EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 18 © 2017 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

96 I first had the privilege of meeting John Watkiss some thirty- seven years ago, when he was a student studying illustration at Brighton Art College. I have followed his career with pleasure and fascination ever since, so it was with great sadness that I learnt of his passing at the relatively early age of 55. John was a true 'one-off ', a deeply conservative man in the very best sense of the word. John believed in mastering his craft by learning from the greats—a philosophy that immediately put him at odds with the prevailing sentiment that governed much art tuition. The idea that students should eschew the rigours of mastering anatomy, perspective, lighting, composition, tone and how to tell a story and instead discover their inner artist, was an anathema to John. In truth there was little that the college could teach him and in many ways, not only was he several steps ahead of his peers when he arrived at the college, he also had an edge on all of his tutors as regards his knowledge of anatomy. A chance encounter with George Bridgman’s ‘Constructive Anatomy’, when John was still a schoolboy had set him on a path of discovery through his own researches. If ever a man was an autodidact, John was that man. Some of his tutors never quite forgave him for that, but John’s talent was undeniable—it was obvious he was destined for great things. A stint as a story-boarder at Saatchis, provided him with the wherewithal to set himself up with a studio space in London, but plans for renovating the rest of the building to accommodate a figure drawing school came to naught. His work had, however, caught the eye of the filmmaker Derek Jarman. It was Jarman who introduced John to working within the film industry, a discipline that was tailor- made for John to exploit to its fullest potential. John’s involvement with movies was heightened when the legendary animation director Richard Williams brought him on board to teach his animators anatomy. Williams, at the time, was ploughing much of the profit from his commercials and his production of the hit Disney movie Who Killed Roger Rabbit? into funding his epic feature The Thief and the Cobbler . He was hiring the best animators, including animation legends such as Art Babbitt—and, like the Disney Studio in its 'Golden Age'; he wanted his team to build on their knowledge of drawing. John was to be a key part of that process. John’s involvement with the William’s Studio forged many new relationships that eventually led him to Hollywood. John’s original intent was to pitch himself to Jeffery Katzenberg’s newly launched Dreamworks but, as he met up with the team who were viewing prospective artist's portfolios, he realised that the final arbiter of who was to be hired was a man that he had frequently crossed swords with back in the days when he was teaching anatomy in London. It was a fateful moment as he realised that the only option left to him was to pitch himself to Katzenberg’s former employer— the Walt Disney Studio . John’s pitch to Disney was a masterful affair. After sitting in on story conferences for a couple of weeks, where he steadfastly maintained a poker face, he finally ushered in an assistant with a selection of mouth-watering paintings of scenes from Tarzan . The Disney execs were so blown away that they gave him full creative freedom to continue developing what would eventually turn into the studio’s fourth biggest grossing traditionally animated film. John’s work wasn’t confined to film; he maintained a passionate love for the graphic novel and his skills as a painter developed to the point where he was attracting prestigious commissions, such as creating a mural for the Ford Museum in Detroit. His return to the UK saw him undertake more film development work, including Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes and collaborating with writers such as Neil Gaiman and Bruce Jones on a succession of graphic novels. He was, without any doubt, an exceptional talent. Hyper-driven and hyper-opinionated, he enriched the world with his breath-taking talent and singular vision. He will be sorely missed. R ememb e r i n g J o h n Wa t k i s s