Tuesday 21 February 2012

Wolfman of Ausensee ends today

Wolfman of Ausensee ends today and I have personally found the colouring has added quite a bit to an already exciting story. Martin Baines, the colourist, has added to the odd number of tiers by creating a collage from the next story. Tomorrow I'll show you what it is but play along for fun and see if you recognise the story. I see that today's newspaper actually tells you the name of the story - so Martin's suggestion below has changed.....but let's leave this as a mystery till tomorrow!

Here is the last episode and the advert - many thanks once again Martin.See you all tomorrow!
Tuesday 21 February 2012 © Daily Mirror

Sunday 19 February 2012

Original art for sale - Thunderbirds - at Comic Book Auctions

Lot #156

The latest piece of art to come up for sale by Frank Bellamy is from TV21 number 232 and comes from the story which begins in space with a faulty rocket which plummets towards San Francisco, but is finally diverted by Thunderbird 3. It heads towards into the uninhabited Manafu Atoll where it crashed and then we see the atoll blow up due to an active volcano.TB1 patrols the area and discovers the chain reaction is affecting another island where natives are living. To stop the chain reaction - which might still affect San Francisco, Brains has a plan.

The single page is for sale with an estimate of £1,500-£2,000 and the auction ends Tuesday 13 March. Comic Book Auctions' description:
Thunderbirds original artwork (1969) drawn and signed by Frank Bellamy from TV21 No 232 Alan, Virgil and Gordon take off in Thunderbird 2 as Scott nears the volcanic bomb-zone in Thunderbird 4 Bright, fresh Pelikan inks on board. 19 x 15 ins £1,500-2,000

As usual I'll update with the sold price when the auction ends

UPDATE: Winning bid incl. 10% Buyer's Premium: £1,925 (March 2012)

Meanwhile enjoy the two pages as published in TV21 Number 232


TV21 #232 Part A

TV21 #232 Part B

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Original Art: Garth on eBay - The Beautiful People



J287 The Beautiful People



The latest piece of art by Frank Bellamy to be made available for sale on eBay shows Garth climbing a balcony - after leaving a party to apprehend the thugs who have gatecrashed the party. This comes from the recently reprinted story "The Beautiful People". It looks to be in excellent condition with the usual beautifully clear line work and those great Bellamy 'swirl' effects

The opening bid will be £90 and the auction ends 19 February

I have scanned below my copy of the re-coloured reprint from last year for you to see more detail when clicking!

Reprinted in the Daily Mirror 5 August 2011


UPDATE: Sold for £90.00 (February 2012) with 1 bid


Sunday 12 February 2012

New Look Mirror page

The new look Garth page

I always feel sorry or those of you who can't access the Daily Mirror newspaper and today I thought I'd mention the new look Daily Mirror online cartoon section which changed on 9 February 2012.

The Garth strip by Jim Edgar (the author is mysteriously never credited), Frank Bellamy (artist) and Martin Baines (colourist for these reprinted strips) are now available retrospectively by a few days. Previously we could only access one day at a time.  One comment made by readers is why are the online versions not sequential. I don't know anything more, other than guessing they want to sell the daily paper!

Anyway, go and enjoy a few Garths - especially if you don't live in the UK and don't have access to the daily paper - http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/cartoons/garth/


Tuesday 7 February 2012

Book Palace art sale

Geoff West and pals have got a sale on and it includes some nice pieces by Frank Bellamy.
Click to see full list
Special 10th Anniversary Art Sale
up to 50% OFF!!
Offer must end 31 March 2012
shouts the headline. Now if anyone fancies sending me a cheque for £3750, I would love to buy the Fraser of Africa - just look at the colours on that!




Am I also allowed, on a Bellamy blog, to mention he has Mike Noble's work too - another of my favourites?

Thursday 19 January 2012

Frank Bellamy competition poster

Mike Higgs (who sent me the recent  Old Bones picture) has done it again! You can imagine that I have all sorts of alerts out there on the Internet for Bellamy things. But this escaped my eagle eye, so thanks again Mike.

Special Auction Services sold a poster recently that -incredibly- we knew nothing about! The description reads:


Frank Bellamy - Southern Railway Poster Artwork, 'South for Sunshine' painted by Frank A Bellamy, for an RAAS competition, circa 1935, original artwork in poster paint on hardboard, Kettering home address to reverse, 42'' x 27''; as a competition entry, it is believed that this design was not used by the SR; Bellamy later became a legendary commercial illustrator, notably with Dan Dare for the Eagle comic in the 1950s [sic] and for Century 21 titles in the 1960s, G some minor stains and scuffing Estimate: 150-250 
It went for a hammer price of £200

It's interesting in many ways. If it is 1935 it's one of the earliest existing Bellamy pieces that I have come across. I would love to know what RAAS stands for.Also the style is unusual, but because it is an early example of his work this is likely to be the case. This certainly shows confidence in a self taught 18 year old!


UPDATE:
In the comments I received some further thoughts:
Tony Smith suggests "Royal Academy of Arts and Science" and John from the Netherlands says "Could the competition have a link to the RAS, instead of RAAS?"

Saturday 31 December 2011

The Wolfman of Ausensee starts today in the Daily Mirror

Martin Baines, has now coloured several of Frank Bellamy's black and white Garth strips from the 1970s. I thought the colour in "The Bubble Man" particularly good and the 'other-wordly-ness' reminded me of seeing the original Star Trek in colour for the first time -vibrant colours contrasting with each other and adding depth to the set.

Martin has kindly sent me a copy of today's strip which is the fourth that Bellamy drew in the  Daily Mirror (23 May 1972 - 6 September 1972 (numbers F122-F210). I know it's a particular fan favourite,so I have shown a few versions of the opening for your pleasure, and as usual click to enlarge!

Happy New Year! See you in 2012

Courtesy of Martin Baines - 31 December 2011 © Daily Mirror

 My scan of the published version 31 December 2011 © Daily Mirror

Black and white reprint  © Daily Mirror

Black and white reprint  © Daily Mirror

Original art photo

ADCC reprint cover