Rod Knipping - illustrator.

I began freelance illustration around 1965 at the age of thirteen. The reason for such an early start was due to the fact that I'd help my dad with his freelance work. Eventually, he would just leave me to do jobs on my own. When I was seventeen I was drawing a cartoon strip for the South Wales Echo. In 1970 I went on to do four years in Cardiff Art College (as it was called at the time) and left in 1974 with a Dip AD.

In 1976 I joined the BBC as a freelancer. This led to the post of illustrator being created, due to the growth in demand from the programme producers. I became staff illustrator in 1979. The Graphics department, or indeed the entire BBC, at that time, had no illustrators, with the exception of Scotland. The work would involve illustrating for News, Childrens' Programmes, Sport, Documentaries, Science and Light Entertainment, all of which would demand a huge diversity of styles and methods. My departure, in 1981, was due to the abundance and availability of freelance work.

There then ensued an incredibly busy time. For the next five years I painted all the backgrounds to all the animated films made by Fairwater Films. This included The Shoe People which was sold in 62 countries. At the same time, I was doing work for BBC, HTV and S4C as well as illustrating books along with anything and everything the various Design and Graphics Studios could throw at me. One day it might have been a cutaway drawing of a Rolls Royce aero engine test bed; the next, an artist's impression from a plan of the Midland Bank and the next, an egg tempera to be used as a prop in a costume drama. I never missed a deadline - something you learn very quickly when an entire TV studio and all its component parts are waiting at the end of that deadline.

Contact Rod Knipping.

I have written and illustrated many books, one of which became a childrens' programme on HTV. Currently, most of my work revolves around books, with a smattering of television. I illustrate three pages a month for two comics (IAW! and Bore Da). My daughter, Alice, wrote a true story about the loss of her teddy bear in Pembrokeshire. I subsequently illustrated it for the Welsh Joint Education Committee.

Television has its own rules concerning artists' rights to their work. To work in television you have to sign ownership over to them. For this reason a huge body of my work lays hidden away in television basements. Nowadays, thanks to the computer, it's easier to keep a record of one's work. I managed to 'liberate' a few pieces but what you see below is a scant reflection of my work in television.

Pembrokeshire Coastal Path 2004

Contact Rod Knipping.