Adrian Chesterman studied fine art at Norwich School of Art and illustration at the Royal College of Art in Kensington, London. Since leaving the R.C.A., Chesterman has worked in almost every sphere of the art world.
As an illustrator, he has worked for just about everyone, on just about everything, just about everywhere: the advertising illustrations for "Jurassic Park" for Stephen Spielberg in Los Angeles, and the sets for "Sunset Boulevard" for Andrew Lloyd-Weber in Frankfurt. Advertising commissions include "Coca Cola" in Atlanta, "Southern Sun hotels" in Cape Town and video game illustrations for "Nintendo" in Chicago. There have also been designs and visualizations for original theme parks in the United Arab Emirates and China, and "Spiderman" games for MGA in Los Angeles, and over the last ten years the aero engine division of Rolls Royce in London has asked him to illustrate nearly 50 pages for "Flight" magazine.
Recent projects include the creation of the gigantic illustration for the world's largest jigsaw puzzle, commissioned by Educa Boras in Barcelona. An incredible 33,600 pieces and measuring 2 metres by 6, it depicts a jungle scene packed with detail. He also produced a series of covers for the "Armchair Reader" paperback series published by Publications International in Illinois, as well as all 21 covers of "Famous Five", Enid Blighton's classic series. Saatchi & Saatchi's in Sydney has just commissioned a series of Toyota Landcruiser illustrations for the 2015 Sydney Motor Show, and Seaworld in the United States has just commissioned a poster for its new "Turtle World" water theme park in San Diego.
Chesterman has also illustrated book covers for Jackie Collins, Jack Higgins and Dick Francis, many children's books on dinosaurs and an illustrated children's encyclopedia. He has illustrated countless music album covers, including "Bomber" for Motorhead, "The meaning of Life" for the Monty Python team and "The Road to Hell" for Chris Rea. He also illustrated an animated video for the Eurythmics' "Baby's coming back" and even built and painted a real skull-shaped guitar for the new romantic band "Adam and the Ants".
Portraiture is another of Chesterman's artistic directions. Past clients include Prince Adan Czartoryski-Bourbon, cousin of King Juan Carlos of Spain, Mikael Baryshnikov the ballet dancer, a certain captain of the Welsh Guards, a few Hollywood actors, countless children, cats, dogs and a horse called George. Oh... and a nude portrait of "Wolf", the TV "Gladiator", which somehow ended up on page 5 of a national daily newspaper, but the less said about that, the better!
Chesterman had his first exhibition of paintings at Liberty's in Regent Street while still at the Royal College of Art. He has since exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Gallerie Schémes in Lille, France, at the International Contemporary Art Fair at Olympia, at Spinks, Kensington Town Hall and the BBC Centre in London, at the Batey Gallery in Singapore, at the Madison Gallery in Los Angeles and in many regions of Spain. He has taken part in The Riverside Show, 01 for London, Artrage and other arts programmes in the United Kingdom, as well as in television programmes in Spain.
