In the Spotlight: Ron Embleton

By John Freeman on October 2, 2011 • ( 1 )

One of our most popular and talented artists, Ron Embleton – whose work is getting major promotion this month over at the Book Palace web site’s Illustration Art Gallery – began drawing as a young boy, at 12 winning a national poster competition.

At 17, he earned himself a place in a commercial studio but soon left to work freelance, drawing comic strips for many of the small publishers who sprang up shortly after the war.

He was soon drawing for the major publishers. His most fondly remembered strips include ‘Strongbow the Mighty’ in Mickey Mouse Weekly, ‘Wulf the Briton’ in Express Weekly, ‘Wrath of the Gods’ in Boys’ World, ‘Tales of the Trigan Empire’ and ‘Johnny Frog’ in Eagle and ‘Stingray’ in TV Century 21.

Embleton also provided the illustrations for the title credits for the Captain Scarlet TV series, and dozens of paintings for prints and newspaper strips, including ‘Snow White’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Wicked Wanda’ and ‘The Magic Apples’.

A meticulous artist, his illustrations appeared in Look and Learn for many years, amongst them the historical series Roger’s Rangers.

– Check out the gallery of his work on sale at the Illustration Gallery

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.