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Peter Ledger

{{short description|Australian cartoonist, artist, and illustrator}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Use Australian English|date=November 2011}}

{{Infobox writer

|image =

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|name = Peter Ledger

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|birth_date = {{birth date|1945|10|25|df=yes}}

|birth_place = Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

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|death_date = {{death date and age|1994|11|18|1945|10|25|df=yes}}

|death_place = Oakhurst, California, United States

|occupation = {{flatlist|

  • Cartoonist
  • illustrator
  • painter}}

|nationality = Australian

|period = 1970s–1994

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Peter Ledger (25 October 1945{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PvIe6gropA4C&q=%22peter+ledger%22|title= Comic Book Superstars|last= Thompson|first= Don|publisher= Krause Publications|date= 1993|page= 253|isbn= 978-0-87341-256-8}} – 18 November 1994) was an Australian cartoonist, comic book artist, commercial airbrush artist, and illustrator.

Biography

In addition to studying art, Ledger worked with surveying teams in the Australian outback, hunted deer for the government in New Zealand, was a professional scuba diver, a leathermaker, and a gourmet cook. He raced motorcycles, flew hot air balloons, was a body builder, and in later years became a private pilot.

Ledger rose to the top as an illustrator in Australia, famous for his intricate airbrush work{{Cite web|url=http://www.airbrushillusions.com/famous-airbrush-painters|title=Famous Airbrush Artists|publisher=AirbrushIllusions.com|accessdate=7 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425144055/http://www.airbrushillusions.com/famous-airbrush-painters|archive-date=25 April 2012|url-status=dead}} and fantasy images. Ledger prepared the graphics for the 1974 Australian film, Stone,{{cite web|url=http://www.milesago.com/Film/stone.htm|title=Stone|publisher=Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975|last=Kimball|first=Duncan|accessdate=2 November 2011}}{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072209/fullcredits#cast|title=Stone (1974)|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=2 November 2011}} as well as the 1976 film, Oz.{{cite web|url=http://www.moviemem.com/products/movie-posters-general-listings/oz-a-rock-and-roll-road-movie-76-peter-ledger-art|title=Oz: A Rock and Roll Road Movie|publisher=Vintage Movie Memorabilia|last=Reid|first=John|accessdate=7 November 2011}} In 1977, he won the "Art Directors Silver Award" for his Surfabout poster. That same year, one of his posters for Golden Breed (an Australian surfing apparel brand){{Cite web|url=http://www.goldenbreed.com.au/the-golden-breed-story|title=The Golden Breed Story|publisher=Golden Breed|accessdate=2 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719063437/http://www.goldenbreed.com.au/the-golden-breed-story|archive-date=19 July 2011|url-status=dead}}{{Cite book|title=Salts and Suits|last=Jarratt|first=Phil|publisher=Hardie Grant Australia|date=2010 |page=118 |isbn=978-1-74066-740-1}} was honored in the Graphis yearbook of award-winning posters from around the world. In 1979 he won an Australian King of Pop award for "Best Album Cover Design" for The Angels' album Face to Face.{{cite web|url=http://users.ncable.net.au/~ronjeff/top40/oz_king.htm|title=Australian Music Awards|last=Jeff|first=Ron|accessdate=2 November 2011}} From around 1978–1979, he lived in New York and worked for Marvel Comics.{{gcdb|type=credit|search= Peter+Ledger|title= Peter Ledger}} One of his contributions to the comic book field was the fully painted and airbrushed work on the series, Weirdworld: Warriors of the Shadow Realm.{{Cite web|url=http://www.wizards-keep.com/index.asp-Q-Page-E-rudy-nebres--32795352|title=Rudy D. Nebres|last=Perkins|first=Tim|publisher=Wizards Keep Ltd.|accessdate=4 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206013515/http://www.wizards-keep.com/index.asp-Q-Page-E-rudy-nebres--32795352|archive-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/print.php?type=ar&id=18229|title=From the Editor's Desk: Ralph Macchio|publisher= Comic Book Resources |last=Richards|first=Dave|date=26 September 2008|accessdate=7 November 2011}}

In 1981, he moved to Los Angeles to work on a project funded by George Lucas and Gary Kurtz.{{cite web|url=http://www.asitecalledfred.com/2010/08/12/gary-kurtz-interview/9/|title=From the Vault: An interview with Gary Kurtz|publisher=Fred Entertainment|last=Plaume|first=Ken|accessdate=7 November 2011}} It was a coffee table art book of Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life and Times, as written and drawn by Carl Barks.{{Cite book|author1=Barks, Carl |author2=Summer, Edward |author3=Walt Disney Productions |title=Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge McDuck : His Life & Times |date=1981 |publisher= Celestial Arts|isbn=978-0-89087-290-1}} Ledger was a big fan of Barks' duck art. His contribution was to hand-paint and airbrush all the stories.{{cite web|url=http://www.cuckoocomics.com/studios.html|title=Other Syudios Animation Art |publisher=Cuckoo Comics & Collectables|accessdate=7 November 2011}} He met writer Christy Marx for the second time in that year. They were married on Catalina Island in March 1983. They worked together on comic book, movie, and game projects for a total of thirteen years.

