Meet Royal Mint coin designer Jody Clark, the creator of the reverse designs for The Queen’s Beasts Collection, including the Lion of England, Lion of Mortimer, Griffin, Falcon, Black Bull, Yale, Greyhound, Dragon, Unicorn and Horse.
After designing Her Majesty The Queen’s fifth circulating coinage portrait, Jody Clark is well known to coin collectors. In 2016, the year The Queen became the world’s longest reigning living monarch, he gave The Queen’s Beasts Collection a fierce and fantastical start with the Lion of England. His designs for the collection are inspired by both heraldry and the true nature of each beast in the wild or in legend.
We recently spoke with Jody to find out more about his inspiration behind the designs.
“I researched the origins of heraldry and coats of arms and wanted to replicate the sense of strength and courage they were designed to convey. I created a sense of movement to make the beasts bold and dynamic but the shields they guard still feature strongly as they are integral to the story. I took inspiration from the original Queen’s Beasts, both the versions in Canada and the stone replicas here in the United Kingdom. They are very stylised and look imposing as statues but the challenge was to capture this on the surface of a coin. When it came to areas like the eyes, I kept them blank. Adding too much detail softened the look and I think this way there is still a sense of sculpture reflecting the originals.” Jody Clark.