ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds from TV21 #206 and some statistics

"Thunderbirds" page 1 from TV21#206

Phil-Comics has more than 18,000 positive feedbacks on eBay (and no negatives!) and has been selling comic related materials since 2000. I have sold some stuff through him and found him to be nothing but polite, efficient and an all-round nice guy. He often has obscure British material, such as advertising flyers for annuals, free gifts (which sell so well these days - why did I throw all mine on a bonfire?!?).

Anyway, you don't come here for my charming repartee. Phil is selling an original board on eBay which we have seen come up for auction before, back in 2011 when it sold for just £550. I've said something about the change in colour from original art to printed version (but can't add anything to what I said then).

Here's Phil's description of the piece: 

Thunderbirds Original Artwork (FRANK BELLAMY) for TV21 comic #206 (1968)

A wonderful single page of original artwork, drawn and painted by Frank Bellamy, for TV21 comic #206 - Dec 28 1968. It appeared on page 11 and was the first page of the strip in this edition, but Part 4 in the overall story.

The art board measures 47 x 37.5 (18.5 x 14.75 inches) and is rigid, so will be posted flat.

Vibrant colours and incredibly crisp lines, this is a joy to behold. A few very small brown spots (of paint?) have somehow landed on the page at some stage in its 53 year life, but don't detract and are hardly noticeable. There's also a 2 inch brown line of the same substance to the right edge, which is more noticeable but only slightly goes across 1/2 inch of one panel edge. A bump / scuff to the lower corners but artwork unscathed.

Frank Bellamy's work is highly sought-after and this is the first time we have bought a page of his original artwork to market.

UK buyers - This will be posted flat between several sheets of  sturdy cardboard (and quite possibly in a large box to really protect it) and sent by Special Delivery. Cost £14.95.

I suspect those "very small brown spots" have appeared in the last 10 years as the image from Comic Book Auctions didn't show them back in 2011, and if I had been the buyer then, and discovered they weren't on the image, I would have kicked up a fuss. [UPDATE: The spots ARE visible back in 2011]. It will be interesting to see what this reaches with a the staring bid is £1,250. 

Out of interest, I thought I'd look at statistics for the single Thunderbirds pages that I have recorded in the spreadsheet - you can all play along if you like. 

The average price - where I have data - of a single Thunderbirds board (remember they were double page spreads until TV21 #141) was an amazing £1,544! Bear in mind this is over 17 years when I could, and did record data. So we need to look at outliers and maybe median prices. 

The lowest price was in 2008 (TV21 #146) £404.95

The highest price was in  2018 (TV21 #90) £4,550.00

So you can see, just as with some of the Government statistics, you really do need to ask some questions about how things are counted. 

The median price over those years (and where recorded) is £1,080

I haven't done the mode (most commonly recurring amount) as it means nothing here at all!

If you want to see the pages, just click on the links under the dates on the spreadsheet

Lastly I've added all of Phil's images below and there are some nice close-ups.

AUCTION SUMMARY

THUNDERBIRDS TV21#206
WHERE?:phil-comics on ebay
STARTING BID: £1,250
ENDING PRICE: £1,250
No of bids: 1
END DATE: 30 May 2021

Don Harley (1927-2021)

Eagle Vol:10:28 (29 August 1959)

The news of Don Harley's death arrived the other day and it spurred me on to sharing a letter he sent to Richard Farrell (the creator and publisher of Andersonic and all round brilliant caricaturist). Richard used some of the letter in quotations in his article "Frank, Don, Dan and the Tracys" (way back in Andersonic Episode 4 Dateline (Autumn 2007) pp.4-8) and has given me permission to use whatever information I find useful from his letters from Harley and Keith Watson here for the first time. The topics covered by both artists are Frank Bellamy and the changeover at Hulton during a massive upheaval - the subject of an earlier article by David Jackson and here too. I also shared the drawing, with permission, of Bellamy by Don Harley way back in 2009 and another article in 2010

In Don Harley's letter (from 9 March 1991) Richard is given advice by Don on drawing and Don goes on:

"Both Frank Hampson and Frank Bellamy were skilled draughtsmen. Frank Hampson learned his skills at Southport art school and through working in a commercial art studio, but Frank Bellamy was self-taught, as was Keith Watson also, although the last two were self-taught, they aimed for perfection in their work. Frank Hampson's style of drawing was much more subtle and sensitive than Frank Bellamy's he paid much more attention to detail even small objects were drawn with great care. Frank Bellamy on the other hand relied much more on design and contrasting tones, he also aimed for great movement and impact achieved through the heavy use of black. 

