Clive Spong
Clive Spong is an English illustrator of The Railway Series of children's books by the Revd. W. Awdry and his son Christopher. He illustrated the books by Christopher Awdry published since 1983.
Books:
- Really Useful Engines
- James and the Diesel Engines
- Great Little Engines
- More About Thomas the Tank Engine
- Gordon the High-Speed Engine
- Toby, Trucks and Trouble
- Thomas and the Twins
- Jock the New Engine
- Thomas and the Great Railway Show
- Thomas Comes Home
- Henry and the Express
- Wilbert the Forest Engine
- Thomas and the Fat Controller's Engines
- New Little Engine
- Thomas and Victoria
History
Spong is a graduate of Leicester College of Art, like John T. Kenney and Clarence Reginald Dalby. He remained the illustrator throughout the run of Christopher Awdry's 14 books, three more than Peter Edwards.
Clive was the first illustrator to break Wilbert's golden rule about engines having no faces outside of Sodor - he did this in book 35, "Thomas and the Great Railway Show" - depicting National Collection engines such as Mallard, Duchess of Hamilton, Green Arrow and Iron Duke (complete with big whiskers) with faces.
Railway Series spinoffs
Spong illustrated pop-up books and the spin-offs, Thomas's Christmas Party, Thomas and the Evil Diesel, Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree and also the rewrite of Thomas Comes to Breakfast. Some of his character illustrations were used to depict characters in The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways
