Edited 20 February 2018 – this artist has now written in to identify herself as Christine Ellingham.
As per my post last year about the unknown artist who drew “Merry at Misery House”, we still have a number of Jinty artists who remain unidentified. One key one is the artist on “Concrete Surfer”, who also drew two other stories and a number of one-offs in annuals and summer specials. As with my post on the ‘Merry’ artist, I will for convenience refer to this artist as ‘she’ though I don’t have any information one way or another about whether this might have been a female artist or not. (Partly this is optimism on my part, as I would really like to know of more female creators in this medium aimed at girls!)
The Jinty stories attributable to her are as follows:
- Race for a Fortune (1977-78)
- Concrete Surfer (1978)
- Dance Into Darkness (1978)
This artist also did a few stories in one or two summer specials / annuals:
- Lindy Summer Special (1975)
- Jinty Annual 1978
All three of the stories illustrated by this artist are dramatic and memorable, but the pick of the bunch has to be the classic “Concrete Surfer”, with its fantastic skateboarding scenes and great page layouts that bring the sports action to life. Below are the three pages from the episode printed in Jinty‘s 200th issue, dated 25 March 1978.
I wonder why this fantastic artist only drew these few stories for Jinty – and, more importantly, I wonder what she went on to do afterwards? It very much feels to me as if she developed her style and stretched herself during her relatively brief run in Jinty.
As ever, any information leading to a positive identification of this artist will be very gratefully received.
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We have also recently used this story in particular as the basis for some OuBaPo experiments in using existing artwork while relettering the story, to see what different effects can be gained. My original post here shows some of this artist’s work with the text removed, which gives an interesting different view of it, while Mistyfan reworked the page to include new text.
A Resource on Jinty: Artists, Writers, Stories 
Wait’ll you see my Concrete Surfer OuBaPo experiment with the same text, but new panels!
Excellent! You’re really going for the OuBaPo thing, great 🙂
I reckon the same text could be redone as a photo story too. Think you could lay your hands on some models?
Me and some chums have done some of that in the past – not very recently though! https://www.flickr.com/photos/jinty/albums/72157600090902892
The artist drew some Gypsy Roses too, such as “Haunted Ballerina”.
Good point – I think she also did one about a bride who carried some lillies to her wedding and came to a nasty end, drowned by water lillies. Very nice art in that story, I should dig it out to upload.
I know that lily story. There was another one about Chinese wind bells that warned of danger, and there was the one about the deaf girl and the church bells.
Yes, this artist did a fair few Gypsy Rose stories, now that we’ve started to list them!
I don’t recall the artist doing anything for Tammy (unless there were some Strange Stories somewhere or something in the gaps of my collection). There was definitely nothing in Misty. I don’t recall anything from what I have picked up in the DCT line either, though I do have gaps there.
Useful to know this context, thanks. I wonder what she did go on to do?
I loved drawing the frames for the Concrete Surfer story. I moved on however, illustrating for adult magazines and newspapers, the Daily Mail in particular. I am now retired, living in Spain and painting. Christine Ellingham
Some artists did not feature much in girls’ comics, despite obvious talent.