Peter Gray's UK Comic Artists: October 2009

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Gordon Bell

Gordon Bell has a great way of drawing dogs...cats...any animal or monster in a cute way.....my favourite of his is Spoofer Mcgraw, it is so clever and original. :)
He has also stood in for periods of time when an artists retires, on holiday, for annuals, or artist has moved on e.g Bash Street kids...Roger the Dodger..
I've been very inspired by him in my own work...Peter

David Sutherland

David Sutherland's work is super...I love the way he talks to readers through the characters..he made it fun for me to be a kid from the 80's...the way he draws Gnasher has not been bettered....my favourites has to be Dennis from the 80's and Bash Street kids
I love his Plug from Bash Street...my favourite character and Davids...... the way his face can even turn the tide back!!!
He has also drawn adventure strips like Billy the cat and Katie very grounded in our reality (who wouldn't want to swing on a lamp post!! also the Iron Fish and the later General/Admiral Jumbo. He started working with the Beano in 1961 and is still drawing the Bash Street kids and the odd Dennis the Menace today...amazing!!....I love his covers for annuals and summer specials very appealing and fun.
One incident which was very clever in a Bash Street kids story from a Beano annual 1975 it showed teacher winning a trip to the moon.......though he had to wait 10 years!!....David drew the story in 1985...I loved the fact he had to wait so long before he could draw it:)

His work of Dennis and the Bash Street kids have lots of topical reference...like telly programs of the time...fads...new technology.......I also like Dennis with his gang...the menace sign...when Gnasher went missing for a very long time...even Mike Read DJ asked on the radio if anyone had seen him.....when Dennis changed his image...when the Bash Street kids had to be dull and politicilly correct...all these thankfully didn't last.....I believed Dennis had changed his look for good at the time!!....many other landmarks for me was seeing Dennis and Walter advertising smarties on huge billboards....I recommend if you bought the Beano in the 80's read them now it brings your childhood alive..........cheers David .......Peter

Sid Burgon

Sid Burgon did the super Joker and many others from 1973 to 1990 at Fleetway. He then worked at D.C Thomson up to the early 2000's until he retired.
Sid has a great clear penmanship with good varities of shading. He drew his characters with a certain walk and style. Joker had great characters in it from his older brother, the pretty teacher, the crafty dog etc..
He made Bookworm fun the stories were always fresh and original. He made the Invisible monster visible!!...
I loved Adrian the Barbarian he did for Beezer...he came up with some great fun creatures lurking in the background a bit like his early work of Little Monsters.

I hope he is enjoying his retirement...what a great body of work for us all to enjoy. Cheers to Sid! :)

Jim Petrie

From Jim himself and Craig who wrote with Jim Petrie 23rd Nov 2007-
Hello Peter,
Brings back memories.Craig Ferguson & myself were chuckling over Fatty F last month-Craig wrote the scripts for the FF feature as well as Minnie

I had forgotten some of the characters U showed on the JP site.!! Just getting acquainted again. Thank U ,Peter.I dont have a Comp but I use the Council ones now & again. 2 Russian women told me that I had been spotted on Google-they are Scientists at the Uni.so here I am.

I saw Gordon Cook on the Sparky site-must add a comment there.T-lady was to be 2pages but no page rate increase so I kept to 1page-wasnt sure of how much mileage in T-lady too! The Creative Scriptwriters arent recognised for their 1st class work. R.D. Low ,Managing Ed. spoke of the Creative teams in DCT and how 1/3 of the pages could carry the Comic, He wasnt keen on artists meeting others. John Geering wanted to meet everyone when he started here-official line was Dont mix writers and artists.It didnt work !! Best wishes Jim

Hi Peter,
Having seen Jim's emails to you on the comics UK forum, I felt compelled to contact you with a little more background info. Working with Jim on the Fatty Fudge stories, and later Minnie, was one of the highlights of my working life. Jim is a supremely talented guy and one of the nicest people it has been my good fortune to meet. Together we produced over 70 Fatty adventures, beginning in 1989, I think. We covered everything from sci-fi (2001 A Space Obesity, Star Tuck), James Bond (Fishfinger, Live and Let Diet), Spaghetti Westerns (A Fistful of Dollops, For a Few Dollops More) to books, plays and even pantomine (Kebabs in the Wood)! My particular favourites were: The Sword in the Scone, Fatman of the Apes by Edgar Rice Pudding and King Solomon's Mince! Euan Kerr, the then Beano Editor, prohibited two suggestions as being 'too Scottish', Single White Pudding (from contemporary film 'Single White Female') and the musical, Seven Bridies for Seven Brothers!

