Artist Ralph Steadman’s has by no means squandered his earnings

British illustrator and satirical cartoonist Ralph Steadman, 88, made his name in publications such as Punch and Private Eye before teaming up with American writer and journalist Hunter S. Thompson, says Dan Moore. 

They met in 1970 when the pair covered the Kentucky Derby for Scanlan’s Monthly, and their subsequent collaborations included cult classic novel Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey To The Heart Of The American Dream. 

With Ralph’s inimitable scattergun style of ink splatters and grotesque characterisations, his work has been in great demand ever since. 

It has graced album covers for The Who and Frank Zappa, novels such as Alice in Wonderland and Animal Farm, and works by Ted Hughes and Brian Patten. 

A father of five, Ralph lives near Tenterden, in Kent, in the family home he shared with his late wife Anna.

What did your parents teach you about money?

They taught me to be honest about it, to be straightforward, and to do the right thing. This included registering everything properly so the authorities know all there is to know about you as a citizen of the United Kingdom.

What was your first job?

As an apprentice radar operator at the de Havilland Aircraft Company in Broughton, Chester, in 1952, before I did National Service. I probably got about 30 shillings a year.

How did you get into art?

I saw an advert for the Percy V Bradshaw Press Art School course in Forest Hill, London. It said, ‘You too can learn to draw and earn pounds.’ When I met Mr Bradshaw I told him the course was old-fashioned. He said, ‘Ah, my boy the rules of drawing never change.’ We got on OK. The principles of drawing are the same. People like Picasso changed it in a way by turning drawing into something a child can do – but is still ingenious.

When did you realise you could make a career out of it?

I don’t think I ever did. I feel as poor now as I did back then. I did not even consider drawing as a career, I was just trying to do it. I was not thinking that I could make a lot of money at it, I just wanted to do it as well as I could and say something with it.

How did working with Thompson come about?

I was in New York. It was my first trip to America, in 1970, and I was asked by JC Suarez, the design consultant for Scanlan’s Monthly, a counter-culture magazine, if I would like to go to Kentucky to cover the Derby with an ex-Hell’s Angel, one Hunter S. Thompson, who’d be writing the piece I’d be illustrating.

I went along not really knowing what to expect. It took us days to find each other, and when we did Hunter’s first comment was: ‘Well, they said you’d be weird, but not that weird.’

I had a goatee beard at the time and it was not very common in Kentucky. But we brought something out in each other that needed releasing.

We had adventures but they were very spontaneous. You never quite knew what would happen with Hunter.

Were you well paid to illustrate his writing?

An honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay is really all we wanted, and Jann Wenner, the editor of Rolling Stone, paid us OK, as did Scanlan’s.

My daughter Sadie recently found the original letters from Rolling Stone about the Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas commission. It says: ‘We would be able to pay you $500 for this work, and would guarantee hospital care if such becomes necessary in the course of this assignment.’

That sum was raised to $750 when they increased the number of illustrations from the cover art to ten pages with three spot drawings.

Do you have any regrets about selling your work?

Since I sold the original Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas work to Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner for $75 I’ve not sold the bulk of my originals. I’m oft quoted: ‘If anyone owns a Steadman original, it’s stolen.’

What was the best year of your financial life?

Probably working for Oddbins Wine Merchants from 1987 for 12 years, and then when we signed up with Flying Dog Brewery in 1995.

Commercial jobs are often the most lucrative. They pay for my passion projects like my children’s books, I Leonardo or The Big I Am.

Have you ever been paid silly money for a single job?

At one job I got paid a brand-new Mark 1 Golf Convertible. It was an A reg, so this would be 1983, when they cost £6,500 new.

Are you a spender or a saver?

A saver. I was brought up to be careful and I have a pension.

What’s your biggest indulgence?

Getting a swimming pool put in at our house in 1985. I use it every day so every swim costs me less and less.

What has been your best money decision?

It was probably buying our home, which is a Georgian manor house. It’s a wonderful place and the whole family has enjoyed it over the years.

What financial advice have you given your children?

Just to be careful, honest and don’t be a swindler or a cheat.

What have you got coming up?

We have the exhibition called INKling coming up at Chatham in September.

Sadie has been putting that together. It’s been quite a task.

And that’s one thing I have always said to my children, commit 100 per cent to any job you undertake – don’t just do it for the money. 

• The Ralph Steadman: INKling Exhibition runs from September 21 until November 17 at the Historic Dockyard Chatham (thedockyard.co.uk).