonists Society Elzie Segar Award in 1971, the Award for Story Comic Strip in 1979 for Steve Canyon, the Gold Key Award (the Society's Hall of Fame) in 1981, and the NCS has since named the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in his honor.

In 1977, the Milton Caniff Collection of papers and original art became the foundation for what is known presently as the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Covering 696 cubic feet (19.7 m3), the collection fills 526 boxes, plus 12,153 art originals and 59 oversized items. In addition to the original artwork, the collection includes Caniff's personal and business papers, correspondence, research files, photographs, memorabilia, merchandise, regalia, awards, audio/visual material and scrapbooks.

He died on May 3, 1988 and was buried in the Mount Repose Cemetery, Haverstraw, New York.
Source: Wikipedia and Illustration Art Gallery

Mario Capaldi (1935 - 2004; UK)
Mario Capaldi was a productive artist for Marvel UK's junior titles. He started his career in 1959, and has drawn every kind of strip since. His Marvel UK credits range from 'Care Bears' to 'James Bond Junior' and 'Zorro'. He did a comic adaptation of Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' for The Saturday Evening Post, as well as 'Famous Five' in Fleetway's Blyton centenary magazine. He also drew historical and fairytale comics for that publication. Capaldi was a major contributor to the magazine Misty, provided art for Mayfair's Carrie comic, Fleetway's 'Robo Machines' comic, and did a couple of fill-in stories for TV Action.

A book about Mario's early life has been written by his daughter, Vanda Capaldi. It is called 'Mario: A Biography in Poetry' and is available through the author's website. Vanda is currently (2013) researching another book concerning Mario's extensive art career.

vandacapaldi.moonfruit.com

Mario Capaldi art

Josep Marti i Capell
Spanish artist Josep Marti i Capell has drawn for various European publishers. He started out with realistic western and war stories for the pocket books of the British Fleetway and Thomson agencies. For The Victor comic, he illustrated comics strips like 'Bill and Ben, the fighting Tennis Men', 'The Whirler', 'Duke Farlow', 'Crazy Fred Kay's Railroad', 'The Seventh Mission' and many others. For Tiger comic he illustrated the comic strip 'Roy of the Rovers'.

At Editorial Ferna he drew 'El Pequeño Grumete' between 1953 and 1957, as well as several western titles. He eventually took on a caricatural style, and commenced a large production for the German market. In the 1970s, he illustrated the series 'Ben's Bande' in Yps with texts by Peter Wiechmann.

For the Kauka Verlag, he drew the short-lived series 'Furor Teutonicus' (or 'Die Teutonen') in Primo in 1974, as well as a revamped version of 'Tom und Biber' for Kauka Gold Comic, called 'Tom Dooley'. He was also an illustrator of several stories with 'Fix und Foxi' and 'Die Pichelsteiner'. Marti drew 'Muumi' for Egmont Kustannus, albums with the elephant 'Benjamin Blümchen' and 'Bibi Blocksberg' for Xenos Verlag, and stories with 'Sumsi' and 'Pumuckl' for the publisher Dino.

He was also involved with the French P&T Productions and Joker Editions with several saucy comics for the collections BD Folies and Blagues Coquines. In a more realistic style, he drew the pony comics 'Ciara' for the Norwegian Olco Publications and 'Herbie' in Penny. For the Apricale Ab in Stockholm, Marti drew a humorous album about medieval monks called 'The Brothers of Apricale'. Throughout his career, he has been mainly affiliated with the Bardon Art agency in Barcelona.
Source: based on Lambiek Comiclopedia

Roy Carnon (1911 - 2002; UK)
Roy Carnon was responsible for a stunning cover for All This and a Medal Too by Tim Carew, published by Corgi Books in 1960. The book was an autobiography, originally published by Constable & Co. in 1954, and featured the reminiscences of the author - real name John Mohun Carew (1921-1980) - about his experiences in the army between 1937 and 1950. Carnon had worked for Corgi Books at least as early as 1956, although had earlier worked in advertising (e.g. for Reed Paper Group).

Carnon, born 6 July 1911, the son of Frederick Wallace Carnon (a civil servant) and his wife Gertrude Eisdell (nee Lee), had grown up in Isleworth, London, attending art school in Chiswick for a short time. He became an illustrator, working mainly for advertising agencies, and was always to be found sketching in parks, or on buses and trains and always carried a small sketch-book or a pack of plain postcards in case inspiration struck.

During the Second World War, Carnon continued to sketch even when he was working as a fireman during the London Blitz; he subsequently joined the RAF ground crew and then became a navigator on Sunderlands, seeing action in Africa, India and the Far East.

After returning to civilian life, Carnon continued to work in advertising, as well as producing book covers. He was responsible for a number of covers for Edgar Rice Boroughs' science fiction novels published by Four Square Books in 1961-65 and illustrated Famous Fighting Aircraft for the Collins Wonder Colour Books series in 1964.

In 1965, Carnon became one of the team responsible for producing concept drawings, sketches and paintings for Stanley Kubrick, then working with author Arthur C. Clarke on the landmark science fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. For this he was responsible for visualising space craft, film sets and the iconic 'wheel' space station.

After this, he worked on many other movies, including the Bond movies, Where Eagles Dare, The Battle of Britain, Frenzy, Superman, The Dogs of War, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Reds, The Dark Crystal, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, Ladyhawke and Link.

Roy Frederick Carnon was married to Violet Marian Steer in 1935 (died 1971); he re-married, in 1998, to Margaret J. Harrold. He died in August 2002, aged 91. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Benedetto "Nino" Caroselli; Italy
Nino Caroselli was an Italian painter and illustrator. Although not much is known about him, he would appear to have been active in Italy as a cover artist and painter.

In the UK, Nino Caroselli produced hundred of covers for the pocket libraries published by Fleetway. He first appeared in 1959 as an illustrator for Top Spot but very quickly established himself as a cover artist on Super Detective Library, Thriller Picture Library and Cowboy Picture Library. However, it was his work for the War libraries that would keep him busy for many years during the 1960s.

Caroselli also did 16 covers for the Sexton Blake Library in 1960-61 and he also produced at least one book cover (Angelique and the King by Sergeanne Golon, J. B. Lippincott).
Source: Steve Holland

See illustrators British War Comics Special for a Nino Caroselli feature article.

Nino Caroselli art

Félix Carrión Cenamor (29 November 1920 - June 2003; Madrid, Spain)
Félix Carrión was born in Madrid. He began to work with textile in the capital of Spain. His true passion was drawing however, and when he lost his job at age 40, he moved to Barcelona to pursue a career as a cartoonist. His first work were contributions to the 'El Capitán Trueno' comic book and the magazine Pulgarcito in 1961. From 1963, he drew for El Capitán Trueno Extra, illustrating stories with 'El Capitán Trueno', 'El Jabato' and 'El Príncipe Errante'. He did several comic adaptations of novels, for instance of the work of Karl May and Jules Verne.

Between 1970 and 1977, he illustrated several stories for Joyas Literarias, such as 'Los Pescadores del Trepang', 'El Capitán Aventuroso' and 'Los Buscadores de Oro'. He also drew for foreign publications through agencies until 1992. He worked for 2000AD on 'Flesh' and drew for the British magazine The Hornet, and illustrated the series 'Buffalo Bill' for the Dutch publisher Bull. His final works for the Spanish market were 'La Historia de España' (1986) and 'La Historia Universal' (1992).
Source: Illustration ArtGallery
Felix Carrion art

Brian Casey
" I have had a passion for Motorsport for as long as I can remember - as small boy I would often smuggle my way into the Crystal Palace Race Circuit to listen to the sound of Racing cars warming up their engines early on a Sunday morning, in the glorious days before the noise abatement people objected. I would get there early in the morning hoping to catch a glimpse of the likes of the young Mansell and Senna. Little did I know what an effect this was going to have on me in later life, even when I left home, got married and eventually moved to Kent.

Purely by chance I found myself living 20 minutes from the historic Brands Hatch racing circuit, so it was only a matter of time before I was chatting with a colleague from work who was a Motorbike Marshall at the weekends. He invited me along to a meeting at Lyddon Race Circuit in Kent. I was hooked and travelled the whole length of Britain armed with my trusty camera. It was around this time that I really started to take my passion to another level as I was getting more and more commissions from Riders and their friends, I was going to bigger Race Meetings, taking myself off to Brands Hatch for British Superbike Meetings, the British Grand Prix and most of the Car and Bike shows, collating photographic material for future commissioned artworks.

I like to capture the sense of action, speed and excitement, along with a fantastic eye for detail, so the recent demand for commissioned art from Corporate, Commercial, and private clients has increased to a level that I now work full time as a Freelance Illustrator. I have work published with Felix Rosenstiels Widow and Son, in the Markham Collection, and my portfolio includes Formula 1, Superbikes, Touring Cars, GT'S, Supercars, the Clubman Motorbike Riders, Classic and Convertibles. I am a full member of the Guild of Motoring Artists, also a full member of the Coloured Pencil Society. "

Exhibits
The Donnington Motor Museum; The Goodwood Revival Meeting; Silverstone Race Circuit; Brands Hatch Race Circuit; The Bromley Pageant of Motoring; The Hop Farm Car, and Bike Meetings; Knebworth House (Car Show); Stamford House (Jaguar Show); Hall Place & Gardens, Kent (Solo Art Exhibition) .

Giovanna Casotto (born 2 August 1962; Lombardy, Italy)
Casotto has worked for erotic magazines Selen, Blue and Desire, and continues to delight with her 1950s inspired styling and delicate dream like Pin-Ups.

Giovanna Casotto is an Italian comic book artist and illustrator, known by her erotic comics. Casotto's erotic stories are inspired by a 1950's pin-up aesthetic. She often poses herself as a photographic reference for the comics.

Casotto was born in Desio, in Lombardy. She was passionate about drawing and comics since childhood; before entering this career she lived as a housewife. She attended the school of comics in Milan for three years, after which she published some short stories for Intrepido magazine, written by Mauro Muroni. In 1994 she met Franco Saudelli, with whom she became a frequent collaborator.

In 1991, the publisher Stefano Trentini proposed her to draw stories about football, but she refused, not feeling attracted to the genre. Trentini himself, three years later, involved her in the project of the erotic culture and comics magazine Selen. When the magazine closed, she moved on to the similar monthly publication Blue, published by Coniglio Editore and began to publish erotic tables for the English magazine Desire. Casotto's stories were first published in the U.S. in 1994, in the series Bitch in Heat by the Fantagraphics imprint Eros Comix.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Giovanna Casotto art

Richard Caton Woodville Jnr. (1856 - 1927, England)
Richard Caton Woodville Jr was a widely recognised and prolific artist, producing many accomplished illustrations and paintings, notably for the Illustrated London News. He is particularly remembered for his battle scenes and many of his paintings are in military art collections, such as the National Army Museum, the Royal Naval College, the Royal Canadian Military Institute, the London Scottish Regiments Museum Trust and West Point, as well as national collections such as the Tate Gallery.

He was the son of Richard Caton Woodville (1825-1855) an American artist and the son of a stockbroker, who originally studied medicine but who turned to painting as a career.

In 1845, at the age of 20, Caton Woodville Jnr left Baltimore to train at the Kunstacademie in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he lived for the next six years with his wife, Mary Theresa (nee Buckler), whom he had married on 3 January 1844.

In 1879, his painting Before Leuthen, Dec. 3rd, 1757 was exhibited at the Royal Academy and, over the next few years he produced many popular paintings, amongst them Kandahar and Saving the Guns at Maiwand (both inspired by the Second Anglo-Afghan War), and many scenes from the Zulu War and First Boer War. His painting The Moonlight Charge at Kassassin was exhibited at the Fine Art Society in 1883 and The Guards at Tel-e-Kebir was exhibited by Royal Command in 1884. The latter was painted for the Royal Family in 1882 and led to a number of further commissions, including the wedding of Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885. He later also painted a portraits King Edward VII and King George V.

Woodville was commissioned by the Illustrated London News to paint a series depicting famous battle throughout history, including the Charge of the Light Brigade, the Charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman, the Battle of Blenheim, the Battle of Badajos and several of the Battle of Waterloo. In 1895 he produced some 200 drawings, 2 large paintings and 2 smaller paintings. He maintained a large collection of arms and uniforms at his studio.

Woodville lived at Flat B, Dudley Mansions, 29 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, Middlesex, where he committed suicide on 17 August 1927: at shortly after 1 pm, Woodville's housekeeper and a friend, Mr. P. Gair, heard a report from a revolver and found Woodville sitting in his favourite chair in the studio attached to his house with a bullet wound to his head. He was still breathing, but died on the way to the hospital. Although he had been laughing and joking only that morning, Woodville had recently been suffering from heart trouble and pain from his leg, which he had broken years earlier and which had been aggravated by a second accident in Egypt.

After such an active life, Woodville was worried that, at 71, he would become an invalid. A letter read out at an inquest on 20 August 1927 revealed his final thoughts: "I am mentally and bodily ill. My health is a thing of the past." The Coroner recorded a verdict that Woodville was of unsound mind when he shot himself. From biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Catherine Muller (born 27 August 1964; France)
Catherine Muler, also known as Cathy Muller, Catel Muller or simply Catel, studied at the School of Plastic Arts in Strasbourg, where she graduated in 1990. She specialized in illustrations for children, and has cooperated with the publishers Nathan, Epigones and Hachette. In 1996, she made her first stories with the characters 'Bop et Blop' in cooperation with Paul Martin for the monthly Images Doc, published by Bayard Presse.

Present in Je Bouquine from 1999, she graphically created the series 'Marion & Charles', based on two novel characters by Fanny Jolly. In 2000, she began the series 'Lucie' with writer Véronique Grisseaux in the collection Tohu Bohu of Les Humanoïdes Associés. The series was continued by the publishing house Casterman from 2003 until 2006.

Together with scriptwriter Sophie Dieuaide, she made 'Les Papooses', also for Casterman between 2003 and 2005. Her series 'Top Linotte' runs in the Fleurus magazine Les P'tites Sorcières, and has been published in book format by Fleurus and Dupuis since 2010.

In 2004, she wrote the more adult World War I comic 'Le Sang des Valentines' for Christian De Metter. Besides children's comics, she has also made graphic novels like the comics biographies of 'Kiki de Montparnasse' (2007) and 'Marie Gouze dit Olympe de Gouges' (2012) with Jean-Louis Bocquet, 'Dolor' with Philippe Paringaux (2010) and 'Rose Valland, capitaine Beaux-Arts' with Claire Bouilhac and Emmanuelle Polack (2009).
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia

Lance Harry Mosse Cattermole (1898 - 1992)
Lance Cattermole, the Science Museum Group, of all places tells us, was born in Ireland, 19 July 1898, son of Sydney Cattermole, an artist, and grandson of George Cattermole (1800-68) – illustrator of ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ and other Charles Dickens works.

Educated in Worthing, Sussex and Odiham, Hants, and studied at Central School of Arts & Crafts 1922-23 and at the Slade School 1923-26. Cattermole lived near Worthing for many years.

He is represented in many museums and collections. Produced posters for BR. Produced artwork for Scottish Region series. The Look and Learn site shows two pieces credited to him.

Lance Cattermole drew lots of railway posters and many are archived in the National Railway Museum. One of my favourites is not the traditional tourist-duping sunny scene of the British seaside but this lovely lady from “Morecambe for First Class Holidays” poster (1960). Cattermole also drew for the prestigious Macmillan educational posters series in the 1960s.

It's confusing as to why he would serve in the First World War in 21st Eastern Ontario Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force as it states on the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment Museum site where you can see a sketch (for a Player’s Cigarette card) with a very familiar signature – so maybe it's right!

A story by Anthony C. Wilson called “A voice in the wall” appeared in the BBC Children’s Hour Annual (1952) and Cattermole's illustrations are remarkable for their sharp colour and movement.
Source: Standby4action and Illustration Art Gallery
Lance Cattermole art

Philippe Cazaumayou (born 1941; USA)
Caza (born Philippe Cazaumayou) has never been appreciated in the UK and USA the way he should be and indeed is in Europe. He's as much an Sci-Fi visionary as Moebius and shares a similar sense of the horrifically bizarre with H. R. Giger.

Glenn Chadbourne (born late October circa 1963; Maine, USA)
Glenn Chadbourne is an American artist. He lives in Newcastle, Maine. He is best known for his work in the horror and fantasy genres, having created covers and illustrated books and magazines for publishers such as Cemetery Dance Publications, Subterranean Press, and Earthling Publications. Mr. Chadbourne is known for his sense of humour and down to earth manner, as well as the stark honesty of his work.

Glenn Chadbourne attended Lincoln Academy before continuing his education at The Portland School of Art. He also attended the University of Maine at Augusta, as well as the University of Southern Maine.

His first published work was in the late 1980s for the Stephen King related newsletter called Castle Rock. He won a contest that called for artists to submit something Stephen King related.

He wrote, illustrated, and self-published a few comics called ChillVille and Farmer Fiend's Horror Harvest in the early 1990s. He eventually met Rick Hautala and was asked to illustrate his short story collection Bedbugs. After Cemetery Dance Publications printed Bedbugs in 1999, things began to click for Mr. Chadbourne, and he has since illustrated work for many of the top names in the horror genre.

He recently illustrated The Secretary of Dreams: Volume 1, a graphic collection of Stephen King stories that was published by Cemetery Dance Publications in 2006 in three limited editions. Volume Two was announced as being drawn by Glenn Chadbourne in early 2007.

"I was born up here in Damariscotta, Maine, some 49 years back on a late October day. Nothing spectacular there. No particular fanfare. No sirens bleating in the streets, no cries of joy or horror from those in attendance."
Source: Wikipedia
Glenn Chadbourne art

Paul Chadwick (born 1957; Seattle, USA)
Paul Chadwick is an American comic book creator best known for his series Concrete about a normal man trapped in a rock-hard body.

Born in Seattle, Chadwick grew up in its suburb Medina, where his father, Stephen F. Chadwick, was the City Attorney. As a teenager, he participated in Apa-5, the amateur press alliance of comics fans, and he then attended Art Center College of Design, majoring in illustration. Graduating in 1979, he began his career creating storyboards for Disney, Warner Brothers, Lucasfilm and other film studios, contributing to such films as Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Strange Brew, The Big Easy, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, Lies and Miracle Mile.

Chadwick provided art for the Dazzler comic book, published by Marvel Comics, before creating Concrete, first published by Dark Horse Comics in Dark Horse Presents #1 (July 1986). He wrote Gifts of the Night for DC Comics' Vertigo with art by John Bolton.

After working on several Matrix comics, Chadwick was asked by the Wachowskis to write The Matrix Online. He outlined the general story direction (and various natural offshoots) of events to take place in the MMORPG game.

He illustrated cards for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game.

Chadwick has personally been recognized for his work with the Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist for 1989, and nominations for the Harvey Awards for Best Artist, Writer, and Writer/Artist that same year. His work on Concrete has also won that series several awards.
Source: Wikipedia
Paul Chadwick art

John Frederick Chalkley (10 October 1938 - 16 September 2009; Hertfordshire, UK)
John Chalkley worked as both an illustrator and a fine artist. His art education was at Hornsey College of Art 1955 - 1961. From then until 1985, when he commenced painting full time, he combined painting with teaching art on a part-time basis.

He was an artist with wide ranging styles: he produced portraits, landscapes and imaginative paintings in oils, watercolour, pastel, mixed media and egg tempera. He also worked as a freelance illustrator for books and magazines.

John Chalkley has exhibited in many mixed shows and staged more than 20 one-man exhibitions in galleries in Yorkshire, the Lake District, Devon, Hertfordshire and London.
Source: http://www.artjohnchalkley.co.uk/index.htm
John F Chalkley art

Steven Halliwell Chapman (active c1925 - 1969)
Steven Chapman had been drawing for juvenile adventure stories since the mid 1920s, notably in the Aldine Robin Hood and Wild West annuals. In the 1930s he was contributing picture stories for the back pages of various Amalgamated Press comics as well as illustrations for their story papers such as Triumph and Champion. Indeed, at some time or other, he contributed spot illustrations and covers to the majority of the boys' and girls' papers published by the firm. This wide experience enabled him to bring a wealth of expertise to his work for the Thriller Comics Library. Whether drawing pirates (To Sweep the Spanish Main no. 56), Elizabethan courtiers (Kenilworth no. 51), or the many Three Musketeers adventures he did for the library, Steve Chapman was one of the finest and most historically accurate of artists, always evoking the authentic period atmosphere.

Incidentally, there was something decidedly Elizabethan about Steve Chapman's appearance and Matthews persuaded Sep Scott to use Chapman as a model for his cover painting of Kenilworth - most appropriate as Chapman had drawn the entire strip! When his style - and, indeed, the whole genre of historical strips - lost favour with the Amalgamated Press, Steve Chapman found himself temporarily without work. Amalgamated Press' loss was D.C. Thomson's gain and, from 1961, Chapman spent the rest of his working life drawing magnificent strips for the likes of Hotspur and Victor, utilizing all his skills at depicting historical adventure. Fittingly, his last strip, for the 1969 Hotspur annual, was set in Regency prize-fighting days. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright.

Howard V. Chaykin (born 7 October 1950; New Jersey, USA)
Howard Chaykin was born in Newark, NJ and started his career in comics as an assistant to Gil Kane. Working in the studio of Wallace Wood, he made his debut with the western 'Shattuck' in Overseas Weekly in cooperation with Nicola Cuti. He also assisted Gray Morrow and Neal Adams.

From the early 1970s, Chaykin worked as a freelancer for publishers like Marvel, DC, Warren and Atlas. He started out drawing stories for publications like Marvel Spotlight and Marvel Premiere, working with characters like 'Solomon Kane' and 'Monark Startalker'. In 1974, he created 'Cody Starbuck' for the Star Reach review.

In Heavy Metal, he proved himself one of the best authors of science-fiction graphic novels. Chaykin pioneered the graphic novel in the USA with 'The Stars my Destination', 'The Swords of Heaven' and 'Flowers from Hell'. In 1977, prior to the movies, he drew the first 'Star Wars' comics with scripts by Roy Thomas for Marvel, which were a very big hit.

In 1983, he created the hit series 'American Flagg!' over at First Comics. Among his best known comics are his DC works 'The Shadow' (1986) and 'Blackhawk' (1988), and his post-modern graphic novel 'Time2' at First Comics (1987), in which he could indulge his love for jazz and New York.

In 1988, he created the erotic 'Black Kiss'. Since then his comics output has been limited. He briefly returned to Marvel for a Wolverine/Nick Fury graphic novel and the mini-series 'Power and Glory'. Howard Chaykin also works as an executive script consultant for television on such serials as 'The Flash' and 'Viper TV'.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia

See illustrators issue 12 for a Howard Chaykin feature article.

Howard Chaykin art

Alessandro Chiarolla (born 11 September 1942; Italy)
Alessandro Chiarolla was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, an Italian colony in Africa at the time. He entered the comics field with the help of Renato Polese. He began working for Il Vittorioso in 1960, with his first comic 'La Bella Petroia'. During the 1960s, he produced many comics for Il Vittorioso and Il Giornalino.

Until 1974, he drew for foreign publishers through art agencies. For the British Fleetway, he worked on Princess Tina ('Catherine Arrogant'), Tiger, Hurricane and Buster ('Patch Eye Hooker', etc.). For France, he illustrated strips with 'Lancelot', and for Germany, he produced 'Reno Kid' and 'Buffalo Bill'.

He cooperated with Alfredo Castelli on several stories for Il Giornalino and Il Corriere dei Ragazzi, such as 'Bassa Marea', 'Fortini sul Fiume' and the series 'Central Hospital'. After a brief stint at the publishing houses Lancioi and Edifumetto, Chiarolla joined the publishing house Bonelli, where he illustrated such series as 'Bella & Bronco', 'Martin Mystère' and 'Zagor'.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia
Alessandro Chiarolla art

Frank Cirocco (born 13 June 1956)
Frank Cirocco was born on June 13, 1956, per profile in Alien Legion #1 (April 1984), or on June 15, 1955.

Frank Cirocco started his comics career in underground comix. He founded underground magazine Venture in 1976, together with Gary Winnick.

He went on to become an artist for Marvel, where he has worked on a list of titles. He co-created 'Alien Legion' with Carl Potts. Again with Gary Winnick, Frank Cirocco founded Lightsource Studios, where he created the comic 'Space Babe', among others.

His non-comics employers include Lightsource Studios, Dreamworks, Yahoo!, LucasArts, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, LeapFrog, Mattel, Universal Studios, and Rocket Science Games.
Source: Comicbookdb.com
Frank Cirocco art

Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett (8 May 1913 - 2 May 1984; San Diego, California, USA)
Bob Clampett was an American animator, producer, director, and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros., and the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil. Clampett was born and raised not far from Hollywood, and early on expressed an interest in animation and puppetry. After leaving high school a few months shy of graduating in 1931, Clampett joined the team at Harman-Ising Productions and began working on the studio's newest short subjects, titled Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.

Clampett was promoted to a directorial position in 1937 and during his fifteen years at the studio, directed 84 cartoons later deemed classic and designed some of the studio's most famous characters, including Porky Pig and Tweety. Among Clampett's most acclaimed films are Porky in Wackyland (1938), Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943) and The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946). Clampett left Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1946 and turned his attention to television, creating the famous puppet show Time for Beany in 1949. A later animated version of the series, titled Beany and Cecil, ran on ABC for five years beginning in 1962 and ending in 1967, which was well loved by millions, and credited "a Bob Clampett Cartoon".

In his later years, Clampett toured college campuses and animation festivals as a lecturer on the history of animation. His Warner cartoons have seen renewed praise in decades since for their surrealistic qualities, energetic and outrageous animation, and irreverent humor. Animation historian Jerry Beck lauded Clampett for "putting the word 'looney' in Looney Tunes."

