derek gray

I was born in 1968. The crowning glory of my early artistic life was winning a local art competition when I was 7 or 8, with a picture of a Dalek made from macaroni and split peas. Fast forward to graduation in 1990 with an honours degree in Printmaking and the beginning of a freelance art career.

To earn a living I’ve found it necessary to have many fingers in many pies, and so over the years I've drawn storyboards, illustrations, comic strips, cartoons and caricatures. As an illustrator, caricaturist and cartoonist I have worked for a wide spectrum of clients including The Guardian, The Sunday Herald, BBC, The Red Cross, Scottish Enterprise, RSPB, Scottish Power, First Group, SMG, Diageo, Visibility Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage.

Comic strips are an abiding love. The Scottish Cartoon Art Studio (of which I am one of the artists) has written and drawn the (to date) four issues of “Cock Tales” , a governmental sexual health resource for gay men. I have also drawn some “Desperate Dan” strips for D.C. Thompson, and “Air Warriors” (written by my friend Noel K. Hannan), a swashbuckling adventure comic published as two 64-page volumes in the USA by Fantaco and now published in a collected volume with about 40 pages of new material and available on Amazon.

My main work is as a storyboard artist for feature films, TV dramas, computer games and commercials. Please see the CV page for a list of some of the productions I have worked on.

In 1999 I joined the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio as one of the founding members. The Studio, set up by Chris Sommerville, is a group of freelance cartoonists and caricaturists. In the summer of 2006 the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh hosted “Fizzers”, an extensive exhibition of over 250 of our caricatures. The accompanying book, called “Fizzers: Famous Scottish Faces Caricatured”, which features 104 of the exhibition pieces is published by Birlinn and is available in shops (£9.99 ISBN 9781841830940) or online at http://birlinn.co.uk/book/details/Fizzers-9781841830940/.

Smaller Fizzers exhibitions also popped up in the summer of 2009. The People's Palace in Glasgow showed 70 pieces between July and October (including 12 new caricatures produced especially for this show), and before that there was a smaller selection at the Platform in Easterhouse.

Other exhibitions I have participated in are: Dessin de Presse et Humour - St. Just le Martel (2002) as part of the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio; Days of Scotland – Croatia (1996); Exchange Exhibition – Corbeil Essonnes (1993); Cross Selections – Kirkintilloch (1992); Bradford Print Biennale – Bradford (1990) (re-sited to RCA London 1991); The New Generation – Glasgow (1990).

I am married, have two daughters and live just to the north of Stirling, Scotland.