Art of Ian Kennedy - Commissions and Original art sales.

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About Ian Kennedy Art

Ian Kennedy (born 22 September 1932 - , Dundee, Scotland) was a UK comic-book legend! He passed away 6th February 2022.

Growing up in Dundee in the Forties, Ian was enchanted by aircraft. An ear infection ended his dream of becoming a pilot, but a trip to Dundee Royal Infirmary led to meeting his wife to be, Gladys, who was a nurse and he pursued a career that involved drawing aircraft rather than flying them.

Ian started at D. C. Thomson & Co. in 1949 as a trainee illustrator, and in 1954, with a wife and son to support, took the decision to leave D.C. Thomson and go freelance. He has had a career in illustration and comic books ever since, continuing with cover art and private commission work right up to February 2022 - a career of 73 years!

Ian has produced many covers for different comics and annuals over the years (probably in excess of 2,000 published covers), as well as many interior strips ad illustrations. Ian works mainly in acrylic paint and particularly has a passion for aviation art.

In recent years, Ian continued to draw covers and features for Commando, other projects and commissions for fans.

This site was created to help provide some information on original art and commissions from Ian.

We are not currently actively selling Ian's art but may help the Kennedy family in the future when they are ready to do so,.

Blog

SEP

Ian's art folder - Status as at 27th Sep 2020

By:

Ian Kennedy Art

In a normal year, Ian would be making his way around the country to various conventions - Enniskillen, Thought Bubble, Commando Swap meets and so on. At his appearance at shows he would bring along his legendary art folders, full of sketches and original art that he'd been working away on over the year in readiness for convention season.. Unfortunately as we all know 2020 has not been a normal year, and so his art folder has not been seen by the public in nearly a year!So we thought why not share what is in the folder here!If any are of interest let us know at iankennedyart@gmail.com and we can confirm exact pricing.Typical pricing:A4 B&W plus colour splash £180 A4 full colour £220. Two heads £300.Additional £10 for P&P to UK for A4.Dan DareDreddRogue TrooperStrontium Dog - Johnny AlphaB/W Aircraft available:A4's : Wellington, Lancaster, Heinkel 111, Spitfire, Hurricane, P.51 - Mustang, Whirlwind, Sunderland.Typical prici

JUN

Air Ace Picture Library

By:

Ian Kennedy Art

Thanks to Peter Hill over at the Ian Kennedy Facebook group for assembling this list and Colin Noble's input. Fleetway's Air Ace Picture Library featured interior art drawn by Ian Kennedy in many issues. The below is a list of many of the issues that feature Ian's art. I've managed to collect most of them. Publisher: IPCPublication Dates: January 18th 1960 – November 16, 1970Number of Issues Published: 545 (#1 – #545)Color: Colour cover;Black and white interior Dimensions:Digest-size Paper Stock: Glossy Covers;Newsprint Interiors Binding: SquareboundPublishing Format: Was ongoing Merged with War Picture Library on December 21, 1970. Air Ace Picture Library was published by Fleetway Publications in the UK and is the classic air war story pocket library comic. The 64 page black and white Air Ace Picture Library were published between January 1960 until November 1970 (545 issues) when it was merged into War Picture Library #632. Cover gallery of the i

JAN

Commando Swapmeet 14th March in Glasgow

By:

Ian Kennedy Art

Ian will be at the Commando Swapmeet 14th March in Glasgow along with Calum Laird and Colin McNeil

JAN

Portfolio; Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper

By:

Ian Kennedy Art

Ian normally brings along a few pieces of pre-prepared art in his portfolio to Conventions for general sale, as well as especially requested commissions. . Here is a selection of the pieces that he had in his portfolio at Thought Bubble: A mixture of black & white and colour, head, torso and full figure, generally A4 on thick card. Some of these are still available; get in touch via iankennedyart@gmail.com if you're interested in picking up any of these via post. Rogue Trooper Strontium Dog (Johnny Alpha) Judge Dredd This one (with the blue background) was over-sized; closer to A3 size;

This was a character Ian had never drawn beofore and was a commission done to bring to Thought Bubble Nov 2019. Request was for a colour A3 interpretation of Spaceboy from Umbrella Academy (created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá).

DEC

Thought Bubble 2019 & Aviation Art

By:

Ian Kennedy Art

The Thought Bubble convention was held 9 - 10 November, 2019 at its new home at the Harrogate Convention Centre. Ian had a great time at his table - selling art and prints and chatting to fans. The DC Thomson stand was nearby selling the new Art of Book, which was going down well.(Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard pictured picking up a copy!) Amongst the items he brought with him was a folder of his charcoal aviation sketches which I thought it would be fun to share. These are done in a "widescreen" format on hard art board on sale at £65 each. Some are still available and if you would be interested in picking one up before his next appearance you can get in contact via www.iankennedyart.co.uk or iankennedyart@gmail.com Apologies for the sheen on some of these - they were taken quickly while still in the portfolio.

Link to Detailed bibliography at Comicsvine

With over 70 years work it's tricky to list everything, but a few highlights are below.

During the 1950s Ian turned his hand to illustrating anything and everything. His work appeared in Hotspur, Rover, Adventure, Sun, Buck Jones and many other comics. In fact, it may be easier to list the comics Ian did not work for rather than the ones he did.

In the 1960s the Picture Library became a popular format and Ian worked on Air Ace, Bunty, Battle and War Picture Libraries. That's not to neglect the work he did for many of the weeklies such as Adventure, Hotspur and Bunty.