Robert Emerson "Bob" Clampett was born in San Diego, California and was displaying extraordinary art skills by the age of five. From the beginning, Clampett was intrigued with and influenced by Douglas Fairbanks, Lon Chaney, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, and he began making film short-subjects in his garage beginning when he was twelve. While living in Hollywood as a young boy, Clampett and his mother Joan lived next door to Charlie Chaplin and his brother Syd. Clampett also recalled watching his father play handball at the Los Angeles Athletic Club with another of the great silent comedians, Harold Lloyd. From his early teens Clampett showed an interest in animation and puppetry. Clampett made hand puppets as a child, and before adolescence had completed what animation historian Milt Gray describes as "a sort of prototype, a kind of nondescript dinosaur sock puppet that later evolved into Cecil." In high school, Clampett drew a full-page comic about the nocturnal adventures of a pussycat, later published in color in a Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times. King Features took note and offered Clampett a "cartoonist's contract" to begin a seventy-five dollars a week after high school. King Features allowed Clampett to work in their Los Angeles art department on Saturdays and vacations during high school. On occasion, King Features would print one of Clampett's cartoons for encouragement. In addition, they paid his way through Otis Art Institute, where Clampett learned to paint with oils and to sculpt.

Clampett attended both Glendale High School and Hoover High School in Glendale California but left Hoover a few months short of graduating in 1931. Afterwards, Clampett got a job working at a doll factory owned by his aunt, Charlotte Clark. Clark was looking for an appealing item to sell and Clampett suggested Mickey Mouse due to growing popularity. Unable to find a drawing of the character anywhere, Clampett took his sketchpad to the movies and came out with several sketches. Clark was concerned with the copyright, so the two drove to the Disney studio. Walt and Roy Disney were delighted and they set up a business not far from the Disney studio. Clampett recalled his short time working for Disney: "Walt Disney himself sometimes came over in an old car to pick up the dolls; he would give them out to visitors to the studio and at sales meetings. I helped him load the dolls in the car. One time his car, loaded with Mickeys, wouldn't start, and I pushed while Walt steered, until it caught, and he took off."

Clampett was, in his words, so "enchanted" by the new medium of sound cartoons that he instead joined Harman-Ising Studios in 1931 for ten dollars a week. Schlesinger viewed one of Clampett's 16mm films and was impressed, offering him an assistant position at the studio. His first job was animating secondary characters in the first Merrie Melodie, Lady, Play Your Mandolin! (1931). The same year, Clampett began attending story meetings after submitting an idea eventually used for Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!. The two series were produced at Harman-Ising until mid-1933 when they split into Leon Schlesinger Productions. In his first years at the studio, Clampett mostly worked for Friz Freleng, under whose guidance Clampett grew into an able animator. When he joined Harman-Ising, Bob Clampett was only 17 years old.

By 1934, Schlesinger was in a bit of a crisis trying to find a well-known cartoon character. He noted that the Our Gang series consisted of nothing but "little kids doing things together," and a studio-wide drive to get ideas for an animal version of Our Gang commenced. Clampett submitted a drawing of a pig (Porky) and a black cat (Beans), and, in an imitation of the lettering on a can of Campbell's Pork and Beans, wrote "Clampett's Porky and Beans." Porky debuted in the Friz Freleng-directed I Haven't Got a Hat in 1935. Around the same time, Schlesinger announced a studio-wide contest, with a money prize to whichever member of the staff turned in the best original story. Clampett's story won first prize and was made into My Green Fedora, also directed by Freleng.

Clampett felt encouraged after these successes, and began writing in more story contributions. After Schlesinger realized he needed another unit, he made a deal with Tex Avery, naming Clampett his collaborator. They were moved to a ramshackle building used by gardeners and WB custodial staff for storage of cleaning supplies, solvents, brooms, lawnmowers and other implements.] Working apart from the other animators in the small, dilapidated wooden building in the middle of the Vitaphone lot, Avery and Clampett soon discovered they were not the only inhabitants - they shared the building with thousands of tiny termites. They christened the building "Termite Terrace", a name eventually used by fans and historians to describe the entire studio. The two soon developed an irreverent style of animation that would set Warner Bros. apart from its competitors. They were soon joined by animators Chuck Jones, Virgil Ross, and Sid Sutherland, and worked virtually without interference on their new, groundbreaking style of humor for the next year. It was a wild place with an almost college fraternity-like atmosphere. Animators would frequently pull pranks such as gluing paper streamers to the wings of flies. Leon Schlesinger, who rarely ventured there, was reputed on one visit to have remarked in his lisping voice, "Pew, let me out of here! The only thing missing is the sound of a flushing toilet!"

On the side, Clampett directed a sales film, co-animated by Chuck Jones and in-betweened by Robert Cannon. Clampett filmed Cannon in live action as the hero and rotoscoped it into the film. Clampett planned to leave Leon Schlesinger Productions, but Schlesinger offered him a promotion to director and more money if he would stay. Clampett was promoted to director in late 1936, directing a color sequence in the feature When's Your Birthday? (1937). This led to what was essentially a co-directing stint with fellow animator Chuck Jones for the financially ailing Ub Iwerks, whom Schlesinger subcontracted to produce several Porky Pig shorts. These shorts featured the short-lived and generally unpopular Gabby Goat as Porky's sidekick. Despite Clampett and Jones' contributions, however, Iwerks was the only credited director. Clampett's first cartoon with a directorial credit was Porky's Badtime Story. Under the Warner system, Clampett had complete creative control over his own films, within severe money and time limitations (he was only given $3,000 and four weeks to complete each short). During production of Porky's Duck Hunt in 1937, Avery created a character that would become Daffy Duck and Clampett animated the character for the first time.

Clampett was so popular in theaters that Schlesinger told the other directors to imitate him, emphasizing gags and action. When Tex Avery departed in 1941, Avery's unit was taken over by Clampett, while Norman McCabe took over Clampett's old unit. Clampett finished Avery's remaining unfinished cartoons. When McCabe joined the armed forces, Frank Tashlin rejoined Schlesinger as director, and that unit was eventually turned over to Robert McKimson. Milton Gray notes that from The Hep Cat (1942) on, the cartoons become even more wild as Clampett's experimentation reached a peak. Clampett later created the character of Tweety, introduced in A Tale of Two Kitties in 1942. His cartoons grew increasingly violent, irreverent, and surreal, not beholden to even the faintest hint of real-world physics, and his characters have been argued to be easily the most rubbery and wacky of all the Warner directors'. Clampett was heavily influenced by the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, as is most visible in Porky in Wackyland (1938), wherein the entire short takes place within a Dalí-esque landscape complete with melting objects and abstracted forms. Clampett and his work can even be considered part of the surreal movement, as it incorporated film as well as static media. It was largely Clampett's influence that would impel the Warners directors to shed the final vestiges of all Disney influence and enter the territory they are famous for today. Clampett was also famous for doing some brief voices or sound effects in some of the cartoons, the most famous being ending his most famous cartoons with his own joke on impersonating the Warner Bros. zooming in shield sound effect (otherwise known as "Bay-woop!"). Clampett liked to bring hip cultural movements into his cartoons, especially jazz; film, magazines, comics, novels, and popular music are referenced in Clampett shorts, most visible in Book Revue (1946), where performers are drawn onto various famous books.

Clampett was a good source for censorship stories, though the accuracy of his recollections has been disputed. According to an interview published in Funnyworld #12 (1971), Clampett had a method for ensuring that certain elements of his films would escape the censors' cut. It consisted of adding material aimed just at the censors. They would focus on cutting those and thus leave in the ones he actually wanted.

Clampett continued to direct cartoons each year at the studio until 1946. His unit was taken over by Arthur Davis. The Big Snooze was his final cartoon with the studio, and one for which he did not get screen credit (only one of three he directed pitting Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd). While the generally accepted story was that Clampett left over matters of artistic freedom, Davis remembered that Clampett was fired by then-cartoon studio executive Eddie Selzer, who was far less tolerant of him than Leon Schlesinger. Clampett's style was becoming increasingly divergent from those of Freleng and Jones, the other unit directors, and this is thought by some to be the primary reason for his departure. The Warners style that he was so instrumental in developing was leaving him behind. Warner Bros. had recently bought the rights to the entire Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies studio from Schlesinger, and while his cartoons of 1946 are today considered on the cutting edge of the art for that period, at the time, Clampett was ready to seek new challenges. Clampett left at what some considered the peak of his creativity and against everyone's advice.

Clampett worked for a time at Screen Gems, then the cartoon division of Columbia Pictures, as a screenwriter and gag writer. In 1947 Republic Pictures incorporated animation (by Walter Lantz) into its Gene Autry feature film Sioux City Sue. It turned out well enough for Republic to dabble in animated cartoons; Bob Clampett directed a single cartoon, It's a Grand Old Nag, featuring the equine character Charlie Horse. Republic management, however, had second thoughts due to dwindling profits, and discontinued the series. Clampett took his direction credit under the name "Kilroy".

In 1949, Clampett turned his attentions to television, where he created the famous puppet show Time for Beany. The show, featuring the talents of voice artists Stan Freberg and Daws Butler, would earn Clampett three Emmys. Groucho Marx and Albert Einstein were both fans of the series. In 1952, he created the Thunderbolt the Wondercolt television series and the 3D prologue to Bwana Devil featuring Beany and Cecil. In 1954, he directed Willy the Wolf (the first puppet variety show on television), as well as creating and voicing the lead in the Buffalo Billy television show. In the late 1950s, Clampett was hired by Associated Artists Productions to catalog the pre-August 1948 Warner cartoons it had just acquired. He also created an animated version of the puppet show called Beany and Cecil, which began its run on ABC in 1962 and was on the network for five years.

In his later years, Bob Clampett toured college campuses and animation festivals as a lecturer on the history of animation. In 1975 he was the focus of a documentary entitled Bugs Bunny: Superstar, the first documentary to examine the history of the Warner Bros. cartoons. Clampett, whose collection of drawings, films, and memorabilia from the golden days of Termite Terrace was legendary, provided nearly all of the behind-the-scenes drawings and home-movie footage for the film; furthermore, his wife, Sody Clampett, is credited as the film's production co-ordinator. In an audio commentary recorded for Bugs Bunny: Superstar, director Larry Jackson claimed that in order to secure Clampett's participation, and access to Clampett's collection of Warners history, he had to sign a contract that stipulated Clampett would host the documentary and also have approval over the final cut. Jackson also claimed that Clampett was very reluctant speaking about the other directors and their contributions.

Clampett died of a heart attack on May 2, 1984 in Detroit, Michigan, just six days before his 71st birthday, while touring the country to promote the home video release of Beany & Cecil cartoons. He is buried in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
Source: Wikipedia

James Clark (1895 - 10 July 1977; Glasgow, Scotland)
James Clark was born in Glasgow and began working at the publishing firm of John Leng in Dundee in 1919. He contributed illustrations to adult and children's publications. For more than thirty years, he drew the adventures of 'Willie Waddle' for various titles and annuals. When D.C. Thomson launched The Dandy Comic in 1937, Clark was present with 'Jimmy and his Grockle'.

He then made 'Leave It To Lop Ears' in Magic Comic, 'Centipede Pete' and 'King of the Jungle' in Dandy Comic. Clark was asked to do the illustration of 'Three Men in a Tub' in 1940, and these illustrations show his artistic talent to the full extent. His cartoons, as well as the strip 'Towser', appeared in The People's Journal (1944-47).

From the late 1940s, he was present in The Beano with 'The Invisible Giant' and a new version of 'Pansy Potter' (1949-55). From 1953 to 1960, he drew 'Tiny Tim' for The Topper and his other 1950s work includes 'Young Dandy', 'The Castaway Kydds' and 'Dockland Davie' for The Dandy. James Clark died in 1977, aged eighty-two.
Source: Lambiek
James Clark art

Dorian Cleavenger
Dorian Cleavenger is a highly collected artist who has worked for Disney, US Steel and many other large corporations and is well known for his pseudo realism and erotic pin up art.
Source: The Illustration Art Gallery

Rene Cloke (born 1904; Plymouth, UK)
Rene Cloke was born Irene Mabel N. Cloke in Plymouth on 8 October 1904. According to the Dictionary of British Book Illustrators, she "works as a postcard and greetings card designer, and as an author and illustrator of stories for very young children ... mainly depicting nursery animals and pixies."

As well as her books, she also produced illustrations for many annuals, including Uncle Oojah's Big Annual, Blackie's Children's Annual, Tiny Tots Annual, Jack and Jill Annual, Playhour Annual and Jack and Jill Harold Hare Book.

She also contributed to Sunny Stories.

Eduardo Teixeira Coelho (3 January 1919 - 31 May 2005; Terceira island, Azores, Portugal)
Eduardo Teixeira Coelho was a Portuguese comic book artist and illustrator best known for his adventure series Ragnar le Viking. In some of his early work he used the pseudonym Martin Sievre.

Coelho's career began when he moved from The Azores to mainland Portugal. His most notable work there was for the magazine Mosquito, beginning in 1943. He moved to Brazil in the 1950s and taught at the Pan-American School of Art in São Paulo. In 1955 he moved to France and for the next several decades worked on a number of series, many of them for the magazine Vaillant, including Ragnar.

Coelho died in Florence, Italy, aged 86, where he had lived for several years.
Source: Wikipedia
Eduardo Teixeira Coelho art

Joseph Clement Coll (1881 - 1921; USA)
Joseph Clement Coll began his professional career working for the New York American in the late 1890s. He was soon working for magazines such as Collier's, Everybody's and the American Sunday Magazine. Coll's reputation stands mainly on his pen & ink story illustrations.

In contrast to most illustrators who worked in pen & ink, Coll achieved true tonal gradations in his illustrations by using pen strokes to build up a complete range of values. He was influenced by the Spanish pen & ink artist Daniel Vierge.

Clement Coll's other great qualities were his vivid imagination and the unique perspectives that he used in his works. Coll was also a painter and he often painted the cover or frontispiece of books which were reproduced in color and then drew the pen & inks to illustrate the text.
He was considered to be an ideal illustrator for authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle and other adventure writers.

His illustrations for books such as Talbot Mundy's King of the Khyber Rifles and Sax Rohmer's The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu were widely reprinted for many years. Coll died in 1921 of appendicitis.
Joseph Clement Coll art

Michael Codd (1938; UK)
Codd was born in Wembley in 1938. The artist's illustrations have graced a number of publications, from 'The Children's Illustrated Bible' to 'Mayfair' magazine, and the covers for the first Modesty Blaise hardcover run (Souvenir Press UK).

More recently he was commissioned by Leicester Arts and Museums Services to produce paintings for their 2011 exhibition 'Visions of Ancient Leicester' which explored the city's Roman and Medieval history. He is married to the sculptor Chris Codd and lives in Hampshire. His son Matt works in the movies, including Serenity and Judge Dredd.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Michael Codd art

L B Cole (1918 - 1995; USA)
Leonard Brandt Cole had worked as art director for a lithography outfit, before entering the comic book field during the Golden Age in the early 1940's. He was mainly a cover illustrator for titles like Suspense Comics and Contact Comics. In his early work, he always used basic, flat colors and produced what he called "poster color covers". Illustrating over 1500 covers, Cole drew everything from funny animals to superheroes to jungle girls and science-fiction. A science-fiction fan, Cole would often slip rocket ships and ray guns onto books such as 'Captain Flight' and 'Contact Comics' which were supposed to be devoted to contemporary aviation.

As for interior artwork, Cole did pencils and/or inks on several features for Holyoke Publications, Gilberton and Farrell. Cole also published comic books through Star Publications, producing various crime, terror, jungle and romance titles in the late 1940s and 1950s. He was art director and editor at Dell Publishing in the early 1960s. He has mainly done commercial art and design from the mid 1960s onwards, working among others on audio-visuals for University Films.
Source: Lambiek
L B Cole art

Simon Coleby (born 2 March 1967; UK)
Simon Coleby is a British comic book artist who has worked mainly for British sci-fi comic 2000 AD and Marvel Comics.

Coleby started his mainstream work in the British comics industry in 1987, working at both 2000 AD and Marvel UK. His first published work was a cover for issue #222 of the latter's Transformers comic, depicting Carnivac and Springer. At 2000 AD he contributed heavily to Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper spin-offs Friday and Venus Bluegenes, as well as becoming the lead artist on Low Life.

After working with Christos Gage on "Midnighter: Armageddon", he is working on the post-World's End relaunch of The Authority with writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. He will also be working on Wildstorm's adaptation of Fringe because, according to editor, Ben Abernathy, "Simon Coleby is so far ahead on 'Authority' he has time to contribute 11 pages a month" and "Simon Coleby ... is definitely on the fast-track to becoming an 'elite' level artist."
Source: Wikipedia

Roger Coleman (known to be active 1960s - 1970s)
An accomplished book cover artist, Roger Coleman illustrated many Corgi, Pan and Ballantine paperback covers during the 1960s and 1970s. His art is particularly atmospheric. Now in his 80's (Feb 2013) he has reputedly become reclusive so not much more is known about him.

His cover work includes
Warbonnet Creek (EE Halleran, Corgi, 1962)
The Man with the Golden Gun (Ian Fleming, Reader's Digest, 1966)
The Valley of Hanoi (Irwin R Blacker, Corgi, 1968)
A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute, Pan, 1974)
The Legacy (Nevil Shute, Ballantine, 1973)
Most Secret (Nevil Shute, Pan & Ballantine, 1973)
Pied Piper (Nevil Shute, Pan & Ballantine, 1973)
Trustee from the Toolroom (Nevil Shute, Ballantine, 1972)
The Rainbow and the Rose (Nevil Shute, Ballantine, 1972)
Ruined City (Nevil Shute, Pan, 1974)
Landfall (Nevil Shute, Ballantine, 1972)
Pastoral (Nevil Shute, Pan, 1974)
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Roger Coleman art

Henry Coller (21 December 1886 - 1958; London, UK)
Henry Coller was a commercial artist and illustrator whose fame rated just a few lines in a couple of post war art directories and also an entry in Who's Who in Art. My interest in him was aroused because among many other assignments Coller prepared the artwork for five series of cigarette cards issued between 1928 and 1934. These I will come back to a little later.

Born on 21 December 1886 in Wood Green, London, Henry was the son of the Rev W E Coller. It's a reasonable assumption that Henry shared his father's faith as his illustrative work in later years included a number of religious paintings. It is also a strong possibility that his father moved from London to Manchester as Henry was educated at Rusholme High School in that city before going on to study art at the Manchester School of Art.

In a series of articles that Coller wrote for The Artist magazine in 1936/37 under the heading ‘My Approach and Methods in Story Illustration' he revealed a desire to be a commercial artist rather than risk the vagaries of trying to get established in ‘fine art'. I quote: “I realized quite early that the readiest and most constant market was for line drawings for press advertising and so my later school of art years were spent in trying to master that most difficult tool, the pen. I concentrated, of course, on the pretty girl (the demand for that elusive being is always there) and I am still trying!”

Apart from that rather sensible early career decision Coller shows that he has a nice sense of humour. This is also apparent from a later statement regarding the type of work he was called upon to do. “For some years I was kept busy making line drawings to advertise every conceivable commodity – soaps, sports outfits, cigarettes, cough cures and baby foods – even a few ‘Kodak' drawings, until those responsible for that advertising realized that the logical thing to do was to advertise cameras by means of photographs.”

Whilst Coller admits he was treated well by most of his clients it was apparent then, and I doubt that much has changed today, that not every employer was strictly ethical. Prewar poster designers were probably pre-eminent among commercial artists and commanded the highest fees but some advertisers were obviously keen to get their art on the ‘cheap'. This is how Coller put it: “It is, however, a rather significant fact that although my drawings have been used quite a few times as posters, I have never yet been paid the price of a poster design.”

Nevertheless, Coller was good enough and industrious enough to be kept busy with a variety of assignments. His entry in Who's Who in Art (6th Edition) lists his specialties as, “sports sketches, drawings of sportsmen, men's fashions and other advertisements” and among his past work, “designs for Barney's Tobacco, Times Furnishing, Salute the Soldier (1943-44), Black & White Whisky (1950)”. The publications to which he contributed include Strand, Tatler, Windsor, Wide World, Passing Show, Pearsons, Sketch, Woman & Home, My Home, Women's Weekly, John Bull, Pictures That Teach and Home Journal.

Books that he illustrated include, Captain of Springdale by Dorita Fairlie Bruce (OUP), The Colour Book of Bible Stories by Joy Wheaton (Ward Lock), White Arab by Percy Westerman (Blackie) and, with others, Mrs Strang's Annual for Girls (OUP), The Wonder Book of Bible Stories, Moses in the Promised Land and The Life of Jesus, all by David Kyles (Ward Lock), and Picture Stories of the Old Testament by Mary Miller (Lutterworth).

The preponderance of religious books listed above, which probably date from the 1950s, suggest that Henry Coller managed to find a useful niche at a time when sketches for advertisements and magazine stories were starting to dry up. There are a number of religious paintings by Coller illustrated on the Look and Learn website which Steve feels may have been reprinted in Bible Story.

Henry Coller maintained a studio in London and gave an address at 38 Cleveland Square. A photo of him in his studio was published in The Artist magazine. Apart from his commercial work he found time to exhibit at the Royal Academy and also to paint portraits. One of these of Baron Pethick-Lawrence is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. He was a member of both the Chelsea Arts and London Sketch Clubs. He was married with four children and died in 1958.

(* A couple of additional notes: William Edward Coller was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, and was a schoolmaster in Blackburn, Lancashire, where the first two children of his children, Frederick Ernest W. (1876- ) and Ethel Jane (1880- ), were born. His wife, Jane (nee Watts, whom he had married in 1874), died in early 1880 at the age of 40, and W. E. Coller was married later that year to Elizabeth Anne Whitehead. Three further children followed, William Lonsdale (1882- ), born in Blackburn, and Edward (1884- ) and Henry, both born in Wood Green.

W. E. Coller continued to teach as a private tutor in English, Latin and French, but was also a Congregational Minister; in 1891 the family were living at Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester, in Lancashire; by 1901 they had moved to Moss Side, Manchester. Hence Henry Coller's attendance of a Manchester school.)
Source: Steve Holland
Henry Coller art

Dennis Collins (died 1990; Warwickshire, UK)
Dennis Collins is probably best known for his work on the comic strip The Perishers, which started in the Manchester edition of The Daily Mirror in 1958.

In 1957 or so, having sketched a few cartoon characters, he shopped them around Fleet Street and was taken on board by Bill Herbert, the cartoon editor of The Daily Mirror. He developed his characters, with the aid of writer Ben Witham, into a daily strip, The Perishers.

Soon after, Maurice Dodd took over from Ben Witham. Maurice didn't work in the usual way of producing a written script from which the artist worked, but worked out his own ideas in rough pencilled layouts with action and dialogue in situ, while Dennis continued to execute finished drawings for the script.

The Collins - Dodd combination was successful and the Perishers moved into the national editions in October 1959. The partnership lasted until Dennis retired in 1983. Maurice then took on the complete execution of the strip, from idea to finished artwork, until 1992, when he once again went into partnership, this time with Bill Mevin who now executes the finished work.

Dennis Collins came from Warwickshire. He joined a commercial art studio in Birmingham and studied at Birmingham Art School, before moving to Liverpool. During the Second World War he drew maps for the Royal Engineers' Survey and the War Office, and created identity papers to help smuggle British agents out of prisoner-of-war camps for the Secret Service. After the war he worked freelance in advertising.

Collins retired in 1983, and was awarded a plaque for Humourous Strip Cartoonist of the year by the Cartoonists' Club. Dodd then wrote and drew the strip until 1992, when Bill Mevin took over the art. Collins died in 1990.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Dennis Collins art

Mike Collins (born 1961; West Bromwich, UK)
Mike Collins is a Wales-based comic book artist and writer and has been working in comics since the mid-1980s.

Born in West Bromwich in 1961, he moved to Wales in 1985 after an abortive stab at a career in the Law, in London. Despite his training as a barrister, Mike decided that he enjoyed the fiction-based life of comic book characters over the fiction-based statements of clients. He is married to Karen Collins and father of 3 daughters, Bethan, Rebecca and Rhiannon and is currently placed in Cardiff. He is the Grandson of Military Medal winning World War One soldier Thomas Guinane.

UK comics --- in the mid to late 1980s, Mike wrote and drew strips for Marvel Comics United Kingdom division, amongst them; Spider-Man, Transformers, Doctor Who, and Zoids. He also worked on the celebrated UK weekly comic 2000 AD drawing Judge Dredd, Sláine and Rogue Trooper, as well as writing various Future Shocks.

US comics --- Mike was hired in the 'Second Wave' of British artists lured to the United States in the late 1980s. Through the 1990s, he worked primarily for DC Comics on their key titles - Batman, Superman, Flash, Teen Titans, Wonder Woman and the Justice League.

He also drew a series of licenced comics for the company, using various TSR, Inc./Dungeons and Dragons characters. A brief spell at Marvel saw Mike working on Uncanny X-Men (Key issue: #266, the first appearance of Gambit). He was back to DC though, to write and draw Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, a revival of a 1960s Charlton Comics character.

Mike's primarily known for his work on TV and movie tie-in comics- for both Marvel and DC he has written and drawn Star Trek comics. In the late 1990s, he drew a Babylon 5 mini-series, "In Valen's Name", written by series creator J. Michael Straczynski and Peter David. A departure from most tie-in productions in that it actually serves as series 'canon' being based on an unused 3rd season script.

Mike is the artist (and sometime writer) on Panini Comics 'Doctor Who Magazine', Mike also wrote and drew a strip for the late, lamented Weekly World News, as well as co-creating the series American Gothic with Ian Edginton for 2000 AD.

Outside of comics Mike paints covers to a monthly series of downloadable Star Trek novels - the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, and works as a storyboard artist for both animation and live-action TV and movies.

Major work recently published is a 135 page adaptation of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' for Classical Comics. His regular 'Doctor Who' collaborators, inker David Roach and colour artist James Offredi, worked with him on the book, with the script writer being Sean Michael Wilson. The graphic novel was chosen as one of the Top Ten Graphic Novels of the year by the Sunday Times and has gone on to sell well across by the UK and US, with several foreign language versions also coming out.

For BBC Books he has drawn The Only Good Dalek- the first graphic novel from the publisher, written by long time Doctor Who author Justin Richards, and a sequel/prequel to the TV episode Victory of the Daleks, The Dalek Project.

He wrote and designed the first ever Welsh language graphic novel - Mabinogi in association with Cartwyn Cymru in 2001, and is the first UK artist to produce a series of graphic novels for Norway with Gunnar Staalesen, featuring his celebrated private eye, Varg Veum. He works as a key illustrator for Welsh language school books using the comic strip medium, aimed at reluctant learners.

He supplied art for a number of cards in the Harry Potter Trading Card Game.

