Owen Bell (also known as Owain Bell) is an illustrator who has illustrated various Thomas books, video cases, various merchandise packaging, and posters from 1981 to 1996. He also provided the illustrations for all of the jigsaw puzzles during that period.
He currently lives in Yanchep, Western Australia. His main interest now is creating digital images for which he has won awards. He has Autism Spectrum Disorder, which he believes has helped him to produce his award-winning artwork, as these require intense concentration and attention to detail.[1] [2]
Trivia
- The real spelling of his name is "Owen". He used the Welsh spelling when working on Thomas & Friends on a whim. When he was no longer needed to illustrate Thomas merchandise, he reverted to the normal spelling.
- Many of Bell's illustrations were used on early Japanese VHS tapes of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. After the nameboards sequences, an illustration would be displayed before the next episode begins. These illustrations were also used for the VHS end credits.
- Many other products have used Owen's illustrations, such as the ERTL and Wooden Railway packaging and a few of the Shining Time Station VHS tapes.
- The posters of Bell's illustrations were affixed to Shepperton Studios.
- Owen Bell illustrated himself in the book, All Aboard with Thomas!, as the human character "Mr. Owen".