Monday 4 August 2008

Bill Ritchie- Woolly West an early version of Hungry Hoss!





Another new one I've discovered was drawn by Bill- Woolly West.


Again the colouring is super in the original comic the reprint misses a lot...
I like the horse with the subtle colours...note the hat has no stripes in the black and white version. Also noticed that red is invisible in the reprint. Which can lose action lettering and clothes patterns for example.







Lovely colouring from The Beezer annual.
Bill did the colouring...he was very good.

4 comments:

Matthew said...

I've wondered about Bill's colouring when looking at his work in 60s Beezer annuals (I've only a couple so far). It's not merely "block" painting within ink lines; it's a more subtle and imaginitively technique. As in your last example he often describes background details with paint alone. The same in his "Smiffy" strip with coloured silhouettes of houses, cobbled streets etc all described in paint.

Whether he or an assistant did the colouring, I certainly like the results.

Thanks Peter, as always.

Anonymous said...

colouring...

When I went to the Beano office last year I met one of the colourists. Ive forgotten his name, but I love his style, and he told me he'd been there for 40+ years. I'd recognize his style anywhere, when its computer coloured. A recent example would be the birthday Beano cover, and this weeks Olaff and Minnie. I spotted an extremely similar painted style in the 1985 Beezer book, so maybe this is the same person? Look and compare!! http://bp2.blogger.com/_448y6kVhntg/SJCWJs8S0yI/AAAAAAAACZU/KIBdSvzHBk0/s1600/beano70.jpg

Anonymous said...

sorry that should say "Conor B from Comics UK", not conor n!

Peter Gray said...

Conor b could you give the link again...it doesn't work...some of it is missing...be interested to see...thanks