Mike is the lead singer of Cardiff based Tom Waits tribute band 'Tom Waits for no man'. Named by his daughter Rebecca, who is also a founding member alongside Viv Lock on guitar and Terry Williams on bass. They are a large contribution toward the lively and fast-growing Whitchurch music scene.

As well as comics work, Mike is a storyboard artist for Calon and Dinamo on children's TV shows, primarily the BAFTA winning Hana's Helpline, Igam Ogam and Cwm Teg. He has also worked on short live action movies, one of which -Day At The Beach- was BAFTA nominated in 2004. He also storyboarded on the Warhammer 40,000 CG film UltraMarines, and for Doctor Who Confidential.
Source: Wikipedia
Mike Collins art

Joe Colquhoun (1926 - 1987; Middlesex, UK)
Joe Colquhoun was a British comics artist best known for his work on Charley's War in Battle Picture Weekly. He was also the first artist to draw Roy of the Rovers.

Born in Harrow, Middlesex, Joe Colquhoun served in the Royal Navy during World War II, and won a place at Kingston upon Thames School of Art on his return. His career in comics began in 1951 in Jungle Trails, and he went on to work for IPC Media on titles such as Lion, and later Tiger, where he drew Roy of the Rovers for six years, from 1954 to 1960, despite having no interest in football.

In the early 1970s he worked mainly for IPC's humour comics Buster and Cor!!, until Battle Picture Weekly came along in 1976. For Battle he drew Soldier Sharp: the Rat of the Rifles and Johnny Red before editor Dave Hunt assigned him to work on Pat Mills' First World War story Charley's War in 1978.

After Charley's War finished in 1986 Colquhoun drew for Mask until his death in 1987. Source: Wikipedia

Neville Maurice Colvin (17 December 1918 - 1991; New Zealand & UK)
Neville Colvin was born in New Zealand and began his career as a cartoonist in 1936 working for the Wellington Evening Post doing political and sports cartoons for a decade.

In 1946, facing political censorship, he left New Zealand and moved his family to London where he continued his cartooning career, primarily drawing sports and political cartoons for the News Chronicle, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and Evening Standard until the mid-1950s.

He then decided to expand his scope to serialized newspaper strips drawing Ginger & Co. for Swift Weekly from 1960-62.

Colvin briefly drew the James Bond strip 1976=97, providing an ending to the story 'Ape of Diamonds' for syndication whilst author Jim Lawrence and artist Yaroslav Horak concentrated on a new series
for the Sunday Express. Colvin drew episodes 3384-3437 for the Daily Express, the strip ending on 22 January 1977.

Between 1977 and 1980, Colvin worked on a number of projects, including a Sunday strip featuring Modesty Blaise written by Peter O'Donnell, but the idea was dropped after Colvin had drawn seven episodes. Colvin subsequently replaced Romero on the daily strip on 27 May 1980 with the story 'Dossier on Pluto'.

He went on to draw 1,902 episodes - only slightly fewer than Jim Holdaway, the first artist on the Modesty Blaise strip- and his last strip appearing on 15 September 1986. One story, 'The Scarlet Maiden' (published in 1982), was the completion of the Sunday strip tryout from some years earlier.

Neville Colvin died in Camden, London, in 1991.
Source: Bear Alley & http://nevillecolvin.com/
Neville Colvin art

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Guy Colwell (born 28 March 1945; Oakland, California, USA)
Guy Colwell (born March 28, 1945, in Oakland, California) is an American full-time Figurative Social Surrealist painter and occasional underground cartoonist. Although not African-American himself, Colwell's comics often portray blacks in strong roles in stories of life on the streets. His paintings reflect on the human condition, economic inequality, injustice and alienation from the natural world.

Colwell studied art at the California College of Arts and Crafts. After completing two years there, he dropped out to travel and get some life and work experience. When he had worked an almost two-year stint as a sculptor for Mattel and was preparing his return to college, he was arrested for draft refusal and sentenced to two years in Federal Prison at Mcneil Island, Washington state. His experiences there and the period after his release were the genesis of his underground comix series Inner City Romance, begun in 1972. He was financially unable to continue art school as planned but deeply committed to painting as his life work, so was mainly self-taught thereafter. During the turbulent 1970s scene in San Francisco, Colwell worked as an illustrator for the underground paper Good Times and joined the commune that produced this weekly.

Colwell left the Good Times after the paper ceased publication and concentrated on doing paintings and a few comic books until the mid 80's. After this creative period marred by drug abuse, Colwell worked for Rip Off Press as a colorist, also contributing stories, artwork or production to many underground comic book titles and anthologies. He authored a second comic book series under the title "Doll" and completely stopped using drugs and alcohol while working at Rip Off Press.

In 1986, upon hearing of a cross-country peace march (The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament), Colwell took an 18-month leave of absence from Rip Off Press to join what was touted by original Great Peace March organizer David Mixner as a major event in American history. While on the GPM, Colwell helped draw route maps for the marchers as well as creating art depicting marchers in their everyday lives. His route maps and drawings are part of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.

On returning to Rip Off Press, by 1988 relocated to Auburn California, Colwell became strongly influenced by the great natural beauty and wildlife of the Sierra Mountains. Nature and animal subject matter would thereafter become much more prominent in his work and inspired a deeper exploration of surrealism. Travels throughout Europe on foot with a backpack and several trips to Africa have deepened this aspect of the pictures he produces. His artwork today is internationally recognized for powerful social commentary. The sometimes uncomfortable images he renders with sharp clarity reminiscent of Renaissance masterworks have received praise from art critics and have been sought after by collectors who are looking for something more than pleasant wall decorations.

Colwell currently is married and lives in Berkeley, California, where he devotes himself to creating personal and political art. His 2004 painting, The Abuse, is his depiction of the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. This being Colwell's most controversial work, Lori Haigh, the owner of the San Francisco gallery where it was exhibited received death threats and was physically attacked. Her gallery also received damage from unknown persons, causing it to close permanently.

Examples of Colwell's original works can be seen at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California and the Pritikin Museum in San Francisco which features his magnum opus "Litter Beach". In September 2012, his work was featured in Juxtapoz magazine.
Source: Wikipedia
Guy Colwell art

Tim Conrad (born 1951; USA)
Tim Conrad began his career in the mid-1970s, inking on Marvel titles like 'Kull' and 'Bran Mak Morn', and pencilling 'Conan' and stories for 'Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction'. He drew for Marvel's Epic Illustrated in the 1980s, doing painted comics like 'Almuric' and 'Toadswart'. Both appeared as graphic album later on.

He also worked for Pacific Comics, writing and drawing on titles like 'Alien Worlds', 'Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers', 'Thrillogy' and 'Twisted Tales'. In the 1990s, he did work for Fantagor Press ('Horror in the Dark'), First Publishing ('Hunchback of the Notre Dame') and Eclipse Enterprises ('Down, Satan', 'Tapping the Vein').
Source: Lambiek
Tim Conrad art

Noel Cook (1896 - 1981)
Noel Cook was born in New Zealand, but he moved to Australia. In 1924 his comic strip 'Roving Peter' appeared in the Sunday Times. In 1933, his 'Bobby and Betty', a text strip with the text underneath the pictures, was published in the Daily Telegraph. Cook worked for publisher K. G. Murray, where he produced many science fiction titles such as 'Pirate Planet', 'Peril Planet' and 'The Blue Ray'.

Later, he was employed by Offset Publishing, where he did 'Dick Dean - Star Reporter', 'Bobby and Betty', 'Peter' and 'Kokey Koala'. The latter was later published by Elmsdale Publications as 'Kokey Koala and his Magic Button', and became very popular with children. Noel Cook became staff artist with associated Newspapers in Sydney. He left overseas in 1950, and became art director of children's magazines by Fleetway Publications in London.
Source: Lambiek
Noel Cook art

John Cooper (born 1942; UK)
John Cooper is an artist of UK action and war comics and worked for nearly all the British comics publications since the 1970s.

His credits vary from Look-in ('Doctor at Sea'), Disney to SHOOT! and 2000 AD. He is best known for the 'Johnny Red' from Battle magazine.

He was the artist for the first commissioned 'Judge Dredd' story, which was published much later due to its extreme violence. John Cooper is also active as an illustrator.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia & The Illustration Art Gallery
John Cooper art

Harold Copping (25 August 1863 - 1 July 1932; UK)
Harold Copping was a British artist, born in Camden Town on 25 August 1863, the second son of Edward Copping (a journalist) and Rose Heathilla (nee Prout), the daughter of J. S. Prout, the water-colour artist. His brother, Arthur E. Copping, became a noted author, journalist and traveller.

Copping grew up in St. Pancras. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools and won a Landseer Scholarship to study in Paris. He was a successful painter and illustrator, living in Croydon and Hornsey during the early years of his career.

Copping was a notable illustrator of Biblical scenes and in order to achieve some authenticity in his work, notably an illustrated edition of The Bible published in 1910, he travelled to Palestine and Egypt. This version was a best-seller and led to many more commissions for Copping.

A trip to Canada inspired the collection of watercolour sketches Canadian Pictures. Amongst the many books he illustrated were The Gospel of the Old Testament, Scenes in the Life of Our Lord, Scripture Picture Books, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Tales from Shakespeare, Character Sketches from Dickens, Longfellow and others.

Copping was married to Violet Amy Prout in 1888, and had children Ernest Noel (1889- ), Romney (1891-1910) and Violet (1891-1892). Following his wife’s death in 1894 (aged only 29), Copping was married a second time, to Edith Louise Mothersill, in 1897 and had children Joyce (1901-1934) and John Clarence (1914-1977).

Copping lived for many years at The Studio, Shoreham, near Sevenoaks, Kent. He died at home on 1 July 1932, aged 68, after some years of ill-health and a Memorial Fund was set up in his name to provide for his widow and children, raising over £500. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Richard Corben (born 1940)
Born in Missouri, Richard is best known for his illustrated fantasies in Heavy Metal (Métal Hurlant) magazine, and he is the celebrated author and artist behind the popular graphic novel Den series and the creator of Jeremy Brood. In a varied career, Corben's work also includes the cover of Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell album.

See Warren US Artists illustrators  Special Edition for a Richard Corben feature article.

Philip Corke
British artist who worked on the Trigan Empire for a year in 1974-75. Previously he had illustrated a number of books for North Cheap publisher’s Young World Productions. Following this brief sojourn into comics, he returned to illustrating books and posters, mostly historical subjects, also penning titles for the Longman Butterfly Books series.

See The Art of The Trigan Empire for more about Philip Corke.

Enjoy our ORIGINAL TRIGAN EMPIRE ART by Don Lawrence, Ron Embleton, Oliver Frey, Philip Corke, Miguel Quesada and Gerry Wood.

Philip Corke art

Graham Coton (1 December 1926 - 14 October 2003; London, UK)
Graham Coton's artistic metier was the Second World War. Born in Woolwich, London, he was largely self-taught and attended the Goldsmith's College of Art in London, which he says was a "disaster", and his education was interrupted during World War II. He served in the R.A.F. from 1944 and in 1946/1947 he was working there as a Physical Instructor.

He began freelancing for Amalgamated Press in the early 1950s. Although he started as a strip artist by drawing Kit Carson for Cowboy Comics Library and later drew four short strips for the Thriller Comics Library (an adventure of Gulliver for no. 5, a Dick Turpin strip for no. 8 and two Three Musketeer strips in issues 12 and 26), it was not until he started drawing Captain Phantom, the World War II Master Spy, for Knockout in 1953, that he really came into his own. Some of these strips were later reprinted in Thriller Comics Library with the lead character renamed Spy 13.

Coton was very much a new force in comics when he first appeared, bringing with him a violent, ultra-tough approach. Coton also created the strip Space Family Rollinson in the early 1950s which was reprinted in France, Germany, Italy and Portugal.

Coton's two short Musketeer strips are interesting mainly for their story lines- particularly the reunion with Aramis in Musketeers Ride Again (no. 26) - for the artwork is not really in tune with the swashbuckling genre.

Coton will be mainly remembered as far as comic art is concerned for his car racing strips in Tiger, his superb war strips in Top Spot and, most of all, for his dynamic covers for the War and Battle Picture Libraries.

Besides his work for the comics, Coton did artwork for numerous magazines, books, Royal Doulton commemorative plates, Readers Digest and book jackets, among other things. He also did commissions that were numerous and varied, from portraits, to animals, pets, landscapes, seascapes, trains, planes and automobiles. He died on 14th October 2003 at his home in East Sussex.   David Ashford and Norman Wright & The Illustration Art Gallery

See illustrators issue 6 for a Graham Coton feature article and the illustrators  Pirates! Special Edition.

Graham Coton art

Ernest Crofts (1847 - 1911)
A very talented mid-Victorian painter and illustrator.

Roy Cross (born 23 April 1924; London, UK)
Roy Cross RSMA, GAvA is a British artist and aviation journalist best known as the painter of artwork used on Airfix kits from the 1960s.

Born in Southwark, London and mainly self-taught, he learned his craft at the Camberwell School of Art and as a technical illustrator for training manuals for Fairey Aviation during the second world war. He progressed from there to producing advertising art for the aircraft industry and other companies. He illustrated for The Aeroplane and the Eagle comic.

In 1952 he joined the Society of Aviation Artists, but it is for his work at Airfix which he is best known. He started in 1964 with box art for Airfix's Do 217 and his last work for them was the box art for the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen (1974). He went into marine paintings.

Roy Cross's interest in marine art began when accompanying his father on walks around the London docks, sketching the boats he had seen when returning home. Aged 15, he began to work for a Thameside shipping office. Here he saw Thames barges and the last of the sailing coasters, and thus in the 1930s was born his lasting love of sea and ships.

After training at the St. Martins School of Fine Art, Roy Cross's artistic career became established as an illustrator in numerous fields for journals and books. During the Second World War he illustrated air force maintenance books and pilots’ manuals, as well as publications such as 'Aeroplane' and 'Aviation Week'. His detailed drawing of the Gloster Meteor, Britain's first service jet fighter, took him eight weeks to create, was a yard in length, and became acknowledged as a masterpiece of this specialised branch of technical illustration. In addition he exhibited his work at the Society of Aviation Artists, of which he is also a member.

After the war, Roy Cross produced illustrations for the tops of the Airfix model boxes which are remembered by generations of children today. Sadly, much of his Airfix artwork was destroyed but the lids of many millions of boxes remain.

However, as an illustrator, he felt restricted by the limiting factors of commercial art and longed for greater freedom of expression.

He decided thus to concentrate primarily upon marine painting and he was immediately successful. Elected a Member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists in 1977, his art covers clipper ships to Mississippi steamboats, warships to commercial steam vessels and Royal Yachts to Americas Cup contenders. The combination of research, the practical application of this knowledge and the love of his subjects has its rewards, as Roy Cross is considered by many to be the one of the most accurate painters of historical marine vessels of all time.

In 2010 Roy was invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace in view of his "outstanding services to art..."

Roy Cross's paintings are in the collections of: The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, The Constitution Museum Foundation, Boston; The Peabody Museum, Salem MA, and in private collections worldwide.

He was interviewed by James May in James May's Top Toys, discussing the changing tastes in box art and the airbrushing out of bombs and explosions from his pictures.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Roy Cross art

George Cruikshank (27 September 1792 - 1 February 1878; London, England, UK)
George Cruikshank was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.

Cruikshank was born in London. His father, Isaac Cruikshank, was one of the leading caricaturists of the late 1790s and Cruikshank started his career as his father's apprentice and assistant. His older brother, Isaac Robert, also followed in the family business as a caricaturist and illustrator.

Cruikshank's early work was caricature; but in 1823, at the age of 31, he started to focus on book illustration. He illustrated the first, 1823 English translation (by Edgar Taylor and David Jardine) of Grimms' Fairy Tales, published in two volumes as German Popular Stories.

On 16 October 1827, he married Mary Ann Walker (1807–1849). Two years after her death, on 7 March 1851, he married Eliza Widdison. The two lived at 263 Hampstead Road, North London.

Upon his death, it was discovered that Cruikshank had fathered 11 illegitimate children with a mistress named Adelaide Attree, his former servant, who lived close to where he lived with his wife. Adelaide was ostensibly married and had taken the married surname 'Archibold'.

Cruikshank's early career was renowned for his social caricatures of English life for popular publications.

He achieved early success collaborating with William Hone in his political satire The Political House That Jack Built (1819).

In the same year he produced the remarkable anti-abolitionist New Union Club. It satirised a dinner party organised by abolitionists with black guests.

His first major work was Pierce Egan's Life in London (1821) in which the characters Tom and Jerry, two 'men about town' visit various London locations and taverns to enjoy themselves and carouse. This was followed by The Comic Almanack (1835–1853) and Omnibus (1842).

He gained notoriety with his political prints that attacked the royal family and leading politicians. In 1820 he received a royal bribe of £100 for a pledge "not to caricature His Majesty" (George IV of the United Kingdom) "in any immoral situation". His work included a personification of England named John Bull who was developed from about 1790 in conjunction with other British satirical artists such as James Gillray, and Thomas Rowlandson.

Cruikshank replaced one of his major influences, James Gillray, as England's most popular satirist. For a generation he delineated Tories, Whigs and Radicals impartially. Satirical material came to him from every public event – wars abroad, the enemies of Britain (he was highly patriotic), the frolic, among other qualities, such as the weird and terrible, in which he excelled. His hostility to enemies of Britain and a crude racism is evident in his illustrations commissioned to accompany William Maxwell's History of the Irish rebellion in 1798 (1845) where his lurid depictions of incidents in the rebellion were characterised by the simian-like portrayal of Irish rebels. Among the other racially engaged works of Cruikshank were caricatures about the "legal barbarities" of the Chinese, the subject given by his friend, Dr. W. Gourley, a participant in the ideological battle around the Arrow War, 1856–60.

For Charles Dickens, Cruikshank illustrated Sketches by Boz (1836), The Mudfog Papers (1837–38) and Oliver Twist (1838). He also illustrated Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838), which Dickens edited under his regular nom de plume, "Boz". Cruikshank even acted in Dickens's amateur theatrical company.

On 30 December 1871 Cruikshank published a letter in The Times which claimed credit for much of the plot of Oliver Twist. The letter launched a fierce controversy around who created the work. Cruikshank was not the first Dickens illustrator to make such a claim. Robert Seymour who illustrated the Pickwick Papers suggested that the idea for that novel was originally his; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any specific input.

The friendship between Cruikshank and Dickens soured further when Cruikshank became a fanatical teetotaler in opposition to Dickens's views of moderation.

In Somerset Maugham's short story "Miss King", Cruickshank's influence is referenced:
" She wore a large white cotton nightcap (on entering Ashenden has noticed the brown wig on a stand on the dressing-table) tied under the chin and a white voluminous nightdress that came high up in the neck. Nightcap and nightdress belonged to a past age and reminded you of Cruickshank's illustrations to the novels of Charles Dickens. "

In the late 1840s, Cruikshank's focus shifted from book illustration to an emphasis on alcohol temperance and anti-smoking. Formerly a heavy drinker, he now supported, lectured to, and supplied illustrations for the National Temperance Society and the Total Abstinence Society, among others. The best known of these are The Bottle, 8 plates (1847), with its sequel, The Drunkard's Children, 8 plates (1848), with the ambitious work, The Worship of Bacchus, published by subscription after the artist's oil painting, now in the Tate Gallery, London. For his efforts he was made vice president of the National Temperance League in 1856.

When the invasion scare of 1859 led to the creation of the Volunteer Movement, Cruikshank was one of those who organised Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs). At first his unit was the 24th Surrey RVC, which recruited from working men who were total abstainers and was named 'Havelock's Own' in honour of Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, a hero of the Indian Mutiny and pioneer of Temperance Clubs in the army. However, Cruikshank received little encouragement from the Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey, and was rebuked for crossing into Kent to recruit. Disgusted, he disbanded his unit in 1862 and began anew in Middlesex, organising the 48th Middlesex RVC (Havelock's Temperance Volunteers). The unit ran into financial difficulties and when Cruikshank was forced to retire due to age, he was replaced as commanding officer by Lt-Col Cuthbert Vickers, a wealthy shipowner. The 48th Middlesex merged with the 2nd City of London RVC, also a working-men's unit, composed mainly of printers from the Fleet Street area, and the combined unit had a long history as the City of London Rifles.

After he developed palsy in later life, Cruikshank's health and work began to decline in quality. He died on 1 February 1878 and was originally buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. In November 1878 his remains were exhumed and reburied in St. Paul's Cathedral. Punch magazine, which presumably did not know of his large illegitimate family, said in its obituary: "There never was a purer, simpler, more straightforward or altogether more blameless man. His nature had something childlike in its transparency."

In his lifetime he created nearly 10,000 prints, illustrations, and plates. There are collections of his works in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. A Royal Society of Arts blue plaque commemorates Cruikshank at 293 Hampstead Road in Camden Town.
Source: wikipedia
George Cruikshank art

Robert Dennis Crumb (born 30 August 1943; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
Robert Crumb is an American cartoonist and musician. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contemporary American culture. His work has attracted controversy, especially for his depiction of women and non-white races.

Crumb first rose to prominence after the 1968 debut of Zap Comix, which was the first successful publication of the underground comix era. Countercultural characters such as Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural, and the images from his "Keep on Truckin'" strip, were among his popular creations. Following the decline of the underground, he moved towards biographical and autobiographical subjects, while refining his drawing style, a heavily crosshatched pen-and-ink style inspired by late 19th- and early 20th-century cartooning. Much of his work appeared in a magazine he founded, Weirdo (1981–1993), which was one of the most prominent publications of the alternative comics era. He is married to cartoonist Aline Kominsky-Crumb, with whom he has frequently collaborated.

In 1991, Crumb was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.

Robert Crumb was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a Catholic household of English and Scottish ancestry, and is a descendant on his mother's side of former U.S. president Andrew Jackson. His father, Charles V. Crumb, authored the book Training People Effectively, and was a Combat Illustrator for 20 years in the United States Marine Corps. His mother, Beatrice, was a housewife who reportedly abused diet pills and amphetamines. Charles and Beatrice's marriage was unhappy and the children were frequent witnesses to their parents' arguments. The couple had four other children: sons Charles Junior and Maxon, both of whom suffered from mental illness; and daughters Sandra and Carol.

Inspired by the works of Walt Kelly, Fleischer Brothers animation, and others, Crumb and his brothers drew their own comics and sold them door to door. At fifteen, Crumb became obsessed with collecting jazz and blues records from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Crumb's first job, in 1962, was drawing novelty greeting cards for American Greetings in Cleveland, Ohio. There he met a group of young bohemians such as Buzzy Linhart, Liz Johnston, and Harvey Pekar. Johnston introduced him to his future wife, Dana Morgan, whom he married in 1964. Dissatisfied with greeting card work, he tried to sell cartoons to comic book companies, who showed little interest in his work. In 1965, cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman printed some of Crumb's work in the humor magazine he edited, Help!. Crumb moved to New York, intending to work with Kurtzman, but Help! ceased publication shortly after. Crumb briefly illustrated bubblegum cards for Topps before returning to Cleveland and American Greetings.

In 1966, Crumb and Dana took LSD, after which Crumb increasingly found his job at American Greetings difficult to bear. In 1967, encouraged by the reaction to some drawings he had published in underground newspapers, including Philadelphia's Yarrowstalks, he and two friends left for San Francisco, the center of the counterculture movement; he called Dana to follow him in 1968. His Zap Comix #1 appeared early that year, followed by #2 and #0; later issues also featured work by Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Robert Williams, and S. Clay Wilson. The countercultural work was filled with gratuitous sex, drugs, and violence; it sold well, and marked the beginning of the underground comix era.

Crumb was a prolific cartoonist in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He produced much of his best-known work then, including his Keep on Truckin' strip, and strips featuring characters such as the bohemian Fritz the Cat, spiritual guru Mr. Natural, and oversexed African-American stereotype Angelfood McSpade. In 1978, he divorced Dana and married cartoonist Aline Kominsky, with whom Crumb has frequently collaborated.

Crumb and family moved to a small village near Sauve in southern France in 1991. In 2009, after four years of work, Crumb produced The Book of Genesis an unabridged illustrated graphic novel version of the biblical Book of Genesis. Source: Wikipedia
Robert Crumb art

Cyrus Cuneo
Cyrus Cuneo was chosen by art instructor Percy V. Bradshaw as one of the artists to illustrate "The Art of the Illustrator", a collection of twenty portfolios demonstrating six stages of a single painting or drawing by twenty different artists and published in 1918.

See our original copies of The Art of the Illustrator published by Percy V Bradshaw in 1918.

Cyrus Cuneo art

Cynicus (Martin Anderson) (1854 - 1932; Tayport, Fife, Scotland)
Victorian artist Martin Anderson (who we know as Cynicus) first met success as a pioneering satirical cartoonist and then later as a comic postcard illustrator. In 1902 Anderson founded his postcard publishing business and from humble beginnings in Tayport became a star of the London Art Scene.

While the Cynicus Publishing Company prospered and became a significant local employer the success was short lived and, by 1911, he faced financial ruin.

Anderson and his sister subsequently lived in poverty in the mansion home, (known locally as "Cynicus Castle") that he had built on the proceeds of his postcard business. He died in 1932 and was buried in an unmarked grave, his very grand but neglected home being demolished seven years later. A sad end.
Source: About Postcards

Rinaldo 'Roy' Dami (born 1923; Cismon del Grappa, Italy - 14 February 1979)
An accomplished artist, illustrator and writer in his own right, Roy Dami co-founded the art agency named after him and his brother Piero, Studio Creazione Dami, and the publishing house Dami International.

Studio Dami was an important player in British comics, providing much of the artwork for the many war comics (and Western comics) published after the war. As an agent, Dami introduced numerous talented Italian (and later, Argentinian) artists to the post-war British comics scene.


Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Roy Dami: British War Comics illustrators  Special

Santo D'Amico (11 December 1927 - 25 October 1995; Italy)
The Italian artist Santo D'Amico worked for a variety of Italian and French publishers during the 1960s and 1970s.

