Phil Belbin
Australian, 1925 - 1993
Born in Beecroft, New South Wales, Belbin was interested in art from a young age and a prolific drawer. He is said to have drawn his first comic book before even a teenager and later studied art at the renowned East Sydney Technical College.
During the Second World War Belbin enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and served as an armourer in the Pacific Islands. On his return to civilian life in 1946, Belbin found work at Frank Johnson Publications as an illustrator. He successfully published comics and illustrated a number of volumes of popular books, the following year Belbin started work at K. G Murray Publishing Company whose repertoire covered a wide range of publications.
Belbin continued to work at K.G Murray for the next 30 years producing comics, cartoons and cover art work for books and magazines. Throughout his time at the publishing house Belbin also produced work for other publications and illustrated campaigns for advertising agencies and numerous private commissions. In 1974 Belbin was awarded a 'Citation of Merit' by the New York Society of Illustrator and in 1984 he was elected as a fellow by the Royal Society of Arts, London.
Throughout his life Belbin had maintained of steam transport - ships and trains. In addition to his print illustrations, Belbin also painted scenes of shipping and steam trains whose accurate details were highly regarded. He also built a working five-inch gauge railway at his St Ives home and made a number of films of steam railways from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Phil Belbin passed away in 1993, succumbing to motor neurone disease.
Person TypeIndividual