From the 1970s onward, Ian began to specialise in science fiction comics, regularly producing work for IPC's 2000AD and Star Lord. He also worked for Battle Picture Weekly, Buddy, Blake's 7, Eagle (Dan Dare), M.A.S.K., Victor Summer Special, Wildcat and D. C. Thomson's pocket books (including Commando).

Comics work is too numerous to easily list comprehensively here but interior sequential work includes:

Air Ace Picture Library (Fleetway) https://iankennedyart.blogspot.com/2020/06/air-ace-picture-library.html
Tybalt http://cloud-109.blogspot.com/2010/09/lost-in-translation-ian-kennedys-tybalt.html
Turbo Jones (in Wildcat comic) https://downthetubes.net/attention-newcastle-turbo-jones-signing-by-ian-kennedy-and-barrie-tomlinson-announced/
Jeff Craig Detective (Buster)
Tiger McTaggart (Wizard)
Typhoon Tennyson (Wizard)
M.A.C.H. 1: "Vulcan" (with Robert Flynn, in 2000 AD #2, 1977)
Tharg's Future Shocks: "The Collector" (with Kelvin Gosnell, in 2000 AD #210, 1981)
Judge Dredd: "99 Red" (with John Wagner/Alan Grant, in 2000 AD #423, 1985)
Invasion:

"Wembley" (with Gerry Finley-Day, in 2000 AD #6, 1977)
"Jump Jet" (with Chris Lowder, in 2000 AD #36, 1977)

Ro-Busters:

"Midpoint" (with Chris Lowder as Bill Henry, in Starlord #5-6, 1978)
"Farnborough Droid Show" (with Pat Mills as V. Gross, in Starlord #13-14, 1978)

Time Quake (with Chris Lowder, in Starlord #1-13, 1978)
Dan Dare:

Untitled (in Eagle Annual 1979, 1978)
"Return of the Mekon" (with B. J. Tomlinson, John Wagner and Pat Mills, in Eagle #19-26, 1982)
"The Dare Report" (with Pat Mills, in Eagle #34-38, 1982)
"Fireflight" (with Pat Mills, in Eagle #39-83, 1982)
More details of Ian's work on Dan Dare here https://thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/tag/ian-kennedy-dan-dare-art/

Covers

2000 AD #96, 446
Starlord #20
Tornado #5-6, 10, 13, 16 and 18
Eagle #42, 47, 50-83

Commando / DC Thomson

Ian Kennedy’s first cover for Commando was No. 453 ‘SEEK AND STRIKE’ January 1970. Since then, Ian has created over 1300 original covers (including annuals) - continuing on to this day! List of covers here http://www.britishcomics.20m.com/kennedy2.htm

He also provided interiors for several; Jack's Private War, The Sand-Devils , Cougar Squadron , Fury Strike , Bombs on Target.

Commando covers:

Ian Kennedy archives https://www.commandocomics.com/tag/ian-kennedy/ , https://commandocomics.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Ian_Kennedy

DCT Cover Galleries:

Football Picture Story Monthly https://www.comics.org/series/74340/covers/

Warlord Book For boys (Annual) https://www.comics.org/series/73605/covers/

Victor Book for boys https://www.comics.org/series/54649/covers/

Red Dagger https://www.comics.org/series/71380/covers/ , Red Dagger Checklist at Down the Tubes

StarBlazer https://www.comics.org/series/32580/covers/

The Art Of Ian Kennedy book is now out - https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/the-art-of-ian-kennedy

Celebrating 70 years of Ian Kennedy’s artwork for DC Thomson. Rarely seen original pages and sketches from Kennedy’s illustrious career at DC Thomson are represented here in a way they’ve never been seen before. A celebration of seventy years of true comics genius from the pages of publications as diverse as The Topper to Warlord, Lucky Charm to Starblazer, set out chronologically from 1950s to the present day.

More Links to Ian's works:

List of covers at http://www.britishcomics.20m.com/Kennedy.htm , https://comicvine.gamespot.com/ian-kennedy/4040-53901/issues-cover/

Colin Noble's nothingbutafan website has lots of Ian Kennedy content as does downthetubes.

Down the Tubes creator profile https://downthetubes.net/?p=125763 , https://downthetubes.net/?p=101251&

Interviews:

Interview on Courier website here

Ian discusses his long career in the ComicScene podcast interview here

Sunday Post feature https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/ian-kennedy-comic-artist/

Fred Egg Comics https://fredeggcomics.blogspot.com/2022/02/rip-ian-kennedy-interview.html

I Love Comics https://comicscene.org/2022/02/12/i-love-comics-interview-ian-kennedy

Obituary

2000AD https://2000ad.com/news/ian-kennedy-1932-2022/

Dundee Courier https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/obituaries/2999331/obituary-ian-kennedy-of-dundee-commando-artist-whose-career-spanned-73-years/

Down The Tubes https://downthetubes.net/tributes-pour-in-for-legendary-comic-artist-ian-kennedy/

2000AD Thrill Cast - Remembering Ian Kennedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwIFeBEY-E8

Video

The Art of Ian Kennedy book launch Q&A 25th April 2019

https://www.facebook.com/168688426504994/videos/the-art-of-ian-kennedy-book-launch-qa/1256820937800098/

Commissions

Full Commissions

Examples as below are of some of the cover quality detailed commissions which Ian produced. More examples were posted to Ian's Instagram / Twitter/ Facebook group as they were done if you want to see more.