After studying at the Liceo Artistico, Santo D'Amico moved on to study Architecture. While still studying, he presented his drawings and comics to several publishers. He had his first publications in Il Giornalino, doing lots of illustrations and "cinema novels" like 'Sifrid', 'Capitani Coraggiosi' and 'Guglielmo Tell'. While also cooperating with Paoline publishers, he began a collaboration with Il Vittorioso, for which he illustrated series like 'Na'Giamba', 'Speron d'Oro', 'Squadriglia Acrobatica' and 'Jolly', the latter in cooperation with Roberto Diso. Other work included Swiss Family Robinson which appeared in the UK comic Princess Tina in the early 1970s.

For the French market, he worked mostly with Diso on so-called "petits formats". With Diso, he created 'Dan Panther' (1964-69), as well as 'Atoman contro Killer' (1965-66). He also worked on series like 'Perceval' (1959-60) and 'Lancelot' (also in cooperation with Diso, scripts by Jean Ollivier, 1965-87). D'Amico has illustrated 40 episodes of 'The Phantom'. He spent the final years of his career working for Il Giornalino.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia & Illustration Art Gallery
Santo D'Amico art

Luigi (Gino) D'Antonio (16 March 1927 - 2006; Milan, Italy)
Gino D'Antonio came to the UK to work for Studio Dami on British comics. He illustrated "No Rest for Biggles" in Junior Mirror and "Biggles Takes Charge" in Express Weekly. His big break came when he drew Buffalo Bill in the Comet. He went on to War Picture Library where his first strip was Red Devils in 1957. He also drew Paddy Payne in Lion and strips in Valiant.

His work for Tell Me Why and Look and Learn included classic novel adaptations such as Quo Vadis by Henry Sienkiewicz, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Luigi (Gino) D' Antonio, writer and artist, was born in Milan on March 16, 1927. He began his career almost by chance. In the mid-forties, he was the neighbour of Mario Oriani (a writer on Corriere dei Ragazzi) who helped him to start his career as author and artist. D'Antonio was always passionate about drawing, and began his career on Jess Dakota, (Joe Dakota in France) at Della Casa publishers, in a style obviously inspired by Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon.

In 1950, he became acquainted with Mario Leone and drew the series Angeli della strada (based on Leone's story). From 1951 to 1957, he collaborated on the magazine Il Vittorioso. In 1952 he began his most famous series, Pecos Bill, a western series created by Guido Martina and Raffaele Paparella. In 1954, he drew many illustrations for the weekly magazine Domenica del Corriere and some episodes of the second series of El Kid, another western, based on stories by Gianluigi Bonelli (published by Audace (the first incarnation of Sergio Bonelli Editore)). In 1955-56, still for Audacity and with Bonelli, he drew some episodes of I Tre Bill and also contributed to Western, a review published by Dardo.

In 1955 he became acquainted with Rinaldo Dami who headed his own studio with a team of artists who worked for the English market. Within the Dami studio, D'Antonio illustrated dozens of stories for Junior Mirror, Junior Express, Top Spot, Thriller Picture Library (Battler Britton Target Berlin - 1958), Cowboy Picture Library (Gun Rule - 1962), Fleetway Super Library and War Picture Library, and drew covers for Eagle and Boys World. He also drew adaptations for traditional literature (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Moby Dick, Quo Vadis, Tale of Two Cities, The Odyssey) for Tell me Why and World of Wonder. These latter being colour illustrations which he had not attempted before.

In 1966 he created Il storia del West (History of the West) for Italian publisher Bonelli (which was still called Araldo at this time).

In 1970, he started his collaboration with Il Giornalino working with texts by Alberto Ongaro, and drew episodes of Jim Lacy, the short history of Il Soldato Casciella, created the character of Susanna (for which he wrote all the episodes and collaborated on the drawings with his friends Renato Polese and Ferdinando Tacconi). His final project for this year was to finish the adaptation of Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island started by Franco Caprioli, a project that was halted due to the death of the author.

In 1971 Storia del West won the Three Days prize, and in 1974 the ANAF prize, at the International Show of Comics.

In 1976, he both wrote and drew Uomo dello Zululand, the second volume of the collection of hard-bound albums A Uomo un' will avventura, (A Man, an Adventure, which appeared in the French Mon Journal in a larger size) published by Cepim (another incarnation of Bonelli). In 1977 and 1978, he received the ANAF prize for "Best Italian Story Writer".

D'Antonio also wrote and drew all the episodes of the war series Il mercenario. In 1980, at the International Exhibition of Comics at Rapallo, he received the prize for the Best Story Writer. In 1983, he drew, in alternation with Tacconi, the covers of Full, the first Italian experimental comic (quickly abandoned) by Bonelli.

In 1984-85, D'Antonio's new series, a western entitled Bella & Bronco, launched (it appeared in El Bravo in France). The episodes were only 64 pages in length, but in a format slightly larger than traditional Bonelli size. The originality for this series stemmed from the fact that the heroes were women, which is rather rare as regards westerns. In 1986, D'Antonio turned his hand to another popular Italian series Orient Express, where he created the character Mac lo Straniero with drawings by Tacconi. He drew three episodes in this series: Il lungo viaggio, Verdi Campi di Fiandra and Ultimo atto. In 1986 he created Uomini senza Gloria (Men without Glory), a large historical fresco on the Second World War. In 1987, he became comics editor of the newspaper Il Giornalino, a position which he relinquished in 1992.

In 1989, he wrote a script for Nick Raider, the new Bonelli character created by Claudio Nizzi. Since then he has written many episodes for this series.

In 1996, at the International Show of Comics at Lucca, Italy, he received the title of "Master of the Comics" for his life time's achievement in comics. In 1999, he worked on the new Bonelli series: Julia as a writer with illustrations by Giancarlo Berardi. Gino D'Antonio died in 2006.

Mike McMahon, the 2000AD artist of Judge Dredd, said of him "The only artist whose work I copied and traced on a regular basis when I was growing up".
Source: DanDare.info and Illustration Art Gallery

See illustrators British War Comics Special for a Gino D'Antonio feature article.

Gino D'Antonio art

Benoît Dartigues; Sabres, Landes, France
In the 1980s, after studying architecture, Benoît (Benedict) Dartigues, alias BuD, launched into Comics. He began in To Follow and Heavy Metal but soon moved into press illustration and (using watercolours) advertising. In 2000, following an accident, he settled in Aquitaine and created a small publishing house but left after a few years to return to illustration. In 2010, under the pseudonym BuD he started the erotic series "Girls of Joy, Woman of Dreams". Then he turned towards illustration for Youth magazines (Bayard, Fleurus, Hachette, …).

He works in digital painting, i.e. he designs, draws and paints his pictures using a computer. The works are then Giclee printed as limited editions on canvas or art paper. This process is controlled by EPSON France, who guarantee the authenticity and provenance of each work by the artist.

In 2009, after the passage of Hurricane Klaus and the devastation of a nearby local forest had left vast empty spaces, he took up his brushes and discovered a new form of expression for him, acrylic:

"I've always been fascinated by the sky and the clouds, whether on sea or in the air. Bad photographer, I try since childhood to draw and paint what I see and feel. Today I seek in my work to capture the light and the materials around me and to compose a palette with which I build my paintings. One can then see a hyperrealistic image or even an abstract composition. But the important thing is that it exudes emotion that I want to translate."

Geofrey Darrow (born 21 October 1955; Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA)
Geofrey "Geof" Darrow is an American comic book artist, best known for his work on comic series Shaolin Cowboy, Hard Boiled and The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, which was adapted into an animated television series of the same name, as well as his contributions to The Matrix series of films. Darrow's approach to comics and art has been cited as an influence by a multitude of artists including Peter Chung, Frank Quitely, Seth Fisher, Eric Powell, Frank Cho, Juan José Ryp, James Stokoe, Chris Burnham, Aaron Kuder, Nick Pitarra.

Geofrey Darrow was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended a Catholic school for thirteen years. Darrow read comics, mostly DC, from an early age, but he only decided to pursue a career in illustartion after first seeing Jack Kirby's work in Fantastic Four Annual #3. As a teenager, he encountered Maurice Horn's The World Encyclopedia of Comics, which contained excerpts from Lieutenant Blueberry illustrated by Jean Giraud, whose art further affected his outlook on comics. Darrow ordered all available Blueberry volumes, gradually moving to other European works, such as Jean-Claude Mézières' Valérian and Greg and Hermann's Bernard Prince.

After graduating from Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, Darrow worked as a freelance illustrator for various advertising agencies. In the late 1970s, he moved to Los Angeles and joined Hanna-Barbera, where he worked as a character designer on a number of cartoon series, most notably Super Friends in its various incarnations. During his time in animation, Darrow became acquainted with such comic and animation industry figures as Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, Tex Avery and Dave Stevens. In 1982, Darrow met French comic book creator and his artistic idol Mœbius, who was staying in Los Angeles while working on Tron for Disney. Upon learning that Darrow is an artist interested in creating comics, Mœbius arranged a meeting for him with Les Humanoïdes Associés, the publisher of French science fiction anthology Métal Hurlant, and offered to collaborate on some sort of project. Eventually, Darrow moved to France to be able to work with Giraud more closely as the two were planning to produce a comic strip written by Mœbius and drawn by Darrow, but Giraud left France for Tahiti two weeks after Darrow's arrival. Despite that, they were able to produce an art portfolio titled La Cité Feu, penciled by Darrow, inked and colored by Mœbius, published in 1984 by Éditions Ædena. The meeting with Les Humanoïdes Associés resulted in Darrow's first published comics work which was also the debut of his character Bourbon Thret. The following year, the story was reprinted in Geof Darrow Comics and Stories along with a new one, also starring Bourbon Thret, and several pin-ups colored by Mœbius, Tanino Liberatore and François Boucq. The volume was also released as a limited edition accompanied by Darrow Magazine, which mostly consisted of illustrated private jokes from various French comic artists. Mistaking the Magazine for an actual periodical publication, a number of artists contacted Darrow and sent him their portfolios in hopes of doing artwork for the magazine.

During one of their stays in Los Angeles, Mœbius introduced Darrow to Frank Miller, which led to a friendship and a number of comics collaborations. Darrow, Miller and Steve Gerber started developing a Superman series as part of the Metropolis proposal, then after the idea fell through, Miller offered Darrow to work on a Daredevil story he was writing that would delve into the character's origin.

Miller realized he didn't want to be the person to bring Darrow into the world of Big Two artist-for-hire, and the two focused on developing their own story. As Darrow had never worked with a writer before, he often strayed from the script, prompting Miller to make a number of significant changes to the story. Between 1990 and 1992, Dark Horse published the three-issue mini-series titled Hard Boiled, which earned Miller and Darrow the 1991 Eisner Award in the "Best Writer/Artist Team" category. After Hard Boiled, Darrow wanted to do a superhero story, specifically, an Iron Man story, although Marvel wasn't interested. Miller and Darrow started developing the concept into their next project, The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot. This time, they worked in the so-called "Marvel style": Miller wrote a few paragraphs describing the general plot, from which Darrow drew the eighty-page story, which Miller then wrote the dialogue over. Between 1993 and the series' first issue, released in 1995, the characters of Big Guy and Rusty appeared in a number of Darrow-illustrated posters and pin-ups, occasionally crossing over with other creator-owned characters such as Spawn and Ash.

In 1994, Dark Horse started a new imprint titled Legend, spear-headed by Frank Miller and John Byrne and encompassing works by various creators including Art Adams, Mike Mignola and Darrow. The Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot was published in two issues in 1995 and 1996 under the Legend imprint. The characters also appeared in two issues of Mike Allred's Madman, and the comic book was later adapted into a 26-episode animated series of the same name, produced by Columbia TriStar Television and Dark Horse Entertainment, airing for two seasons from 1999 to 2001.

After finishing Big Guy and Rusty, Darrow decided to return to his Bourbon Thret character but felt he needed to "adapt" him for the American audience. In Geof's words:

I've always liked the character, and I wanted to do it again, but I thought "well, that's an odd name. No one in the United States will like it, it's just too odd. What can I call him?" I like Westerns and I like martial arts movies, so it's like taking a page from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's an odd two things to put together, so that's what I decided to call him. Shaolin Cowboy instead of Bourbon Thret. <...> I told Frank Miller I wanted to do something like a western, and Frank says "whatever you do, don't put cowboy in the title! That doesn't sell!" So of course I followed his advice.

Meanwhile, the then-unknown Wachowski siblings, impressed by Darrow's art for Hard Boiled, wanted to work with him on their production of The Matrix. Warner Bros. contacted Darrow, and after reading the script he agreed to work on the film. Wachowskis also brought comic book artist Steve Skroce from their short stint on Epic Comics' Ectokid, and the two proceeded to work on the concepts and storyboards which, when finished, played a pivotal role in getting the movie greenlit and financed. The Wachowskis later brought in Darrow as the conceptual designer on Speed Racer, although his contributions were significantly smaller compared to The Matrix trilogy. In 1999, shortly after the release of the first Matrix film, the Wachowskis announced they'll be working on an animated adaptation of Hard Boiled but the project was cancelled due to Miller not wanting to see his creation as an animated film. In 2019, Warner Bros. announced that Darrow and Skorce will be returning as storyboard artists and concept designers for the production of the fourth installment of The Matrix.

After finishing work on The Matrix trilogy, the Wachowskis set up a publishing house, Burlyman Entertainment, for which Darrow provided the logo illustration. Burlyman's output consisted of two paperbacks of The Matrix Comics collecting the short comic stories from The Matrix website, as well as seven issues of Darrow's Shaolin Cowboy, published between 2005 and 2007, and six issues of Doc Frankenstein, a Wachowskis-written and Skroce-drawn series originating from a concept developed by Darrow, which he described as "Doc Savage meets Citizen Kane".

In 2009, it was announced that the Wachowskis and Circle of Confusion were producing an animated feature of Shaolin Cowboy, subtitled Tomb of Doom, written and co-directed by Darrow, and animated by Madhouse. Darrow spent a year living in Japan and working on the production which was halted after the American financers, The Weinstein Company, backed out. Around half of the footage was finished, and some of the completed scenes and pencil tests were shown at San Diego ComicCon in 2012 and Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo in 2015. The film was supposed to feature a sequence animated by Masaaki Yuasa. In 2012, Shaolin Cowboy resumed publication at Dark Horse with a 96-page book stylized as a pulp magazine containing a Shaolin Cowboy prose story written by Andrew Vachss (with whom Darrow has had a working relationship dating back to the early 90s) with spot illustrations by Darrow, a prose story by Michael A. Black with spot illustrations by Gary Gianni and one-page strips written and drawn by Darrow. The book was followed by The Shaolin Cowboy, a four-issue mini-series subtitled Shemp Buffet for the collected edition, and The Shaolin Cowboy: Who Will Stop the Reign?, another four-issue mini-series, which incorporated some the visual ideas from the unfinished animated feature.

In 2015, DC Comics announced Darrow as the artist for the supplemental mini-comic to the third issue of Frank Miller and Brian Azzarello's The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, as well as the variant covers for issues 3 and 4, though none of his contributions were ultimately realized. Meanwhile, Dark Horse issued a press release announcing the first English-language collection of the Bourbon Thret strips, to be partially re-colored by Dave Stewart. Since then, Dark Horse has re-released Hard Boiled and The Big Guy and Risty the Boy Robot with new coloring by Stewart as well as the entirety of Shaolin Cowboy in a uniform format. As of 2019, the Bourbon Thret collection still hasn't been released.

Over the course of his career, Darrow has contributed storyboards and conceptual designs for a number film productions, many of which ended up cancelled, including J. J. Abrams' Superman: Flyby, an animated feature by Ridley Scott, one of Hollywood's attempts at adapting Akira, and Alex Proyas' adaptation of Paradise Lost. Outside of comics and film, Darrow has contributed artwork to a number of trading card series, including Magic: The Gathering, Star Wars Galaxy, Witchblade, The Shadow and Madman, as well as promotional posters, CD covers and role-playing games. Darrow also serves on the national advisory board of PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children.
Source: Wikipedia
Geof Darrow art

Chris Davey; Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, UK
An airbrush artist with years of experience, Chris has become Osprey Publishing's principal illustrator of RAF aircraft, having produced the profiles for over a dozen books since 1994. His most recent work included Aces 27 and 30, and Combat Aircraft 14 and 19. He is particularly adept at 'big' aircraft like the Halifax and Sunderland.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Chris Davey art

Gordon Charles H Davies (6 May 1923 - 1994; Kent, UK)
Gordon C Davies was a prolific book cover artist from the 1950s to the 1980s, most notably on a great many science fiction books as he was a very good artist of technology, from trains and planes to spaceships, and military subjects which included hardware.

I became aware of Davies' work when I began collecting SF books published by Curtis Warren; he worked prolifically for them (the rates were low); Phil Harbottle was a big fan of his work and when we were writing Vultures of the Void was of the opinion that it was Davies' covers that sold Curtis Warren's SF line, not the quality of the stories (which was also low... sometimes very low!). Davies produced over 40 covers for Curtis in 1952-54. In 1954, a book appeared under the byline Gordon Davies, although it was probably not by the artist.

Davies also worked for various other publishers around the same period including Scion, Authentic Science Fiction, Futuristic Science Stories, Panther Books and Brown Watson. The cheap paperback boom came to an end in 1954 and Davies had to find work elsewhere, including features for Daily Mail Boys Annual, Swift Annual, Eagle Annual and centre-spreads for the Eagle weekly. He continued to produce covers for Pan Books and New English Library, notably for titles by Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein.

Davies was born in West Derby, Lancashire, on 6 May 1923. [I believe he was the son of Henry and Martha (nee Rawlinson), who were married in West Derby in 1922.] Davies married Marjorie P. Mason in Surrey in 1951, Judy R. Hunt in Canterbury, Kent, in 1988.

He lived at 155 Sunningvale Avenue, Biggin Hill, Kent before moving to Woodlands Farm, Lyminge, Kent, in about 1970, where he lived until his death in 1994, aged 70.
Source: Bear Alley
Gordon Davies art

George Horace Davis (1881 - 1963; London, UK)
George Horace Davis was a British artist who was born in London and studied at Ealing School of Art. He served in the Royal Flying Corps during the first World War.

G H Davis has been called one of the most prolific artists of all time, despite this, it is extremely rare to come across his artwork for sale as it rarely leaves the collections of his admirers.

He was for a time staff artist on the publications Graphic and Sphere and in 1923 became chief staff artist on the Illustrated London News. During World War I he was head of aerial diagrams for the Royal Flying Corps and an Official War Artist. Davis wrote many articles connected with marine illustration and was very prolific as an illustrator, famous for his diagrammatic drawings and cut-away cross-sections of ships and new inventions.

His drawings are very detailed and produced in pencil, black ink and grisaille with very occasional colour work. Much of his art was used to publicise new models of car on the market. He was a member of RSMA and a founder-member of the Society of Aviation Artists. Showed at RA, Imperial War Museum which holds his work and elsewhere. Lived in Ewell, Surrey, then latterly in Brighton, Sussex.

His art first appeared in the Illustrated London News in July 1923 and he worked for them until his death 40 years later.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
G H Davis art

John Burton Davis, Jr. (2 December 1924 - 27 July 2016); Atlanta, USA
Jack Davis was an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories. He was one of the founding cartoonists for Mad in 1952. His cartoon characters are characterized by extremely distorted anatomy, including big heads, skinny legs and extremely large feet.

Jack Davis was born in Atlanta, Georgia. As a child, he adored listening to Bob Hope on the radio, and tried to draw him, despite not knowing what Hope looked like.

Davis saw comic book publication at the age of 12 when he contributed a cartoon to the reader's page of Tip Top Comics #9 (December 1936). After drawing for his high school newspaper and yearbook, he spent three years in the U.S. Navy, where he contributed to the daily Navy News.

Attending the University of Georgia on the G.I. Bill, he drew for the campus newspaper and helped launch an off-campus humor publication, Bullsheet, which he described as "not political or anything but just something with risqué jokes and cartoons." After graduation, he was a cartoonist intern at The Atlanta Journal, and he worked one summer inking Ed Dodd's Mark Trail comic strip, a strip which he later parodied in Mad as Mark Trade.

In 1949, he illustrated a Coca-Cola training manual, a job that gave him enough cash to buy a car and drive to New York. Attending the Art Students League of New York, he found work with the Herald Tribune Syndicate as an inker on Leslie Charteris's The Saint comic strip, drawn by Mike Roy in 1949-50. His own humor strip, Beauregard, with gags in a Civil War setting, was carried briefly by the McClure Syndicate. After rejections from several comic book publishers, he began freelancing for William Gaines' EC Comics in 1950, contributing to Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales, The Vault of Horror, Piracy, Incredible Science Fiction, Crime Suspenstories, Shock Suspenstories and Terror Illustrated.

In 2011, Davis told the Wall Street Journal about his early career and his breakthrough with EC: "I was about ready to give up, go home to Georgia and be either a forest ranger or a farmer. But I went down to Canal Street and Lafayette, up in an old rickety elevator and through a glass door to Entertaining Comics where Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines were putting out horror (comic) books. They looked at my work and it was horrible and they gave me a job right away! Every time you went in to see Bill Gaines, he would write you a check when you brought in a story. You didn't have to put in a bill or anything. I was very, very hungry and I was thinking about getting married. So I kept the road pretty hot between home and Canal Street. I would go in for that almighty check, go home and do the work, bring it in and get another check and pick up another story."

Davis was particularly noted for his depiction of the Crypt-Keeper in the horror comics, revamping the character's appearance from the more simplistic Al Feldstein version to a tougher, craggier, mangier man with hairy warts, salivating mouth and oversized hands and feet, who usually didn't wear shoes. Among the classic horror tales he illustrated were "Foul Play" which was cited in Dr. Fredric Wertham's book Seduction of the Innocent for its depiction of "a comic book baseball game". Others, like "Tain't The Meat, It's The Humanity", "Death Of Some Salesman", "Fare Tonight Followed By Increasing Clottiness", "Tight Grip" and "Lower Berth" were Crypt-Keeper classics. He did the covers for every issue of Crypt from issue #29 to #46. In his work for Harvey Kurtzman's war comics he tackled a variety of subjects and had a particular affinity for depicting American Civil War stories.

He also did many covers for Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and Incredible Science Fiction as well. The editors, William M. Gaines, Albert B. Feldstein and Harvey Kurtzman have said he was the fastest artist they had in those days, completely penciling and inking three pages a day at times, or more. His use of the brush to create depth and mood was unique and memorable. His wrinkled clothing, scratchy lines and multi-layered layouts were so popular in the 1950s, that other artists at rival companies began copying the style—notably, Howard Nostrand in Harvey's horror comics. In the late 1950s, Davis drew Western stories for Atlas Comics. His 1963 work on the Rawhide Kid (#33-35) was his last for non-humor comic books.

His style of wild, free-flowing brushwork and wacky characters made him a perfect choice when Harvey Kurtzman launched Mad as a zany, satirical EC comic book in 1952. He appeared in most of the first 30 issues of Mad, all 12 issues of Panic and even some work in Cracked. Davis contributed to other Kurtzman magazines—Trump, Humbug and Help!—eventually expanding into illustrations for record jackets, movie posters, books and magazines, including Time and TV Guide. He completed an 88-card set of humorous cartoons called Wacky Plaks, which Topps Chewing Gum Co. released in 1959. In 1961, he wrote, drew, and edited his own comic book, Yak Yak, for Dell Comics. In 1965, he illustrated Meet The North American Indians by Elizabeth Payne, published by Random House as part of their children's Step Up Books line. (ISBN 0-394-80060-5). He returned as a regular contributor to Mad magazine in the mid 1960s and appeared in nearly every issue after that for decades. He also drew many covers for the magazine, especially in the 1970s.

Davis also had a regular comic strip feature in Pro Quarterback magazine in the early 1970s entitled Superfan, which was written by his Mad cohort, Nick Meglin.

Davis first came to the attention of TV Guide in 1965 when he illustrated an eight-page advertising supplement for NBC's TV lineup, which featured icons such as Johnny Carson, Dean Martin and fictional characters such as Dr. Kildare, Napoleon Solo and Maxwell Smart. His first cover for the magazine came in 1968, when he depicted a tribute to Andy Griffith, in which the actor was hoisted on the shoulders of his co-stars, Don Knotts and Jim Nabors. Davis recalls, "Every assignment was a thrill because TV Guide was the top magazine in the country. I couldn't wait to get in my little MG and drive from New York out to the magazine's offices in Radnor, Pennsylvania, to show the editors my latest design. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world." Davis would contribute 23 covers for TV Guide between 1968 and 1981. In 2013 the magazine honored him in a retrospective in which it recounted his history with the publication, and spotlighted some of his most memorable covers, including those depicting Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (March 28, 1970), Davis' childhood hero Bob Hope for a cover on Hope's history with the Oscars (April 10, 1971) and Bonanza (August 14, 1971). Years later, while watching a TV interview of Hope, Davis was gratified to notice that his Hope cover was displayed on the back wall of the comedian's office; "it was one of the proudest moments of my life," recalled Davis.

Davis created the cartoon bee which (in decal form) appears on the flanks of all the buses in the Bee-Line running from Westchester to New York City. A Westchester resident at the time, Davis lived directly adjacent to one of the Bee Line's bus routes, and he mentioned in an interview how gratifying it was to see his own artwork drive past his window several times every day. Similar synchronicity happened when Mad moved to 1700 Broadway, where the magazine's fifth-floor production department was next to a wall that had previously been the location, only three feet away, of an immense Davis cartoon for a bank, an advertisement that towered six stories over 53rd Street.

Like fellow Mad alumnus Paul Coker, Jr., Davis also contributed to Rankin-Bass productions; his character designs are featured in Mad Monster Party, The King Kong Show, The Coneheads and the cartoon series The Jackson 5ive. For Raid insecticide, Davis created the animated bug that screamed "Raid?!" Phil Kimmelman Associates created several commercials designed by Davis and animated in his style.

Davis produced the artwork for the poster for the 1963 comedy chase film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (which he then parodied for the cover of the Mad paperback "It's a World, World, World, World Mad"). When the Criterion Collection released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in 2014, Davis provided illustrations for the accompanying booklet.

Davis' artwork for the comedy Western Viva Max! (1969) formed the centerpiece of that film's promotional campaign, and he did the same for the film Kelly's Heroes in 1970. His poster for Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973) presented the film in a comic light.

In 1963 Davis produced a work of cover art for the Richard Wolfe album, Many Happy Returns of the Day! released by MGM Records, and designed the Homer and Jethro album, Homer and Jethro Go West (RCA Victor).

