| Trevor Metcalfe | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1939-05-19)19 May 1939 (age 86) Brotton, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Area | Cartoonist,Penciller,Inker |
Notable works | Sweet Tooth,Billy Whizz,Growing Paynes andKeyhole Kate |
| http://www.trevor.metcalfe.btinternet.co.uk/ | |
Trevor Metcalfe (born May 1939 inBrotton,Yorkshire) is aBritishillustrator andcomic bookartist known for his comic strips inIPC Magazines comics such asSweet Tooth andJunior Rotter inWhizzer and Chips.
Influences includeLeo Baxendale,Reg Parlett andWalt Disney.
Metcalfe became interested in drawing at age eight during a stay in hospital. His main influence being sports cartoonistTom Webster.[1] He first submitted work to his local newspaper alongside art school mateRobert Nixon.[2] After his National Service he obtained work forDC Thomson drawing his own stripBabes and Bullies forThe Dandy Annual.[3]
InWhizzer and Chips, he drew for many years his most famous characterJunior Rotter. The strip was about a boy called Junior Rotter (or J.R.) who is always scheming up plans which generally fail. The character is loosely based on the character of the same name from the television soap operaDallas. His sister in the comic strip was called Sue Helen who, in contrast to her brother, was a decent, charming and helpful person. Being chalk-and-cheese characters meant that JR and Sue Helen's sibling rivalry extended into all-out conflict.
Sweet Tooth first appearing in January 1973. A "Whizz-Kid" in the comic, and about a boy who has a fixation for sweets, continually hounded byGreedy Greg (originally Bully Bloggs), A main feature of the comic was the prominent front tooth that the character always displayed. Though other artists drew strips from time to time, Metcalfe was the main artist throughout.
ForThe Beano, he understudiedBilly Whizz forDavid Parkins in the early 1990s in his traditional style, and replacedWayne Thompson on the same character between 2005 and 2007 using a graphics tablet, drawing in a style somewhere between his own and Thompson's. He has also briefly took over drawing Bob Nixon's strips such asRoger the Dodger andIvy the Terrible, and drew severalLes Pretend strips in 2004-2005.
He left DC Thomson in 2007, leaving Billy Whizz without an artist for two years, untilNick Brennan took over in October 2009.
In more recent years, he has done more serious illustrations. Work is now in TVlicensed tie-in comics and magazines, he has gone entirely digital working with aWacom tablet at hisApple Mac working onThomas the Tank Engine art inAdobe Illustrator and coloured inPhotoshop. He drew warring brothers stripGrowing Paynes for the dandy in the 1990s.
He draws comics inRonald McDonald & Friends Magazine.
In 2010, he began work on a charity-oriented iPhone game calledCent Hope, marking his first foray into creating graphics for smartphone games.
Comics work includes:[4]