Kieth (sic) Watson and I never saw Frank Bellamy at work as he worked at home and at this time, 1959, Kieth (sic) and I with other members of the Dan Dare team were working in Hulton House, Fleet Street. Frank would deliver his part of the work and we tied it in with what we were doing and as the two styles were so different it looked like two different strips. 

Frank Bellamy was secretive about his methods of working although he did reveal to us that he did not mix colours on the palette but applied washes of diluted ink using primary colours only, red, yellow and blue therefore he made green by putting a wash of yellow on top of blue to make a darker green he would add more blue and a touch of red to prevent the green from becoming too acidic the colours were pelican (sic) inks he rarely used watercolour. The board he used was CS10 which is normally extremely difficult to paint upon, it had a surface like scraperboard    he was able to obtain trick effects by scraping out colours with a razor blade and then flowing other colours over the scraped out bit."

Richard also had a reply from Keith Watson who drew Dan Dare solo from Eagle volume 13:10 to 18:1! An incredible run.

"I remember Frank Hampson telling me that Frank Bellamy's work "stood head and shoulders above that of other Eagle artists" and he had advised Marcus Morris to engage Bellamy as chief Dan Dare artist following his (Hampson's) departure. However many people, including Bellamy himself , were not entirely happy with the new Dan Dare. In my view Hampson's super clean crisp style fitted the futuristic world of Dan Dare like a glove but was not so suited to historical subjects like the "Road of Courage" [the life of Jesus].

The reverse was true of Frank Bellamy. In my opinion it was a case of the right men doing the wrong jobs. Hampson's hardware was the product of much time spent studying the latest in spacecraft or aircraft engineering and then trying to push it forward a generation. It looked functional and convincing. It looked as if it could work. Bellamy's designs were a quick flash of artistic imagination and looked like it.

It is all subjective of course but I'm glad to say that the Eagle editor received a flood of mail welcoming back the Hampson-type Dan Dare"

He went on...

"Bellamy used to tell me he didn’t approve of Hampson’s methods, too much use of references, photos, models, etc. But the truth is that when the cake is so good there can’t be much wrong with the recipe".

 

I must thank Richard for sharing his letters, and  I added a scan of the first Bellamy-illustrated "Dan Dare" story above as the first shot of Dan Dare's head is the one Don Harley was asked to re-draw. I am quite sure this is the ONLY one he re-drew. 

As a child I loved Don Harley's work as it mirrored my favourite artist Mike Noble as it was straight 'representational' art. In fact I loved the time Bellamy took a break to do The Avengers TV series from illustrating Thunderbirds in TV21. So here's the last episode of a very long story before Bellamy took the break followed by Don Harley's continuation. Harley drew 6 issues before Bellamy returned to draw Thunderbirds.

TV21 #92
Thunderbirds - drawn by Frank Bellamy

TV21 #93
Thunderbirds - drawn by Don Harley

Other thoughts on Don Harley

• The Eagle Society
  
• DownTheTubes
  
• Project SWORD Toys Blog

ORIGINAL ART: A plethora from Comic Book Auctions - Thunderbirds, Life Study, Masai, Garth

 

Thunderbirds from TV21 #172 (page 2)

Compal, or if you prefer Comic Book Auctions Limited are offering some lovely Frank Bellamy original artwork in their November 2020 auction. and you can bid live on The Saleroom 

The first auction lot is the second page from the Thunderbirds story in TV21 #172. I see that Malcolm has mentioned the fading but interestingly, for a change, it's not the blue! Take a look at the horribly printed version below and I see greens missing, which Bellamy will have mixed with yellow and blue!  This page comes from the shortest Thunderbird story (3 episodes from #170-172)!

Printed version

This is the auction description:

Lot: 105   

Thunderbirds original artwork (1968) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV21 No 172. A neutron cannon developed by Brains has crashed into the Thames. The crash has activated the firing mechanism and a neutron particle is aimlessly fired every ninety seconds destroying everything in its path... Pelikan inks on board with some fading to grey. 15 x 18 ins £1,200-1,500

Masai Warrior

The second lot is a gorgeous pastel. Bellamy did a few of these and they are so hard to appreciate unless seeing them out of their glass, being so difficult to photograph. BUT I have seen some of these photographed well, and love them. The auction description:

Lot: 106   

Maasai Warrior drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy (1960s)
Terracotta pastel on black cartridge paper. 23 x 20 ins £300-400

Life study (rear view)

And another 'life study' as I call them! 