In 1966, Davis created the cover art for the Johnny Cash album, Everybody Loves a Nut.

Davis was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2003. He also received the National Cartoonists Society's Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. A finalist for inclusion in the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1990, 1991 and 1992, he received the National Cartoonists Society's Advertising Award for 1980 and their Reuben Award for 2000.

In June 2002, Davis had a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Society of Illustrators in New York. He was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2005.

In 1989, Davis was commissioned by the United States Postal Service to design the 25-cent Letter Carriers stamp. There was some concern that the cartoon would offend some letter carriers as being too informal and not respectful of their position. However, the President of the Letter Carriers Union gave his blessing, and the stamp was well received. Although postal policy does not allow artists to portray living persons on stamps, one of the carriers in the stamp is an unmistakable self-portrait of Davis.

As of May 2014, he is the only surviving artist of the EC horror comics. Their colourist (who did no story art for EC), Marie Severin is also still living. Wallace Wood died in 1981 and Reed Crandall died the following year. Bernie Krigstein died in 1990 and Graham Ingels died the following year. Joe Orlando died in 1998. Johnny Craig and George Evans died in 2001. Jack Kamen and Will Elder died in 2008, Frank Frazetta and Al Williamson died in 2010. Harry Harrison died in 2012 and Al Feldstein died in April 2014.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery & Wikipedia

John Fredrick Charles Davis MBE (Fl. 1960s - 1980s)
Science fiction illustrator Jon Davis – best known to British comics fans for his work on TV Century 21, Lady Penelope, Countdown and Princess Picture Library comics in the 1960s and 70s – has been awarded an MBE for services to Children's Literature.

Jon has been an Illustrator since 1960, working on book jackets, magazine illustration, drawing strips such as Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service and UFO. An integral part of the establishment of Linden Artists in the 1960s, his book art includes work for Ladybird (such as an edition of Frankenstein in 1984) and Rupert the Bear.

Jon was one of the key artists who drew for the comic TV21 in the 1960s and early 1970s and also drew for D .C Thompson in The Sparky Comic which included Mr Bubbles & Klanky The Robot.

He began drawing science fiction art in 1973, after reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
“I enjoy the work I do now,” he says, “which is mainly history books for children – all Cartoons, Great fun!”

He has published his own book, the Fantastic Adventures of Trevor & Eric, available for purchase in print from Authorhouse or as an eBook download from Kobo.

“I enjoy the work I do now,” he says, “which is mainly history books for children – all Cartoons, Great fun!”
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Jon Davis art

Reginald Ben Davis (10 December 1907 - 1998; UK)
R B Davis was a regular illustrator of nature subjects and animals for Look and Learn and Treasure. Some of his Look and Learn illustrations were collected in Animal Partnerships by Maurice Burton (1969).

Born on 10 December 1907, Davis was a commercial artist before the Second World War working for Byron Studios. After the war he became a regular artist for School Friend, drawing the adventures of castaway schoolgirl 'Jill Crusoe'. Amongst his other strips for the same paper were 'Jon of the Jungle', 'Kay of Cedar Creek', 'Phantom Ballerina' and 'Penny of Maywood Stables'.

Davis was also a regular cover artist for Schoolgirls' Picture Library from its debut in June 1957 and later illustrated text stories for Girls' Crystal in the early 1960s. From 1962 he concentrated on colour illustration work and only occasionally returned to comic strips. In the 1970s he concentrated on illustrating wildlife books. Davis lived in Liphook, Hampshire, where he died in late 1998, aged 90.
Source: Look and Learn
Reginald B Davis art

Al Davison; Newcastle, UK
Al Davison is an English comic book writer and artist from Newcastle, England. He now resides in Coventry, where he runs The Astral Gypsy, his studio and Comic shop with his wife Maggie.

He is most famous for his autobiographical graphic novel The Spiral Cage (Renegade Press, 1988, longer version Titan Books, 1990), Absolute edition from Active Images 2003 which describes his lifelong struggle with spina bifida and his rise to successful comic book creator, martial arts scholar, film maker, and performer. The Spiral Cage featured in Tony Isabella's 1000 Comic Books You Must Read.

He is the subject of a documentary, also called The Spiral Cage, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson.
Source: Wikipedia
Al Davison art

Leo Davy (1924 - 1987; UK)
To the end of his life, Leo Davy shunned art dealers and critics, believing that painting spoke for itself. His late works provide a connection between his landscapes, inspired by the north Cornwall coast which he has made his home, and the tradition of abstraction to which he has been a contributor. An assessment of the significance of his work to British art as a whole has yet to be made but, "Leo Davy is vital to our understanding of the British abstract tradition," Barry Barker, Arnolfini Director.
Leo Davy art

Víctor de la Fuente (1927 - 2 July 2010)
Víctor de la Fuente was a Spanish comic book artist and writer. He worked mostly in the western, second world war, and heroic fantasy genres.

De la Fuente was born in Ríocaliente, and started his comics career in Adolfo López Rubio's studio in 1945. In this period he worked for Spanish magazines such as Chicos, Flechas y Pelayos and Zas. In his mid-40s he moved to Latin America, first to Cuba, then to Argentina and Chile, where he signed a contract with Editorial Zig Zag. In 1957 he became director of the El Peneca magazine and founded his own advertisement agency.

In 1961 he returned to Spain, and subsequently worked for local publishers as well as British ones including Fleetway (War Picture Library) and DC Thomson. In 1968 he started a collaboration with the French magazine Pilote, published by Dargaud, with the series Les diamants sanglants ("The bloody diamonds"). The following year he began the western comic Sunday, written by Víctor Mora and published by Spanish Selecciones Ilustradas.

In 1969–1971, de la Fuente wrote and drawn the heroic fantasy series Haxtur for the Spanish magazine Trinca; in 1971 he also drew a single story for American publisher Warren, "I Am Dead, Egypt. Dead", written by Doug Moench, which appeared in Eerie #35. The story won the prestigious 1972 Warren Award for best story. In 1972 he created, again for Trinca, the post-apocalypse series Mathai-Dor, which remained unfinished due to rights problems. In the same year he moved to France, and executed the erotic-western series Mortimer for Italian publisher E.P. In 1973 Haxtur won two awards at the Trieste and Genoa comics festivals in Italy.

In 1974 he created another western series, Amargo, for Hachette. In 1976 he took part to the comics adaptation of the Holy Bible and the history of France for Larrousse. In 1977 he collaborated with the Belgian magazine Tintin and, in 1978, he created another heroic fantasy character, Haggarth, for the Belgian magazine À Suivre. In 1979, he began the long western series Los gringos, written initially by Jean-Michel Charlier and, from 1992 onwards, by Guy Vidal. In 1980 de la Fuente won the Yellow Kid Award in Lucca.

His last works were a series of Tex Willer stories for Italian publisher Sergio Bonelli Editore and the French album Aliot, written by Alejandro Jodorowsky. De la Fuente died in 2010 and was buried at Le Mesnil-Saint-Denis
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Victor de la Fuente art

Neville Dear; UK
A prolific artist for Look and Learn, illustrating a wide variety of historical subjects and various series including 'Disasters That Shook the World' (1963), 'By the Rivers of Babylon' (1964), 'They Made Headlines' (1964), 'Epic Stories of the Iron Road' (1965) and others. In 1949, Dear and two other students from the Royal College of Art were commissioned to decorate the walls of the children's section of the Chelsea Public Library.

In the 1950s he began producing illustrations for William Collins, including work for Collins' Magazine, Collins Boys' Annual and books, including Showell Styles' 'Tiger Patrol' series.

As well as his magazine illustrations for Look and Learn, Ranger, Argosy, Picture Post and others, Dear also worked for Oxford University Press, Wheaton, Hodder & Stoughton, Corgi, and Eyre Methuen. With others he illustrated The Hamlyn Bible for Children (1974) and he was a regular illustrator for Reader's Digest's condensed books.
Source: Look and Learn
Neville Dear art

Arturo Perez Del Castillo (1925 - 1992)
The Chilean artist del Castillo's pen and ink work has been highly admired for many years. In the late 1950s he worked for Fleetway Publications, defining the art of fine penmanship on such strips as The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask

By the 1960s he was producing westerns for comics such as Top Spot, Ranger and Cowboy Picture Library; Garret (1962 - scripts by Ray Collins: pseudonym of Argentinian writer Eugenio Zappietro); Dan Dakota, Kendall (sheriff of Dodge City) , Larrigan (reprinted in both Fleetway's Lone Rider Picture Library and Cowboy Picture Library nos. 455, 463, 467), and Los tres mosqueteros en el Oeste. In 1974, again with Ray Collins he created Il Cobra, and with Oesterheld Loco Sexton. His most famous creation remains the western strip, Randall: The Killer, began in 1957.

del Castillo became famous for his skilful and detailed penwork, and in particular for his cross-hatching technique. In the late 1950s, del Castillo drew a number of comic strip adaptations of Alexandre Dumas' novels, such as The King's Musketeers, which first appeared in Film Fun and was then reprinted in Lion Comic, and The Man in the Iron Mask that also appeared in Fleetway's Lion Comic.

However, his main subject and greatest love, was always that of the western. One of his earliest western characters - Ringo - appeared in the last three editions of Top Spot (January 2nd, 9th and 16th 1960). Whilst Dan Dakota - Lone Gun appeared in Ranger comic. He also contributed at least one story to Cowboy Picture Library - CPL 467: Ghost Town.

In the mid-sixties, he participated in the "Bande Dessinée et figuration narrative" exhibition in Paris. The exhibition was held at the Musée d'Art at the Louvre.

Arturo del Castillo retired in 1989 and died in Buenos Aires in 1992.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery

See more on Arturo del Castillo in our illustrators issue 19 and enjoy his Western storytelling in our Fleetway Picture Library Classics collection LARRIGAN.

Arturo del Castillo art

Pino Dell'Orco; Rome, Italy
Pino Dell'Orco was an aeroplane-obsessed schoolboy who grew up in Rome reading the comics of the legendary German/Italian artist Curt Caesar.

Dell'Orco was something of a prodigy and as a teenager he became an apprentice to Enrico DeSeta before joining the Favalli studios to paint movie posters. Dell’Orco had absorbed DeSeta's style so completely that he could (and indeed did) paint entire posters in his style, which DeSeta would then sign! In the late 1950s Favalli died and the studio broke up with most of the artists relocating to Milan to join the D’Ami studio.

Dell'Orco, on the other hand, moved to London where he joined the Bryan Colmer agency. After a few years painting paperback covers Colmer approached Dell'Orco about the possibility of creating war covers for Fleetway and he jumped at the chance, going on to paint over 300 of them throughout the 1960s. As it turns, some of his fellow cover artists were his old colleagues at the Favalli studio -- Allessandro Biffignandi and Nino Caroselli, now based in Milan, though bizarrely the fact that they ended up working on the same comics was pure coincidence.

Pino Dell'Orco's paintings were invariably masterpieces of design and this is particularly true of his many covers for Air Ace. Working on artboard roughly the size of a U.S. original comic book page he had a far more minimalist approach than DeGaspari. His paintings often employed quite thin blocks, even using the bare surface of the board as a background colour and employing quick flicks of the brush, charcoal or pencil for details. They have a dynamic immediacy that flies off the page - but even more than that - it is their composition that really makes them stand out. Dell'Orco's covers are all about overlapping shapes, negative space, clashing colours, extreme perspective and vertiginous angles. The cover to Air Ace #156 is a terrific example of his extremely angled aeroplanes criss – crossing each other – indeed, they are almost abstract cover designs, beautifully complemented in this case by the classic early 60’ lettering.
Source: David Roach in Today's Inspiration: http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/cover-art-of-british-war-comics-day-2.html

See illustrators British War Comics Special for a Pino Dell'Orco article.

Pino Dell'Orco art

Tony Dezuniga (8 November 1932 - 11 May 2012)[
With writer John Albano, Tony Dezuniga co-created DC Comics long-running and best-loved Western anti-hero Jonah Hex, and with Sheldon Mayer the first Black Orchid.

Dezuniga was the first Filipino comic book artist whose work was accepted by American publishers, paving the way for many other Filipino artists to break into the international comic book industry.
Tony Dezuniga art

Frank Dickens
Frank Dickens began his famous and long-running Bristow strip in the Aberdeen Press and Journal in 1961 and has since produced more than 12,000 strips, the majority published in the London Evening Standard between 1962 and 2001. Bristow is the longest-running daily cartoon strip by a single author and has been in continuous publication since its inception.

It's principal character, the eponymous Bristow, is a buying clerk (18th in line for Chief Buyer) in the Chester-Perry Organization and his adventures involve everything to do with the drudgery of commuting, bureaucracy and large office life.
Frank Dickens art

Mike Dickinson
Mike Dickinson has lived in Bradford on Avon with his family for forty years.

He is the author and illustrator of several books including 'On the Road with Ronnie the Rep' (Littlehampton Book Services, 1987) and 'Danny's Birthday' (Scholastic Little Hippo, 2000).

"I used to be a children's author/illustrator and a cartoonist. I am now combining the illustrating with the cartooning and producing humorous animals in papier mache. They are mostly crafted from recycled card and newspaper and each one is unique."
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Mike Dickinson art

Ian Oscar Dickson (15 January 1905 - 21 July 1987; New Zealand and UK)
Ian Dickson was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, on 15 January 1905. He grew up in Melbourne and was self-taught as an artist. Dickson was something of a world traveller, seeking out work as a cartoonist and illustrator wherever he was. His work appeared in the Adelaide Register News Pictorial, the Brisbane Telegraph and tourist brochures for the Queensland government.

Emigrating to England, he produced illustrations for film companies and work for Razzle before moving to Ceylon, working for the Times of Ceylon and Ceylon Observer. Returning to Britain in 1935, his work appeared in Punch, London Opinion, Men Only and Blighty, often drawing glamour girls. During the War he served with the R.A.F.

For 15 years he drew Mum each week for the Sunday Graphic and his comic strips also appeared in Eagle Annual, Girl Annual and Swift Annual. Illustration Art Gallery

David Dimmock (active 1960s)
Another artist about whom not so much is known. He was active during the 1960s and his work appears in many issues of the popular Look and Learn magazine during 1968 and 1969, including the adventure series 'Today's Pioneers' and 'The Battle with Big Muddy'.
Source: The Illustration Art Gallery

Roberto Diso (born 16 April 1932; Rome, Italy)
Roberto Diso was born in Rome. He worked for Il Vittorioso since 1954, where he made a couple of comics in cooperation with Santo D'Amico. Later on, he was affiliated with the Giolitti studios, where he produced mainly war stories for the British Fleetway agency, such as 'Zip Nolan' in Lion Comic.

He was also the artist for the first 'Tiger' story. For the French market, he provided artwork to 'Lancelot' and 'Dan Panther' for Éditions Aventures et Voyages, again in cooperation with D'Amico. He also drew adult strips (1965), episodes of 'Goldrake' and mystery strips for the German market.

He joined Bonelli publishers in 1974, where he became one of the artists of 'Mister No'. Diso became the main illustrator and cover artist of the series from issue 116. In 1985, he created 'Rodo', the first strip he created on his own, in the magazine Giungla. In 1989, he illustrated 'Rudy X' with scripts by Rinaldo Triani in the review Comic Art, for which he also created several independent stories.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia
Roberto Diso art

Maurice Dodd (25 October 1922 - 31 December 2005; Hackney, London, UK)
Born in Hackney, London, Maurice Dodd was an English writer and cartoonist best known for his years spent working on The Perishers comic strip published in the Daily Mirror.

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force as a Servicing Commando, alongside Bill Herbert. After the war Dodd was demobilised and began to study art. He then found work in advertising and, after he won a competition to write a slogan for Time, Bill Herbert, by then the cartoon editor at The Daily Mirror, offered Dodd the chance to take over the writing of a comic strip he had created, The Perishers. Working with the artist Dennis Collins, Dodd provided rough layouts, which Collins then drew from.

Maurice didn't work in the usual way of producing a written script from which the artist worked, but worked out his own ideas in rough pencilled layouts with action and dialogue in situ, while Dennis continued to execute finished drawings for the script. Ben Witham moved on to write gags for the popular single frame cartoon Useless Eustace.

The Collins - Dodd combination was successful and the Perishers moved into the national editions in October 1959. The partnership lasted until Dennis retired in 1983. Maurice then took on the complete execution of the strip, from idea to finished artwork, until 1992, when he once again went into partnership, this time with Bill Mevin who now executes the finished work.

Dodd continued to work in advertising, such as on the Clunk Click Every Trip series of public information films intended to remind drivers of the benefits of wearing a seatbelt. It was while he was working on this campaign that Dodd came into contact with FilmFair, a company responsible for the creation of television programmes based on The Wombles and Paddington Bear. Dodd collaborated with the company in bringing The Perishers to television. Dodd left advertising in 1980 and subsequently wrote a number of children's books.

In 1983 Collins retired, leaving Dodd to write and draw The Perishers alone until 1992, when Bill Mevin began doing all the art work for the strip. Dodd continued working on the strip until he died, from a brain haemorrhage, in Shepperton on 31 December 2005.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
Maurice Dodd art

Peter Doherty
Peter Doherty notes on his intriguingly named Not a Proper Person blog that he is not to be confused with the famous singer bloke. "I'm the much less well known comic book illustrator." Within the comic book industry, however, he is well known—as a regular artist for 2000AD's Judge Dredd and chronicler of the early life of Death in Judge Dredd Megazine, or as an artist who has tackled Grendel, Superman, Batman and Catwoman, or as a colourist for Geof Darrow's surreal Shaolin Cowboy.

At a time when Britain's comics were beginning a love affair with fully painted art in the wake of Simon Bisley's 'Slaine: The Horned God', Doherty preferred treating colour as an enhancement to his line art. "The few bits I actually painted were a bit of a disaster," he would later say. "Mostly I coloured my line drawings—I'd ink on watercolour paper with waterproof ink then use transparent media like coloured inks, watercolours and thinned acrylics so the line showed through, and finally finish off with solid colour over the top."

Doherty was taking an applied physics degree at university when he decided that his career should take a different direction. He met Duncan Fegrado, then working on 'The New Statesman' for Crisis with writer John Smith. Smith's friend Chris Standley was also trying to get into comics and he and Doherty collaborated on a five-page story "about an unemployed bloke, something we knew a lot about back then."

After meeting Steve MacManus at a Glasgow comics' convention, the story was sold to Crisis (Felicity, Crisis 47, 1990), with Doherty also providing that issue's cover. He was immediately offered Young Death, the origin story of the popular character from the 'Judge Dredd' strip, written (under the pen-name Brian Skuter) by Dredd co-creator John Wagner for the debut issues of a new 2000AD spin-off, the Judge Dredd Megazine. Doherty's first professional assignment couldn't have had a higher profile.

It's dark humour proved a hit with readers and Doherty soon became a regular on the Dredd strip in 2000AD, drawing episodes of the epic 'Judgement Day' storyline and a memorable one-shot, Bury My Knee at Wounded Heart, often cited as being one of the best Dredd stories ever. He also drew Mechanismo Returns for the Judge Dredd Megazine (1993) and a one-off tale of Armitage (1994).

Doherty soon found himself working for the US market, drawing the 6-issue Grendel Tales: The Devil May Care (1995-96) and Carson of Venus (Dark Horse Presents, 1998) and pencilling a 3-part series for Vertigo's The Dreaming written by Bryan Talbot ('Weird Romance', 1997). Further work on The Dreaming, Superman 80-Page Giant, Batman and Superman: World's Finest and Catwoman followed from DC Comics over the next few years.

In 2001 Doherty (then a relative newcomer to computers and computer colouring) found himself working full-time for a computer games company. Over the years he has also worked as an illustrator, storyboard artist and designer but has always returned to comics when the opportunity allows.

The 2005 2000AD strip Breathing Space (set in Luna 1, a moonbase in the Dredd universe) was begun by Doherty, but a lengthy illness meant the strip had to be reassigned after two issues; Doherty coloured the remaining seven episodes (pencilled and inked by Laurence Campbell & Lee Townsend).

Doherty has subsequently worked mostly as a colourist—on the 3-issue mini-series Seaguy (2004) and the 7-issue Geof Darrow series Shaolin Cowboy, which he also lettered and designed. The latter was nominated for five Eisner Awards in 2005.

His recent work has included colouring the Dredd episode 'The Convert' in 2000AD (2010) and a DCU Legacies back-up, 'Revelation!', drawn by Frank Quitely (2011). Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Peter Doherty art

Gerry Dolan
With Doctor Who back on our TV screens, it seems apt to take a look at the work of a Doctor Who artist.

Gerry Dolan worked only briefly for Dr Who Magazine, providing illustrations for the short story The Infinity Season (#151, August 1989), written by Dan Abnett, and the strip Stairway to Heaven (#156, January 1990) scripted by John Freeman from a story by Paul Cornell and inked by Rex Ward.

Both featured Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor and were noted for Dolan's detailed rendition of the character. The strip's appearance in Doctor Who Magazine coincided with the final episode of the Sylvester McCoy era of the TV show (December 1989) and a gap of seven years before the TV movie and sixteen before the series was revived.

Dolan also contributed to The Worm, an exercise in record breaking that took place 1991 at London's Trocadero. From an outline by Alan Moore, 125 creators gathered to draw and letter a 250-foot long comic strip, recognised as the longest comic strip in the world.

Since those brief appearances, Dolan seems to have disappeared from the world of comics. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Peter van Dongen (born 21 October 1966; Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Peter van Dongen is a Dutch illustrator, commercial artist and graphic novelist from Amsterdam. He is known for his use of the "Clear Line" drawing style in the tradition of Hergé and E.P. Jacobs. Despite being active since the 1980s, the meticulous Van Dongen has a small but widely praised oeuvre. His masterpiece is the graphic novel series 'Rampokan', in which he explores the history of the Dutch Indies, the land of Van Dongen's ancestors.

Born in Amsterdam in 1966, Van Dongen graduated as an advertising artist from the Amsterdam Graphic School. He published his first comic strips in amateur and alternative magazines like Rebel Comix and De Balloen in the early 1980s. In 1986-1987, he made the promotional strip 'Prince en Buster', which appeared on the back-pages of Wordt Vervolgd magazine and was meant to attract subscribers. In 1990 he published his debut graphic novel 'Muizentheater', a gripping tale of two working class lads growing up in Amsterdam during the Depression years. A nice feature of 'Muizentheater' is that it is one of the very few books about Amsterdam that does not feature any canals - van Dongen hates clichés. 'Muizentheater' earned Van Dongen the Dutch Stripschapprijs for the Best Comic Book of the Year in 1991.

Van Dongen continued to work as a commercial illustrator in the 1990s and it took almost a decade before he published a new book. This was 'Rampokan-Java' (1998), a tale about the independence struggle in the former Dutch colony of Indonesia, and it was even better received than his debut. For the plot, he relied heavily on the lives of his mother and grandmother. The story was told in a stunning Clear Line style with sepia coloring - the echo of Hergé's colonial classic 'Tintin in Africa' was constantly there in the background. 'Rampokan' was co-designed by Joost Swarte and earned both author and publisher the 1999 Dutch Prize for Best Book Design. In 2004, the second part, 'Rampokan-Celebes', appeared. In 2005, he organized a series of expositions with artwork by Indonesian artists like Tita and Anto Motulz, held on several locations in Java.

In 1991 Van Dongen won the Dutch Stripschapprijs for 'Best Comic Book of the Year', with 'Muizentheater'. On 19 January 2018 Peter van Dongen won the Dutch Stripschap Prize 2018, the annual oeuvre award for Dutch comics artists.
Source: Lambiek comiclopedia
Peter Van Dongen art

Selby William Donnison (19 August 1921 - February 1995; Tynemouth, UK)
Selby William Donnison was born on 19 August 1921 in Tynemouth, Northumberland. He drew for Super Detective Library (1953-56), Thriller Picture Library (1952-54), Cowboy Comics Library (1952-57), The Sun ("Billy the Kid", 1953).

In the 1960s he illustrated for The Bible Story, and drew for Lion, including "Tales of Tollgate School". He was still working in the 1980s, when he drew "The Four Marys" for Bunty. He also illustrated books on a variety of subjects. He died in Newport, Monmouthshire, in February 1995.
Source: UK Comics Wiki
Selby Donnison art

David "Dave" Dorman (born 1958; Michigan, USA)
Dave Dorman is a science fiction, horror and fantasy illustrator best known for his Star Wars artwork.

Dorman's parents are Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Jack N. Dorman and Phyllis Dorman. Both parents are deceased. Dorman is married to award-winning TV/video producer, writer and publicist Denise (McDonald) Dorman of WriteBrain Media. He has a son, Jack, who was born in 2004.

Dorman's father Jack Dorman was renowned for his work and awards in the field of radio-controlled airplanes. Jack Dorman created historically accurate interiors for the planes and was an expert at model building. Dorman attributes his attention to detail to his father and credits both parents with giving him emotional and financial support early in his career. Together, Dorman and his father won numerous awards for their model building projects.

Dorman attended Saint Mary's Seminary and University in Maryland and The Kubert School in New Jersey. Dorman also taught a week-long seminar at the art department of Savannah College of Art and Design in the mid-1990s. The head of the art department at the time was Durwin Talon. Dorman has been asked to teach workshops at Flashpoint Academy and the American Academy of Art, both in Chicago, Illinois. He is also a co-founder of Comix Academy, along with Durwin Talon, Scott Hampton and Christopher Moeller and John van Fleet. This is a master class in comic book illustration.

Dorman attended a graphic arts program at St. Mary's College in Maryland, but left after a year because it did not have an illustration component. Next, he attended The Kubert School in New Jersey, but left after one year because their curriculum only taught black and white illustration and Dorman wanted to be a cover artist. As an illustrator, he describes himself as self-taught.

Dorman began his professional career in 1979, and has done illustration for comic book companies Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, but his break came in 1983, when his artwork first appeared on the cover of Heavy Metal magazine. Hasbro commissioned Dorman to paint over 100 pieces realistic artwork for its 3-inch series of G.I. Joe action figures in the mid-1980s. In 1994, Dorman was commissioned to do the artwork for a series of 90 trading cards for the Ultraverse comic book setting. In 1996, Hasbro asked Dorman to create more artwork for its 12-inch G.I. Joe collector series.

