EXTRACTS: Illustrators Issue 4 © 2013 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

44 Whilst there, illustrators that I came across, who I still love, include John Hassall, Cecil Aldin, William Nicholson – he used to live up the road from my folks in Rottingdean–Lawson Wood, Charles Robinson, Arthur Rackham, and Edmund Dulac, and I also discovered ‘Rupert Bear’ which was a real revelation. I had grown up in a house without books, so that surreal other world of ‘Rupert Bear’ really, made a huge impact on me. After Brighton I then went to The Royal College of Art (RCA) from 1967- 1970, and happily foundmyself part of a talented group of like-minded people. (It was while I was there that I became aware of Eduardo Paolozzi. He had an exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum and it was his love of machines that struck a chord with me and later lead to my use of toys, especially robots, as inspiration for my own work). The first term I was at the RCA The Sunday Times newspaper employed me to do the first full colour illustrated page they had ever featured, which was even mentioned on the TV news! PR: Fantastic! CM: Yes, it was amazing. But because it went so well they gave me another page after that. It was all too much, too soon, really. I was working on that, plus lots of editorial illustrations and I was trying to fulfill the demands of the RCA course work as well. Even so it was just an incredible time. I had always enjoyed costume, so I did a lot of work for the fashion magazines. I wasn’t so much concerned with being a fashion illustrator, but certainly that love of costume, and being next-door to the V&A with all its collectionswasaconstantsourceofinspiration.WhileIwastherePaulHogarth came along, and I went out drawing with him, and he really instilled that love of drawing, and the love of landscape, and architecture. He told me about the Brandywine Tradition, and I discovered Maxfield Parrish. So finally, when ABOVE:Chris McEwan photographed in 1981, along with some “friends” for the 1981 exhibition ‘Robots’ at Brighton Art College. ABOVE RIGHT: A 1970s illustration for a French advertising agency. McEwan’s graphic sensibilities accorded well with French Art Directors, whose appreciation of ‘bande dessinée’ was way in advance of their UK counterparts. FACING PAGE: A poster for Roy Turk who was a pioneer of special effects and camera work in the UK animation industry, with a CV that included work on Halas and Batchelor’s 1954 release of ‘Animal Farm’.