Lot:107   

Nude study drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy (mid 1960s)
During this time Frank Bellamy ran and organised life drawing classes at the Studio Club in London's Piccadilly Crayon on paper. 15 x 12 ins No Reserve

Then we get three sets of Garth strips which sell very well - especially as two of three lots are consecutive pairs of strips.

 

F251-F252: Garth: People of the Abyss

They show no markings or scribblings by Daily Mirror staff - which is unusual but I'm guessing they are mounted with a passe-partout or something similar.

Lot 116 description: 

Garth: 'The People of the Abyss'. 2 original consecutive artworks (1972) by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 24/25 Oct 1972 Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins (x2) £500-600  

The next lot is also from the same story, so if you are collecting the whole of this story, good luck! I don't know anyone who has a complete story of any Garth by Bellamy as they're scattered to the four winds!

F278: Garth: People of the Abyss

Notice, here we can see a sticker and some faint notations.

Lot 117 description:

Garth: 'The People of the Abyss' original artwork (1972) by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 24 Nov 1972 Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins £250-300

G41-G42 Garth: The Women of Galba

 The final Bellamy lot  is another pair of consecutive strips
 Lot 120  description:

Garth: 'The Women of Galba’ 2 original consecutive artworks (1973) by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 16/17 Feb 1973 Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins (x2) £500-600

AUCTION SUMMARY

THUNDERBIRDS in TV21 #172
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID (with reserve): £1,080.00
Auctioneer's estimate £1,200 - £1,500
ENDING PRICE: £1,080
END DATE: Sunday 22 November 2020

GARTH: F251-252 (People of the Abyss)
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID (reserve): £450 
Auctioneer's estimate £500 - £600
ENDING PRICE: £820
END DATE: Sunday 22 November 2020

GARTH: F278 (People of the Abyss)
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID (reserve): £230.00
Auctioneer's estimate £250 - £300
ENDING PRICE: £470
END DATE: Sunday 22 November 2020

GARTH: G41-42 (Women of Galba)
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID (reserve): £450.00
Auctioneer's estimate £500 - £600
ENDING PRICE: £820
END DATE: Sunday 22 November 2020

LIFE STUDY (Back view)
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID: £1
ENDING PRICE: £38
END DATE: Sunday 22 November 2020

MASAI WARRIOR
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID (with reserve): £270.00
Auctioneer's estimate £300 - £400
ENDING PRICE: £270
END DATE: Sunday 22 November 2020

 

 

ORIGINAL ART: Various from Comic Book Auctions - Thunderbirds, Life Study, Garths and Sunday Times

Angela Mansi

This lovely nude or 'life study' (as I call them to avoid censorship), is currently appearing on Comic Book Auctions and The Saleroom

I've added the individual links below for Lots #67, 68, 79, 82 and 85 which are original art pieces by Frank Bellamy, so let's go through them and preserve them here for posterity (or as long as this website lives!)

The first is a rather faded Thunderbirds double page - from the second Thunderbird story in TV21 #64

"Thunderbirds" from TV21 #64

This piece is described:

Thunderbirds original double-page artwork drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy from TV Century 21 No 64 (1966). Virgil jumps for his life as the International Rescue Machine is charged by the crazed rhinoceros… Some minor fading to the Pelikan inks. 27 x 19 ins.

This is certainly very collectable, being such an early story and also a double page spread. These first few stories are cherished by fans and this one shows Bellamy's love of Africa.

 

 

The second lot is of the nude above and has this description:

Angela Mansi nude study drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy (mid 60s). During this time Frank Bellamy ran and organised life drawing classes at the Studio Club in London's Piccadilly. From the Bob Monkhouse Archive. Brown crayon on paper. 17 x 10 ins. No Reserve

If you search the blog for 'life studies' you'll find others that I've shown. It'll be interesting to see what price this fetches.

"Discreditable exercise" Sunday Times 6 December 1970

The third lot is from the Sunday Times Colour Magazine (6 December 1970) and was written by Robert Lacey, the British historian and writer. I've communicated with Robert over this series and have captured his memories for use on this blog in the future. This piece appeared on pages 22-23 and is all about credit checking. It's described thus:

A Discreditable Exercise' original double-page artwork painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for The Sunday Times magazine (late 1960s). From the Bob Monkhouse Archive. Bright Pelikan inks on board. 28 x 20 ins. No Reserve

This is the sort of design layout that made me fall in love with Bellamy (despite having seen his work from circa 1963 in Eagle, TV21 amongst others). Where and how he places panels is superb - and remember - this is way before any comic strips were standard in the relatively 'new' glossy Sunday magazines, let alone such a quality paper as the Times was!
 

