'When Night Draws In' (comic strip for MAD).
Clive Collins was a British cartoonist and caricaturist, with a long association with Punch magazine, The Sun, Playboy and the Daily Mirror. His longest-running cartoon feature was 'Lucky Jim' (1972-1982), which ran in The Sun. Under the pseudonym "Collie", the cartoonist also worked for The People. As the brother of famous pop musician Phil Collins, he also drew the comic strip inside the sleeve of the hit single 'In the Air Tonight' (1981). His humorous cartoons have often received awards.
Early life and career
Clive Hugh Austin Collins was born in 1942 in Weston-super-Mare, a seaside town in South West England. His brother was the famous pop singer and drummer Phil Collins (formerly a member of the band Genesis and not to be confused with American cartoonist Phil Collins). In 1958, Clive Collins studied graphic design at the Kingston School of Art, and among his graphic influences were Carl Giles, Leslie Starke, George Price, Charles Addams, Charles Grave, R.B. Wilson, Mike Williams and George Booth. After graduation, Collins worked in marine insurance and appeared as a film extra. Later, he helped run a film studio and was affiliated with a small art studio.
'Brad & Alf', cartoon strip for Fletcher Schlaefli Media.
Magazine cartoons
Between 1964 and the final issue in 2002, Collins worked as a gag cartoonist for Punch magazine, except for the period 1992-1995 when the magazine didn't appear. In 1972, he also made his debut as a one-panel gag cartoonist for Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine. His work appeared both in the American and the German editions. Collins also made comics and illustrations for the British version of Mad Magazine. Among them a well-known cover of Mad mascot Alfred E. Neuman depicted as a Dutch boy holding his finger in a dyke to prevent a flood, only here the water gushes out of his ear (issue #199, November 1978). Since a Dutch edition of Mad Magazine also existed, Collins' illustration of this Dutch boy is often misinterpreted as having been drawn by a Dutch artist. From 1985 on, Collins illustrated the Reader's Digest 'Buy-Lines' advertising feature.
Cartoons by Clive Collins.
Newspaper cartoons and comics
Collins also had a long association with the tabloid paper The Sun, first appearing in 1969-1970 and then almost uninterruptedly from 1971- 1982. In August 1970, he briefly left The Sun to become the first political cartoonist of The People, using the pseudonym "Collie". Even though this tenure already ended in the following year, he continued to provide gag cartoons to the newspaper until 1999. Following the death of cartoonist Gordon Hogg, Collins returned to The Sun with his race-horse tipster cartoon series 'Lucky Jim' (1972-1982). He was also a standby fill-in artist for his colleague Stanley Franklin. In The Evening Standard, he served as occasional stand-in for the cartoonist Jak, using the pen name "Ollie" for his during during the Falkland War. In 1982, Collins left the Sun and three years later he also said his goodbyes to the Evening Standard.
Between 1985 and 1996, he appeared as deputy editorial cartoonist in The Daily Mirror under cartoonist Charles Griffin. There, Collins illustrated Mike Langley's sports column (1991-1996), and in The Sporting Life, he illustrated David Ashforth's Saturday column (1994-1999). In 2000, Collins appeared in The Daily Mail with the short-lived comic strip 'Baby Blair'.
First and eighth cartoon from the 'In The Air Tonight' sleeve, by Clive Collins for his brother Phil Collins.
Additional artwork
Collins has additionally published in Mail on Sunday, Oldie Magazine Sunday Express, Oui, Odds On, Squib, Duck Soup, Printing World, Reader's Digest and Penguin. He also made caricatures and designed greeting cards. In addition, Clive Collins drew a 12-page "autobiography" cartoon booklet sleeve for his brother's first solo single 'In The Air Tonight' (Virgin, 1981).
Book illustrations
Collins illustrated various non-fiction books, such as Stephen Pile's 'The Book of Heroic Failures' (Penguin, 1979), Gerry Bel's 'The Book of Moving House/Handbook of Sailing & Watersports' (Mondria, 1989), Graham Sharpe's 'Coups & Cons' (Aesculus Press, 1991), 'The Idiot Guide to Sex' (Why Not, 1991), Paul Hancock's 'Is That You Mean?' (Why Not, 1995), 'Dillons Bookseller Induction Manual' (Dillons, 1995), 'Stranger than Fiction' (Penguin, 1996), 'The Language of Love' and 'The Language of Rugby (Linguaphone, 1999), David Albert's 'The A to Z of IT Bullshit' (Athena Press, 2002) and several titles in the 'Funny Book of...' series.
Cartoon in a series for directory enquiries provider 118-118.
Recognition
In 1982, Collins won the first prize at the Wereldkartoenale in Knokke-Heist, Belgium. His winning cartoon, depicting a business man flying back to a bird's nest full of squeaking brief cases, sported the official cartoon festival exhibition poster. The Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain voted Collins "Cartoonist of the Year" three times, namely in 1984, 1985 and 1987. He also received the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun award eight times, five in a row from 1980 to 1984 and again in 1986, 1990 and 1994. In 2011, Collins was honored with an MBE medal by Queen Elizabeth II. His brother Phil Collins was present during the ceremony.
Final years and death
Clive Collins was vice-president of the Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain and Secretary of the British Cartoonists' Association, as well as a member of the Cartoonists' Guild, the London Press Club, The Federation of European Cartoonists' Organisations and the Advisory Board of The International Journal of Comic Art. In 2012, he was one of many cartoonists who showed support of Iranian cartoonist Mahmoud Shokraye, who was sentenced to a lashing after making an offensive cartoon of local politician Ahmad Lotfi Ashtiani.
Clive Collins passed away in 2022, at age 80.
Collins' winning cartoon appeared on the flyer of the 1982 Wereldkartoenale in Knokke-Heist.