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

77 a profound influence on much of the work that he has produced since and he is one of a relative minority of illustrators who is more than happy to treat type and art as mutually inclusive when he creates his illustrations. However, the idea of pursuing a career as a freelance illustrator was still a remote concept when Haslam left Bolton Art College in 1968 with his LSIAD (Licentiate, Society Of Industrial Artists and Designers) tucked under his arm. The most promising prospect for a young Bolton artist with a love of design, seeking a stimulating job with a regular pay cheque was to be found in nearby Manchester’s advertising agencies. The work was initially demanding and varied but soon settled into a predictable pattern. As Haslam recalls, “I never thought of myself as an illustrator at that point and I probably spent about ten years in advertising, going through all the agencies and learning the craft. But the problem with advertising was it attracted certain kinds of people— pirates and cut-throats—which didn’t fit easily with me. I could see that I wasn’t going to get anywhere if I stayed within an agency. So I left with the feeling that what I was going to earn as a freelancer was going to be more than my salary at the agency had been”. He undertook commissions for a few clients prior to his departure and this strengthened his opinion that his best way forward was to freelance. Looking back he recalls doing, “tons and tons of storyboards and that’s where I learned to draw using polaroids and loads of books