The next two lots are Garth strips

Garth: "Beast of Ultor"H108-H109

The first pair are lovely- the hands depicting the Harpies attack have that three-dimensional look and we have the Bellamy 'swirls' as I call them.  But not only that, this strip shows the recurring character in the Garth strip - Astra.

The auction description:

Garth: The Beast of Ultor. 2 original consecutive artworks (1974) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 9-10 May 1974. Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins (x2)

 

Garth: "The Bride of Jenghiz Khan" H265-H266

Both these show how Bellamy depicts three-dimensions in two so effectively in a comic strip with three panels. The description:

Garth: Bride of Jenghiz Khan. 2 original consecutive artworks (1974) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 11-12 November 1974. Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins (x2)

Both pairs of artwork are lovely and it's great to get consecutive numbering.  As usual I'll update the details below when the auctions are finished

AUCTION SUMMARY

THUNDERBIRDS in TV21 #64
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID: £1,620
Auctioneer's estimate
£1,800 - £2,400
ENDING PRICE: £2,250
END DATE: 30 August 2020

ANGELA MANSI LIFE STUDY
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID: £1
ENDING PRICE: £125
END DATE: 30 August 2020

SUNDAY TIMES: "A DISCREDITABLE EXERCISE"
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID: £1
ENDING PRICE: £1,900
END DATE: 30 August 2020

GARTH: H108 + H109
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID: £450
Auctioneer's estimate
£500- £600
ENDING PRICE: £640
END DATE: 30 August 2020

GARTH: H265+H266
WHERE?: Comic Book Auctions
STARTING BID: £450
Auctioneer's estimate
£500- £600
ENDING PRICE: £640
END DATE: 30 August 2020

ORIGINAL ART: Thunderbirds TV21 #143

Thunderbirds from TV21 #143 (page 1)

I had an email from someone letting me know that they were selling this piece of Thunderbirds artwork. It's up now online in an auction from Windsor Auctions - available via The Saleroom. Windsor Auctions have been tweeting about it in various disguises on Twitter for a few weeks and the catalogue is now available.

Close-up

Windsor Auctions have no need of a lengthy description and like most auction houses, they keep it to a bare minimum:

Storyboard artwork from Thunderbirds "The Earthquake Maker" TV21 No 143 - No3 1967 by the famous artist Frank Bellamy

But 'storyboard' is really reserved for films, I would think! Gerry Anderson fans might like to peruse the rest of the auction as there are some pretty unique items there!

Here are the printed pages for that issue of TV21 with some lovely iconic images of Thunderbird One and Thunderbird Two

UPDATE
I've been informed by the seller that he sold it after the estimate was not reached for £900

AUCTION SUMMARY

THUNDERBIRDS
WHERE?: Windsor Auctions / The Saleroom
Estimate: £1,200 -£1,400
STARTING BID: £
ENDING PRICE: £ Unsold - Sold later for £900
END DATE: Saturday 30 May 2020

ORIGINAL ART: Garth and Thunderbirds

TV21 #176 "Thunderbirds" page 2

STOP - don't gloss over the image. Just hesitate for a moment. Enlarge the image. Sit and look. What design! What colours! What artistry!

This "Thunderbirds" episode from TV21 #176 is on Compal's auction this month. What a lovingly preserved piece. The colours look like they did the day Frank Bellamy delivered this to the TV21 offices! I've put this and the first page - as printed - below for you to read and compare but to be honest the printing did well. The bidding is going to be high as it's already started at £1,080! Don't worry, you won't be bidding against me!

As usual Malcolm Phillips, whom I'm yet to meet, runs Compal Auctions and puts a catalogue on his website (and after the sale a very helpful review) and also uses The Saleroom for the auction itself which ends Sunday 7 June.

THUNDERBIRDS: TV21 #176 page 2

Malcolm Phillips describes it thus:

Thunderbirds original artwork (1968) drawn, painted and signed by Frank Bellamy for TV21 No 176. Two marathon runners are kidnapped by Lavan Morgan. Scott Tracy tracks them down to the Atlas Mountains in North Africa… and is also captured. Under pain of death they must race to retrieve the long lost pirate gold before the volcano explodes. Bright Pelikan inks on board. 15 x 18 ins

As promised here are the published pages from TV21 published 52 years ago - where has the time gone - half a century?!

