Born in Stratford upon Avon, Simon studied for a diploma in technical illustration before going onto concentrate on illustration and graphic design at Swindon College of Art. Working life began as a graphic designer and freelance illustrator of books and magazines but he soon moved into comics work in the early 1990s.
Simon now divides his time between portrait painting and comic book illustration for the cult British comic 2000 AD. His fully-painted work for the title has been collected into numerous books worldwide and he believes that the discipline of his comic-strip work complements his oil painting, allowing him to produce ‘dynamic’ images in an ‘economical way’.
He paints using oils and mainly square brushes, working from the photographs that he takes of his sitters. In 2008, he was runner up in the BP Portrait award and that same year was elected as a member of the Royal Society of Portrait painters (RP). He was their Vice-President from 2014 to 2021.
For 2000 AD, Simon has been a major contributor to the Missionary Man strip with writer Gordon Rennie, and to Sinister Dexter with Dan Abnett. He painted the Sinister and Dexter duo's first full-length story, "Gunshark Vacation", described by then-editor David Bishop as "a big fat hit". He has also been the sole illustrator on a number of recent stories including Black Siddha and Stone Island.
Simon’s choice of work is always eclectic and this includes storyboarding music videos for the likes of Tori Amos and Muse, designing a tattoo for Alex Garland’s film ‘Annihilation’ and painting the poster for Ben Wheatley’s film, ‘Happy New Year, Colin Burstead’.
His work is in collections all over the world and is exhibited widely.
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