'Captain Mason R.N'. (from The Pink Floyd Super All-Action Official Music Programma For Boys And Girls!, 1974-1975).
Richard Evans is a British designer and illustrator. He started out as a fashion illustrator, but from 1976 on gained fame for his album and merchandise art for the rock band The Who. In 1974, he also drew the comic strip 'Captain Mason R.N.' for Pink Floyd's 1974-1975 tour.
Early life and career
Richard Evans was born in 1945 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. He studied fashion and textile design at the Nottingham School of Art, continuing his studies with a graphic design and illustration course at the Leicester College of Art. From the late 1960s until the early 1970s, he was a fashion illustrator. Evans livened up the pages of teen magazines like Petticoat and Honey (Fleetway Publications). In 1971, he founded Daisy Roots Shoes, a fashion footwear company. Among his customers were several famous pop stars of the day, including Elton John, The Osmonds and members of Roxy Music.
Pink Floyd
In the early 1970s, Evans became affiliated with the London-based art design group Hipgnosis, headed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell. Hipgnosis was most famous for their album covers for the British progressive rock band Pink Floyd. When the group toured in 1974-1975, a special comic book was made to promote the tour. Each comic inside the booklet was drawn in a different style and focused on a different Pink Floyd band member. Evans drew 'Captain Mason R.N.', featuring drummer Nick Mason. The comic is presented in a realistic style, mimicking the look of adventure comics about the heroic deeds of the British navy. The stories about Roger Waters and David Gilmour were probably drawn by Colin Elgie and Dave Gale; the feature about Richard Wright was drawn by Joe Petagno. The comic book's centerfold by Gerald Scarfe and its cover by Paul Stubbs.
Sleeve design with additional graphics for Pete Townshend's 'Empty Glass' (1980).
The Who
In 1976, Evans founded his own studio. His first job was designing a tour programme for one of his favorite rock bands, The Who. Previously, the group had on occasion featured graphic artwork on their album covers, like 'A Quick One' (drawn by Alan Aldridge, 1966), 'The Who Sell Out' (drawn by Roger Law, 1967) and 'The Who By Numbers' (drawn by band member John Entwistle, 1975). Evans' contributions to The Who set off a long career, during which he became the band's house illustrator. He designed the album covers of 'Quadrophenia' (1979), 'Hooligans' (1981), 'Face Dances' (1981), 'Who's Missing' (1985), 'The Who - Live At the Royal Albert Hall' (2003), 'Real Good Looking Boy' (2003), 'Wire & Glass' (2006) and 'View From A Backstage Pass' (2007). His most iconic image is the cover of 'The Kids Are Alright' (1979), which features the band members sleeping underneath the British national flag, the Union Jack. The photo was taken by Art Kane and Michael Zagaris, while Evans co-designed the sleeve with Bill Curbishley and Chris Chappel.
When The Who's members released solo albums, Evans was back on board as designer. He created the cover of 'McVicar' (1980) by Roger Daltrey and the sleeves of Pete Townshend's 'Empty Glass' (1980), 'Give Blood' (1985), 'The Best of Pete Townshend' (1996), 'The Quadrophenia Demos' (2011) and 'Scoop' (2017). Evans was also actively involved with reissues and compilations of older The Who records. In addition, he designed badges, T-shirts, concert posters, tour programmes, stage projections, sheet music books, DVD covers and music videos for them. For 'The Who At Kilburn' (1977), Evans provided liner notes, while he was in charge of the typography for Pete Townshend's solo record 'All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes' (1982).
Other musical art contributions
Evans also designed sleeves and other promotional material for King Sunny Ade, Bad Company, the Boo Yaa Tribe, Roger Daltrey, Deep Purple, The Doors, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Agnetha Faltskög (of Abba fame), Peter Gabriel, Genesis, Godley & Creme, Nik Kershaw, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, Robert Plant, Public Image Ltd., 10cc, World Party and Bill Wyman. In 2010, he published the book 'The Art of the Album Cover' (Compendium, 2010), which not only highlighted his own work in this field, but also by other graphic designers.
Inner sleeve art by Richard Evans for The Best Of Emerson Lake & Palmer' (1980).
www.rdevans.com
View the Pink Floyd Tour comic at dangerousminds.net