"Thunderbirds" TV21 #176 page 10

"Thunderbirds" TV21 #176 page 11

 GARTH: The Doomsmen - 3 consecutive episodes

Garth: The Doomsmen -episodes J149-J151

The Garth story "The Doomsmen" ran in the Daily Mirror from 3 May 1975 - 15 August 1975 #(J102-J191) and these three pieces - unusual to see consecutive strips for sale - show the dynamism of Frank Bellamy's art. Imagine having to create these strips 6 every week in such a small space!

The auction description:

Garth: The Doomsmen. 3 original consecutive artworks (1976) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy for the Daily Mirror 27-30th June 1976. Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins (x3)

I think the 'fade' on the top strip is likely to be the flash from the camera as I have never seen an original Garth fade.

 

AUCTION SUMMARY

THUNDERBIRDS
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £1080
ENDING PRICE: £1900
END DATE: Sunday 7 June 2020

GARTH: The Doomsmen 3 consecutive episodes
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £640
ENDING PRICE: £820
END DATE: Sunday 7 June 2020

ORIGINAL ART: 2 Thunderbirds and 6 Garths!

Malcolm Philips' February/March auction at both his Compalcomics and (with better images) at  TheSaleroom  are now live and include three lots but several pieces of Bellamy artwork.

THUNDERBIRDS: TV Century 21 #162 (Page 2) + #163 (Page 1)

Thunderbirds from TV21 #162 and 163

How interesting to see these side-by-side, the last page of one issue and the first of the next. They come from the well-remembered story "Brains is dead!" in which the Hood uses Brains to get at International Rescue - shocking to this 10 year old at the time! They appear to have faded a little but what caught my eye was the employee's markings on the bottom. Bellamy always marked his work - presumably for his records as well as for the art editor at TV21. Where he wrote "TV21 No. 162 Part 1" he is referring to the story episode and the page as which of the two he intends to be published first. Someone has scribbled over "Page 2" and put which page it would be printed on in that issue. Bellamy changes the notation on the second offering here. 

The auction pieces are described as:

Thunderbirds: Two consecutive original artworks (1968) drawn, painted and signed (on the first board) by Frank Bellamy for TV 21 Nos 162 and 163
Brains and Scott touch down in New York in Thunderbirds 1 where Brains is kidnapped and booby-trapped in Hiram Blake's office. Scott, in hot pursuit, breaks down the door and Brains is tragically killed in the explosion. Grief stricken, the men of International Rescue bury the brilliant little scientist in outer space....
Bright Pelikan inks on boards. 18 x 14 ins each (2)
£3,000-£3,500

They are indeed consecutive but are page two of issue # 162 and page one of issue #163 (the latter would have had a masthead pasted over - see below. I have added the two scanned pages from the comic - but the colours are somewhat darker than Bellamy drew them so direct comparisons are hard as to how much colour difference there is.

Thunderbirds from TV21 #162, page 2

Thunderbirds from TV21 #163, page1

Now we have two lots of Garth strips from two different stories

GARTH: Mask of Atacama - 3 episodes

Garth episodes G169, G194, G200

Compal describe these as:

Garth: The Mask of Atacama: 3 original artworks (1973) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror 18th July, 16th/23rd August 1973
Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins (x3)
£700-900

I suspect these will sell for quite a price.

and the second batch are:

GARTH: The Beast of Ultor - 3 episodes

Garth episodes H59, H96, H98

All three episodes come from "The Beast of Ultor" story which ran from February to June 1974

Garth: The Beast of Ultor: 3 original artworks (1974) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror 11 March, 14th/26th April 1974
Indian ink on board. 21 x 7 ins (x3)
£700-900

All the Garths above are great examples of Bellamy's work in composition and use of space as well as demonstrating his techniques in shading.

AUCTION SUMMARY
All prices will be added 
when auctions end
 - and to the spreadsheet

THUNDERBIRDS TV21 #162-163
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £2,700
ENDING PRICE: £3550
END DATE: Sunday 1 March 2020

GARTH: Mask of Atacama 3 episodes
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £640
ENDING PRICE: £1,660
END DATE: Sunday 1 March 2020


GARTH: The Beast of Ultor 3 episodes
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £640
ENDING PRICE: £900
END DATE: Sunday 1 March 2020