"Tmothy Dalton", portrait by Ian Pollock

I've been saving this page from one of the Sunday supplements (I can't remember which) for over 20 years. I was - and still am - a huge fan of Ian Pollock who produced this and so many other great portraits. The face is, of course, Timothy Dalton as he looked in the eighties - being the star in two James Bond movies, The Living Daylights(1987) and Licence To Kill(1989). I featured some of Ian Pollock's superb illustrations on previous posts and I'm hoping to find and buy some more books with his illustrations.
http://picturesfromanoldbook.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/king-lear-w-shakespeare-illustrated-by.html

"King Lear", Ian Pollock, part2

There are 160 pages in this book - faithful to the original Shakespeare text - and each picture is almost like an artwork in its own right. It must have taken the artist ages to finish the whole story. The execution of the illustrations appears to be easy but there is a lot of work on the details of the costumes, the dramatic effect of the lighting and the compositions. To my surprise the book is still available (new) today and well worth having for any Ian Pollock fans.

"King Lear", W. Shakespeare, illustrated by Ian Pollock (publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, London 1984)

This is a true gem from the eighties. Ian Pollock was at the time one of the most exciting and influential illustrators in the world (and probably still is) and this is a superb example of his work. The quality of the colours and the drawings is so unique even though so many have since tried to copy this style. It's so difficult to achieve this level of freshness and fluidity in a drawing while conveying a narrative in a figurative way - the perfect balance between illustration and fine art. Here's a link for Pollock's website: http://ianpollock.co.uk