Ian Coleman

Ian Coleman was one of the artists behind the fantastic artwork that appeared on Dragons software. The archive gets the great opportunity to meet Ian and view samples of the original artwork, so let's find out more...

Ian Coleman with Final Countdown artwork 2023
Ian Coleman with his Final Countdown artwork (2023)

Background
Ian worked for Gerry Ball and Associates (GBA) in Leicester which later became Eikon Ltd (Design and illustration). Oakley Young Associates (OYA) the advertising agency (also in Leicester) subcontracted the cover art and other visuals to GBA.

HQ scans for some of Ian's Dragon work can be found here.

Q & A:

Q : What were the briefs like?
A : “There was normally a visual brief, but Gerry Ball let you run with it and said 'Do the best you can for the money'”.

Q : Who did the visual briefs for the covers?
A : “The visualiser and designer for most of the covers was Tony Wollaston (a GB partner). I rememebr Tony was disappointed he didn’t get to do Shark Treasure but I was disappointed that I didn't get to do the Adventure Trilogy, as I was influenced by the Conan comic artwork at the time. Some visual aspects of the briefs were directly transferred / copied from newspapers, magazines etc., don't think you'd get away with that today. A few of the covers (by Tony) are the actual ‘visuals’ he did, instead of going on to fully painted artwork”

Q : Did you actually play any of the games? Did it help?
A : “Yes” and playing the games did help with the visuals, “Dragon Data said 'you play the game, you come up with the visual'”

Q : What was the budget and how long did each piece of artwork take?
A : “There was a budget of 3 days for the artwork, Gerry would be pleased if it took less (which some did) but this (time limit) dictated it’s content and style”. “I think GBA got paid £750 per title/cover”

Q : Did you meet anyone from Dragon Data or all through the agency?
A : “No, no one from Dragon Data, just the agency (OYA)”

Q : You previously mentioned gouache, was all of your artwork done with gouache paint?
A : “Yes, gouache and air brush”, (e.g.) air brush was used on the sky for Viking”

Q : Were you doing fantasy/Sci-fi art before the Dragon commissions?
A : “Nothing commercial before the Dragon Data commission, only for personal”. “I was most keen on Sci-Fi and Fantasy... and (influenced by) Roger Dean”.

Q : Did you design the game title text? As some of the artwork doesn’t have the title embedded in it.
A : "Yes, normally I did the text for the cover as well and enjoyed aspects of the font, it’s layout, spacing the characters etc."

Q : What were your thoughts on the disparity between the visuals in the artwork and the actual graphics in the game?
A : “It was just accepted that it was acceptable to do that then, not so today. You just didn’t expect the games to look like that”

Q : There was a rumor that Dragon Data didn’t pay the agency(s) for the work, do you know anything about this?
A : “I got paid, as I was an employee, don’t know about the agency (GBA).”

Q : Any Easter eggs or a hidden signature in the pictures?.
A : “No not in the DD pictures, I do now though, (my) children's names?”

Q : Any stories/memories from the time doing the Dragon work?
A : “Nothing specific but the Dragon job was highlight of my work at Gerry's” ..... “I was with Gerry for about 7 years.”

Q : Any other work I might be familiar with?
A : “Done work for Natural History Museum, Pirelli tires and (the original) Tilda Rice packets.”

Q : What do you think about AI and the future of art/artists?
A : “AI may feed on it’s self & (AI) needs artists to stylise (the result). AI owns the middle ground of art and there maybe a need for (professional) prompters going forward (to get the best out of the AI)”

Confirmed Covers Produced by Ian:

Astroblast
Astrology
Breakout
Calixto Island
Cave Hunter
Cosmic Invaders
Dragon Mountain
Dragon Selection 1
Dragon Selection 3
Dragon Selection 4
El Diablero
ENO & Stalag
Final Countdown
Ghost Attack
Jump Jet
Juniors Revenge
Madness and the Minotaur
Mansion of Doom
Meteoroids
Monsters and Magic
Nerble Force
Poseidon Adventure
Quest
Rail Runner
Shaft
Shark Treasure
Shuttlezap
Starship Chameleon
Storm Arrows
Viking
Whirlybird Run

Covers Produced by the other artists at Gerry Ball:

Tony Wollaston:
All the Young Learning titles

John Dunne:
Lunar Rover
Shark Treasure
Chess
Astro Blast

Steve Lach:
Synther 7
Black Sanctum
Bridge Master