EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 8 © 2014 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

76 of these latent influences created any ideas in the young Haslam of pursuing a career in such an innately insecure profession. In an era where the steady job still held sway, Haslam’s career path seemed circumscribed by what was available within the locality. It was his attendance at a local secondary school, which provided the initial impetus to his eventual career path in the form of his art teacher, Neville Turner. It was Turner who spotted the latent talent, opening Haslam’s eyes to the possibility of a career in art and encouraged Haslam to apply to Art College. As Haslam remarks, “Me and my mate Lionel (who went on to found Chase Design, one of Manchester’s most successful design firms) were the first to go to Art College. Never before in the school’s history had anyone been creative.” At this point, the zenith of Haslam’s ambitions was to secure a job as a draughtsman at a local engineering company or as a printer at Tillotsons, which was one of Bolton’s biggest printers. As he remarks with a rueful chuckle, “Perhaps I should have done, I’d be retired and on a pension now”. It was exposure to new ideas and some of the most stimulating tutors a student could hope for, which broadened his horizons. Ken Adshead the course tutor, opened up the world of design for him and Tony Forster, who Haslam describes as a “brilliant typographer and lettering artist, added further insight into understanding and enjoying the intracacies of designing with type. This awareness of the importance of relating type to drawing has had BELOW: Long Night. Self promotional artwork. RIGHT: An example of Haslam’s “Saturday Morning Art”. When not chasing deadlines the artist loves to explore new ideas—’Daily Bread’ is just such a project FACING PAGE: A vampire for Harcourt Publishing UK. FACING PAGE RIGHT: ‘Coffee Shop’. Self initiated from an idea inspired by an article about the rise in coffee shops in the UK. The image eventually appeared as a full page in The Workbook USA.