Tiny works of art…

It’s Transport for London who have the reputation as sponsors of the arts, with their long-running series of posters. But when it comes to using the best of Britain’s designers, artists and illustrators, and getting the best out of them, Royal Mail deserve some plaudits too.

Designers

In terms of design, QE2 commemoratives can be split into two groups: those created before the digital revolution and those created after it.

Prior to digitisation, the finished artwork for a stamp would be assembled on a piece of board, with all its various elements pasted in position. Pictures would be supplied separately, on boards or as transparencies, with a black and white print or pencil outline drawn on the artwork to show the plate-makers how they fitted in. The finished artwork would be several times larger than life-size and shrunk during the production process, when it would all come together and you could see how well it