Roy Frederick Carnon
British 1911 – 2002
Roy Frederick Carnon, born in England in 1911 grew up in Isleworth, London, briefly attending art school in Chiswick. He became an illustrator working mainly for advertising agencies. During the Second World War, he continued to sketch even when working as a fireman during the London Blitz. He subsequently joined the RAF ground crew and was dispatched to Africa, India and the Far East.
After returning to civilian life, Carnon continued to work in advertising, as well as producing book covers and jackets, particularly for Corgi Books. He was responsible for a number of covers for Edgar Rice Boroughs’ science fiction novels published by Four Square Books in 1961-65, and illustrated “Famous Fighting Aircraft” for the Collins Wonder Colour Books series in 1964.
In 1965, Carnon joined the team responsible for producing concept drawings, sketches and paintings for 2001: A Space Odyssey His official designation was ‘scientific design specialist and visual concept artist. For this he was responsible for visualising space craft, film sets and the iconic wheel’ space station.
After 2001, his first foray into the movie business, Carnon worked on other films including the Bond movies, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark Return of the Jedi, Ladyhawke shot in the MGM facilities in Boreham London.
In addition to all Carnon was a prolific and un painter and also wrote some poetry He had the ability to turn from set design to portraits from technical drawing to lively figure drawing, sketches and landscapes. Some of his film artworks are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. He died at Mere in Wiltshire in 2002 Shepperton.