Jim Bamber

Jim Bamber (1948 – 20 June 2014) was a British artist and editorial cartoonist specialising in motorsport, who is best known for his motor racing related caricatures which incorporate his distinctive driver designs, that now adorn every issue of Autosport magazines as well as his annual compilation of cartoons from the magazine called The Pits.

Background

Bamber was born in Preston, Lancashire in 1948. After completing his studies at the Harris College of Art (now part of University of Central Lancashire) in Preston, he moved to London to pursue a career as an artist, where he worked in numerous renowned publications and would soon gradually become freelance. There he worked for Car Magazine which led to a stint at the publisher of Autocourse.

Yumping Yarns/The Pits

During his time as an illustrator, looking at a picture of Stig Blomqvist in his driver's overall and helmet, Bamber began to practice cartoon drawing of drivers in overalls and a full-face helmet, of whom Blomqvist was the first caricature drawn by Bamber. Rather than drawing faces of drivers, a common feature at the time, he shortcutted it by drawing a ball as a helmet and adding names above their visors to identify drivers. Bamber would continue to practice drawing drivers' caricatures, while working as an illustrator and as an Art Editor for Rallycourse yearbooks.