Tarheel Photo Box Art

I've often wondered about the process that toy companies commissioned box art or VHS makers commissioned video cover art. I guess it's all online now but at one time it won't have been. For example, one of my favourite American boxes is the Tarheel of Tarboro Probe Force 2 photo art. How did they achieve that in 1967? Was it an artist or a photographer do you think?

Terranova47, having experience of box art and commissioning, gave me his thoughts:

Hello Woodsy

Well, I know that when I worked on VHS Tape packaging, the art was supplied as it was from the publicity material created for the cartoon, movie or TV show.

 It was a matter of cropping and fitting in all the information, copyright etc. Only on a few occasions, where the tape was a documentary, was a photo chosen from stock photo libraries.

The Project Sword box was probably a photo of the toy against a background painting. A photo retoucher added the motor stream to a print and it was re-photographed. In this case any other toys from the range may have had the same background. So it was both an artist and a photographer plus a designer for the text box and side and ends of the lid.

Now, photo retouchers used to take a print, sometimes they would bleach away areas then airbrush or paint in a replacement image. They were talented, skilled and expensive. 

These days the cost of the software, Photoshop for instance, would be the equal cost of one retouching job done the old way. Now it's possible, and I've done this, to hire someone online to substitute a person in a group shot for $25! 30 years ago that would have been hundreds of dollars!

Terranova47

USA

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What are your thoughts about the American Project SWORD Probe Force 2 photo-box art?

FLIGHT OF THE CHROME SEED

 I watched Flight of the Navigator with my Grandson recently. A fun family film from the 80's in the vein of ET with the boy pilot bonding with his alien spaceship.

The spaceship itself is like a big chrome beech nut. Its an interesting shape, which can change too.

I love the first shape shown, its so organic-looking like a nut or a a seed. It reminded me a bit of the insect hive spacecraft buried in Quatermess and the Pit, a sort of ovoid seed too.

I imagine there are a few more seed-like spaceships in film, TV and literature. Last week I think someone also mentioned a similarity with old ice cream cases from ice cream vans. I wonder if they meant oysters?

Anyway, because I couldn't find any toys connected to Flight of the Navigator at all [which I thought odd] I tried to make a small and quick Navigator ship for Junior myself. 

I used tin foil rolled up into a ball and then shaped and smoothed with a spoon. I seem to recall doing this as a kid and after a lot of smoothing getting a fine flat finish in the foil. On You Tube there are videos of foil balls being given a perfect mirror-finish.

My tinkering sort of worked and Junior recognised me efforts when he said 'That's the ship from the film!"

Alas, I didn't photograph my tin foil craft but I'm sure you've had a bash at foiling yourself.

Here's a class rocket someone's done on the net. There's even a tin foil astronauts club.

Photographs of your tin foil spaceships welcomed!

And finally, as I was surfing for silver seeds and the like, this Alessi lemon squeezer popped up. Instant War of the Worlds tripod or what! Anyone ever used one in a sci-fi setting?

THE VIVID TECH STEFAN KNOX LASERSTRIKE JET COMBAT TOY SET 2002:

 I found these tall plastic and heavy jet thingies in a charity shop last year going for a song.

Turns out they're Laserstrike Jet Combat by Vivid Tech, which is pretty hard to find any info on online.

Here's the box I found a pic of.

Its a sort of gloved jet battle, where the jets gyrate - is that called yaw? - around the hand. I got mine working and its very a strange feeling! How did they manage to get it to spin motorised around the hand to about 180 degrees, whilst the hand stays in position?

Its an intriguing design for a toy and the mechanics must be complicated. It says on the toy it was designed by Stefan Knox 2002 and its unusual to be able to pin down an actual designer's name.

As it happens Stefan Knox has his own website!

https://www.stefanknox.co.uk/case-studies/toys/

What do you think readers? A good idea for a toy?

SEVENTIES VICTORIAN GRAPHIC DESIGN

Rooting in my loft recently I came across an old board game called The Magnificent Race. Clearly inspired by the TV show The Wacky Races, it was the artistic style that jogged my memory.

This style, a sort of Victorian cartoon, was everywhere when I was growing up in the late Sixties and I recall it blossoming in the Seventies. Everything from games, wallpaper, Avon soaps, chocolates, sweets to TV shows like Monty Python's Flying Circus got the treatment. Terry Gilliam's designs even incorporated the circus-style Victorian typeface [unsure of its name].

Avon soaps went in for this dandy style a lot and here's their Barber Pole packaging in a slight;y more realistic finish.

Often the designs featured London Lifeguards and Beefeaters  as on this ceramic piggy bank

Sometimes the style embraced Harlequins and masked Balls as on this Sweets tin.

and the classic Lifeguard as on the flanks of this Smarties Easter Egg

but the figures I recall the most are circus ringmasters and strongmen like the one in the middle of this Cadbury's biscuit barrel.

Oddly enough I found it surprisingly hard to find online examples of this style in general and in particular ringmasters and strongmen. Examples or links would be welcomed.

Was it a peculiarly British design fad or was it worldwide in the Seventies readers?