Colin Wyatt

Colin Wyatt was born in Rainham, Essex, on 14 January 1939, and began making extra pocket money as a young boy by drawing popular comic characters in chalk on pavements and selling drawings to his schoolfriends. On leaving school in 1954 he began working in a shipping office in London. He applied for a job with the Amalgamated Press, joining them in 1957 as an art assistant on Tiny Tots.

Wyatt worked for almost twenty years on the nursery comics Jack & Jill and Playhour, a period slightly interrupted by National Service for which he spent 27 hours with the R.A.F. His first solo strip 'Harry on His Own', featured Harry Hamster from one of the popular strips in Playhour, 'The Wonderful tales of Willow Wood'. He also drew episodes of 'Teddy and Cuddly' and 'Chalky the Blackboard Boy' in the 1960s as well as colouring 'Num Num and His Funny Family'. In 1965, he created a humour page, 'Peter Panda's Page', for Purnell's Parents magazine which ran until 1967.

In 1971, Wyatt began working on IPC's Disney titles, producing covers and posters for annuals, monthlies and weeklies, also illustrating most of the free gift inserts for Disney comics. Wyatt was even invited to Disney's Burbank, California, studios to see what happened behind the scenes.

In 1975 he took a radical change in direction when he began working on Action and then 2000AD, where he became art editor in 1978. During this period he was also drawing 'The Gingerbread Boy' for Playhour.

Wyatt turned freelance in 1980 and has worked on a variety of projects since, illustrating numerous annuals and books, including Victoria Has a Surprise Party by Angela Rippon (1983). He was the visual creator of The Poddington Peas, created by Paul Needs for a series of books in 1986. It was turned into an animated feature for the BBC, who broadcast 13 episodes in 1989. An attempt to revive the series in 3D in 2009 fell by the wayside.

As well as working on well know characters such as Sooty and Sweep, The Flintstones, The Muppet Babies, Danger Mouse, Bananas in Pyjamas, Digimon, The Care Bears, Noddy and Thomas the Tank Engine, he has also produced artwork for plates, cards, puzzles and other merchandise.

Wyatt has recently written, illustrated and published his own series of books featuring a team of superheroic animals known as the Jet Set, who will come to the aid of any wild animals in trouble. The books, all published in 2011, include A Cry for Help, Footprints in the Snow!, A Home of Their Own! and Making a Splash!. Profits from the books raised money for the Born Free Foundation animal charity.

Examples of Colin Wyatt's artwork can be found for sale at the Illustration Art Gallery.