EXTRACTS: Brian Bolland (illustrators special issue) © 2019 Book Palace Books (144 PAGES in Full edition)

18 PR: Did you find it difficult to break into illustration? BB: I got a bit of paid work while still at Norwich School of Art. PR: What made you choose Bardon Art as your agent? BB: Through a long sequence of events, via comic fandom involving my local friend Dave Harwood, I became acquainted with Dave Gibbons. Dave recommended I contact his agent Bardon Art. There was a man there called Keith [Keith Davis—Barry Coker’s business partner]. He took a look at my work with its underground comics overtones, naked women and the like, and my long hair and beard and he was clearly about to send me packing. As I was leaving a younger man, Barry Coker, came and took a look. He seemed to see something in my work and decided to give me a chance. PR: What sort of work did you do to begin with? BB: There was no 2000AD . No sci-fi in comics at the time. Sci-fi had fallen out of favour ever since the demise of the Eagle and Dan Dare . There were football comics and war comics. There were “girls’ comics” which, for all I knew, were about needlework and ponies. I did a few two-pagers for Fleetway or DC Thompson. It was a dark time for me. While still a student I’d done some illustrations for various underground publications like Friendz and OZ . My first paid- for work was in Time Out in 1972. A black and white watercolour illustration of bassist Barry Guy. Time Out paid me £5. ABOVE & ABOVE RIGHT: Some of Brian's earliest published artwork appeared in counter-culture publications such as Oz . The 'hippy- trippy' influences were still apparent when, on the recommendation of Dave Gibbons, he first introduced himself to Barry Coker and Keith Davis at Bardon Art.