Way back in 1990 I took some small part in a large Dan Dare & Eagle exhibition in my home town of Southport, which I imagine one or two of you might have attended.
My part was to provide some models; an Anastasia ,Treen Super Space Shark, a space station and a large diorama very loosely based on an illustration in an Eagle annual. The idea was the visiting public could see parts of the diorama by looking through a spacecraft view-screen on the wall.
You can see my little blue space station in amongst those fabulous Martin Bower professionally built models.
This partly built model of Space Fleet HQ was commissioned by a local building firm. It was to have a working mono rail. You can just see the track surrounding the control buildings.
Some of the ephemera that was produced in connection with the exhibition.
This was the programme guide based on an actual Eagle front cover. Inside it was packed with info about Frank Hampson, Marcus Morris and the Eagle. There was also a cutaway of the Anastasia reproduced from the comic.
Here's Daniel eyeing up some of the merchandise on display. Any Dan Dare exhibition wouldn't be complete without a radio station, that even these days still turn up at car boot sales. A great looking toy though.
A flyer for the exhibition. The powers that be really pulled the stops out for this event.
My invite to the private viewing. I can still remember it, a super evening, mingling with Eagle experts, artists and a few folk from the Eagle Society, like Steve Winders and David Britton
More model and merchandise displays.
My 4 ft. x 8 ft.moonscape diorama. Sadly the Moonlander model I built for it is long gone, but the Moonbase is still around. In fact I occasionally use parts of it in photos for the blog.
This was one one of the views you'd see looking through the spaceship viewer scope.
These are the original large wall murals painted by Frank Hampson.
This is a detail of my programme guide signed by former Eagle artist, Greta Tomlinson.
It proved to be one of the most popular exhibitions staged at the Atkinson Art Gallery at the time.
Thanks for sharing this Scoop. I did visit The Atkinson in August 2017 and the smaller display then though not as comprehensive was well worth the visit. Indeed the whole of the Atkinson serves well in telling local history, a very good museum, well worth the visit. The homage to Frank Hampson even overshadows Frank Hornby the other local boy who grew up to influence so many boys with his commercial enterprises.
ReplyDeleteFrom your photos from 1990 it looks like the foundation for the 50th Birthday Exhibit held at London's Cartoon Museum in 2000 which I did attend. Looking at all the custom made models of spaceships and hardware you can see the genius of Frank Hampson's vision and the influences on the model makers of both the Anderson series and Star Wars.
How delightful that your moonscape is still being used for model photography.
Glad you liked it, Terranova. I did take dozens of photos, but again in those days you got them developed and printed out. I've probably got others stashed in the loft but the quality would be a bit dodgy.
DeleteThe Atkinson also held another exhibition in 2000. Not as big, but still plenty on display, and another where I met up with members of the Eagle Society. As they'd had over 100,000 visitors to the first free one, the Council thought they'd cash in this time and charged a couple of quid to get in. Naturally, this wasn't as successful, although for me it was great as I got in for free because I was chatting to Don Harley ( Oooh, what a name-dropper, I am!) at the time and we just strolled in. It was there that Don mentioned that Keith Watson was colourblind, and that Eric Eden was great with an air brush, but could never get figure drawing right.
Interesting that Dan Dare artist Keith Watson was colour blind as back in the late 70's after we attended my wife's High School Reunion it turned out she was the same year as comic artist Howard Chaykin.
ReplyDeleteNow since this blog is SF centric, Chaykin created a charactor called Cody Stabuck that was appropriated as Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica. There was a lawsuit over this. But I digress. Chaykin it turned out was living in the same neighborhood as us and we invited him and his then girl friend over for dinner. After dinner I showed him the Dan Dare original art that was blogged here recently. He couldn't appreciate it as he too is colour blind.
Luckily for him US comics are drawn in black and white then coloured in the form of overlays, his girl friend was his colorist.
