About Philip
I was born in Manchester in 1960 to John and Zara. Dad was a welder and Mam was a shop assistant and part time fashion model. I have an older brother, (Steve) who has lived Australia with his family for many, many years. I also have a football mad Uncle. Roy and his enthusiasm for the game of football is the reason I do the job I do.
I've been with my partner Kay for over 20 years. and I am a proud father to Becky and Amélie and an equally proud Grandad to Ethan.
The only thing I ever wanted to be when growing up was an artist. After finishing school I studied graphic art at Tameside College, before getting my first job in an advertising studio as a junior artist in 1978.
Working as a graphic artist was at times an enjoyable job, but it wasn't what I wanted to be. It's not being an artist in the true sense of the word. There was never a time that I thought one day I would run my own business as a graphic artist. designing adverts for someone elses products really didn't appeal to me. It was a job, that's all.
I'd managed to have a cartoon published in the Sun newspaper in the very early 1980s, but despite getting myself an agent, the work hardly flooded in.
During the mid 80s I had a little bit of work published in the anarchic kids' comic Oink!, which at the time also had the great Frank Sidebottom and 6 Music presenter Mark Riley working as cartoonists for them.
I got the chance to work on a few comics in the late 80s/early 90s while still working in advertising. I took the bull by both horns and started working on the comics in the evenings.
I was made redundant from the advertising studio I was working at in December 1991. Just before Christmas and with a three month old daughter and family to look after.
I threw myself into my own business as a cartoonist, working for various comics and producing caricatures for people to give as gifts to their friends and loved ones.
This led to working on a host of American magazines, where I'd produce illustrations to go along with fictional stories.
At one point I had a regular cartoon strip in the Sunday Sport for a year too!
By the mid 90s many of the comics and magazines had closed. It was at this time that it was suggested to me by my uncle that I start to produce caricatures of famous footballers. This struck me as a great idea, and with the help of a friend who new more about printing than I did, I produced my first sets of football cards.
I continued to produce caricatures for others too. This included a season-long connection with Tottenham Hotspur, who would used my caricatures of their squad, in the match day magazine.
The whole process of being a self published artist is something that really appeals to me. Taking the job from an initial idea, finding the photos to work from, producing the final illustrations, and then creating the cards ready to be printed is the best job in the world.
Not only do I produce card sets myself, but I also have, and continue to produce sets for other companies. These include the Stoke City, Crewe Alexandra sets and a couple of Crystal Palace sets, along with the Klinger Collection, (based on the work of British film producer Michael Klinger) for Ace Card Productions.
In late 2017 I produced two sets, again for other companies, with Gloucester Rugby Club and Sheffield Wednesday FC being the subjects.