Although he has produced art based on such characters as Indiana Jones, Batman, and Superman, he became most well known for his Star Wars artwork. The Star Wars Art of Dave Dorman was published in 1996 by Random House/FPG. Dorman won a poll of the readers of The Official Best of Star Wars Magazine in 1998, as "Best Star Wars Artist". Dorman won an Eisner Award in 1993 for his paintings in the book Aliens: Tribes. In 2010 he won the prestigious Inkpot Award at San Diego Comic-Con, where he was a featured guest that year. During that show, he also launched his new career retrospective book, ROLLING THUNDER: The Art of Dave Dorman, which is published by IDW Publishing and Desperado Publishing.

Dorman began his role-playing game (RPG) work beginning with Pacesetter Ltd in 1985, and began freelancing for TSR in 1987, producing cover art for Dungeons & Dragons books as Gargoyle and the original Draconomicon, among others. Dorman also did artwork for the games Shadowrun (FASA), Torg (West End Games, or WEG), Champions (Hero Games), Mayfair Games' "Role Aids", Rifts (Palladium Books), and Blood of Heroes. Dorman also produced all the art for some of West End Games' Star Wars role-playing game supplements in the 1990s. He did some illustrations for the Micronauts toy line in the early 2000s.

Dorman has been known for more than 20 years because of his photo-realistic style of oil painting. Dorman's Star Wars: The Art of Dave Dorman cocktail table art book was the top-selling art book in 1996 for Ballantine Books and became the textbook of choice for illustration courses at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. He was also voted "The #1 Star Wars Artist of All Time" by Star Wars Galaxy Magazine in 1996. Star Wars creator George Lucas is a fan of Dorman's work and has purchased dozens of Dorman's original oil paintings. Dorman held a license with Lucasfilm for many years to do limited edition prints.

Dorman's own proprietary work, Wasted Lands, written by science fiction author Del Stone Jr., is currently making the rounds in Hollywood for a film adaptation. This action/adventure film is heavily influenced by Dorman's appreciation of directors like Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Whom he met on the Alien Resurrection movie set), Akira Kurosawa and Leone, as well as writers Joe Lansdale, Stephen King and F. Paul Wilson. Dorman is in development with Hollywood actor Dan Roebuck (River's Edge, Lost, Desperate Housewives) for a fictional children's book authored by Roebuck. Dorman is also in development with Dave Elliott's Atomeka Press for a Wasted Lands publishing project.

Dorman has been featured in interviews for the Dennis Miller Radio Show, Mancow's Morning Madhouse, Sci Fi Channel, Turner Network Television's Southern Living Presents magazine program, and WEAR-TV in Pensacola, an ABC affiliate. Dorman is an avid supporter of Tom Roush's Pensacola Film Festival and the Baytowne Film Festival and he creates the artwork for their annual event posters.

Dorman can be found annually at his Comic-Con booth in San Diego with his contemporaries, Scott Hampton, Christopher Moeller, and John Van Fleet. In 2010, Dorman was a "special guest" at San Diego Comic-Con International. Dorman exhibited for the very first C2E2 in Chicago in April 2010. Dorman also regularly attends the Wizard World Chicago, HeroesCon, and Detroit's Motor City Comic Con, and is often the featured guest artist at numerous Magic: The Gathering tournaments. Dorman's own company, Rolling Thunder, publishes art books and limited edition litho prints.

In 2010, IDW Publishing, now partnered with Desperado Publishing, is putting out the new book "Rolling Thunder: The Art of Dave Dorman." A special edition issue will launch at San Diego Comic-Con International, where Dorman is a "special guest." Dorman estimates this book shows about half of his artwork, many of it personal work and pieces never before seen by the general public. In the book, Dorman speaks candidly and personally for the very first time about his mid-life crisis and how he survived it. In 2009, Dorman was a judge for the SPECTRUM Annual, the fantasy world's bible for illustrators. In 2009, Dorman also made history by creating entirely digital art, for his very first time, during Reverie '09, sponsored by MassiveBlack.com and ConceptArt.org.

Also in 2010, Dorman launched the podcast "Wednesday is Comic Book Day" with his wife, Denise Dorman – a mash-up of comic book industry insider news, pop culture news and interviews. The podcast is a free download on iTunes and is available via Farpoint Media, the producers of the show.

Dorman has been the guest of honor at Comic-Con in San Diego three times. It was there that he earned the Eisner Award in 1993 for his art work on Alien: Tribes.

He has been a longtime resident of Shalimar, Florida and of Mill Creek, Illinois. He moved to Geneva, Illinois in 2005. In 2006, Dorman offered to create an original 3' x 6' oil painting worth US$50,000 for anyone that would buy his home in Shalimar Pointe, Florida. As of mid-2011, Dorman had attended Comic-Con twenty-seven years in a row.
Source: Wikipedia

Cecil Langley Doughty (7 November 1913 - 26 October 1985; UK)
C L Doughty was one of the most prolific and successful historical illustrators to work on Look and Learn and other weekly educational papers. He produced several thousand illustrations between 1961 and 1982, his output astonishing in both quantity and quality.

Doughty was born in Withernsea, Yorkshire and trained at Battersea Polytechnic, London. His earliest comic strip was a two-page Buffalo Bill adventure which appeared in Knockout in July 1948. Doughty produced strips for Phillip Marx’s Star Flash Comic and Challenger Comic in 1948, followed by the cover and interior art for an adaptation of 'Oliver Twist' for the first issue of A Classic in Pictures (1949). 'Lorna Doone' followed soon after (in issue 8) before Doughty returned to the Amalgamated Press, drawing ‘Terry Brent’, a spot-the-clue detective series for School Friend.

Doughty found his metier when he began drawing for Thriller Comics, the 64-page pocket library edited by Leonard Matthews. His first tale was an adaptation of W. Harrison Ainsworth’s Windsor Castle (1953) followed by a variety of stories featuring Robin Hood and Dick Turpin.

Critic David Ashford, a long-time fan of Doughty’s work, has said, “Turpin’s comrades were beautifully realised by Doughty. Based, as they are, on R. H. Brock’s drawings for the Newnes pocket book series of the 1930s, all the varied personalities came to life – among them, the elegant “gentleman highwayman” Tom King, the swaggering Irishman, Pat O’Flynn and, perhaps best of all, the humorous character Jem Peters, he of the mutton chop whiskers. All are portrayed with obvious affection and enormous gusto. Strongly influenced not only by the Brock brothers but by other 19th century artists of 18th century subjects such as Hugh Thomson, Doughty’s style is, I think, best expressed in the one word, “debonair”. There is a certain way in which his leading characters stand, move and tilt their head which is peculiar to Doughty. It is a style which is ideal for these historical entertainments and strongly reminiscent at times of Douglas Fairbanks at his swashbuckling best.”

Doughty's ability was often overlooked in the 1950s, his only full page painting appearing on the rear cover of an issue of Comet in 1958. He worked briefly for Express Weekly (1957-58) and for eight months took over the artwork for 'Jack O'Lantern', a historical adventure strip in Eagle (1959-60).

In 1962, Doughty began producing illustrations in colour and black & white for Look and Learn. Doughty occasionally wrote his own scripts for the series on 'Famous Houses' that appeared on the centre pages of in early issues.

When Look and Learn closed in April 1982, Doughty decided to retire from commercial artwork and concentrate on landscapes. Already in his late sixties, he held an exhibition of his 'straight' work in Carmarthen, where he was then living. He also took on commissions and produced some magnificent paintings for fans.

In 1985, Doughty moved to a dilapidated cottage with a splendid studio, but died shortly after, aged 71. An extensive biography and gallery of Doughty's Look and Learn work appeared in a 2012 book entitled Pages From History. Illustration Art Gallery and Steve Holland.

See illustrators  issue 2 for Cecil Doughty feature article, Pages From History book, and Pirates! illustrators  Special Edition.
Cecil Doughty art

Lela Dowling Cirocco; California, USA
Lela Dowling is the comic artist of comics like 'Weasel Patrol'. She has made many prints and paintings in the fantasy genre. She also adapted the novel 'Dragonflight' for comics and contributed her version of 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'The Owl and the Pussycat' to the collection 'The Dreamery'. In the early 1990s, she worked as a game developer for Moby Games.

Lela Dowling Cirocco was born in Southern California and raised by parents who loved the outdoors, books, humor and poetry, all of which is reflected in her distinctive artwork. She has over 30 years of experience, creating a distinguished and award-winning body of work.

Her detailed pen and ink, pencil and watercolor illustrations still reveal traces of an early influence by the English Illustrator Arthur Rackham, while her whimsical cartoons were inspired by popular comic strips such as Walt Kelly's 'Pogo'.

Lela's work has been published in a wide variety of forms. In addition to limited-edition art prints, portfolios, illustrated books, comics and even doing a weekly newspaper strip, she has also worked commercially for companies such as LucasFilm, Yahoo!, Mattel, Electronic Arts, Hasbro and Leapfrog. Her many contributions include computer character animation, toy and character design, storyboarding and concept illustration.

Beginning a new chapter in her artistic career, Lela is a co-founder of the Skyland Gallery along with husband Frank Cirocco. She is delighted to further investigate her love of nature in this latest venture and looks forward to exploring exciting new directions in her art.
Source: Skyland Gallery & Lambiek Comiclopedia

Serge Drigin (1894 - 1977, Russia and UK)
Serge Drigin, sometimes spelled Sergie, Sergey or Serge R. Drigin, was a Russian artist, born on 8 October 1894, who, without formal training, became a successful illustrator in the UK in the 1920s. Formerly a sailor, he illustrated at least one book in his native Russia, Skazka o rybakie i rybkie by E. Venskii, in 1919 before beginning a prolific output for British magazines such as The Detective Magazine, Modern Boy and Chums.

He produced many startling covers for various titles published by George Newnes in the 1930s, including Scoops, Air Stories, War Stories, Fantasy and others. In around 1941, he was working for War Artists & Illustrators, based in central London, who supplied material to War Illustrated and Sphere amongst others.

In around 1934-35, he briefly turned to comics and drew various episodes for Film Picture Stories and the serial The Flying Fish in Sparkler. He returned after the war, when paper shortages meant that illustrators were finding work thin on the ground. He produced numerous one-off strips in 1947-48, mostly for Scion Ltd. In 1948, Drigin began drawing strips for Manchester-based J. B. Allen, producing a number of series for Allen's Comet, Sun and Merry-Go-Round comics until 1949.

In the 1950s, he was still very active, contributing features and artwork to various annuals, including Swift and Eagle, but seems to have grown inactive around the mid-1950s.

Drigin was married three times, firstly to Ruth Evelene Baker at Totnes, Devon, in 1923, with whom he had a daughter Shirley N., born 1927 (who later became a veterinary assistant in South Africa). The Drigins separated soon after and Ruth Drigin remarried in 1929. Serge Drigin was subsequently married at Lambeth in 1931 to Eva Walker (1905-1993) and, at Fulham in 1954, to Joan Octavia A. Nicholle (1916-1992).

Drigin, who was naturalised in 1932, died in Lambeth, his death registered in 2Q 1977 under the name Sergie Drigin. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.

Philippe Druillet (born 28 June 28 1944; Toulouse, France)
Philippe Druillet is a French comics artist and creator, and an innovator in visual design.

Druillet was born in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France but spent his youth in Spain, returning to France in 1952 after the death of his father. A science fiction and comics fan, Philippe worked as a photographer after graduating from high school, drawing only for his own pleasure.

His first book appeared in 1966, entitled Le Mystère des abîmes (The Mystery of the Abyss). It introduced his recurring hero Lone Sloane and played on science-fiction themes partially inspired by his favourite writers, H. P. Lovecraft and A.E. van Vogt. Later Druillet created book covers for republications of Lovecraft's work, as well as numerous movie posters.

After becoming a regular contributor to the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Pilote in 1970, Druillet's Lone Sloane saga grew steadily more flamboyant, as he pursued innovations including bold page designs and computer-generated images. His backdrops of gigantic structures inspired by Art Nouveau, Indian temples and Gothic cathedrals earned him the nickname of "space architect". Six tales about Sloane's exploits were collected in Les six voyages de Lone Sloane in 1972, hailed by many as his masterpiece, and Sloane was again the hero of the graphic novel Délirius (1973), written by Jacques Lob. In 1973, Druillet also produced the Moorcock's Elric-inspired Yragaël for Pilote, and Vuzz for the magazine Phénix

In 1975 Druillet joined Jean-Pierre Dionnet, Bernard Farkas and Moebius to form the publishing house Les Humanoïdes Associés, and the magazine Métal Hurlant. This was to be a vehicle for his finest stories, and showcased a steady evolution in his graphical skills. His series Lone Sloane and Vuzz continued, and other stories of this period include La Nuit, and Nosferatu. In 1980 Druillet produced Salammbô, a comic-book trilogy based upon Flaubert's proto-heroic fantasy novel Salammbô.

Outside his work as a cartoonist and illustrator, Druillet has also been active in architecture, rock opera, painting, sculpture and digital art. He worked as a designer on the film, Sorcerer directed by William Friedkin in 1976. He collaborated on Rolf Liebermann's Wagner Space Opera in the Opera de Paris in the late 70s to early 80s, and founded the Space Art Création in 1984. More recently he made Les Rois Maudits 2005 remake's artwork and designed large parts of the background.
Source: Wikipedia
Philippe Druillet art

Edmund Drury (active 1952-1965)
Little is known of this excellent artist - we are not even certain whether his name is Edward or Edmond as it appears he was known to all simply as "Ted". It is believed that he was born in South Africa and was discovered by Ted Holmes who used him for the pirate strip, Guy Gallant for the cover of Comet. Drury also drew for the Hulton Press, producing another 18th century strip for Girl, as well as a strip for the first Eagle Annual.

His illustrations for the text serialisations of Edgar Rice Burroughs' early Tarzan stories in Comet show just how versatile this stylish artist could be. According to Leonard Matthews, Drury was "handsome to a degree" but "of a very objectionable nature" and extremely arrogant. Drury left British comics in the mid 1960s and returned to South Africa. Biography courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright

Robert Charles Dudley (1826 - 1909; London, UK)
Robert Dudley was a versatile artist who enjoyed a considerable reputation in his own time. A painter of seascapes, he practised across a range of printing media; mainly a lithographer and chromolithographer, he was also a draughtsman drawing on wood for mid-Victorian periodicals; an accomplished designer of book-covers (Ball, p.148; King, p.16) and Christmas cards (1887); and a writer and illustrator who published a number of black and white and coloured books for children. Highly productive, he is most remembered for his vivid illustrations for The Atlantic Telegraph (1866), and for his bindings. Constrained, like all of his contemporaries, by the conditions of a crowded and competitive market, Dudley was willing to turn his hand to whatever employment was available.

However, he was never a wage-slave and his complex work-pattern, doing whatever was available and suitable, was in his case a slightly surprising development. Unlike many artists who came from lower middle-class backgrounds or 'from trade' – as in the case of E. H. Wehnert, whose father was a tailor – Dudley had the advantage of being born into the moneyed bourgeoisie, and did not have to work to live. His father, Charles Stokes Dudley, is recorded on his son's marriage certificate as a London 'gentleman', and Robert would have enjoyed the benefits of a comfortable childhood, finally inheriting the family's wealth. This situation is reflected in the fact that he lived for most of his adult life at one address, 31 Landsdowne Road in fashionable Notting Hill, owning a property which, while not in the same league as houses in Belgravia or Holland Park, was far beyond the means of most of his fellow-artists, and a marked contrast to the situation of contemporaries such as John Franklin and John Sliegh, who lived in rented accommodation as lodgers. He may also have benefitted from his marriage in 1859 to Amelia Hunt, the daughter of the successful Liverpool artist of domestic genre, Andrew Hunt. No doubt this union brought a significant dowry, and Dudley's life, buttressed with old money, was essentially that of a prosperous 'gentleman-artist'. Freed from the necessities of having to work, he nevertheless engaged with a wide range of projects, an approach that sustained his interest through a varied and prosperous life.

Following a false start which involved the exhibition of a genre piece at the Royal Academy in 1853 (an endeavour that erroneously led to the chronicling of two artists of the name of Dudley, even though they are the same person), his earliest work was essentially of technical rather than artistic value. His earliest training is unknown, but must have been in a lithographer's workshop.

In the early 1850s he held the post of principal draughtsman under the direction of the architect Matthew Digby Wyatt, in charge of the recording of the monuments in the Medieval and Renaissance Courts at the Sydenham Crystal Palace.

This was followed by other journalistic work. Engaged by Day and Son, the chromolithographers who published luxurious picture books and were the leading practitioners in the field, Dudley became a specialist in the representation of applied art. The best of his early work appears in Examples of Decorative Art, Selected from the Royal and Other Collections <Actinic:Variable Name = '1860'/>. This is a detailed catalogue of a range of exotic and patterned objects; like all artists working in the milieu of the time, he was bound by the Pre-Raphaelite fascination with 'facts' and 'truth', and here, as elsewhere, he is primarily concerned with the 'copying' of 'reality'. Though decorative in effect, these are essentially straightforward informational designs, and at this point Dudley seems very much a technician/artist, supplying a vast market with commemorative or functional images in bright and sometimes livid colours.

His art takes an imaginative (and slightly troubling) step forward in the form of a series of 41 chromolithographs for A Memorial of H.R.H. Albert Edward Prince of Wales and H.R.H. Princess of Denmark,also known, with rather greater brevity, as The Wedding at Windsor (1863 and 1864). This album is a montage of the events and characters. A celebration of the opulence and traditions of the British Royalty, it provides a detailed representation of interiors, landscapes, architecture and costumes. Produced, once again, by Day and Son, its subject-matter is well-suited to the saturated colours and precise lines that characterise the chromolithographic medium. Ruari Maclean considers these images 'the highest point of faithful representation yet achieved by chromolithography' (p.132); a perfect souvenir, they provided their curious middle-class audience with an insight into the rituals of the aristocracy. Heraldic in character, the Wedding seems both fantastic and realistic, a catalogue of super-charged artefacts which ultimately have the hallucinatory unreality of a dream, rather than the super-realism the artist was aiming at. His figures, especially, are more like observed things rather than individuals, porcelain models of people than people. This tendency is exemplified by his treatment of The Bridesmaids, which seem like some many ornaments on display.

Dudley's work both here and throughout his drawing on stone is nevertheless of the highest quality, and by the mid-sixties he was recognised as one of the leading practitioners of the process, and one of the Days' principal men. At this time he was also working as an artist in black and white, and seemed able to shift effortlessly from chromolithography to wood-engraving. He did illustrations for a version of the Bible (1860), embellishing its pages with severe designs 'freely adapted and drawn on wood', contributed to The Library Shakespeare [1873–75], and produced sundry images for a series of children's books, several of which were engraved by the Dalziels.

Children's books became a mainstay in the seventies, eighties and nineties, and Dudley was the author and illustrator of a series of successful publications. These included The Twigs <Actinic:Variable Name = '1890'/>, a bizarre piece of anthropomorphism in the manner of Harrison Weir and Ernest Griset, and King Fo, the Lord of Misrule <Actinic:Variable Name = '1884'/>, a book of medieval fooling in livid tones. He also supplemented his own endeavours with illustrative work for John Edgar's The Boy Crusades(1865), Franz Hoffman's The Christian Prince <Actinic:Variable Name = '1882'/>, and numerous others. His talent was especially suited to the representation of historical themes, or at least to stories set in some half-imagined past. A chronicler of the minutiae of artefacts, he brought a sense of journalistic conviction to his designs, converting even the fantastical into the plausible. As Gleeson White explains of his work for The Boys' Own Magazine,he illustrated in a medievalist style, enhancing 'historical romances' with 'spirit and no little knowledge of archaeological details' (p.85). What is more surprising is his humour, a quality that sits uneasily next to his historical exactitude.

Through all of these commissions he continued to exhibit paintings. Early in his career he discovered an aptitude for seascapes and other marine subjects. From 1865 to 1891 he displayed a total of 47 maritime paintings in oil and watercolour at London venues including the Royal Academy, Suffolk Street and the fashionable Grosvenor Gallery (Graves, p.85). Examples can be found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Institute of Civil Engineers, London, and the Maritime Museum, Liverpool; none has been exhibited in recent times. These works had a general audience, but Dudley's interest in this genre was put to best use in his monumental series of chromolithographs for The Atlantic Telegraph (1866).
Source: VictorianWeb.org
Robert Dudley art

Jack Dunkley (26 September 1906 - March 1994; London, UK)
Jack Dunkley was born in Holloway, London and educated at the Sir Hugh Middleton Secondary School. He left Sir Hugh Middleton Secondary School at 16 and joined the film industry in Wardour Street, producing subtitles for advertising films, and took evening classes at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. He left the film studio in 1930, and became a full-time freelance cartoonist in 1932.

His earliest work was a regular sports cartoon in the Daily Mirror called "Sport Shorts" and he drew sports cartoons for thirty years.

From 5 August 1957 he drew a daily strip about a working-class family, The Larks. Early scripts were written by radio comedy writers Bill Kelly and Arthur Lay. TV writer and former cartoonist Robert St. John Cooper took over from them until 1963, when he was replaced by Brian Cooke, who made the family middle class, and later by Ian Gammidge. It lasted 28 years, finally ending on 28 February 1985.

'The Larks' revolves around Sam Lark, a supermarket employee married to his wife Sal. In 1961 they had a child, Stevie. Later episodes gave them a daughter named Susie. The family also took a pet, the cat Soso. 'The Larks' ran with equal success in French as 'Sam et Zette'.

Dunkley drew two other strips for the Mirror - the cookery strip Patsy, and the gardening strip Mr Digwell, written by Gammidge - and also drew editorial cartoons and covers, including an illustration of a hand holding a gun, captioned "Today YOUR finger is on the trigger", on General Election day on 25 October 1951.

He also contributed illustrations and caricatures to the Radio Times, Daily Sketch, News Chronicle, Daily Express and others. He died in March 1994 in Hendon, Middlesex.
Source: UK Comics Wiki; Lambiek comiclopedia

Heinrich Eckert (16 October 1807 - 10 February 1840; Würzburg, Germany)
Heinrich Ambros Eckert was a German painter of battle-pieces. He was born at Würzburg in the Grand Duchy of Würzburg, and was at first instructed by Carl Caspar Fesel. In 1825 he attended the academy at Munich, and afterwards visited the Tyrol and France.

Between 1835 and 1840, in conjunction with Monten and Schelver, he published a work upon the German federal army, with two hundred coloured lithographic plates; and another illustrating the return of the Russian troops to their homes.

He died at Munich in 1840, while engaged upon a picture of the great review near that city before the Emperor of Russia. Besides genre subjects and battle-pieces he painted marine views.
Source: Wikipedia
Heinrich Ambros Eckert art

Les Edwards (born 1949; UK)
Les Edwards is a British illustrator known for his work in the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres, and has provided numerous illustrations for book jackets, posters, magazines, record covers and games during his career. In addition to working under his actual name, he also uses the pseudonym Edward Miller to paint in a different style and to overcome restrictions placed on him by his association with horror. He has won the British Fantasy Society award for Best Artist seven times, and was awarded the World Fantasy Award in 2008.

Edwards studied at Hornsey College of Art between 1968 and 1972, where he says he was "firmly advised that he would never be an illustrator" due to a general perception in the department that the job was too difficult, and later claiming that the experience failed to provide much of use in later years. After graduating, Edwards was taken on by the Young Artists agency in London, and began working as a freelance illustrator.

Over the course of his prolific career Edward's work has included advertising campaigns, graphic novels and film design, but he is perhaps best known for his book jacket illustrations spanning the horror, fantasy and science fiction genres. Over the years he has provided many illustrations for genre titles, including numerous pieces for Robert E. Howard's Conan stories and Pratchett's Discworld setting, and books by authors such as Anne McCaffrey.

Edwards is also known for his numerous covers for books in the Fighting Fantasy series, including Caverns of the Snow Witch, Demons of the Deep, and Crypt of the Sorcerer, and many of the more recent re-issues.

Many of Edward's paintings appeared as covers for Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine during the 1980s, and he was featured, along with other illustrators from Young Artists, in an Illuminations exposé in White Dwarf. He also provided the covers for the Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay supplements Power Behind the Throne and Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned, and a series of illustrations for the Dark Future game.

In 1989 Games Workshop published an anthology of Edward's work entitled Blood and Iron. He has also provided several pieces of work for Milton Bradley's HeroQuest, and covers for books for FASA's Shadowrun and Earthdawn RPGs. Edwards has also provided illustrations for British science fiction periodicals Interzone and Postscripts. as well as the now-defunct AD&D fantasy publication IMAGINE Magazine.

Edwards has illustrated two graphic novels, both adapted by Steve Niles from short stories in Clive Barker's Books of Blood. Having met at the World Fantasy Convention in London, Barker later recalled Edwards and recommended him to Eclipse Books for the first, Son of Celluloid; after its success Rawhead Rex followed. Edwards also created the UK publicity posters for the films The Thing, Graveyard Shift and Nightbreed, the latter a commission he received as a result of Clive Barker's influence.

Edwards has also provided a number of record covers during his career. A portion of one of his illustrations, originally created for The Devils of D-Day by Graham Masterton was also used as cover art for Metallica's early single, "Jump in the Fire", whilst his painting The Croglin Vampire appeared as the cover of the album "Alive and Screamin' by Swiss band Krokus. More recently he produced the cover for the album Music for the Jilted Generation by The Prodigy.

In recent years Edwards has also begun working under the pseudonym Edward Miller, a move designed to allow him to pursue a more diverse range of commissions without any assumptions on the part of publishers based on his prior work, particularly any restrictive association with the horror genre.

Edwards has won the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist seven times, and has been nominated three times for a World Fantasy Award which he finally won, as Edward Miller, in 2008, as well as having acted as a judge for the awards in 2003, and was the artist Guest of Honour at the 1995 World Science Fiction Convention.

Edwards is now represented by his wife, Val Edwards, with whom he lives in Brighton, England. When not painting, his pastimes include model kit building, playing the guitar and fencing.

Edwards often refers to his vintage horror work as his 'Red Period', a reference to the profusion of gore prevalent in horror illustration at the time, and to more recent work as his 'Blue Period'. Edwards is generally known for his emphasis on portrait elements, whilst as Miller, on the other hand, he places a greater emphasis on landscapes, and what he views as a more 'romantic style'.