Yes it's interesting, isn't it to find these two artists being so successful even though they start out with what seems like a disadvantage.Thankfully, I don't have the condition so its hard for me to imagine what someone with colour blindness sees. I believe its an insensitivity to certain colours. I understand that Howard Chaykin struggles with green and red, but I don't know what colours Keith Watson had a problem with. Looking at some of his painted covers I wonder if Keith had a way of working round it, like Howard?
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ReplyDeleteGreat event back in 1990. Big fan of the Eagle and character Dan Dare especially the comic art. A question. Who penned the promotional poster art for show? Superb! 😎
ReplyDeleteHi IntoTheAbyss, I always assumed the art for the poster was cut and pasted from original Eagle panels.
DeleteHi Scoop. Cheers for the response. Reason I ask, have seen the concept art for the poster.
DeleteSounds intriguing, I'd love to see it, myself. Maybe the Eagle Society might be able to steer you in the right direction. I suppose it would be difficult to recognise the work of a freelancer as he or she obviously did it very much in the style of Frank Hampson.
DeleteHi again Scoop. Cheers for the info friend. Yeah, I though so too. I'll try and send you a photo of it.
DeleteThat would be great.
DeleteSent you a picture Scoop. Had a few issues uploading it. PC's a bit slow. Anyway, it should be with you very soon.
DeleteThat's fine. I should get it via Woodsy's email.
DeleteSorry Scoop for the delay in responding. Reason for me initially asking, then sending you a picture, was that I own the art in my collection. I obtained it from a fellow collector who passed. I initially wanted to know who was the artist used for the event, as the image used is very much like the art owned. As you are aware, most CGI concepts are usually hand-drawn before being rendered on the computer, so assumed this was by the same hand.
ReplyDeleteI have checked both in comparison and from afar both look identical, although there are subtle differences to the poster shown on the forum and the aforementioned art. I thought it might be the concept art before the final article was rendered on the computer, then used officially online to advertise the Dan Dare exhibition?
Hi, as the exhibition was 1990 I'm not sure what part computers or CGI would have have played, if at all.
DeleteThe artist(s) who would have done the poster would have worked for whoever Sefton Council engaged for the advertising.
Unlike these days,I don't recall any online advertising at the time for the exhibition. I became involved after reading an article in the local paper.
Scoop, you're right about any use of computers for the 1990 Exhibition poster/flyer online seeing the net was in it's infancy, so agree unlikely, although computer animation/rendering has been around as early as the 1940s, and computers were used to render comics before printing as early as the 1980s in the States.
ReplyDeleteWhat's curious. If this was not commissioned by Sefton Council for the 1990 Exhibition, did a fan commission a reproduction of the poster. Yes, it's possible but unlikely. Why reproduce when owning the original art would have more kudos. I know out of experience commissioning comic art costs hundreds, more so if it's a famous comic artist. I myself recently purchased a famous American DC/Marvel artist & Kenner Figure designer's entire work penned (58 pages), plus had commission done too. Wallet's on a saline drip ever since!
My theory is. Seeing the quality of the art, it's more likely the artist(s) employed by Sefton Council work on paper, altered slightly, for use for the 1990 event, perhaps for a magazine or paper ad. A fan commission from scratch is unlikely due to cost, as the original art made would be cheaper to purchase having being already drafted & inked.
Hi, I agree with you I wouldn't think it's a fan commission, it's more likely just a lay out by the advertising agency as a proposal. I suppose, sadly it's likely we'll never know for sure.
DeleteHi Scoop. Sorry mate for the delay in responding. Life's crazy at the moment. Anyway, whatever it origin, be it concept or other, I'm happy to own it. Looks great framed.
DeleteAnything Eagle & Dan Dare related is always an interest to me. Like you am a big fan of the original art & artist (if only I could afford it, he sighs), the comic and of course its reboot in the 80s. Your & advice is much appreciated. Thank you. :)
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