Rob's “Transportation 1957” Art

Woodsy,

As February was too cold to work on models in the cellar, I did a few more quick gouache sketches based on a 1950s Japanese Picture Transfer book.

 Subjects should be self-explanatory; I'm calling the series "Transportation '57." 

I like how the original artist turned these iconic vehicles almost into abstract forms, and I tried to capture this simplicity in my 5" x 8" recreations.

Hope you like them.

Rob C

USA

Create and Draw Monsters 2

I just saw the item on the Monster drawing set, which looks like great fun, and did a little quick digging. This is what I came up with.

The Create and Draw Monsters Complete Electric Designers Set was made by Lakeside Lifetime Toys. It comprised a mains-powered lightbox, with a 15 Watt lamp.

Translucent sheets of Monster elements were placed on the illuminated drawing surface, and traced on to a fresh sheet of paper. The Monster or scene was made up of various bits and pieces, in any combination you choose.

The set came with several Guide Sheets, coloured pencils, etc. The box having a lift-off lid.

The end of the box says Copyright Lakeside Toys, MCMLXIV [1964], Division of Lakeside Ind., Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Made in U.S.A., and various Patent numbers.

Lakeside would later come up with the Barrel of Monkeys game. They also made other games, as well as puppets, and bendable figures.

Four photographs from Worthpoint

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Drawing Blood: Create and Draw Monsters Electric Set

I would have loved this set as a kid, Create and Draw Monsters. Its a 'complete electric designers set'. I cant read the makers name but the box art is terrific!

I saw this set on auction so saved this snap last year. No doubt part of the Sixties Monster craze, I'm unsure how electric drawing worked. 

You?

Merit Special Agent Kit Update: the Original Box Art by Sam Peffer!

Years ago I found an incomplete Merit Special Agent boxed set and it started a sort of blog legend, blogged several times starting over a decade ago.

For years I kept an eye out for missing parts , which was fun but as with many a noble quest it wasn't to be. Still, it was a lot of fun and I've always stayed interested in this set.

So I was so pleasantly surprised to stumble across - and I mean stumble - an amazing website showing the original box art for this set and not only that, the original photographs of the artist's models and props for creating the box art!

https://www.tikit.net/2019/Sam%20Peffer/SpecialAgent.htm 

It really is fabulous.

The box artist's name was Sam Peffer, signing his work as Peff.

Click on 'Artists' on the Tikit site to find him.

The Tikit site, worth checking in its entirety, is essentially a tribute to PAN paperbacks and Sam did cover art for them including the old paperback James Bond covers. 

It makes sense then that it would appear from this site that Sam also did the box art for the fantastic Merit Avengers Shooting Game, which we've also covered on the blog before including Arto's terrific example.

It seems likely then to me that Sam Peffer also did the box art for the uber-cool Merit Saint Shooting Game.

How I would love to see the artist's photographs for these shoots!

What do you think readers?

Mort Kunstler 1927-2025 RIP

Aurora box top artist Morton (Mort) Kunstler has passed away this month.

28 August 1927 to 2 February 2025 – age 97.

Apart from his work for Aurora, he later became famous for his Western and American Civil War paintings.

His Aurora work included several aircraft, and the two Man From U.N.C.L.E. figure kits.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

THE LAND OF TA

 Sam Petrucci, the GI Joe box artist,  drew these neat fantasy The Land of Ta sticker sheets for the Dennison in 1981.

There are two different ones.

Did you have any of these readers?

THE LAND OF NOD

 

I love this cover art on Nod, the gaming magazine issue 34 that I saw online.

It recalls the fantastic work of Kay Nielson, such as his Norwegian mythos and the Lad in the Battle, 1914.

How cool is that?

MYSTERY GLASWEGIAN SCULPTOR PHOTOGRAPH

 An odd one this, even for MC; on one of our summer car boot trips a stallholder was giving away hundreds of random old prints collected over years. This is the one I liked as it seemed interesting, although it is a mystery as to who is on it.

