Mike Phillips, 1961-2024
8 October 2024
All of us here at Beehive have been deeply saddened by the loss of Mike Phillips in August. A long-standing and prolific illustrator for the agency, we've had the great joy of working with him consistently ever since he first joined in 1998. Mike was hard-working, professional, and simply a pleasure to represent, and we feel very privileged to have done so for a large part of his career.
Mike left school at 15 to gain experience in the printing industry, but had always loved drawing cartoons. Entirely self-taught, he sent his artwork to newspapers and magazines in the early '90s, and eventually started creating his own greetings cards. After he joined Beehive many years ago, he illustrated hundreds of well-loved titles, with a deft ability for bringing humour to any work. With a few carefully placed lines, Mike was always able to somehow draw a face which perfectly expressed any emotion - often with a generous helping of dry wit!
As well as Mike's remarkable instinct for all things funny, we were always delighted with his ability to keep pace with changes to the industry, particularly where technology was concerned. For many years, Mike had been working largely in pen and ink, and extremely successfully. It can be hard for illustrators working in traditional media to make the jump to digital styles - if, indeed, it's something they wish to do. Besides a financial outlay, it brings with it a whole new set of skills to learn and master, in addition to new technical specifications to understand. Clearly undaunted by all this, Mike dropped us an email one afternoon, showing us a digital version of his he had been working on. We were all amazed by how seamlessly he had adapted to digital methods, retaining all the quality and character of his conventional work. After that, Mike was able to turn his hand to either traditional or digital media as each brief required. His versatility in this regard, and ability to continually evolve as an artist, was extremely impressive!
More recently, Mike had been working on some projects where he was really able to show his passion for all things zany! You can read about Mike's collaboration with Alison Grunwald on her 'Whatever Next, Grandma' series here. Across several beautifully illustrated books, the 'Grandma' tales have really demonstrated Mike's understanding of character-driven humour. Mike's partnership with Floris Books, particularly, has yielded some really special work. As well as the Museum Mystery Squad series, Mike had recently been working on The Great Scotland Search, a brilliantly fun Search & Find book which really showcases his incredible talent. Poring over the quirky details contained within the scenes reveal the most hilarious tableaux happening in all corners. It's this attention to detail that has always garnered great praise from clients, as well as from his young readers. Despite his rare talent, Mike was incredibly modest, and often seemed unsure how to respond to such admiration. We truly hope he knew how brilliant he was.
The whole Beehive team are so grateful to Mike for sharing his gift with us and with children the world over, and we're so proud of all he achieved over the years. Our thoughts are with Mike's family and friends at this time.
