John Ridgway (comic artist)
Encyclopedia
John Ridgway is a British
comics
artist
.
's Commando War Stories
alongside professional work as a design engineer. In 1984 Ridgway became a full-time professional, broadening his employment to include 2000 AD
, Guttenberghus, Marvel Comics
and DC Comics
.
Ridgway's full-colour work is immediately distinctive for its unusual realism coupled with a delicate, sketchy pencil line, the two combining to give a slightly old-fashioned look influenced strongly by classic British artist Frank Hampson. This has made him ideal for illustrating strips such as the 1960s set Summer Magic and Enid Blyton
's The Famous Five
, but it is also a look that lends itself well to large-scale science fiction
such as Babylon 5
. His portfolio is unusually wide, incorporating Doctor Who
, Zoids
, the Incredible Hulk and My Name is Chaos.
Ridgway has been responsible for creating the look for a number of series, including Hellblazer
, Luke Kirby and Junker, a sign of the high regard in which he is held by many editors. He was also the artist chosen to depict Judge Dredd
without his helmet for the first and only time in the character's 28-year history, in the saga The Dead Man
.
He has recently begun experimenting with incorporating computer graphics into his work.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
.
Career
Ridgway began his career initially as a hobby, drawing D.C.ThompsonD. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
's Commando War Stories
Commando Comics
Commando For Action and Adventure, formerly known as Commando War Stories in Pictures, and colloquially known as Commando Comics, are a series of British comic books that primarily draw their themes and backdrops from the various incidents of the World Wars I and II...
alongside professional work as a design engineer. In 1984 Ridgway became a full-time professional, broadening his employment to include 2000 AD
2000 AD (comic)
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic. As a comics anthology it serialises a number of separate stories each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary which was sold...
, Guttenberghus, Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
.
Ridgway's full-colour work is immediately distinctive for its unusual realism coupled with a delicate, sketchy pencil line, the two combining to give a slightly old-fashioned look influenced strongly by classic British artist Frank Hampson. This has made him ideal for illustrating strips such as the 1960s set Summer Magic and Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton
Enid Blyton was an English children's writer also known as Mary Pollock.Noted for numerous series of books based on recurring characters and designed for different age groups,her books have enjoyed huge success in many parts of the world, and have sold over 600 million copies.One of Blyton's most...
's The Famous Five
The Famous Five (characters)
The Famous Five is the name of a series of children's novels written by British author Enid Blyton. The first book, Five on a Treasure Island, was published in 1942....
, but it is also a look that lends itself well to large-scale science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
such as Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
. His portfolio is unusually wide, incorporating Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, Zoids
Zoids
is a multi-media model-kit-based franchise originating from Japanese toy company Tomy ; though now produced by various companies through licenses. The majority of the franchise is built around and focused on the various model kit series...
, the Incredible Hulk and My Name is Chaos.
Ridgway has been responsible for creating the look for a number of series, including Hellblazer
Hellblazer
Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series, originally published by DC Comics, and subsequently by the Vertigo imprint since March 1993, the month the imprint was introduced, where it remains to this day...
, Luke Kirby and Junker, a sign of the high regard in which he is held by many editors. He was also the artist chosen to depict Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
without his helmet for the first and only time in the character's 28-year history, in the saga The Dead Man
The Dead Man
The Dead Man was a science fiction strip in the British comic 2000 AD by writer John Wagner and artist John Ridgway, published in black and white in 1989–90. Although it was not billed as a Judge Dredd story, it was set in Judge Dredd's world in 2112, and featured a new character called the Dead Man...
.
He has recently begun experimenting with incorporating computer graphics into his work.
External links
- David Roberston: An Interview with John Ridgway, Part One and Part Two, The Comics JournalThe Comics JournalThe Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
, February 22, 2011