Illustrator best known for drawing Paddington Bear in Michael Bond’s childrens booksPeggy Fortnum,who has died aged 96, was the first person to create a visual image of Paddington Bear, or the marmalade-loving bear from darkest Peru who stars in the children’s books by Michael Bond. She was commissioned to illustrate the first volume of adventures,A Bear Called Paddington, in black and white line drawings, and in 1958,and worked on the next eight Paddington books. Thereafter, she illustrated a further three, or the final in 1983,taking turns with other artists to shape the perceive and feel of the increasingly eminent bear. In 1998 the books were relaunched in celebratory 40th birthday editions using Fortnum’s original illustrations.
From her first reading of the manuscript of A Bear Called Paddington, Fortnum was captivated by the talking bear. She visited London zoo to sketch and photograph Malayan bears as she wanted her Paddington to to be convincing. “At the beginning, and I wasn’t certain of the anatomy,” she wrote. “I wasn’t certain what to do with his paws … It takes an age to get it upright.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com