Roy Carnon

Roy Carnon is nowadays best known for his work as a storyboard artist and sketcher for the film industry, notably working on 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi. He was also a paperback cover artist, having worked for Corgi Book at least as early as 1956, and had earlier worked in advertising (e.g. for Reed Paper Group).

Roy Frederick Carnon, born 6 July 1911, the son of Frederick Wallace Carnon (a civil servant) and his wife Gertrude Eisdell (nee Lee), grew up in Isleworth, London, and attended art school in Chiswick for a short time. He became an illustrator, working mainly for advertising agencies and was always to be found sketching in parks, or on buses and trains and always carried a small sketch-book or a pack of plain postcards in case inspiration struck.

 

 

During the Second World War, Carnon continued to sketch even when he was working as a fireman during the London Blitz; he subsequently joined the RAF ground crew and then became a navigator on Sunderlands, seeing action in Africa, India and the Far East.

After returning to civilian life, Carnon continued to work in advertising, as well as producing book covers. He was responsible for a number of covers for Edgar Rice Boroughs' science fiction novels published by Four Square Books in 1961-63 and illustrated Famous Fighting Aircraft for the Collins Wonder Colour Books series in 1964.

In 1965, Carnon became one of the team responsible for producing concept drawings, sketches and paintings for Stanley Kubrick, then working with author Arthur C. Clarke on the landmark science fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. For this he was responsible for visualising space craft, film sets and the iconic 'wheel' space station.

After this, he worked on many other movies, including the Bond movies, Where Eagles Dare, The Battle of Britain, Frenzy, Superman, The Dogs of War, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Reds, The Dark Crystal, Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi, Ladyhawke and Link.

Roy Frederick Carnon was married to Violet Marian Steer in 1935 (died 1971); he re-married, in 1998, to Margaret J. Harrold. He died in August 2002, aged 91.

(* Photographs of Roy Carnon are from the documentary 2001: A Look Behind the Future (1966), which is available in full on YouTube. Images of Carnon's 2001 artwork are from 2001archive on Flickr.)

Roy Carnon Cover Gallery

Corgi Books
T161 First Blood by Jack Schaefer (1956)
S466 The Dark Light by Bart Spicer (1957)
S471 Come to Dust by Robin Maugham (1957)
S557 The Coal-Scuttle Brigade by Alexander McKee (1957)
GC769 Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Horace McCoy (1960)
GB779 All This and a Medal Too by Tim Carew (1960)
SC797 The Telemann Touch by William Haggard (1960)
SN1091 Two Hours to Doom by Peter Bryant (1961)

 

 

 

 

Arrow Books
515 The Pub Crawler by Maurice Proctor (1958)

Four Square
367 The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1961)
372 Grounds for Divorce by Bill Mortlock (1961)
613 Thuvia Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1962)
661 The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1962)
742 Harvest on the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov (1962)
751 The Master Mind of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1962)
820 Pirates of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1963)
842 New Worlds For Old by August Derleth (1963)
871 Breakthrough by John Iggulden (1963)