Oli Frey
Encyclopedia
Oliver "Oli" Frey is a magazine illustrator
and artist
who worked on comic strip
s in the 1970s and 1980s.
, Switzerland
on 30 June 1948. He grew up fluent in Italian
and German
. His family moved to Britain
in 1956 but subsequently returned to Switzerland.
During his high school years in Switzerland, Frey followed an American correspondence course called The Famous Artists.
After spending six months in the Swiss army, and dropping out of Berne University, Frey moved to Britain once again and started a two-year course at the London Film School during which he supported himself with freelance work, including drawing historical illustrations for the War Picture Library
.
As a child Frey loved The Eagle
comic, and as an adult was able to fulfil his childhood dream by working on the revived version, drawing the strip Dan Dare
. Also during the 1970s, he illustrated for IPC Media
's Look and Learn
magazine, including the strip The Trigan Empire
.
When his brother Franco founded the computer magazine CRASH
in 1983, together with Roger Kean, Oli became the magazine's illustrator. He also illustrated CRASH's sister magazines Zzap!64
, Amtix and The Games Machine.
Through the late 1970s and the 1980s Frey was a prolific creator of gay erotic art including a series of a Tom of Finland
-style bad-boy hero named "Rogue" for Him Magazine, and has produced, edited and illustrated several issues of Man-to-Man Magazine. Since the late 90s, Frey has been working as publishing director for Thalamus Publishing in Shropshire, which specializes in illustrated historical reference titles.
Classic video gaming magazine Retro Gamer
has featured Frey's artwork on its cover.
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
and artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who worked on comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s in the 1970s and 1980s.
Biography
Frey was born in ZurichZürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
on 30 June 1948. He grew up fluent in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. His family moved to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1956 but subsequently returned to Switzerland.
During his high school years in Switzerland, Frey followed an American correspondence course called The Famous Artists.
After spending six months in the Swiss army, and dropping out of Berne University, Frey moved to Britain once again and started a two-year course at the London Film School during which he supported himself with freelance work, including drawing historical illustrations for the War Picture Library
War Picture Library
War Picture Library was a British 64-page Pocket library war comic title published by Amalgamated Press/Fleetway for 2103 issues...
.
As a child Frey loved The Eagle
Eagle (comic)
Eagle was a seminal British children's comic, first published from 1950 to 1969, and then in a relaunched format from 1982 to 1994. It was founded by Marcus Morris, an Anglican vicar from Lancashire. Morris edited a parish magazine called The Anvil, but felt that the church was not communicating...
comic, and as an adult was able to fulfil his childhood dream by working on the revived version, drawing the strip Dan Dare
Dan Dare
Dan Dare is a British science fiction comic hero, created by illustrator Frank Hampson who also wrote the first stories, that is, the Venus and Red Moon stories, and a complete storyline for Operation Saturn...
. Also during the 1970s, he illustrated for IPC Media
IPC Media
IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...
's Look and Learn
Look and Learn
Look and Learn was a British weekly educational magazine for children published by Fleetway Publications Ltd from 1962 until 1982. It contained educational text articles that covered a wide variety of topics from volcanoes to the Loch Ness Monster; a long running science fiction comic strip, The...
magazine, including the strip The Trigan Empire
Trigan Empire
The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, later called simply The Trigan Empire was a science fiction comic series written mainly by Mike Butterworth and most notably drawn by Don Lawrence...
.
When his brother Franco founded the computer magazine CRASH
CRASH (magazine)
Crash was a magazine dedicated to the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.-Development:...
in 1983, together with Roger Kean, Oli became the magazine's illustrator. He also illustrated CRASH's sister magazines Zzap!64
Zzap!64
Zzap!64 was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 . It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact....
, Amtix and The Games Machine.
Through the late 1970s and the 1980s Frey was a prolific creator of gay erotic art including a series of a Tom of Finland
Tom of Finland
Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland was a Finnish artist notable for his stylized androerotic and fetish art and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W...
-style bad-boy hero named "Rogue" for Him Magazine, and has produced, edited and illustrated several issues of Man-to-Man Magazine. Since the late 90s, Frey has been working as publishing director for Thalamus Publishing in Shropshire, which specializes in illustrated historical reference titles.
Classic video gaming magazine Retro Gamer
Retro Gamer
Retro Gamer is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Although launched as a quarterly publication, Retro Gamers soon became a monthly...
has featured Frey's artwork on its cover.