Amongst Edwards' influences he cites the early influence of comic illustrator Frank Bellamy, particularly the Heros the Spartan strip, as well as Eagle's Dan Dare, and a later love for the work of illustrator Bruce Pennington, and describes a childhood attraction to anything 'strange or bizarre', drawing from a very early age, inspired by comics and film. His later exposure to macabre and violent elements in the work of more traditional artists, such as Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son, left an impression. Other major influences include William Blake, John Singer Sargent and John Everett Millais.

Although he has also occasionally used gouache, and more recently has often worked in acrylics, Edwards' original medium of choice is oil paint. This is used on any smooth board, ideally hardboard, which is primed with gesso. Following from preliminary sketches, images are constructed on the support with a hard pencil before being developed using washes of a neutral coloured acrylic, usually brown, a technique Edwards says he borrowed from 'the old masters'. The oils are mixed with an alkyd medium called liquin, which thins the paint and speeds drying time.

Edwards and Miller are also separated by distinctions of medium, with pieces under the Miller name more typically executed in acrylic paint on canvas panels as opposed to Edward's more usual use of oils on smooth board. Recently Edwards is enjoying the freedom found in the digital medium with programs like Painter, although he continues to express a preference for traditional painting techniques.
Source: Wikipedia


See illustrators issue 8 for a Les Edwards feature article.

Will Eisner (1917 - 2005, USA)
The Spirit is his greatest creation and is still being reprinted regularly, despite being created in 1940. Renowned for his cinematic style and unusual panel layout and angles, Eisner is highly respected by his peers. Born in 1917 in Brooklyn, he formed a partnership with Jerry Iger to produce comic strips for the voracious comic book publishers of the 1940s. His Hawks of the Sea was a tremendous pirate adventure strip. Lou Fine, Bob Powell, Jules Feiffer, Wally Wood, Jerry Grandenetti, plus many other respected artists have worked for and with Eisner throughout his career.

Over the past few years he has produced a series of innovative graphic novels beginning with the award winning A Contract with God. His book Comics and Sequential Art is one of the top selling books on how to draw comics and is continually being reprinted.

Will Eisner art

See also our WILL EISNER BOOKS and enjoy Pirates! illustrators  Special Edition featuring Willis Rensie (Will Eisner)!

Gillette A Elvgren (15 March 1914 - 29 February 1980; St. Paul, Minnesota, USA)
Gillette Elvgren was an American painter of pin-up girls, advertising and illustration. Best known for his pin-up paintings for Brown & Bigelow, Elvgren studied at the American Academy of Art. He was strongly influenced by the early "pretty girl" illustrators, such as Charles Dana Gibson, Andrew Loomis, and Howard Chandler Christy. Other influences included the Brandywine School founded by Howard Pyle.

Gillette A. Elvgren was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and attended University High School. After graduation, he began studying art at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He subsequently moved to Chicago to study at the American Academy of Art. He graduated from the Academy during the depression at the age of twenty-two. Elvgren joined the stable of artists at Stevens and Gross, Chicago's most prestigious advertising agency. He became a prot¨¦g¨¦ of the artist Haddon Sundblom.

In 1937, Gil began painting calendar pin-ups for Louis F. Dow, one of America's leading publishing companies, during which time he created about 60 works on 28" x 22" canvas and distinguished them by a printed signature. Many of his pin-ups were reproduced as nose art on military aircraft during World War II. Around 1944, Gil was approached by Brown and Bigelow, a firm that still dominates the field in producing calendars and advertising specialties. He was associated with Brown & Bigelow from 1945 to 1972. At Brown & Bigelow Elvgren began working with 30" x 24" canvases, a format that he would use for the next 30 years, and signed his work in cursive.

Elvgren was a commercial success. He lived in various locations, and was active from the 1930s to 1970s. In 1951 he began painting in a studio in his home, then in Winnetka, Illinois, using an assistant to set up lighting, build props and scenes, photograph sets, and prepare his paints. His clients ranged from Brown and Bigelow and Coca-Cola to General Electric and Sealy Mattress Company. In addition, during the 1940s and 1950s he illustrated stories for a host of magazines, such as The Saturday Evening Post and Good Housekeeping. Among the models Elvgren painted were Myrna Hansen, Donna Reed, Barbara Hale, Arlene Dahl, Lola Albright and Kim Novak.
Source: Wikipedia
Gil Elvgren art

Gerry Embleton (born 1941; London, UK)
Gerry Embleton is a British artist, born in London. He is the brother of Ron Embleton.

When 21-year-old artist Gerry Embleton began contributing centre-page illustrations to Look and Learn in 1962, he was already an 11-year veteran of the comic industry, his artistic career having begun at the age of nine inking pages for his older brother, Ron.

He worked with Ron regularly throughout the 1950s, inking 'Strongbow the Mohawk' for Zip and colouring 'Wulf the Briton' for Express Weekly. His first solo work, an illustration, was published in Mickey Mouse Weekly when he was 14 and he began working freelance at the age of 15. Some of his best early work appeared in Zip, where he took over the 'Strongbow the Mighty' strip in 1958, and Cowboy Picture Library where he drew Davy Crockett, Kit Carson and Kansas Kid (1959-62).

From 1961, he became better known for colour strips, producing fill-in episodes of 'Riders of the Range' for Eagle and taking over 'Colonel Pinto' for TV Express. Embleton contributed strips to Boys' World, Robin, Tiger and illustrations to Look and Learn in the 1960s, although his best-known work was 'Stingray' for TV Century 21 (1966-67).

In the 1970s, Embleton concentrated on illustrating books and became noted for the historical accuracy of his military illustrations, although he also illustrated fairy tales and histories of the American West. He briefly returned to comics to draw 'Dan Dare' for the revived Eagle in 1982.

In 1983, he moved to Switzerland. He lives in Prêles near Neuchâtel.

In 1988, he co-founded Tima Machine AG, a company based in Switzerland involved in creating vivid life-size historical figures for museums and exhibitions. Embleton wrote and photographed The Medieval Soldier: 15th Century Campaign Life Recreated in Colour Photographs (1994).

He is now best known as an illustrator of military and historic subjects. He has illustrated more than 40 titles for the military publisher Osprey. Gerry Embleton has been a leading illustrator and researcher of historical costume since the 1970s and he is an internationally respected authority on 15th and 18th century costumes in particular.

Gerry Embleton is a founding member of the Company of Saynt George, a living-history association. His book "The Medieval Soldier", co-authored with Tolkien illustrator John Howe, had a big influence on the living-history hobby as a whole.
Source: Look and Learn and Wikipedia.

We also have BOOKS featuring Gerry's work and his much admired ART for many Osprey series of military uniforms.

Gerry Embleton art

Ronald Sydney Embleton (6 October 1930 - 13 February 1988; London, UK)
Born in Limehouse, London in 1930, Embleton began drawing as a young boy, submitting a cartoon to the News of the World at the age of 9 and, at 12, winning a national poster competition.

In 1946 Embleton went to the South-East Essex Technical College and School of Art. There he had the incredible good fortune to be taught by David Bomberg, one of the greatest – though at that time sadly under-appreciated – British artists of the twentieth century.

At 17 he earned himself a place in a commercial studio but soon left to work freelance, drawing comic strips for many of the small publishers who sprang up shortly after the war.

He was soon drawing for the major publishers. His most fondly remembered strips include Strongbow the Mighty in Mickey Mouse Weekly, Wulf the Briton in Express Weekly, Wrath of the Gods in Boys' World, Tales of the Trigan Empire and Johnny Frog in Eagle and Stingray in TV Century 21.

Embleton also provided the illustrations that appeared in the title credits for the Captain Scarlet TV series, and dozens of paintings for prints and newspaper strips. A meticulous artist, his illustrations appeared in Look and Learn for many years, amongst them the historical series Roger’s Rangers.

Oh, Wicked Wanda! was a British full-colour satirical and saucy adult comic strip, written by Frederic Mullally and drawn by Ron Embleton. The strip regularly appeared in Penthouse magazine from 1973 to 1980 and was followed by Embleton's equally saucy dark humoured Merry Widow strip, written by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione.

Less well known, however, was his equally energetic career as an oil painter. In fact, being a painter had been his life's ambition – his 'driving force', according to his daughter Gillian. It was only his remarkable success as an illustrator that in the end largely diverted him from the painter's path.

Embleton died on 13 February 1988 at the relatively young age of 57 after a lifetime of truly prodigious artistic output of remarkable quality.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery

Enjoy our Pirates! illustrators  Special Edition featuring more of Ron's wonderful artwork!

We also have BOOKS featuring Ron's work including Wulf the Briton, The Trigan Empire  and Look and Learn.

See our ORIGINAL TRIGAN EMPIRE ART by Don Lawrence, Ron Embleton, Oliver Frey, Philip Corke, Miguel Quesada and Gerry Wood.

Ron Embleton art

Dan Escott (1928 - 1987, England)
Dan Escott wrote and drew many features which played to his strength and interest in heraldic and medieval illustration. He was a regular contributor to the From Then Till Now feature in Look and Learn as well as creating back cover series on flags of the world, national symbols of Britain and the Guilds of London amongst many others.

Escott was born in Surrey on 3 December 1928. He studied at Croydon School of Art where he first came in contact with the subject of heraldry. Discovering that he had a flair for heraldic illustration (he won the school's Arms and Armour drawing competition two years running), he joined the College of Arms as a trainee herald painter, designing heraldry for stained glass, wood carvings, ceramics, engravings, banners, flags and coins, and developing a strong, bold style which stood him well when he began producing illustrations for advertising. One of his best known works was a painting of the Battle of Crecy which was published in the Illustrated London News.

In 1967 he was invited to work at the Institute of Heraldry in Virginia for the US forces, designing many regimental and other insignia, including badges for the Washington DC Police Department. Returning to England in 1968, he continued to work as a book and magazine illustrator. After the dissolution of his first marriage to Barbara Mitchell, he married Wendy Manfield (née Thornborough) in 1983 and emigrated to Australia where he worked for the Australian Geographic. Escott died of cancer in Sydney on 7 May 1987, aged 58.
Biography courtesy of Steve Holland.
Dan Escott art

George R Evans (5 February 1920 - 22 June 2001; Pennsylvania, USA)
George Evans was an American cartoonist and illustrator who worked in both comic books and comic strips. His lifelong fascination with airplanes and the pioneers of early aviation was a constant theme in his art and stories.

Born in Harwood, Pennsylvania, Evans studied art from a correspondence course. He was still in his teens when he made his first sales, both illustrations and writing, to pulp magazines. Early in World War II, Evans was an aircraft mechanic at Shaw Field in South Carolina, where he sometimes flew in the planes he had worked on. He studied at the Scranton Art School and then entered the Army.

* Comic books *
In the post-World War II years, Evans began working for comic books, including an in-house staff position at Fiction House until 1949. Originally hired to rule panel borders, erase pencils and fill in blacks for other illustrators, he sat next the teenaged artist Frank Frazetta. Evans eventually got up the nerve to show his portfolio to the editor where the surprised staffer exclaimed, "What the hell are you doing this job for, when you can draw like this?" After that, Evans was given feature stories to draw in 1947. Among the features he illustrated were "The Lost World in Planet Comics and "Tigerman" in Rangers Comics. His favorite work from this period was for Fiction House's Wings Comics and he did a few illustrations for the company's pulp line as well. He picked up odd jobs while still attending art classes, including some farmed out to him by Better Publications' art editor Graham Ingels, who would later join Evans at Fiction House and at EC Comics. Evans' titles for Fawcett included the When Worlds Collide film adaptation and the Captain Video television adaptation, plus horror stories for Strange Suspense Stories, This Magazine Is Haunted, and Worlds of Fear. He contributed to the company's westerns and romance titles as well. Until the end of his life, Evans believed his work for Fawcett was better than any other in his career. He liked the people there and assembled a team of inkers and assistants after becoming one of Fawcett's top illustrators in 1950.

His work for EC Comics in the early 1950s included powerful covers and crime stories for Crime SuspenStories and memorable World War I aviation covers and stories for Aces High. He was a semi-regular contributor to The Haunt of Fear, Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Frontline Combat, Two-Fisted Tales and Shock SuspenStories (the latter of which also had three covers by Evans). Evans' shocking cover for Crime Suspenstories #23 was held up at the Senate Hearings On Juvenile Delinquency in 1954, among many other comic book covers from a variety of publishers. He stayed with EC through their new direction and Picto-Fiction experiments, contributing to MD, Impact, Piracy, Terror Illustrated, Crime Illustrated and Shock Illustrated, among others.

After EC, he contributed to Gilberton's Classics Illustrated, Dell and Gold Key. His books for Classics Illustrated included Romeo and Juliet (No. 134, September 1956); Lord Jim (No. 136, January 1957); The Little Savage (No. 137, March 1957); In the Reign of Terror (No. 139, July 1957); The Crisis (No. 145, July 1958); The Buccaneer (No. 148, January 1959); The Three Musketeers (No. 1, revised, May 1959); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (No. 18, revised, with Reed Crandall, Fall 1960); Oliver Twist (No. 23, revised, with Reed Crandall, Fall 1961); Julius Caesar (No. 68, revised, with Reed Crandall, 1962); and In Freedom's Cause (No. 168, with Reed Crandall, 1962; published UK 1963; published US 1969).

*Comic strips *
For Boys' Life Evans drew Space Conquerors! for the August 1953-March 1958 issues. During the 1960s, he was an assistant and ghost artist for George Wunder on the comic strip Terry and the Pirates. He did occasional work in comic books during this period, most notably for Warren's Blazing Combat black and white magazine and Eerie, Gold Key's The Twilight Zone and Ripley's Believe It Or Not! During the 1970s, he contributed comics to the National Lampoon. He drew DC Comics' war comics and mystery tales, and for Marvel Comics he did mystery-horror stories plus work on 2 issues of Super-Villain Team-Up featuring Doctor Doom and Sub-Mariner. Al Williamson passed Secret Agent Corrigan on to Evans in 1980, and the strip ended with his 1996 retirement. For several years before that, the strip, as with all story strips, was becoming less popular. As the strips' circulation dwindled, the syndicate was about to cancel it in 1991. Originally, Evans had been glad, and had taken on other work. Then Evans was lured back, because it turned out that the strip's popularity in European markets justified keeping it going for 5 more years.

* Aviation art *
George Evans in 1953 at work on "Frank Luke!" for Frontline Combat #13 (July–August 1953).
Evans' first love was World War I aviation, and he did many paintings of World War I dogfights, including a calendar for The Cross and Cockade Society. He also did book jacket art. For David Manning White's Marlborough House, Evans created the cover illustration for The Black Swallow of Death: The Incredible Story of Eugene Jacques Bullard, The World's First Black Combat Aviator by P.J. Carisella, James W. Ryan and Edward W. Brooke (1972). This illustration is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.

* Books and later career *
He illustrated a children's book, The Story of Flight, for Random House. The last page, which shows a man flying with a rocket pack, shows the rear of the Evans family home with Evans working at his drawing board in an upstairs window. In 1975, the hardcover novel Far Lands, Other Days contained many Evans black-and-white illustrations and a painted cover. In the 1990s, Factoid Books (a DC offshoot) released its Big Book of... series in which Evans drew some of his last comics: one a biography of baseball great Ty Cobb, another the story of the first air mail flight; and in 1998, the life of Judge Roy Bean in The Big Book of the Weird, Wild West.

Along with many other former EC artists and similar talents. he contributed many illustrations to at least nine of the 18 volumes of Art Linkletter's Picture Encyclopedia for Boys and Girls. He was commissioned to do storyboards for the film Jaws 3-D.

Evans, who in 1982 was living in Levittown, New York, on Long Island, was living in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, when he died at age 81. His final work was the Flash Gordon Sunday page of 21 January 2001.
Source: Wikipedia
George Evans art

Frances Olive Esme Eve
Esme Eve was born in Sydenham, London and designed book jackets, fabrics and beautiful greeting cards for the Medici Society.

F R Exell
Not much is known about this accomplished book illustrator who appeared most active in the 1960s and 1970s. Exell illustrated the paperback editions of 'Moonfleet' by J Mead Falkner (1963 edition) and 'The Quarantine Child' by Geraldine Symons (published 1966) and illustrated the 'History's Heroes' feature for Look and Learn magazine in the 1970s.
Source: Illustration Art Gallery
F R Exell art

Derek Charles Eyles (1902 - 1974)
Derek Eyles was born in North Finchley, London, and had an artist brother, Geoffrey, with an uncannily similar style, although, according to Leonard Matthews, of no use when it came to "our sort of thing", i.e. adventure strip work. Derek Eyles was the Amalgamated Press' number one horse artist and all new artists were given his work to help them learn to "do horses properly". He worked for Knockout from number one, having previously been working on Wild West Weekly, producing some of that paper's superb full-colour cover paintings as well as many of the interior illustrations.

Eyles' first strip work was for Knockout in 1947: a Western serial, The Phantom Sheriff (a strip featuring the same character appeared in the Knockout Fun Book for 1949 and is one of his best pieces of work).

This was followed, in 1948, by his masterly Dick Turpin's Ride To York and then by a complete Western story, Buffalo Bill's Close Call, in January 1949. His Kit Carson strips for the early issues of Cowboy Comics Library rank with the very best examples of the genre and his wonderful Western plates graced many of the A.P. annuals throughout the 1950s, including Comet. As well as contributing to a myriad of comics and annuals, Derek Eyles was a prolific book illustrator working for many publishers, painting covers and illustrations for a wide range of subjects. Biography extract courtesy of David Ashford and Norman Wright.
Derek Eyles art

See illustrators issue 5 for a Derek Eyles feature article and enjoy Pirates! illustrators  Special Edition with more of Derek's wonderful artwork!

Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra (born 12 November 1947; Zaragoza, Spain)

Carlos Ezquerra is a Spanish comics artist who works mainly in British comics and currently lives in Andorra. He is best known as the co-creator of Judge Dredd.

Ezquerra started his career based in Barcelona, drawing westerns and war stories for Spanish publishers. In 1973 he got work in the UK market through agent Barry Coker, drawing for girls' romance titles like Valentine and Mirabelle, as well as westerns for Pocket Western Library, and a variety of adventure strips for D. C. Thomson & Co.'s The Wizard. The UK was a popular market for Spanish artists as the exchange rate meant the work paid well, but Ezquerra moved to London to be near the work, settling in Croydon with his wife.

In 1974, on the strength of his uncredited work for The Wizard, Pat Mills and John Wagner headhunted him, through Coker, to work for the new IPC title Battle Picture Weekly. He drew "Rat Pack": inspired by the film The Dirty Dozen, the strip, written by Gerry Finley-Day, featured a gang of criminals recruited to carry out suicide missions. But his commitments elsewhere meant he couldn't draw it full time, and other artists were also used.

In 1976 Battle editor Dave Hunt convinced him to commit himself to the title, offering him the laid-back anti-hero "Major Eazy", written by Alan Hebden. Ezquerra drew nearly 100 episodes in the next two and a half years, basing the character's appearance on the actor James Coburn.

He was asked to visualise a new character, future lawman "Judge Dredd", for the science fiction weekly 2000 AD, prior to its launch in 1977. His elaborate designs displeased the strip's writer, John Wagner, but impressed editor Pat Mills, and his cityscapes persuaded Mills to set the strip further into the future than initially intended. But Wagner (temporarily) quit over ownership issues and Ezquerra followed him when the first published appearance of the character was drawn by another artist, Mike McMahon. He returned to Battle, where he once again teamed up with Alan Hebden to create "El Mestizo", a black gun-for-hire who played both sides against the middle during the American Civil War.

In 1978 he and Wagner created Strontium Dog, a sci-fi western about a bounty hunter in a future where mutants are an oppressed minority forced into doing such dirty work, for Starlord, a short-lived sister title to 2000 AD with higher production values. Starlord was later merged into 2000 AD, bringing "Strontium Dog" with it. Ezquerra was almost the only artist to draw the character, until 1988, when writer Alan Grant decided to kill him off in a storyline called "The Final Solution". Ezquerra disagreed with the decision, and refused to draw the story, which was instead illustrated by Simon Harrison and Colin MacNeil. In 2000 Wagner and Ezquerra revived "Strontium Dog" based on a treatment Wagner had written for an abortive TV pilot. Initially, stories were set before the character's death in a revised continuity, but 2010's "The Life and Death of Johnny Alpha" brought Johnny back from the dead.

Other 2000 AD strips he drew included Fiends of the Eastern Front (1980), a vampire story set in World War II, written by Gerry Finley-Day, and adaptations of Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat novels. In 1982 he returned to "Judge Dredd" to draw "The Apocalypse War", a seven-month epic which he drew in its entirety. He has continued to draw the character semi-regularly, handling the whole of "Necropolis" in 1990, "Origins" in 2006-7, and many others.

Ezquerra has also collaborated numerous times with writer Garth Ennis on Bloody Mary, Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, War Stories, a Hitman annual with artist Steve Pugh, and two Preacher specials (The Good Old Boys and The Saint of Killers miniseries) for DC Comics, and Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Entertainment. In 2009 his son Hector inked his pencil work for Strontium Dog: Blood Moon.

Ezquerra occasionally uses the nom de plume "L John Silver" for work such as "The Riddle of the Astral Assassin!" in 2000 AD issue 118.
From biographical notes on WikiPedia.

See illustrators issue 22 for a Carlos Ezquerra feature article.

Stephen Emil Fabian, Sr (born 3 January 1930; Garfield, New Jersey, USA)
Stephen Fabian is an American artist who specializes in science fiction and fantasy illustration and cover art for books and magazines. Fabian also produced artwork for TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game from 1986 to 1995, particularly on the Ravenloft line. He was self-taught, two of his primary influences being Virgil Finlay and Hannes Bok. His work is usually signed Stephen Fabian or Stephen E. Fabian.

Fabian was a recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2006. He has also been a two-time nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist (1970 and 1971), and a seven-time nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist (1975–1981). Collections of his work include Ladies & Legends (1993) and Stephen E. Fabian's Women & Wonders (1995).
Source: Wikipedia
Stephen Fabian art

Herbert Felstead (Active 1940s - 1970s; UK)
Herbert Felstead was a British artist known for illustrating nursery comics in comics such as Playhour and Jack and Jill.

Prior to his work as a comic artist, during the mid 1940s he was a director at the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. Using the signature Fel, he then became an illustrator for several titles published by Juvenile Productions Ltd. in the first half of the 1950s. He first appeared in the Jack & Jill comic book in 1956, taking over 'Teddy & Cuddly' from Hugh McNeill. One of his best known features in the long-running 'Leo the Friendly Lion', that began in Playhour in 1961. Another popular feature Felstead worked on was 'Fliptail the Otter' in Jack and Jill from 1967.

He also filled in on several other strips ('Wink & Blink, the Playful Puppies' and 'Pam's Supermarket' in Playhour, 'Moony from the Moon' and 'Pinky & Perky' in Harold Hare's Own Paper), and his work was reprinted in magazines like Bonnie and annuals up until the 1980s. In the mid-1970s he became the artist of 'Little Joe', a strip created by Ian Gammidge, in the Daily Mirror.
Source: Lambiek and Bear Alley
Bert Felstead art

Roland John Fiddy (17 April 1931 - 3 July 1999; Plymouth, UK)
Roland Fiddy was born in Plymouth in 1931. His schooling was quality: first the Devonport High School, then four years at the Plymouth College of Art, and finally two years at the West of England College of Art in Bristol. This last stretch of study came after three years of National Service in the RAF from 1949 to 1951. He worked as an art teacher in Bristol for two years before turning full-time freelance cartoonist.

Fiddy's first cartoon sale was to the monthly pocket magazine Lilliput in July 1949. This, a best-seller of its day, combined bright articles, full-page cartoons and the occasional pin-up nude, a winning formula for a shilling (five pence). Fiddy next went further up-market to the weekly humorous magazine Punch, selling the first of many cartoon contributions to its editor, Malcolm Muggeridge, in 1952. Newspapers welcomed joke cartoons then, and soon Fiddy was contributing to the Daily Mail, the News Chronicle and the Daily Mirror.

Fiddy's first regular characters were drawn for boys' comics, a forgotten but interesting side to his career. After Eagle, the top weekly picture paper of its period, was bought from the publisher Edward Hulton by Odhams Press in 1960, its editor Clifford Makins was on the look-out for new characters that would add a touch of much-needed humour to the otherwise adventure hero strips. Fiddy came up with Sir Percy Vere, a noble if nutty knight. Three years later, still for Odhams Press (now known as Longacre), he created an up-to-date series for their new comic, Boys' World. This was the adventures of a clumsy conscript called Private Proon. His final series for a children's comic came in 1965, a page of mixed cartoons called "Fun With Fiddy". This ran in the short-lived weekly Ranger.

There were a couple of other adult comic strips drawn by Fiddy: "Paying Guest" for the Sunday Express (1985) and "Him Indoors" for the People (1986). Although both had fair runs, "Paying Guest" being the longer with 10 years, neither strip made the mark that his classic "Tramps" did with its daily appearance covering a decade.

There was a paperback book compiled of some 110 strips, Tramps in the Kingdom (1979). The author is credited as Iain Reid, while Fiddy is reduced to a signature on the cover and a small line on the credit page, "Drawn by Fiddy". Curiously for a man who cheerfully takes all the credit, Reid in his introduction reveals himself as a practising Christian. The book selects only the semi-religious jokes that appeared in the Sunday Express, not a single one of the workaday-week gags. And Reid quotes from the then Archbishop of Canterbury while sparing just one line about his artist's work. "Fiddy, who draws the strip so well, found out that Percival and Cedric began to change visually as he got to know them better." In some 750 words not even a mention of Fiddy's first name!

Fiddy was much appreciated for his humour and his style around the world. He won first prize at several international cartoon competitions including Knokke-Heist in Belgium (1990), Beringen Festival (1984), Netherlands Cartoon Festival (1985), Sofia (1986) and Yomiyuri Shimbun of Japan (1988).

He was married to the Danish artist Signe Kolding, and his books include The Best of Fiddy (1966) and a series of 11 Fanatic's Guides (1989-92).

Roland Fiddy was much appreciated for his stand alone comic panels and humour, winning first prize at several international cartoon competitions including Knokke-Heist in Belgium (1990), Beringen Festival (1984), Netherlands Cartoon Festival (1985), Sofia (1986) and Yomiyuri Shimbun of Japan (1988), it would be fair to call Fiddy one of the topmost cartoonists of his genre.

He also contributed to Boys' World (1963-64).
Source: Dennis Gifford (Obituary in The Independent), Illustration Art Gallery
Roland Fiddy art

Mickey Finn
Not much is known about this artist, other than he painted a number of book covers for Souvenir Press in the 1990s. Could this possibly be a nom de brosse?
Source: The Illustration Art Gallery
Mickey Finn art

Walkden Fisher (1913 - 1979; Birkdale, Southport, UK)
Walkden Fisher was born in Birkdale in 1913, the grandson of Alderman Thomas Fisher, a freeman of the borough and one of Southport's civic fathers. He was educated at King George V School and then studied at the Victoria School of Art, Southport, for five years. An early hobby of his art school days was making puppet theatres and, after building a theatre in his cellar, he and other students performed plays.

Walkden Fisher might be best known as as a cutaway artist in Eagle, as a modelmaker for the “Dan Dare” strip and as a contributor to Eagle: for instance, a 12-part series on "Running a Model Railway", to the Eagle annuals (Number 3) and the spin-off books (Trains, Modern Wonders and Hobbies).

Fisher was involved with the Bakehouse group of artists under Frank Hampson as a model maker, producing models of spaceships like the Anastasia and other items associated with Dan Dare, including a table-top model of Space Fleet Headquarters. When the studio moved south to Epsom, Fisher would often make the trip with his models.

Walkden Fisher also contributed a double-page feature on underground trains in Swift Annual 4 (1958).

But he was also a talented cartoonist, his distinctive signature in the shape of a fish instantly recognisable.

In his detailed biography on Bear Alley, Steve Holland notes Fisher began his artistic career illustrating books written by Ellison Hawks, a Hull-born journalist and photographer who had worked as advertising manager for Meccano Ltd. and then as a general editor for Amalgamated Press and editor of The Dog Owner. Hawks had been producing dozens of books on science, astronomy and aircraft since around 1910 and Fisher's association with him lasted for over a decade.

Fisher joined the R.A.F. as a draughtsman, spending two years in charge of the drawing office of 231 Group South-East Asia Command in Calcutta, where he also painted security posters for the USAF.

In addition to his work for Eagle, he also contributed freelance illustrations for many brochures and advertisements and is also remembered as a pioneer in slot car racing, who later became art editor of Model Car magazine and a technical editor of the American magazine Model Car and Track.

Walkden, who lived in Stockport where Eagle was first created, played a major role in the early success of the Automobile Road Racing Association slot car racing group, preceded by the Southport M&EC in which Fisher also played a role, which is still running today.

Walkden played a huge part in the building of the club's first main layout, which featured in an article he wrote and illustrated for Eagle Annual Volume 8 and also appeared in articles in Model Maker and Meccano Magazine.

"Walkden was a stickler for having everything look realistic and had as much scenery as he could fit in", recalls one former Automobile Road Racing Association member in a discussion thread on the International Slot Car Forum about the history of the Stockport-based club, which features many pictures of the layout and club members.

In the 1970s he was semi-retired and a one-man exhibition of his work was held at Southport's Atkinson Gallery in April 1973. A year later, Fisher was elected to be a life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In later years he also contributed cartoons to the Salvation Army magazine War Cry.

For many years Fisher, who was married and had a son, lived in Princes Street, Southport. He died in 1979, aged 66. Some of his artwork was subsequently published as fine art prints by a local firm, Hesketh Publishing.
Source: DowntheTubes.com & Bear Alley
Walkden Fisher art

Dorothy Fitchew (flourished 1910 - 1922 (died))
Landscape and natural history painter and illustrator
Dorothy Fitchew art

Sir William Russell Flint (4 April 1880 - 30 December 1969; Edinburgh, UK)
Sir William Russell Flint RA was a Scottish artist and illustrator who was known especially for his watercolour paintings of women. He also worked in oils, tempera, and printmaking.

Flint was born in Edinburgh on 4 April 1880 and was educated at Daniel Stewart's College and then Edinburgh Institution. From 1894 to 1900 Flint apprenticed as a lithographic draughtsman while taking classes at the Royal Institute of Art, Edinburgh. From 1900 to 1902 he worked as a medical illustrator in London while studying part-time at Heatherley's Art School. He furthered his art education by studying independently at the British Museum. He was an artist for The Illustrated London News from 1903 to 1907, and produced illustrations for editions of several books, including W. S. Gilbert's Savoy Operas (1909) and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (1912).

Flint was chosen by art instructor Percy V. Bradshaw as one of the artists to illustrate "The Art of the Illustrator", a celebrated collection of twenty portfolios demonstrating six stages of a single painting or drawing by twenty different artists and published in 1918.

Flint was elected president of Britain's Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours (now the Royal Watercolour Society) in 1936 to 1956, and knighted in 1947.

During visits to Spain, Flint was impressed by Spanish dancers, and he depicted them frequently throughout his career. He enjoyed considerable commercial success but little respect from art critics, who were disturbed by a perceived crassness in his eroticized treatment of the female figure.

Flint was active as an artist until his death in London on 30 December 1969.
Source: Wikipedia

See our original copies of The Art of the Illustrator published by Percy V Bradshaw in 1918.

William Russell Flint art

Charles James Folkard (1878 - 1963; London, UK)
Charles Folkard was born in Lewisham, London, and attended St. John's Wood School of Art, as well as Goldsmith's College School of Art.

He is the creator and original artist of the famous newspaper strip 'Teddy Tail', who made his first appearance in The Daily Mail on 5 April 1915. Folkard drew several stories for the Mail, which were collected in books by A & C Black, Ltd.

Folkard was succeeded by his artist son, Harry Folkard. Charles Folkard then focused on book illustration. He has done illustrations for such books as 'Swiss Family Robinson', 'Grimm's Fairy Tales', 'The Arabian Knights' and 'Children's Shakespeare'.
Source: Lambiek Comiclopedia & The Illustration Art Gallery

Alfonso Font (born 28 August 1946; Barcelona, Spain)
Alfonso Font is a Spanish comic book creator and cartoonist.

Alfonso Font was born in Barcelona, Spain. He began his comics career in the early 1960s as an apprentice in the local Editorial Bruguera studio, working mostly at western, war, mystery and horror series, especially for foreign publishers. In the 1970s he worked for the British publisher Fleetway on several comics, in particular war series such as Black Max (commissioned through the Bardon Art agency); later he would also work for American publishers Warren Publishing and Skywald.

In the 1970s he moved to Paris, where he collaborated with the magazine Pif gadget where, among others, he created the science fiction series Les Robinsons de la terre (The Robinsons of Earth). In 1972 he illustrated the series Geminis, written by Carlos Echevarría, dealing with espionage adventures set in World War I, before moving on to work for the French publishing house Editions du Vaillant on comic strips for Pif magazine scripted by Patrick Cothias including “Sandberg, Pere et Fils”, a strip sadly dropped from the title as it was considered too adult for its target teen audience.

After working on “Tequila Bang” written by Victor Mora for the weekly Spanish news magazine La Calle, Font began writing more of his own scripts, creating several series and characters that have given him international recognition, including Historias negras (Dark Stories), a collection of eighteen short, dark humorous adventures, and the science fiction Cuentos de un futuro imperfecto (Tales of an Imperfect Future).

This was followed in 1982 by the similar, though more hilarious El prisionero de las estrellas (The Prisoner of the Stars), an ecological-themed series, and Clarke y Kubrick, Espacialistas Ltd (Clarke & Kubrick: Spatialists Inc.). Though the two main protagonists' names are those of the creators of 2001: A Space Odyssey, author Arthur C. Clarke and film director Stanley Kubrick, this series is mostly inspired by Robert Sheckley's short stories. In 1982 he also released an erotic-comic series entitled Carmen Bond.

As well as a number of short stories such as “El As Negro” (The Black Ace), Font also created the comic strips “En busca del Cimoc perdido” (Searching for the lost Cimoc) and “Federico Mendelssohn Bartholdy contra el doctor Fut Maun Chut” (Federico Mendelssohn Bartholdy vs. Dr. Fut Maun Chut) He also drew the graphic album Barcelona al Alba (Barcelona at Dawn), created in collaboration with scriptwriter Juan Antonio De Blas, based on real events that took place in Barcelona in 1925.

In 1985 Font created Jon Rohner (initially as Jann Polynesia), a comic book series about a seaman's wanderings inspired by tales from authors such as Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson. The series won the Haxtur Award in 1990 as "Best Short Comics" in the Salón Internacional del Cómic del Principado de Asturias at Gijón.

In 1987 he created Taxi, about a young female taxi-driver who lives a series of spy adventures. The Italian magazine L'Eternauta, in 1988, published his series Alice e gli Argonauti (Alice and the Argonauts), a science fictional adventure of a young girl searching for her father, imprisoned by a dictatorial government. Also in Italy, he published a series of self-contained stories entitled Private Eye, about a private detective, and Bri D'Alban, about the clash between the Catholic church and the Cathar heretics during the early 13th century.

In 1993 Font received the Grand Prize at the Barcelona International Comic Fair, in Barcelona, Spain, for his whole career.

In 1996 he received the Yellow Kid Award at the Lucca Comics & Games event, in Lucca, Italy.

In 1998 Font started drawing Tex Willer for Sergio Bonelli Editore, written by Mauro Boselli. Four years later he became a regular member of the staff working at Tex ongoing series; in 2012 he also worked at a short story of Dylan Dog.

In 1999, with writer Ewald Fehlau, he adapted Jason Dark's Ghost Hunter for German Publisher Bastei Verlag. In 2004 he was one of the artists called for the revamping of Pif Gadget, appearing with the pirate comic Les Aventures de Trelawney, written by Richard Marazano. In 2010 he provided art for the medieval historic series Heloise de Montfort, also with script by Marazano.

Starting in 2003, many of his classic stories were reprinted in Spain, in books such as Historias negras (Dark Stories) (2003), El as negro (The Black Ace) (2004), Barcelona al alba (Barcelona at Dawn) (2004), Federico Mendelssohn Bartholdy (2007), Jon Rohner, marino (Jon Rohner, sailor) (2008), Historias negras (Dark Stories) (2017), Taxi (2018), La flor del nuevo mundo (The Flower of the New World) (originally published as The Epos of Chile) (2018.)

He is still active, and his most recent album, Aloma: The Treasure of the Temerario was published in Germany in 2018.

Represented today worldwide by SAF (Strip Art Features), recent work includes the children’s story “Shelter for Lost Dreams.” and a new thriller/adventure series for SAF, which is again based in his beloved Barcelona.

Alfonso Font is a multi award-winning artist (awards that include the highly coveted “Yellow Kid”), and much admired by other comic creators.

Font's mastery of anatomy is self-evident, notes fellow Spanish artist Sergio Bleda. “I challenge you to show me an artist that can draw hands in such a natural and expressive manner as he does – it is his use of perspective, scene layout, narrative, volume, lightning, and textures.
Source: Downthetubes and Illustration Art Gallery
Alfonso Font art

Ronald Forbes (1917 - 2013; Dundee, Scotland)
Born in 1917 in Dundee, he went to Stobswell School, leaving at 14 to join DC Thomson, where he worked as a junior in the art department.

On the outbreak of war in 1939 Mr Forbes joined the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry, serving for more than six years as a tank driver.

He saw action with the 11th Armoured Division in Normandy, Belgium, Holland and Germany in 1944-45, when he lost many friends and comrades.

For many years he contributed to the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Association and painted the regimental crest and battle honours that were recently restored to the Cupar association.

After the war Mr Forbes went back to college to study art and during the 1950s and early 1960s was a freelance artist working mainly for Amalgamated Press in London on the Rover. Captain Condor was one of his more well-known creations.

On moving back to Dundee, he worked for DC Thomson comics such as Bunty, Judy and Jackie.

He retrained as a teacher, qualifying in 1967, and taught at Fairmuir School in Dundee until his retirement in 1982.

He returned to art and major DIY projects on three homes. From his final home in Moulin, near Pitlochry, he continued drawing and painting into his early nineties.

He exhibited his work in many local galleries and sold Highland landscapes, still life and working horse paintings.

Mr Forbes died peacefully in Perth Royal Infirmary, just a month after his wife Nancy. He is survived by his children Allison and Malcolm.
Source: http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/obituaries/pitlochry-artist-and-war-veteran-ronald-forbes-dies-aged-96-1.71272

Jean-Claude Forest (11 September 1930 - 29 December 1998; Paris, France)
Jean-Claude Forest was born in Le Perreux-sur-Marne, a Paris suburb, and graduated from the Paris School of Design in the early 1950s and immediately began working as an illustrator.

While at the Paris School of Design Forest drew his first comic strip, Flèche Noire (The Black Arrow). After creating Le Vaisseau Hanté (The Ghost Ship) he illustrated several issues of Charlot, a popular French comic book series loosely based on Charlie Chaplin.

Forest eventually became the premier cover artist of French publisher Gallimard's leading French science-fiction paperback imprint, Le Rayon Fantastique, also drawing covers for numerous French newspapers and magazines including France Soir. Together with renowned film director Alain Resnais, Forest was one of the founders of the French Comic-Strip Club in the early 1960s.

Forest became world famous when he created the sexy sci-fi strip Barbarella, which was originally published in France in V Magazine in 1962. The strip was an immediate bestseller and was soon translated into a dozen languages. In 1967 it was adapted by Terry Southern and Roger Vadim and made into a major motion picture, with Forest acting as design consultant.

Forest created many other cartoons and comic books, also writing scripts for comic strips and for French television.

He was awarded the Grand Prize at the 1984 Angoulême Comics Festival and in Sierre (Switzerland) in 1986.

Jean-Claude Forest suffered from severe asthma for many years and died in 1998 at the age of 68.
Source: Wikipedia
Jean-Claude Forest art

Don Forrest (active 1950s & 1960s)
Donald A. Forrest is a wildlife artist noted for his illustration of birds. One of his most notable books is The Birdwatcher's Key which is an illustrated guide to 382 different species to be found in the British Isles and North-Western Europe.

Forrest's career may date back to at least as early as 1949 and the publication of a children's book entitled Binkie Beacon and His Friends. Abridged from biographical notes by Steve Holland.
Don Forrest art

Robert Forrest (born circa 1905, died late 1968; active 1951 - 1968; UK)
Robert Forrest came into the comic business quite late in life (well into his forties), after a career with the Inland Revenue. He had never drawn professionally but was taken on by Ted Holmes for Comet, drawing Kit Carson for the front page. With his action-packed, free style, Forrest was a natural, at home in all adventure genres but, when Leonard Matthews used him for The Lyons Mail, he found his true metier, as one of the finest of all the historical Thriller Comics Library artists. As well as working for the TCL, Forrest continued to draw Western strips for its companion title, Cowboy Comics Library. He contributed to its Kit Carson and Buck Jones issues early on and later, towards the end of the run, full-length adaptations of Western novels, which can stand among his best work.

Forrest even tried his hand at science fiction, with The Martian, a strip version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Princess of Mars", for Comet. He drew a fine strip for Knockout in 1960 - The Mad Emperor - which vividly conveyed the opulence and decadence of the Russian court in the 18th century. As with his masterpiece, The Picture of Dorian Gray (TCL 148), even the architecture, massive, opulent and overpowering, seemed to evoke the atmosphere of horror and terror. He also drew a splendid version of R.L. Stevenson's famous story, Jekyll and Hyde, which was originally destined for the Thriller Comics Library but, the policy by then having swung against historical fiction if favour of War stories and Westerns, it was decided to use it as a serial strip in Top Spot late in 1959. Forrest was also one of the 'Karl the Viking' artists for Lion magazine.

Forrest's strip adaptations of Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four for Look and Learn are recognised as the best Sherlock Holmes picture strips ever produced. For the same magazine, Forrest produced his only colour strip - a serialisation of the story of Richard III -, which shows what a master colourist he was. Incidentally, the last chapter was drawn and painted by Eric Parker, indicating perhaps an illness or even, perhaps, Forrest's sudden death. Certainly the present authors can find no further work by this artist after that date.
Source: David Ashford, Norman Wright, Illustration Art Gallery

Enjoy his war story in our Fleetway Picture Library Classics FLEETWAY FIRSTS and his swashbuckling action in PIRATE TALES and CLASH OF BLADES.

Robert Forrest art

Harold "Hal" Rudolf Foster (16 August 1892 – 25 July 25 1982; Nova Scotia, Canada)
Hal Foster, was a Canadian-American illustrator and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip Prince Valiant. His drawing style is noted for a high level of draftsmanship and attention to detail.

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Foster rode his bike to the United States in 1919. In 1928, he began one of the earliest adventure comic strips, an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan. In 1937, he created his signature strip, the weekly Prince Valiant, a fantasy adventure set in medieval times. The strip featured Foster's dextrous, detailed artwork; Foster eschewed word balloons, preferring to have narration and dialogue in captions.

Foster was a staff artist for the Hudson's Bay Company in Winnipeg and rode his bike to Chicago in 1919 where he studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and soon found illustration assignments. The illustrator J. C. Leyendecker was an early influence on Foster.

Foster's Tarzan comic strip, adapted from Edgar Rice Burroughs's novels, began October 20, 1928. Foster returned to do the Tarzan Sunday strip beginning September 27, 1931, continuing until Burne Hogarth took over the Sunday Tarzan on May 9, 1937. He soon grew tired of working on an adaptation and began planning his own creation.

William Randolph Hearst, who had long wanted Foster to do a comic strip for his newspapers, was so impressed with Foster's pitch for Prince Valiant that he promised Foster a 50-50 split of the gross income on the strip, a very rare offer in those days. Prince Valiant premiered on February 13, 1937, continuing for decades. In 1944, Foster and his wife Helen moved from Topeka to Redding Ridge, Connecticut. In 1954, the couple was seen on television's This Is Your Life. In 1971, the Fosters retired to Spring Hill, Florida. In 1967, Woody Gelman revived some of Foster's earlier work for his Nostalgia Press.

In 1970, Foster was suffering from arthritis and began planning his retirement. He had several artists draw Sunday pages before choosing John Cullen Murphy as his collaborator and permanent replacement in 1971. Murphy drew the strip from Foster scripts and pencil sketches. Foster stopped illustrating (and signing) the Prince Valiant pages in 1975. For several years, he continued writing the strip and doing fairly detailed layouts for Murphy, eventually doing less and less of both the writing and art until prolonged anaesthesia during an operation took his memory and he no longer remembered ever doing Prince Valiant.

Foster attended the Comic Art Convention in 1969, and the OrlandoCon in 1974 and 1975.

Foster was 73 when he was elected to membership in Great Britain's Royal Society of Arts, an honor given to very few Americans.

Foster died in Spring Hill in 1982.

Foster is a seminal figure in the history of comics, especially action-adventure strips. R.C. Harvey argues that Foster and Flash Gordon artist Alex Raymond "created the visual standard by which all such comic strips would henceforth be measured."

Foster's clear yet detailed panels, uncluttered by word balloons, were appreciated by contemporaries of his generation such as Lynd Ward, but perhaps his greatest impact was on the young artists who drove the Golden Age of Comics. Foster was a major influence on this generation, many of whom went on to become iconic and influential artists themselves. Joe Kubert called Foster, Raymond and Milton Caniff the “three saints” of comic art in the 1930s and 40s. Several sources have identified early work by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby and Bob Kane as swipes from Foster, and Kirby claimed that he "cannibalized" Foster's style, among others. Kirby also stated that the character design for Etrigan the Demon was an homage to Foster, taken from a Prince Valiant strip. Wally Wood was "obsessed" with Foster's work, and began copying his newspaper strips at the age of two. Frank Frazetta called Foster's work on Tarzan “perfection, a landmark in American twentieth-century art that will never be surpassed." Among the many other artists who have cited Foster as an important influence are Steve Ditko, Mark Schultz, William Stout, Bill Ward, and Al Williamson. Williamson, who met Foster on a few occasions, described him as "a very stern gentleman, very stern, no nonsense. You could never call him Hal or Harold, it's Mr. Foster. ... you don't see that kind of people anymore, the ones that really command your respect."

In his review of Prince Valiant for The Comics Journal, Matt Seneca wrote "as far as long-form serialized action comics go, the only equal to Foster American comics have produced is Kirby, and Kirby was never shy about proclaiming his debts to the master."

Foster was recognized for his work by the National Cartoonists Society with the Reuben Award in 1957, the Story Comic Strip Award in 1964, the Special Features Award in 1966 and 1967, all for Prince Valiant. He received the Elzie Segar Award in 1978 and the Gold Key Award (their Hall of Fame) in 1977. Foster was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creators Hall of Fame for his contributions to comic books in 2005. The latter award was accepted on behalf of the family by writer-artist Dave Sim, a longtime admirer of Foster's work. Foster was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2006.
Source: Wikipedia

Henry Fox (?1911 - ?1980; UK)
Back in the 1960s, Henry Fox became associated with Badger Books to such an extent that his cover artwork has become almost as well known as the novels they were attached to. Any fan of the work of the Rev. Lionel Fanthorpe will know and revere work of Fox H. (as the artwork was often neatly signed). Fox's covers are part of the charm of the books not because they are works of genius but because, like the books, they are pulpy, rushed and formulaic yet hint at wanting to be so much more.

Fox began his association with Badger Books (John Spencer & Co.) in early 1957 when he produced a handful of covers for the company's War and Supernatural titles; the work dried up after a year and it wasn't until mid-1960 that he became their main artist, producing over 200 covers for Badger before the company ceased publishing novels in mid-1967.

As far as I can tell, Fox began producing covers as early as 1952 when he worked for Arrow Books. By 1956 he was also being employed by Ward Lock and Pan, although throughout this period had also produced covers for the cheaper end of the market: Modern Fiction, Comyns and Alexander Moring. He also produced romance covers for Mills & Boon.

During the early 1960s, Fox also worked for the Amalgamated Press, producing covers for the Sexton Blake Library, 1961-62, and various war libraries, 1960-63 (and irregularly thereafter). In the late 1960s, post-Badger, he changed tack completely and began illustrating magazine stories, notably the 'Brer Rabbit' stories in Once Upon a Time and illustration for Treasure and Look and Learn.

Apart from his book covers and illustrations, very little is known about Fox. In the Artwork from the Pan Archive auction catalogue (Bonhams, 1991), the writer claimed that Fox was the pseudonym of one Henry Hall. Not true... and the only explanation I can think of is that at some point Fox worked for agent Maurice Hall and Hall's name appeared on the back of some artwork handled by Bonhams.

After a lot of digging I have discovered that Fox was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art who lived in North London for most (if not all) of his working life, at 158 Alexandra Road, N.W.8 [fl.1948-59] and 27 Springfield Gardens, Barnet, N.W.9 [fl.1962-75].

I've not been able to trace him beyond 1975 and would love to know what happened to him. Henry Fox was a capable artist when working for the better paid markets although, for better or worse, he'll probably be remembered longest for his trashier work for Badger Books. At least that connection means his work has spread to the internet and any web site dedicated to Badger -- see the Pel Torro web site, for instance -- is almost a shrine to Henry Fox. The Look and Learn web site has a number of Fox's later illustrations from Treasure.

UPDATE (12 November 2006)
Thanks to Claire Batley of the RSA, we have a little more info. on Fox. Fox was elected a fellow of the RSA on Friday 1 November 1940. The RSA Journal carried addresses for members from vol. 94 (1945-46) at which time Fox was already living at 158 Alexandra Road. His move to 27 Springfield Gardens was noted in vol. 111 (1962-63). In the list of fellows in vol. 119 (1970-71), Fox has become a life member of the RSA. And, finally, in vol. 125 (1978-79) it is noted that he has moved to 26 St Peter's Crescent, Bexhill-on-Sea, E. Sussex.

The next available members list is from 1981 and Fox's name has disappeared. So it would appear that Fox died some time between 1979-81.

Having narrowed down the field of search, I was able to check the death registers for that period and there are two Fox suspects who died in that period whose deaths are registered at Hastings & Rother (which seems to be the place where all deaths in East Sussex are registered): Henry Stanley Fox (b. 26 December 1899, d. 1979) and, to me the more likely candidate, Henry Fox (b. 2 June 1911, d. 1980). I say the latter is more likely simply because the phone records don't record a middle initial.
Source: Steve Holland (Bear Alley)
Henry Fox art

Picchioni Franco (1942 - 2002)
Picchioni Franco (aka P. FrankO) was an Italian artist. After finishing art school Picchioni Franco attended the "Institute Don Orione" in Rome, where he studied the subject "movie posters". His early works, both painted covers and half-tone illustrations, were published by the magazine "Giallo Selezione" in the early 60's. At first he signed his works Picchioni or simply Franco, before he finds his trademark signature: P. Franco.

In 1965 he started working for "Edizioni COFEDIT", and from then on magazines of the Roman imprint have their characteristics in their modern and effective covers. Many of these covers are printed in spot colors - i.e. the shade of a spot color - such as a spot light is created by printing smaller dots halftone of the base color, like those of "Fantasm", "Gordon Shott", or "Dany Coler" and "Demoniak"; but others ones are painted like those of "Alika".

Franco had a very wide range as an artist, with good knowledge of the works of many Italian painters like Averardo Ciriello and American artists like Frank Frazetta.

In 1966 he began an intense collaboration with" Edizioni Ma.Ga". He made the covers of their novel series: "Gialli del Cerchio Rosso" and "F.B.I.'s Story", novels that are collect more for the beautiful girls pictured on the covers than for the narrative content. Franco also painted almost all of the covers of "Joe Sub" and "Lucy Melson". At the same time, he was active as cover artist and did very important artwork in the field of movie posters. He worked closely with the "Studio Paradiso", but had also direct contacts with film studios who commissioned a number of flyers and posters.

In 1968 he painted several covers for Edizioni Fratelli Spada, where he met one of his admirers, Romano Felmang. Later Felmang, by putting Franco in direct contact with publishers, often asked him to paint the cover for his comic in various comic books. Thus we can see the beautiful cover on comic books like "Zorro", "Il Santo", "Sylvie", "Loana", "Sgt Clem", "I Diavoli" and many others.

When the recession of comic books with painted covers and movie posters came, Franco began to paint posters for the circus, mainly tigers, lions and lion tamers.

Franco left us in the early 2000s due to an incurable disease.
Source: Mandrakewiki.org
Picchioni Franco art