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Pencil portrait of my mother, initialled and dated 1947
The main figure in this illustration is my grandfather, the future Sir Hubert Guest.
Illustrations from letters home in 1944
Practice illustrations from Art School, 1947
Early Work
My father was an artist, and from his childhood until the day he died, being an artist was a fundamental part of
his being. As well as various stints at art college his progress as an artist followed many paths, including - at
the tender age of thirteen - winning a regular commission to draw for Meccano Magazine.
Possibly the greatest influence on his early artistic development were the ground breaking strip cartoons, with
their brilliant combination of dialogue and cinematic illustration, contained in the strip cartoon supplements of
the American and Canadian newspapers posted to the Hampson family by ex-pat relatives - Prince Valiant,
by Hal Foster, was a particular favourite. Ironic really, as later it would be the bad influence of American
publications which would lead to the creation of Eagle.
Most of the images shown below are practice pieces from my father's art college days. Other examples of
early work, including Meccano Magazine, can be found on the Some Other Published Artwork section of this
web site.
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