Mike Noble facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mike Noble |
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Mike Noble
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| Born | 17 September 1930 Woodford, Essex, England |
| Died | 15 November 2018 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | British |
| Area(s) | Artist |
Mike Noble (born 17 September 1930 – died 15 November 2018) was a British comic artist and illustrator. He was famous for drawing popular comic strips. One of his most well-known works was Fireball XL5 for the TV Century 21 comic.
Contents
About Mike Noble
Early Life and Art Studies
Mike Noble was born in Woodford, Essex, England. His father also had a talent for art. During World War II, Mike was sent away from London for safety, like many children. But he later returned and experienced the Blitz, which was a time of heavy bombing.
After finishing school, Mike went to the South West Essex Technical College and School of Art. There, he studied commercial art, which is art used for advertising and business, rather than fine art like painting. When he was 17, he started working at an advertising studio. However, he found it boring to draw everyday objects very carefully.
Art and Military Service
In 1949, Mike had to join the military for a period called National Service. For about 18 months, he was in the 8th Royal Tank Regiment in North Yorkshire. After that, he spent three years in the Territorial Army, which is a volunteer military force. His art skills were very useful here. He helped create drawings of military vehicles and equipment.
Starting His Comic Career
After his military service, Mike went back to the same advertising studio. But he soon decided to find a new job. In 1950, he started working at Cooper's Studio in London. Mike learned a lot from another artist there, Leslie Caswell. Caswell was known for his drawings of people in magazines like Home Notes and Everybody's.
Mike Noble's first published comic strip was called Simon and Sally. It appeared in the children's comic Robin. He stayed with Cooper's Studio and also drew small pictures for national magazines. These included Titbits, Wide World, Woman, and Woman's Own.
Famous Comic Strips
In 1958, Mike began drawing comics regularly. He worked on the strip Lone Ranger and Tonto for Express Weekly. Then he drew Range Rider for TV Comic.
A big moment in his career came in 1965 when he started working on TV Century 21. He drew Fireball XL5 in full color. Later, he also illustrated Zero-X and Captain Scarlet for the same comic. He even drew Star Trek for a later version of TV21.
When TV21 was about to close, Mike moved to Look-In comic. He followed his editor, Alan Fennell, and illustrated Timeslip. Mike Noble was known for using bright colors in his art, which made his work easy to spot for his many fans in the UK.
Later Works and Retirement
Mike's work on Follyfoot and The Adventures of Black Beauty showed his skill. He could draw people in action and also create very realistic animals. After drawing a few other strips, he was asked to draw Space 1999 in black and white. This was another creation from Gerry Anderson, who made many famous TV shows. Even though Mike was good at drawing machines and vehicles, he was happiest drawing the Worzel Gummidge comic strip.
Mike Noble eventually retired from drawing comics full-time. However, he still contributed art to new versions of TV21 strips in the 1990s. He also used his artistic talents in his local village. He drew a poster for a special celebration and even designed a lychgate (a covered gateway to a churchyard) and stained glass windows for his local church.
