Wednesday, July 18, 2012

In Praise of the Little Things, Part 3

Yesterday we saw some tiny black & white battle scenes, originally published at just one by two inches. Today let's look at some more miniature illustrations - this time in colour and in what I'll describe broadly as a variety of "1950s storybook styles."

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First, here are five vignettes from a 1952 ad for M&Ms, also published at about one by two inches.

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Here's a 1957 ad for Dutch Boy Paints with some terrific little stylized spots...

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A 1950s ad for Telechron Timers...

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One of a series of ads by an artist named Calle (I have another one here). Does anyone know any more about him/her?

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Finally, a sweet little cartoony spot signed "W. Fitch" from this 1957 Dial soap ad...

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*If mid-century artwork of this type is your cup of tea, I have two sets on Flickr you'll want to explore:

Ads with Story Book Styles and Ads with Cartoon Elements

Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

In Praise of the Little Things, Part 2

Just look at the detailed inking techniques and compositional complexity of this battle scene.

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So much effort put into something that appeared on the printed page at only one by two inches!

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These tiny illustrations were part of the page design...

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... of a series of U.S. Defense Bonds ads that ran in various mainstream magazines in 1952.

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I can tell you from personal experience that, when viewed with the naked eye, the effort this talented but uncredited artist put into rendering these scens in such detail is impossible to really appreciate without a magnifying glass.

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Thanks to our 21st century scanner technology...

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... we can enjoy them closer to the size at which they were probably created.

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(Or even larger - click the images to go to my Flickr archives and see them twice up).

Monday, July 16, 2012

In Praise of the Little Things, Part 1

I find so many wonderful little spot drawings and cartoons in my collection of old magazines. The problem is, they are often reproduced so small and so randomly that I usually pass them by in favour of showing you some spectacular double page spread story illustration or full page ad.

This week however, I'm going to share a selection of tiny spots I've come across that are well worth more than a glance, starting with this selection of great little cartoons from various 1961 issues of Parents magazine.

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Who drew these great little spot cartoons? There was no credit line in the magazines I scanned them from. Could it be the work of Lowell Hess?

Friday, July 13, 2012

Huntley Brown, Canadian Illustrator

Huntley Brown was born in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1932. He graduated from the Ontario College of Art & Design in 1955. His first job was as a buyer for Simpson Sears, but he soon landed an apprenticeship with Bruce Johnson who was running Fawcett Studios on Yonge St. in Toronto (above what is now the Brass Rail). (An interesting aside: Johnson was friends with Robert Fawcett and the 'Famous Artist' had given him permission to use his name in association with his studio).

Here's the earliest example I have of Huntley Brown's work. It's from a 1961 issue of Maclean's magazine.

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Huntley Brown's next stop was Templeton studios, where he worked for eight years. Brown was keeping busy in those days: he taught one day a week at the Ontario College of Art & Design, worked the other four days at Templeton, and did freelance in the evening and on weekends. Another Toronto artist, Don Sinclair, who was also in the early days of his career back then met Huntley Brown at Templeton. "Huntley was a talented guy and produced some superb stuff," said Don.

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When I spoke on the phone with Huntley he said, "illustration was a great business until television came along and killed it. That took all the ad dollars out of the magazines, as everybody knows."

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(Above and below: two Huntley Brown pieces included in the 1965 Canadian Art Directors Annual)

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In the mid-60s, Brown did quite a bit of work for McClelland & Stewart's Canadian Illustrated Library, including this impressive cover for the "Heroes" volume.

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In the "Historic Headlines" volume, Brown illustrated the story of the famous 1960s FLQ mailbox bombing. In the three panel opening spread, he employed a very upbeat colour palette - but the imagery is absolutely chilling - A powerful juxtaposition that creates a jarring effect on the viewer.

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Also interesting: as mentioned, Brown chose to use sequential storytelling, giving us a "before-during-and-after" view of that terrible moment in Canada's history. It's not what one typically expects from a story illustration, but perhaps Brown was in a sequential art frame of mind at the time...

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For the "Heroes" volume he created a series of four page narratives in comic book art - totalling twenty pages - recounting the stories of various famous Canadian heroes in a sort of "Classics Illustrated" format.

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Brown recalled, "I did all the colour separations for that job as well and they were a mess!"

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He remembered working in a comic strip format only one other time.

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Brown did a full page strip about the moon landing for Star Weekly magazine, which he completed in one overnight rush deadline. Despite the speed at which he had to turn the job around, "That one turned out pretty good," he recalled.

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Huntley Brown taught illustration at the Ontario College of Art & Design for 33 years. Don sinclair said, "We met again when we were teaching at OCAD."

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Former students Dan Milligan and René Milot, now two of the finest illustrators working in Canada, described Huntley Brown as a tough and intimidating task master who demanded the best from his students. Milligan said, "I had Huntley early on in my OCAD days. The guy kicked my ass [on] every assignment. In the end he took me to lunch and told me I was going to be fine."

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Milot concurred; "Huntley 'ripped me a new one' [the] first week into my last year at OCA. As difficult as it was to accept, [his] comments opened my eyes and helped me so much."

Huntley Brown received the Lifetime Achievement Award from C.A.P.I.C. in 1997. Today he lives in the quiet community of Uxbridge, Ontario and paints landscapes, figurative work and portraits for himself or through word-of-mouth commissions.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Bruce Johnson, Canadian Illustrator

Here's a wonderful early '60s illustration by Canadian illustrator Bruce Johnson.

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Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of information available about him. Here's what I managed to piece together...

Bruce Henderson Johnson was born in Toronto in 1926. During the 1950s, he was a regular contributor to Maclean's magazine (and no doubt many other Canadian publications).

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Johnson often produced intriguing, experimental pieces which earned him the respect and admiration of his peers. Some years back, when I first mentioned Bruce Johnson to Tom McNeely and Will Davies, both artists spoke glowingly of his work - although they never knew him personally.

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As you can see from several of the examples presented here, he was capable of producing literal (or 'realistic') art...

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... but often chose to stylize his work.

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In the 1960 Toronto Art Directors Club Annual I found Johnson listed as a member, suggesting he worked in Toronto until the early '60s.

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Ss we can see from this Saturday Evening Post illustration below, which was included in the 1965 Canadian Art Director's Annual, he managed to get some work published in the U.S. - a big (and relatively rare) accomplishment for a Canadian illustrator at that time.

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Because he produced hundreds of illustrations for the Montreal Star and Weekend magazines from the mid-'60s to the late '70s, it's very likely that Johnson lived in or near Montreal during the middle part of his career. (In those days, most artists lived close to where the majority of their work was being published).

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"Most of the drawings pertain to social life and customs, street scenes and cityscapes relating to Montreal and vicinity," according to Library and Archives Canada, which has possession of Bruce Johnson's originals from this period.

Johnson returned to Ontario in his later years. He died in Port Hope, Ontario in 1996.