 [It sort of reminded me of an old horror movie, Bucket of Blood, about a beatnik sculptor maniac!].

This mystery print shows a sculptor at work with a man sitting and another man watching.  The sculptor has a distinct Zapata moustache and goatee beard.

The back of the print is what I assume to be the photographer's address in Glasgow.

Can anyone shed any light on this old monochrome print?

TERRANOVA47: WORKING WITH ARTISTS

Having been in art school with future illustrators and having commissioned work over the years as a Graphic Designer for various projects I had to think about your question: what is it like to work with an artist?

In the case of the Godzilla art and story I storyboarded from a rough draft of the plot, where I wanted spot illustrations of a talking head and where I wanted a full page illustration. 

With artist Carmen Cerra it was nice that he worked in traditional materials. He liked to do both loose line art with a pen and tight drawings with pen and wash. He would also do brush and ink illustrations. Each style was a different rate as the calculation is on the time it takes. A brush and ink drawing might take just minutes, a detailed drawing an hour or more.

For reference Carmen was familiar with the Wind in the Willows characters, I sent him recent photos of Miles as he was nearly three years older than in the first book and photos of a Thames Skiff which he would not be familiar with.

Things are so much faster than when I was working, email has eliminated weeks of production time wasted waiting for snail mail. Carmen sent scans of pencil layouts for approval, then created the finished art. He scanned them, emailed them and mailed the original art to me. Having worked freelance myself the delay in receiving a cheque after 30 days or more was always a hassle. Now I can send instant PAYPAL payment, something I was never the beneficiary of.

Carmen as unusual in that he is an American familiar with British story books and artists. He recently illustrated a sequel to Winnie the Poo in the original style once the original copyright to the character had expired.

For the first Mileosaurus story I wanted a Beano style illustrator so went to PeoplePerHour.com which is mostly British artists available to hire Freelance. The rates are very competitive and the artists very talented. They are also young and have grown up drawing with computer programs rather than pen and ink. For me it was a new learning experience as colours and size could quickly be altered which in the past would be expensive changes to make as new art had to be drawn.

You blogged the first story I did for Spaceship Away [2023] with Dan Dare and Dennis the Menace. 

A second story was just published in the latest issue, 64.

Artist Dave Windett was found through PeoplePerHour in the UK. I again story boarded the page, sent dialog and reference pictures to Dave and he did the rest. The editor made many changes in colours which would have been prohibitive in traditional art but simple in software based drawings.

This story is for fans of the original Dan Dare stories from 1950-59. The punchline is in knowing the reference of who the Deputy Prime Minister is.

I quote from the HAYNES Space Fleet Operations Manual for the Deputy's father:

Dr Blasco. A brilliant scientist who discovered a way to stabilise and use monatomic hydrogen as a rocket fuel. He designed the Valiant battlecraft for the run to Saturn, but had his own power agenda. Secretly in league with Rootha forces on Saturn, on his return he planned to take over the Earth. Foiled at the last moment, he lost his life when his space helmet came off in a struggle aboard the Kroopak command craft.

So the Deputy Prime Minister is the son of a megalomaniac that wanted to enslave Earth but whose plans were thwarted by Dan Dare..

Terranova47

NYC

MONSTERS INK: Godzilla Drawings Commissioned By Terranova47

Hello Woodsy

Attached are the four commissioned Godzilla drawings by Carmen Cerra, from the story book I wrote, in sequence.

Even Godzilla is no match for Milesosaurus Rex.

I like them even if my Grandson didn't.

Regards,

Terranova47

NYC

[words in italics added by Woodsy]

TERRANOVA47'S CARMEN CERRA GODZILLA

Terranova47 kindly sent me this fabulous drawing of his favourite "dragon", the original Godzilla, part of a private family commissioned work by the artist Carmen Cerra, who Terranova47 discovered from Hugh's Small Scale World blog [there are the occasional links with updates of Carmen's painting of gaming figures.]

