Computer games may be the market leaders but there's still a place for traditional puzzles.
Freelance artist and illustrator Trevor Mitchell is one of many contributing their talents to the thriving jigsaw industry.
His mum Megan is among enthusiastic puzzlers throughout the globe. According to Trevor she loves a good jigsaw and she certainly gets her pick of the pieces as he often gives her the samples he receives through creating images for one of the country's leading toy, puzzle and craft companies.
Trevor began using his brush strokes with Ravensburger after he was approached by the company last year. His illustration Greeting The Vet has been short-listed for the company's Puzzle of the Year competition in which the public are asked to vote for their favourite via the website www.
puzzleoftheyear.com As well as appearing on jigsaw puzzle boxes, Trevor's brush strokes can also be found on greeting cards.
His commission work began following his early career spent in advertising agencies in London.
Before that he did a foundation course in art and design at Bradford Art College in the Seventies, when computer-generated imagery wasn't as prevalent as it is today - probably one of the biggest changes Trevor has seen during many years in the job.
Technology for Trevor is a means of reference. His brush and easel are the tools integral to his career.
"I always enjoyed painting but I thought there may not be much likelihood of getting employment so I thought it would be better to go down the commercial art route and study graphic design. Painting could be my hobby and that's what I did," explains the 47-year-old.
He completed two years of his art and design diploma but left before his third year to join a London advertising agency.
Trevor explains that he entered the agency's competition to design an advertising campaign persuading people to use their local library. The judges loved his idea and he and six other winners were given a six-month training contract with the agency as a prize.
"I was at the end of my second year of the diploma so I never did the third year because I'd won this job, so I thought I'd go off and start my career and that's how I began in advertising," says Trevor.
It proved essential experience when he moved to another advertising agency, working on ad campaigns for major companies such as the royal jewellers, Garrard and charity the Red Cross.
"In those days it was producing hand-drawn visuals, advertisements and brochures," says Trevor.
Eager to return to his Shipley roots, he decided to leave the bright lights of London and began working for a small advertising company in Bradford.
He also worked in Yorkshire Building Society's design studio before becoming an art director with another advertising agency in the city.
Working in the same building as a freelance illustrator gave Trevor an insight into his future career. "There was something about being freelance that appealed to me, having that bit more freedom you imagine you have before you're doing it!" he laughs.
"Then all of a sudden it landed in my lap."
The agency where Trevor was working went into liquidation. He declined their offer to move with the job to Chester and went freelance instead.
"I'd only been married a few years then and we'd bought a house in Shipley and I had enough contacts," says Trevor, who continued doing some freelance work for the company.
Initially sub-contracting to advertising agencies creating posters and brochures, he progressed to fine art designs for greeting cards, enabling him to pursue his painting.
"I realised then how much I liked it and it rekindled my enthusiasm for painting. I was getting bored and fed up with advertising work and I wanted to do more painting but it was a way of finding a means of earning a living!" says Trevor.
His inspiration came through another interest in steam and the railways. "I had a few books on the works of the famous railway artists I admired. I looked at those and was really inspired by their work and I thought I'd love to have a go myself."
Trevor attempted some oil paintings but being a time-consuming task he needed a guaranteed source of income. That's where the jigsaws came in.
Nostalgic scenes are a popular image that puzzle companies like. "And I love recreating the past in my pictures," says Trevor.
He explains how he captures the image on canvas. This is then photographed for the jigsaw cover.
From then on everything slots into place. "Gradually I turned my painting from a hobby into a means of earning a living."
A selection of Trevor's work can be seen at Artolicana in Ilkley, or visit www.nostalgicart.co.uk.
For more information about art courses contact Bradford School of Art at Bradford College on (01274) 433333.
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