As a team, they produced a number of comic book stories such as Carlos McLlyr and The Sisterhood of Steel graphic novel.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQVJxnfmVtgC&pg=PA56|title=Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-Length Comics|last=Rothschild|first=D. Avia|date=1995|publisher= Libraries Unlimited Inc.|page=56|isbn=978-1-56308-086-9}}{{cite book|title=The Slings & Arrows Comic Guide|last=Plowright|first=Frank|page=206|publisher= Top Shelf Productions|date=2003|isbn=978-0-9544589-0-4}}

Ledger worked in the film and television business, mainly doing storyboards and preproduction design. He painted robot suits and designed aliens for the movie The Ice Pirates. He created the first Babylon 5 logo, did the first character illustrations and an initial painting of the B5 station.{{cite book|title=Babylon 5: Point of Return|last=Killick|first=Jane|date=1998|publisher=Del Rey Books|page=[https://archive.org/details/pointofnoreturn00kill/page/4 4]|isbn=978-0-345-42449-5|url=https://archive.org/details/pointofnoreturn00kill/page/4}} J. Michael Straczynski used this art while selling the series.

Ledger loved planes and his particular deep interest, since he was a boy, was the German planes of World War II, most especially the jet aircraft developed during the war. In 1988, Ledger and his wife travelled to Bonn, Germany to have his limited edition aviation print signed by famous German World War II ace, Adolf Galland.

Toward the end of 1988, Ledger and Marx started working on computer games for Sierra On-Line.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXwBT9CuU-sC&dq=%22peter+ledger%22&pg=PA122|title=What Can I Do Now! Animation|publisher=Checkmark Books|author=Ferguson Publishing Staff|date=2010|page=122 |isbn=978-0-8160-8077-9}} He created the art for Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail (1990 – Sierra On-Line), Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch (1992 – Tsunami Media Inc), Blue Force (1993 – Tsunami Media Inc) and Blood & Magic (1996 – Interplay Productions Inc).{{cite web|url=http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,14232/|title=Peter Ledger – Developer Bio |work=MobyGames|publisher=GameFly|accessdate=8 November 2011}}

From about 1990 on, Ledger concentrated on doing large wall murals and trompe-l'œil paintings. He partnered with British artist, Susie Wilson. Together, they created many trompe l'oiel works in the Fresno, Oakhurst and Monterey areas. Most are in private homes, but some of their work was seen at Castillo's Mexican Restaurant in Oakhurst, California (later renamed Casa Velasco), on the way to Yosemite National Park: jungle scenes, desert scenes, parrots, a pterodactyl bursting in through an open (trompe-l'œil) window.

=Death=

File:Peter Ledger's Headstone.jpg.]]

Ledger's wife Christy Marx includes an account of his death in a biographical article on her official website. On the evening of 18 November 1994, Ledger was driving home to Oakhurst from Monterey. Ledger was on a dark country road and is believed to have either missed or ignored a stop sign at a blind corner. He was hit broadside by a semi-trailer hauling a full load of cotton, with both vehicles destroyed in the crash. The truck driver survived; however, Ledger died instantly. He was buried in the small, historic cemetery in Oakhurst.{{Cite web|url=http://www.christymarx.com/ledger/plbio.htm|title=Peter Ledger Biography - Written by Christy Marx|publisher=christymarx.com|accessdate=5 April 2021}}

His gravestone features a bronze plaque of his face (taken from a life mask), an epitaph poem that Ledger had written a few years earlier, and numerous sculpted details created by his son, Julian Ledger.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z0MIT1MnNMMC&pg=PA254 |title=Weird California|publisher= Sterling Publishing|date=206|last=Bishop |first=Greg |page=254 |isbn=978-1-4027-3384-0 }}

Legacy

The Ledger Awards, named in honour of Ledger's contribution to comic book art, were organised to "acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing."{{Cite web|url=http://www.ledgerawards.org/about.html|title=About the Awards|publisher= Ledger Awards|accessdate=14 November 2011}} The Ledger Awards commenced in 2004 and ran until 2007. They were revived beginning in 2014.

Comics bibliography

=Celestial Arts=

=Eclipse Comics=

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

  • Alien Encounters (1985–1987)
  • #2 "The Monster of Planet Og!" (artist/colourist)
  • #6 (cover artist and colourist)
  • #11 "A World A Hurtin'" (artist/colourist)
  • #13 "The Light at the End" (artist/colourist)
  • Eclipse Monthly (1984)
  • #6 "Carlos McLyr, the Californio: Old Gods, New World" (artist/colourist)
  • #7 "Carlos McLyr, the Californio: Old Gods, New World Part 2" (artist/colourist)
  • #8 "Carlos McLyr, the Californio: Old Gods, New World Part 3" (artist/colourist)
  • Tales of Terror #13 (cover artist/colourist) (1987)

{{div col end}}

=Fantagraphics Books=

  • The Flames of Gyro (inker/colourist) (1979)

=Marvel Comics=

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

{{div col end}}

=Mattel=

=TSR, Inc.=

  • Warhawks Comics Module #1 (penciller/colourist) (1990)

References

{{reflist|30em}}

External links

  • {{cite book |title=Biographical cuttings on Peter Ledger, comic illustrator, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals |place=National Library of Australia |url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1948224}}
  • [http://www.christymarx.com/ledger/plbio.htm Peter Ledger memorial site]
  • [http://www.zteamproductions.com/b5char.html A gallery containing the original conceptual drawings of Babylon 5's characters and settings]
  • {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id=1251}}
  • {{IMDb name|0496576}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledger, Peter}}

Category:1945 births

Category:1994 deaths

Category:20th-century Australian artists

Category:Australian album-cover and concert-poster artists

Category:Australian comics artists

Category:Australian illustrators

Category:Comics colorists

Category:Logo designers

Category:Road incident deaths in California