Mad Men Party

What happens when a collector of 50s-60s ephemera, books and various what-not gets a chance to illustrate a Mad Men-themed party? Well, here you go. For The Boston Globe G Magazine. Big thanks to Martin Gee for being such a swell client.

In order to pull this off, I had to endure an all-nighter - which, by the way, gets harder to recover from the older I get. Not like it was when I was in college, that's for sure. But anyway, it was worth it. I'm quite pleased with how this looked after sleeping throughout the next day. I think I was worried that it was looking too busy, with some of the colors looking jumbled and crazy. But I simplified the colors to the partygoers in the far background, near the top, and that seemed to do the trick. I also played around with the starburst in the middle of the composition. I know that it's something I tend to do a lot, but here, it worked out pretty well since we are focused on the TV in the middle. Plus, the starburst motif is mirrored by the starburst clock in the upper right corner.

I'll do a step-by-step progress post on this illustration once all the dust settles.

Boston-ites, this will be for tomorrow's Boston Globe: Thursday, July 15th. Look for it! Here's a sneaky-peek before it goes to press, thanks to Martin:

Summer in Full Effect

It's here. It's definitely here and we can feel it. Summer has arrived in Portland—they say that the summer usually doesn't "officially" arrive here until around July 4th, and by golly, they're right. We're expecting temps in the 90s this week—I know that's no biggie to most of you on the eastern seaboard, but over here in the great northwest, it's kind of a big deal.

To kick it off, here's some summery vintage scans for you:


Fun Avis ad from Sunset magazine, January 1962.

At bottom:
"Now! If you want safety belts, you can have them up front at no extra charge on most '62 models."

Umm...gee, thanks, Avis!


Seattle Welcome Guide
Nice little pamphlet from the Seattle Convention and Tourist Bureau. 1959. No illustrator credit.


Dubble Bubble ad in Family Circle magazine, August 1953.


From Music 'Round The Clock, Follett Publishing Company, 1955. Illustrator is Val Samuelson.

Summer is the time for jungle gyms and freaky kids, apparently.

Ooo! Some leftover fireworks from 4th of July:


Mayflower Dairy Magic

Fun little booklet for Mayflower dairy products. No date, no illustrator credit. Thinking it's probably early 50s, based on the look and style of the photographs they have on the back cover (not shown in my Flickr or here). The little cook there is so fun. Yay! Cooking!


Anytime you've got a little cook with a wand pointing to a big star with the word CHEESE in the middle, I'm going to scan it, people.






Yay! Cottage cheese! Ice cream! Yay!

Summer is here.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans. To celebrate, here are some independence-related scans from a couple of wonderful Fireside song books, each filled with amazing illustrations by some incredibly talented people.

The first selections will be from Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs, selected and edited by Margaret Bradford Boni. Arranged for the piano by Forman Lloyd. Illustrations by Aurelius Battaglia. © Simon and Schuster, 1952:


Hail Columbia
View larger.


The Liberty Song


Yankee Doodle


Chester

Next spread is from From Fireside Book of Folk Songs, selected and edited by Margaret Bradford Boni. Arranged for the piano by Norman Lloyd. Illustration by Alice and Martin Provensen. © Simon and Schuster, 1947.


The Star Spangled Banner
View larger.

The last is not from a song book, but from the cover to a 45 vinyl record:


American Songs To Sing, complied by Judy Wathen. Illustration & design by Abner Graboff. © Scholastic Records, 1976. As many of you know, I featured Abner's work last year when I was able to interview his son, John. This record belongs to one of our buddies here in Portland—I HAD to borrow it to scan so I could share it with you guys.

Okay, that's it! Hope you enjoyed this little bit of liberty-minded inspiration for this 4th of July! Have a great holiday!

Aurelius Battaglia featured in my Flickr.
The First Noel by Alice and Martin Provensen.
Abner Graboff featured in my Flickr.