STRIKE A POSE BUCK!

 Ed's Archeresque parachutist reminded me of how much I like those old Buck Rogers book cover illustrations with similarly strange and endearing poses as those Archer figures.

My favourite Buck pose is this.

Arms and one knee bent, head looking down in a gas-powered ascent.

At once unreal yet oddly hypnotic, I wonder where this kind of art came from?

Another, even more awkward posture is this, as Buck grabs the top of a tree. It just looks so odd.

Archer Ajax figures are posed in similar ways, which is hard to describe. Is it Art Deco?

Here's Aqua I saw on Ebay.

Just what are these poses readers?

STEADY HANDS REQUIRED!

 

I adored this isotope image as a kid. Its from a thick book of facts from the Sixties called What do You Know.

There was just something about it - the inherent danger of messing with something dreadful -  that made me recreate it years later on a poster. One of my mates' Mums said 'I'm worried about you Woodsy' after seeing it! ha ha!

Did you make posters as a kid or fiddle with chemicals?

Ed's Art

Hey guyz, 

I don't know if you've seen much of my home-grown art before, but occasionally when I'm bored stiff, I like to get on the computer and cobble together images using my toys, often times gaining inspiration from vintage sci-fi art. If you're interested, I can send photos every so often.

From Vegas Base

Ed

This image consists of an Alpha 1 Rocket (by Scientific Products), some Tri-ang figures, my home-made diorama, and a background photo taken by Bettina during one of our blood-red sunsets.

JACK DAVIS IN NEW YORK CITY

Hello Woodsy,

There is presently an exhibit of original art by Jack Davis at The Society of Illustrators in NYC.

Here are some you will appreciate.

Terranova47

USA

PETE'S BEARS

Our final AirBnB accommodation in Kingsbridge was indeed a rare find.

An extended and converted garage transformed into a lovely compact studio, we loved it.

Over three days, we really enjoyed this private pad's sunny space. We never made it up the ladder into the mezzanine but we adored the owner Pete's own art scattered round the place.

Wanting to share the paintings, I snapped them for the blog. Hope you like them too.

This bear and girl had us mesmerised. It reminded me of John Schoenherr's bears.

I was really taken with this thoughtful astronaut.

The biggest piece on display, this stag and forest was so fabulously striking.

High up on a shelf was this second and bigger bear, a beautiful portrait.

You can read more about Peter's art and his fascination with bears and other wildlife on his own page.

https://peteodonnellart.weebly.com/about.html

The Greatest Catch of All Time

 I saw this fabulous framed print in a Kingsbridge charity shop this week. I wish I'd have got it now! 

I was immediately drawn to it because it reminded me of series of Aurora kits that fascinated me since first seeing them in Rick Polizzi's Classic Plastic book, Great Moments in Sport, the box art of which is simply stunning and includes boxing, football and baseball.

My favourite is Willie Mays

 Famous baseball Catch, a beautiful illustration.

I got to wondering if they they were the same artist of both the print and the box art?

After some digging, sadly they're not but they are both very well-known American artists in their own right.

The top framed print is by the late Frank McCarthy. I found the same image in an old fictional story, the Take-Charge Guy, from a May 1952 Colliers magazine online. Looks like they issued prints of it judging by what I saw in Kingsbridge. I don't know if the play shown is fictitious. Do you?

The Aurora box artist on the other hand was Mort Kunstler, who is still around and creating art. From what I can see online no prints of the Willie Mays painting are available, which is a shame.

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153593459825036&vanity=mortkunstler

Willie May's incredible move is known simply as The Catch and is widely seen as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, baseball catch of all time.

Here it is in real life, an amazing shot borrowed from Wikipedia, showing The Catch for the New York Giants, New York, 1954.

Have you got any baseball art or collectables or even the Aurora sports kits readers?