Andrew Skilleter

This post comes as a result of a request from its subject! The illustrator Andrew Skilleter has asked if we would be willing to post something relating to his new website, www.andrewskilleter.com, on the basis of his involvement in Dan Dare over the years. Consider this a "Yes", Andrew!

Although better known for his work illustrating (among other things!) 'Doctor Who', Andrew was, in the lifetime of Eagle (that is, in the mid-1960s) one of the founders of the original Dan Dare Club, which through several metamorphoses led to today's Eagle Society. In 1985 he published the first edition of Alastair Crompton's story of the then recently deceased 'Dan Dare'-creator, Frank Hampson: The Man Who Drew Tomorrow. He also published a book of ex-Eagle artist Frank Bellamy's Radio Times 'Doctor Who' illustrations, called Timeview. Appropriately Andrew called his publishing venture Who-Dares Publishing!  More recently, his Homage painting depicting Frank Hampson and some of the 'Dan Dare' characters was included as a frontispiece to Alastair Crompton's Tomorrow Revisited (published by PS Publishing). Since late March this year, Andrew has a Facebook Fan Page.

Andrew says the site has "multi-genre galleries and the SciFi one includes a couple of Dan Dare related pieces". One is the homage painting that I have linked to above. Another, a commission for Spaceship Away magazine  can be seen via This Link. I'll leave another, a private commission, for you to find on Andrew's site.

There is also a blog within Andrew's site, which, he says "aims to cover a variety of subjects and certainly comic strip related subjects". He adds: "I’ll be blogging re the new Wulf the Briton (Embleton) reprint for example, and I will be doing Dan Dare, Keith Watson etc". There is already a piece about Tomorrow Revisited.

Andrew also mentions (in passing!) the original 'Dan Dare' art he has for sale via his ComicArtFans site. There six art boards from 'The Ship That Lived' and also a spread by Keith Watson for 'Give Me the Moon'.