I later wrote Minnie from 1992 until 1997, when I left the Beano. Jim preferred only the bare bones of a script (dialogue and very little direction) which gave him free rein to work his lively and humorous magic. I was only too happy to work that way, as I had been a fan of his since childhood and wouldn't have dared to give him the greater direction I would have seen as the norm for less experienced artists. I'm delighted to say that, although Jim has now retired, we still meet up every little while for a beer and many laughs!
Thanks again for reminding people of Jim's great contribution to the comics world! Kind regards,
Craig Ferguson.

My comments-I really like this artist....he is great at drawing action...the multipling head, tongue and legs to show speed. The tongue was the best drawn by Jim...its almost his logo...The funny way the body can be twisted to funny poses...
The writing for Minnie the Minx was super...every theme, telly program, newspaper story and fad was explored...
One I enjoyed in the 80's was the Europe holiday visiting different countries each week with all the fun sterotypes.... Jim really drew Minnie as she should be dynamic...Wow! every panel was buzzing...Also liked the title panel for the word Minnie the Minxs was different every week....Fatty Fudge doing spinoffs from films and telly with a food theme was also very good.

The Sparky people are the behind the scenes at Sparky...it really shows a window to what office life was like in the 70's...other than computers I don't think much as changed...David Tennant proved that!
Incredible Sulk was great.loved his drawing of a sulk with the lower lip covering the nose.
The Cavers was very funny...all Jim's work is action packed...a lot of comic artist could learn from him......

Cheers to Jim and happy retirement..thanks for 40 years of comic classic fun. Though I like Minnie drawn by other top artist past and present...Jim's Minnie is my favourite...Peter

Ian Knox

I like his work a lot..... Great at the exaggerated human and animal figure.....bodys, legs and faces..all out of proportion in funny ways....one of the girls in Robot Gran looked like a Gorilla with her arms dragging along... also cars...trains...extending out...and wobbling along.. every panel was filled with over the top action......comics should do this more.... comparing my work to his......I like doing exaggerated and over the top ideas but my drawings are simple and rounded.....we can all learn from him.. his work really stood out...... he is a political artist and good at caricatures some of it you can see in Winnie the royal nag..
Ian is a political cartoonist, still working away in Belfast.
..................................................................................
Peter, hugely flattered by the attention you give me on your website (now a blog). If there's anything I can get you let me know.

Unfortunately I.P.C. were not handing back original artwork at the time I left, so I can't pass any of it on to you.

I have stacks of stuff about the local political scene lying around me here but I doubt it would interest you. You can see the kind of stuff I'm producing now on the Irish News website or my weekly T.V. spot on BBC N.Ireland "Hearts and Minds" website.

I had a very pleasant evening last week with Davy Francis who drew for I.P.C. ,John McCrae who draws the odd Spiderman and Will Simpson who has drawn Batman and Judge Dredd in his time.

I remember when I was living in north London I was the only artist who regularly delivered artwork by hand. I was frequently late and tried to skulk in and out without Bob Paynter seeing me. At that time Alf Saporito sat at his drawing board in a cramped corner of the entrance lobby.

I qualified as an architect at Heriot Watt university, Edinburgh in 1969 and worked for Richard Seifert when I first came to London. There wasn't enough drawing involved so I called into the Dog & Duck, Frith St. one lunch hour and managed to persuade some of the animators to give me a job.

Must turn my head to matters political, good luck with your sites, Ian Knox.

Thanks Ian for the background info on yourself and the encouragement. Peter Gray

http://irishcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Ian_Knox

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.com/search/label/Ian%20Knox

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Robert Nixon

Robert Nixon has left a great legacy of work....his work is so likeable...his drawing is very circler giving it a 3D effect...when he draws posters with lots of characters it is powerful!!...see for yourselves..:) Peter

http://www.artienne.co.uk/
See Robert's paintings..