I receive emails from Flying Dog Brewery letting me know stuff now and again... some very useful, like this week's email:
"Thursday is the 72nd birthday of Gonzo Artist and Flying Dog illustrator Ralph Steadman. We hope you all will raise a glass to our co-conspiritor and honor him with some borderline insanity.
Ralpy, we hope that your crazy genius lasts another 72 years."
Ralph Steadman (born May 15, 1936) is a British cartoonist and caricaturist.
Born in Wallasey, Cheshire, and brought up in Towyn, North Wales,
Steadman attended Ysgol Emrys Ap Iwan (high school) in Abergele and
East Ham Technical College. During the 1960's, while attending the
London College of Printing and Graphic Arts, Steadman did freelance
work for Punch, Private Eye, the Daily Telegraph, the New York Times
and Rolling Stone.
Steadman
is renowned for his political and social caricatures and cartoons and
also for illustrating a number of picture books. Awards that he has won
for his work include the Francis Williams Book Illustration Award for
Alice in Wonderland, the American Society of Illustrators' Certificate
of Merit, the W.H. Smith Illustration Award for I Leonardo, the Dutch
Silver Paintbrush Award for Inspector Mouse, the Italian Critica in
Erba Prize for That's My Dad, the BBC Design Award for postage stamps,
the Black Humour Award in France, and several Designers and Art
Directors Association Awards. He was voted Illustrator of the Year by
the American Institute of Graphic Arts in 1979.
Steadman had
a long partnership with the American journalist Hunter S. Thompson,
drawing pictures for several of his articles and books. He accompanied
Thompson to the Kentucky Derby for an article for the magazine
Scanlan's and the Hawaiian marathon, and illustrated both Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.
Much of Steadman's artwork revolves around caricatures of Thompson:
fishing hats, cigarette holders, and aviator shades.
As well
as writing and illustrating his own books and Thompson's, Steadman has
worked with writers including Ted Hughes and Brian Patten, and has also
illustrated editions of Alice In Wonderland, Treasure Island and Animal
Farm.
Among the British public, Steadman is well known for
his illustrations for the catalogues of the off-licence chain Oddbins.
He also designed all of the labels for Flying Dog beer.
www.brainyencyclopedia.com