Bert Felstead

(UK)


Leo the Friendly Lion, by Bert Felstead
Leo the Friendly Lion

Herbert Felstead was a British artist known for illustrating nursery comics in the comics like Playhour and Jack and Jill. Prior to his work as a comic artist, he was a director at the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. Using the signature Fel, he then became an illustrator for several titles published by Juvenile Productions Ltd. in the first half of the 1950s. He first appeared in the Jack & Jill comic book in 1956, taking over 'Teddy & Cuddly' from Hugh McNeill. One of his best known features in the long-runnig 'Leo the Friendly Lion', that began in Playhour in 1961. Another popular feature Felstead worked on was 'Fliptail the Otter' in Jack and Jill from 1967.
art by Bert Felstead
He also filled in on several other strips ('Wink & Blink, the Playful Puppies' and 'Pam's Supermaket' in Playhour, 'Moony from the Moon' and 'Pinky & Perky' in Harold Hare's Own Paper), and his work was reprinted in magazines like Bonnie and annuals up until the 1980s. In the mid-1970s he became the artist of 'Little Joe', a strip created by Ian Gammidge, in the Daily Mirror.

Teddy & Cuddly, by Bert Felstead
Teddy & Cuddly, by Bert Felstead

Felstead blog on the Bear Alley