‘Alan Aldridge has been one of the defining illustrators of the last forty years, and through his work for The Beatles, Elton John and countless others, he has continually redefined the genre’ – Dylan Jones, GQ

Alan Aldridge burst upon the creative world of sixties’ London just like the Beatles, for whom he worked. His imaginative designs and intoxicating images captured the dreams and hallucinations of a generation – in The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, on album covers for The Who, Cream and Elton John, on the notorious Chelsea Girls poster for Andy Warhol, on innovative covers for Penguin Books.

His career has continued unabated ever since. In the 1970s he produced bestselling children’s books, including The Butterfly Ball and The Peacock Party, and the logo for the Hard Rock Cafe, then moved into animation in Los Angeles, working on film and TV projects as well as designing for bands such as Incubus and Tears for Fears.

This illustrated autobiography charts Aldridge’s life as a graphic entertainer, covering his whole career from 1963 up to the present. Among the hundreds of images are vivid stories about how the projects came about and Aldridge’s encounters with famous people he has met along the way, which included a drawing duel with Salvador Dalí, bike riding with Steve McQueen and pitching a film idea to Francis Ford Coppola. The result is a visual feast to delight several generations from the 1960s through to the present day.

The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes is Alan Aldridge’s twelfth book. His other titles include The Penguin Book of Comics, The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, The Butterfly Ball, Phantasia and The Gnole, a novel. He has lived in Los Angeles since 1980 but still says ‘tomarto’.

Read what they say about Alan Aldridge – from Conran to Sting.

See more about Alan Aldridge in our authors section

See photos on GettyImages from the launch party for The Man With Kaleidoscope Eyes, or click on the one below …

Also of interest
200 Trips From the Counterculture: Graphics and Stories from the Underground Press Syndicate
Graphics: A Century of Poster and Advertising Design
The Complete Animation Course