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.
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
Want to pick up some of other Ian's Work? Well he
has an adult colouring book for sale on
Amazon and best
part is, it's all Dragons!
![Ian's Dragon Colouring Book](Colouring_Dragons_Cover.jpg)
Ian Coleman Offical Photo
Poseidon Adventure Artwork
El Daibero Artwork
![Dragon Selection 3 Artwork](Dragon_Selection_3_S.jpg)
Dragon Selection 3 Artwork
![Dragon Selection 3 Close Up 1](Dragon_Selection_3_CU1_S.jpg)
Dragon Selection 3 Close Up (1)
![Dragon Selection 3 Close Up 2](Dragon_Selection_3_CU2_S.jpg)
Dragon Selection 3 Close Up (2)
![Dragon Selection 4](Dragon_Selection_4_S.jpg)
Dragon Selection 4 Artwork
![Ghost Attack Artwork](Ghost_Attack_S.jpg)
Ghost Attack Artwork
![ENO and Stalag](ENO_Stalag_S.jpg)
ENO and Stalag Artwork
![Astrology Artwork](Astrology_S.jpg)
Astrology Artwork
![Astrology Text Detail](Astrology_Text_Detail_S.jpg)
Astrology Text Detail
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