Profile

“You are in safe hands. Perhaps that seems a little dull to be in safe hands—then how about inspired hands?”

Peter Stanbury is an English, London-based author, editor and freelance graphic designer. As a professional graphic designer his areas of expertise include exhibitions, business journals, comic-books, graphic novels, magazines, and book design. He studied at St Martins College of Art, and the London College of Printing.

Peter began working on the influential Harpers & Queen magazine during a golden age when each Autumn would see the production of a series of four-hundred page issues. And nearly every friday evening its success was celebrated with a small champagne party in the office after the day’s work.

Harpers & Queen Magazine

Peter began by designing property pages for the front of the magazine. Later devising the concept of an in-house design service, providing smaller retail clients with the added value of an attentive designer.

During 1982, while working at Harpers & Queen magazine, Peter began to publish Escape magazine with Paul Gravett. Escape’s blend of editorial and comics stories was new. The comics stories had a style previously only seen in illustration, and the stories were about subjects that had never been explored in comic-books. There had never been a title like Escape in Britain before, even the idea of the graphic novel was unknown at that time. Escape was radical and successful.

From 1986 Peter worked full time as creative director and co-editor working with Paul Gravett on the independently published Escape. They went on to published three of the earliest graphic novels by Eddie Campbell.

Escape magazine—Comics of Style and Vision

In 1987 Titan Books backed the growing reputation of the magazine. They published several of the earliest graphic novels, including Violent Cases by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

All good things must come to an end and with the end of publication of Escape in 1990 Peter returned for an unforgettable stint back at Harpers & Queen working as art director with the illustrious Jennifer Sharp.

From 1991 Peter worked at what is now called United Business Media Information a business journal publisher on Studio Sound, an established professional sound and entertainment technology journal as an in-house designer.

Studio Sound

In 2000 Peter became a freelance graphic designer. After working on several business journals independently, he went on to create five books on various aspects of comics manga and graphic novels with Paul Gravett:
Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics by Paul Gravett
Graphic Novels: Stories to Change your Life by Paul Gravett.
(Titled: Graphic Novels: Everything You Need to Know, in the United States.)
Great British Comics: Celebrating a Century of Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes. By Paul Gravett & Peter Stanbury.
The Leather Nun and Other Incredibly Strange Comics By Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury
(Titled: Holy Sh*t! The World’s Weirdest Comic-Books, in the United States.)
The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics. Edited by Paul Gravett.
2008. He designed an exhibition Manhua: China Comics Now at the London College of Communications, as part of the London-wide China Now festival, and it went on to show at the Oriental Museum in Durham.
2009 He designed an exhibition Incredibly Strange Comics from the book of the same name, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, in London.
He is currently researching an exhibition, about the comics of Argentina, for KIng’s Place and Canning House, and has many other varied projects.

Every year he travels across Europe visiting comic-book festivals and meeting many graphic-novel creators and discovering the multi-faceted expression of comics and graphic novels.

Peter Stanbury also writes a journal called Muse, on this site, which intends to give inspiration into all kinds of creativity and personal exploration.

“What I have always wanted to do is inspire play in others, and to encourage them to create and find meaning with their own work. I hope to do this within the Muse journal”

His other interests include photography and a small Facebook group Good News is No News which attempts to see the positive aspects of the news media. He is also Grand Master of the “Comica Social Club”.

Peter Stanbury’s roster of clients reflects his all-round skill in providing perceptive solutions for businesses and individuals alike, from small jobs to large scale projects and installations. Clients include: King’s Place; Canning House; Penguin Books; National Magazine Company; United Business Media Information; Aurum Press; Laurence King Publishing; Constable & Robinson; The Institute of Contemporary Art; The French Institute; Swiss Cottage Library; The Victoria & Albert Museum; The Oriental Museum, Durham; and the London College of Communications.

He creates a finished result based on an appropriate understanding of your market. All work is created with client involvement at every decision stage, following an agreeable schedule ensuring that brief and budget are met. Projects are generally overseen from concept to finished artefact.

If you like an aspect of the work you see here, and you have any questions at all about how it can relate to your needs please enquire. I am available for hire.

“You are in safe hands. Perhaps that seems a little dull to be in safe hands—then how about inspired hands?”

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