The late John Entwistle, who has died aged 57, was a creative individual beyond his position as the influential bassist with The Who.

Entwistle, who died of a suspected heart attack on Thursday, had been working on a novel for nearly 12 years but it was never completed.

Despite more than a decade in progress, he was just eight chapters into writing a fictional account of The Who during their 40-year reign.

He also documented the life of the band in his artwork in cartoon form.

His work included self-portraits

Entwistle had arrived in Las Vegas ahead of the rest of the members of The Who, who were due to start a US tour on Friday, to open an exhibition of his work.

His art had gone on display at the Grammy's Art of Music Gallery at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino.

Under the banner Guitar Gods it used images of his heroes such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend.

Also among the collection are pencil sketches of himself as well as colour illustrations of fellow band members.

Relaxation

The exhibition was due to travel to Chicago and New York.

Speaking before his death, Entwistle said: "Art is a relaxation from the music, and then my music becomes a relaxation from the art.

"I get a sense of satisfaction when I finish a drawing. I have people who are interested enough in the work to want to sell it for me."

Entwistle was due to open his exhibition ahead of the band's tour

With the amount of time he spent touring with The Who and The John Entwistle Band it is unsurprising he found little time to work on his writing.

In one of the last interviews before his death, Entwistle spoke of the epic haul of writing his book about The Who.

"It's just basically a novel. It's got words that we actually said and stuff like that. ... It's basically the funny things that happened, that'll be in there, but the true story," he said just a week ago.

But in an prescient remark he joked that at the pace he was writing "they're gonna have to engrave the end on my tombstone".