My Random ART Collection

Art as Packaging

When I was working at 2000 AD, artists would often use discarded pieces of art as packaging when they sent their latest pages to the Command Module by mail. Here's one such piece by John Burns. I've loved his work ever since I read Countdown comic as a kid, so I couldn't bear to see this in the bin, even with scalpel slices through the character's beautiful face.

This piece of the packaging below was pretty screwed up, but I managed to iron it out a little.

Yep, original Jamie Hewlett circa 1988. Glad I rescued this one. Jamie has a very snazzy website!

I used to share a studio with a Fashion illustrator called Kim Dalziel. She did some beautiful illustration work for Marie Claire magazine among others. One day she did a rough sketch of Judge Anderson and then screwed it up. I rescued it because I liked it and also because I find it really interesting to see how a comic character is interpreted by someone with a different artistic sensibility.

This was a card given to me on my 50th Birthday by Brendan McCarthy, we were working on his Swimini Purpose book at the time.

An original by Jamie Hewlett - who else! And if you want more Tank Girl - and who doesn’t!?! Check out Alan C. Martin’s Rock and Roll Art School here on Substack.

Here's a beautiful piece of original art I bought a few years ago at an Orbital Comics exhibition called Largely Unseen - An Exhibition of Obscure Artistic Endeavours, featuring the amazing work of Stark aka Mark Stafford. To see what he's been up to since, check this link!

Mike Kaluta drew this for me at a convention, back in 1986.

This piece is by Jason Atomic who drew this portrait of me for my birthday in MMXIV! Love it! You’ll find his drawings and comix @ jasonatomic on Instagram.

Judge Dredd by the late, great, and sorely missed Steve Dillon.

When I worked on Doctor Who Magazine at Marvel UK, these Doctor Who? strips by Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett, were a regular feature, and they always made me laugh, so I bought a couple of my favorites. This is one of ‘em!. 

I’ve known Alison Bass since I was six years old, and she painted this for me as a comment on my staple diet, which used to be tuna and pasta! It turned up in the mail from Amsterdam one day and really made me laugh. As well as her beautiful paintings, she’s worked in the repair studio of Madame Tussaud´s for more than 25 years. Here’s Alison’s website.

I always hang onto things like this. My 1987 Christmas card from Nick Abadzis. I worked with Nick at Marvel UK, after which we shared a studio together with John Tomlinson, when we worked for 2000 AD and Deadline. John and I wrote about our days at South Thames Studios, here. Nick’s Hugo Tate, Doctor Who, and the Eisner Award winning Laika, are all on Nick’s website.

And last but not least, I'm the very proud owner of this great tribute to Jack Kirby by Shaky Kane, featuring Tharg the Mighty as The Silver Surfer. Shaky gave this to me in 2011, and it hangs magnificently on my studio wall back in London. This was originally commissioned for 2000 AD at the time of Kirby's death and in print, it was accompanied by this caption; In Memorium. Jack 'King' Kirby. 28 Aug 1917 - 6 Feb 1994. The Father of Comic Art, he taught three generations how to draw.

I feel very lucky to have all of these!

Cheers! - Steve