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Born in 1950 in Lincolnshire, England, Brian Bolland is a British comic artist, famous for his aggressively colored, detailed drawing, action-oriented compositions, many which have been published by Marvel and DC Comics. His work entered the U.S. market big time with writer Mike Barr with DC's Camelot 3000, which made him famous. In addition, he is particularly known for the comics Judge Dredd vs. Judge Death, and Batman: The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore. The majority of his work has been for DC Comics. Through DC Comics Bolland also was among the very first comics artists to be discovered by the comics industry of America in what has become known as the British Invasion of 1979/1980. His career in the US started with covers for Green Lantern fictional superheroes in DC Comic publications, and for them also did some drawing of Batman, contributing to the anniversary issue, October, 1986.
In 1981, Brian Bolland married Rachel Birkett, illustrator and occasional collaborator with him , and they have a son, Harry. Bolland was born in Butterwick, Lincolnshire, England to parents who were farmers in rural Lincolnshire, where, according to him, he was the "only child in a house without culture." (wikipedia) His parents reportedly had no use for art. He became aware of comics around the age of 10 when he 'discovered' Dell comics, Dinosaurus, which fed his fascination with dinosaurs. His interest in comics continued; he began drawing them himself; and looking back, credits his primary school art teacher for encouraging him. As a teen ager, he embraced the 1960s pop culture, which included Frank Zappa, peace and love, droppping out, psychedelia, etc. In school he passed examinations in art, and beginning 1969, studied art history and graphic design in art school. Drawing comics became a self-taught endeavor, and he found the sheer range of that subject intoxicating.
In the early 1970s, he began to get his work published, with the venue being underground magazines such as Friends, International Times, Time OUT and OZ. In 1973, he enrolled in the Central School of Art and Design in London, and in that city found much stimulation for creative comics. He attended a comic convention at the Waverley Hotel in 1972, and there made many contacts with 'big names' in the field. In 1977, he had a cover on the publication, 2000AD, and other cover work followed including regular drawing for Judge Dredd. He also produced artwork for record covers such as for The Drifters in 1975, paperback books, Wild Cards anthologies; and magazine covers such as Time Out.
In addition he did much advertizing work including ads for Palitoy's Star Wars toys, convention programs, and program booklets for the UK Comicon. In London, Bolland, in partnership with Nick Landau, Mike Lake and Mike Luckman, opened the first Forbidden Planet comics shop, for which Bolland did the advertising including for stores later opened in New York and a second one in London.
In 2006 a comprehensive and sizable retrospective of Bolland's work was published under the titleThe Art of Brian Bolland, featuring contextualising references and copious text - 33,500 words written by the artist alongside hundreds of pieces of artwork and rare photographs. The Art of Brian Bolland covers all of the artists' work to date, under an introduction from close friend DAve Gibbons,
an autobiographical essay and sections ranging from his "Influences"
(featuring near-unseen examples of Bolland's childhood art), through
each of the decades from the 1960s to the present. The book also
showcases several of Bolland's own photographs taken in Asia and Russia
over twenty years of travelling.
Sources:
Wikipedia: Brian Bolland
Heritage Auction Galleries
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