Douglas Phillips, a prominent Dundee artist and illustrator, has died at the age of 85, just three weeks after his wife Margaret passed away.
Mr Phillips had a long career with DC Thomson & Co Ltd, his work as a staff and then freelance contributor featuring in many of the company’s publications.
He also produced evocative landscapes of the Scottish countryside, especially of his beloved east coast and the Mearns.
Born in Dundee, Mr Phillips grew up in Court Street and was educated at the former Stobswell Boys’ School.
He went on to study at the former Dundee Art College in Bell Street, but was called up to the army at the end of the Second World War and served in India and Ceylon.
When he left the army his talent saw him secure a position in the art department of DC Thomson where he illustrated for The Rover and The Victor, amongst others.
He left the company’s employment but maintained his connection as the pen and brush of J Campbell Kerr in more than 1000 issues of The People’s Friend.
He latterly concentrated on his landscape painting and continued to paint well into his later years.
He also documented old Dundee with his lively pen and ink drawings and book collaborations with the late journalist, broadcaster and Courier columnist Ron Thompson.
Known as a gentle man and full of interesting stories, Mr Phillips died just three weeks after his wife Margaret at the age of 79.
The couple are survived by daughter Deborah, who is also a painter, and son-in-law Mark, who carries on the family tradition as a graphic designer with The Beano.
Angela Gilchrist, editor of The People’s Friend, said: ”The phrase ‘It’s the end of an era’ is so often overused, but it’s hard to find any other way to describe the thoughts of everyone who works on The People’s Friend upon hearing of the sad loss of Doug Phillips.
”Not only did he easily outstrip the workrate of all the other cover artists, he also found time to showcase his skills in the magazine’s regular From The Sketchbook of… feature, and bring to visual life the characters in the popular series, The Farmer and his Wife.
”Doug loved to visit the editorial office, and it was always good to see him the designers in particular relished his tales of the old days in the Meadowside art department, and the many colourful characters who worked there.
”I last spoke to Doug several months ago when he phoned to tell me he was too unwell to tackle the latest cover painting I’d requested. In typical Doug fashion, he fretted that he was letting me down.
”’It’s the first one I’ve ever said no to’, he told me, which is astonishing given that he completed hundreds of cover paintings in his long career.”