TONY HARDING, COMIC ARTIST

artwork © D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. @copy photograph Antony Harding

The image on the left is from the advertisement for the series Mike's Misfits (The Victor, issue 1541, 01st Sept. 1990). The series started properly in issue 1542. The image on the right is a sketch for an unidentified boys football strip.

This page is devoted to the comic artwork of boys stories artist Tony Harding, who passed away in January, 2014. This page has been compiled with the help of his family and son Antony Harding. My thanks to them for contacting me and providing the background information, pictures and sketches.

The Gurnsey Press obituary below, tells us a great deal about Tony's working life. Antony, his son kindly answered a few questions I posed. Please see below.

The thumb nails below are from left to right - Tony Harding's obituary from the Gurnsey Press page 15, Wednesday 12th February, 2014.

Tony (on the left), working at his desk at the Link Studios, near Holburn, London. On the right of the picture is Barrie Mitchell, a fellow artist.

The last two thumbnails are examples of Tony's sketch's for a boys football story(ies). Which story(ies) is still to be identified.

Please note the last three images below remain the copyright of Antony Harding.

© Gurnsey Press © Antony Harding © Antony Harding © Antony Harding

The Interview

Q. Did your Dad have time to draw for other companies, such as for the American comic or commercial industries? (For example posters, illustrations for books and so on) If so, what stories did he draw for other comic companies? Do you have any examples?

Answer - As well as drawing for DC Thomson he worked for IPC on comics such as Roy of the Rovers, Action and Scorcher. He drew stories such as: The Footballer Who Wouldn’t Stay Dead (ROTR), Look Out For Lefty (Action) and Bobby of the Blues (Scorcher) amongst others. He occasionally drewstories in the annuals: Roy of the Rovers, Andy Steel: Playmaker and Gary’s Golden Boots, for example. There are many others but I have yet to really go through his boxes of comics properly.

In the later years of his career (1998 -2003) he drew for the Football Picture Story Monthly pocket books and also for Soccer Junior Magazine in the US, both for DC Thomson.

Q. Did your Dad also do other drawing outside of the comics industry? For example oil or water paintings.

Answer - He did a few pencil drawings and illustrations for friends and relatives but he spent so much time drawing comics at home his spare time was mostly spent on playing sports and onchurch activities.

Q. What scenes did your father enjoy drawing the most? For example, sport, adventure? Or was he happy to provide artwork for any genre if asked?

Answer - He was a huge football fan, so I would say he was most at home with the football stories.But he loved all sports and would have enjoyed drawing athletes, cricketers and boxers as well when given the chance. He probably wasn’t so keen on war stories.

Q. Do you have a listing of all of the strips that your Dad drew?

Answer - I’m working on it! My aim now is to try to track down examples of all of his work.Unfortunately he couldn’t remember half the stories or comics he’d worked on himself, there were so many over the years, so it’s a daunting task. I’m told he drew Wonder Man (Victor – DC Thomson) at some point in his early career but I have yet to find anything that resembles his work. He said he’d drawn a version of Bernard Briggs (Hornet – DC Thomson) possibly called Bouncing Briggs or Goalie Briggs, again I have yet to find this. He may also have done something in Hotspur (DC Thomson) and I’m sure he did Alf Tupper (Victor – DC Thomson) a couple of times.


     


I have also found prints from the following stories but have no idea what they were published in: