Vinyl Kid T-shirt Design

Oh yay! My very first t-shirt design for Shirt.Woot is now available! Titled, Vinyl Kid, it's part of a special sale on the site called Jukebox Heroes, featuring all music-related designs. The shirt will be available for ONE WEEK ONLY! Sale ends Sunday, May 20th.

If you love vinyl (and I know you do, since you're reading this blog), then go and buy a shirt (or 2, or 3) for yourself - or for your favorite crate-digger.

Cool 45 covers

When Andrea & I vacationed in Italy back in 1999, we checked out this cool flea market in Rome with lots of fun old stuff. Found this 45 record (above) in a record bin. Love the design. I've always cherished it. One of these days I'm gonna listen to this record. It's imperative that I do.

Summer Vinyl Fun

Summer is in full swish here in the great NW! I know that most of the country is getting cooked right now, but here in Portland it's been hanging around the mid-70s to low 80s. Very nice. Anyway, let's put on some cool, fun records, shall we? Yes, let's.


The Firehouse Five plus Two: Good Time Jazz (sometimes listed as "Part Two"). Illustrator listed as "Le Goullon." Even though liner notes say: "During 1950 (when the eight numbers on this LP were recorded)...", I've been told that the LP was probably packaged and released in 1953.


Musicians listed:
Danny Alguire: coronet
Harper Goff: banjo
Ward Kimball: trombone
Clarke Mallery: clarinet
Monte Mountjoy: drums
Ed Penner: tuba
Frank Thomas: piano

The Firehouse Five plus Two was a dixieland jazz band that played around the LA area (and beyond) from the late 40s on into the 70s. The band is of particular interest to us animators mainly because most of the members worked at Disney at the same time - most particularly, Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas, two of Disney's "Nine Old Men." Clark Mallery and Ed Penner also worked there, while Harper Goff was an art designer for several movies (for instance, THE THING).


Big Moments LP, 1955. Cover illustrated by the awesome Gerry Gersten.

The dude is still alive at 84! Did caricatures for MAD Magazine, NY Times, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, you name it. You can always tell if illustrations like this are done by serious artists or not. Here, I can tell by the way he draws the arms, faces, the details in the clothing, dresses, etc. Very intricate linework that can't be duplicated by anyone with lesser talent. Believe me, I've seen some illustrations (like in vintage cook books) that look pretty pathetic. Here, though, Gerry does some wonderful work that's upbeat and lively.


Stars and Stripes Forever (1954). I know I'm a little late on the July 4th thing, but it's better late than never, right? Very Jim Flora-ish, it's illustrated by Ed Sorel. Interesting to see such a different style than what Ed's usually known for.

And now, to end this post on a good note, an ACTUAL Jim Flora cover! Checkit:


Memorable Music From the Movies (1956). Illustrated by the one, the only Jim Flora.

Sometimes you just never know with these covers, since I've seen many who would rip-off of Flora's work (see this one for example). However, just found out that this is, indeed, a genuine Flora cover. Here's a list of his covers, in case you might have one in your collection. You never know!

Listener: Wooden Heart

Listener "Wooden Heart" from Nathan Corrona on Vimeo.

A rare opportunity when visuals match the raw tone and spirit of the music and words perfectly. Shot and directed by my brother-in-law Nate. Music by Listener.

Watch it big. It's worth it.

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
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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
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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.

Fat & Happy

My wife, she knows me so well. This was one of my gifts.

Yes, it's the post-Christmas fallout. I ate so much yesterday I felt like I could nap for over a year. The holiday was a good one here, although, it wasn't truly Christmas without some drama thanks to a missed delivery by a certain package delivery service that incorporates brown into their identity logo. It was not a happy evening for Andrea & I on Christmas Eve when we realized that Ava's BIG GIFT - you know, the ONE she talked about for weeks; the one she would look at over and over in the Playmobil catalog, noting all the fine details; the one she made quite certain Santa hear when visiting him at the department store downtown a week ago; the one we had infused into our brains - wasn't going to be delivered that night. So, we did some last-minute thinking and came up with Plan B: I wrote out a letter from Santa saying that sometimes during the course of Christmas Eve, he's bound to lose a package or two, and Ava's Playmobil Hospital playset was one of the unfortunate ones that fell out of his sack. He had his best elves working on locating the present and when they find it, they'll deliver it right away. It seemed to work. Ava seemed happy even though she wasn't going to have the BIG GIFT on the BIG DAY. There were enough gifts to take her mind off of the situation, which was nice. Ezra, he was happy as long as he had his Star Wars Legos and Hot Wheels.

We are missing our family from back east, so it's been nice to have Andrea's brother from New York, Von, here to hang out with us during the holidays. The kids, they love Uncle Von.

Here's wishing you had a great and wonderful Christmas.

Happy Voting Day

Something's in the air today. Can't you feel it?


It's not just the brisk autumn atmosphere. Almost like in Mary Poppins, where the changing of the winds signified something new just over the horizon.

In honor of this monumental day, here are a few scans from various music books in my collection. The first two are from Proudly We Sing, illustrated by Robert J. Lee. 1958.


These next two are from one of my favorite books, The Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs, illustrated by the amazing Aurelius Battaglia. It was published in 1952.




Lastly, a wonderfully simple illustration by the brilliant husband/wife team, Alice & Martin Provensen. From Instruments of the Orchestra, 1962.

Go out and vote today, people! I did.

Nothing like Nonbreakable Vinyl

Finally got around to scanning some fun vintage children's records. I have to laugh every time I read on the cover that these records are "nonbreakable" or "unbreakable." Never underestimate the power of a 2 year-old, people. Seriously? Kids that age are tough. If something doesn't break right away, they'll find a way. Believe me. Anyway, some of these 45's came my way via the wifey. She'd buy one here and there and then suddenly, I'd have a nice little collection of cool old records. A few shown below were actually in her booth when she sold vintage items for a short while. Don't tell her, but I would secretly "re-own" them by stashing them under my shirt and put them safely away. Couldn't stand to see them leave my clutches. Does that make me a bad husband? Don't answer that.

Onto the "nonbreakable" records:


Tom Corbett: Space Cadet Song and March, A Golden Record. 1951. No mention of illustrator. Gotta love sci-fi of the 50's.


Michael Pinto of Fanboy.com posted about this record recently, sharing a little bit of insight about Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, which was a TV show that aired from 1950 to '55. Thanks for the mention, Michael!



Brave Cowboy Bill, A Golden Record. 1950. No mention of illustrator, but looks like JP Miller. Any suggestions? Aurelius Battaglia, perhaps?


The following two are from Columbia Records, where Alex Steinweiss created the concept of the album cover. These two have some sort of Steinweissian style to it, but there's no telling, since no illustrator credit is given. Good grief, Mr. Steinweiss is still alive! Give 'em a pound.


The Bear Went Over the Mountain b/w "A-Hunting We Will Go" and "Today is Monday (Soup Song)." Playtime Records. No mention of illustrator nor copyright date.

The center labels on these two 45's sport some nice illustrations. I'll have to scan them in some time.


Home On The Range b/w "Doney Gal." Playtime Records. No mention of illustrator nor copyright date.



Donald's Singing Lesson b/w "Pluto the Pup." A Little Golden Record. 1949. Illustrations credited 1948, '49 to Walt Disney Productions.



The Saggy Baggy Elephant b/w "Elephant's Walk." Little Golden Records. 1950. No mention of illustrator, but we know that this is based off the book by Gustaff Tenggrenn. Classic Little Golden Book. We had this book when I was a kid. One of my earliest memories involves The Saggy Baggy Elephant, wherein Mom would record herself reading the book for my sister and I. We then could take the tape and read along while she did housework or whatever. She did this with several of our favorite books -- oh, how I wished we still had those tapes. Mom, any idea where they could be?

Bikes and animal heads

I need to post more about things that interest me, that intrigue me, that give me a chance to look at things in a new light. I've got several posts in draft form that are just waiting to go live, but I can't seem to find the time to tweak the content. I'll see what I can do to get these little tid-bits of thought and inspiration out in the open.

In the meantime, here's a video that I really dig:


Bats for Lashes: "What's a Girl To Do"

An interview with the director about making the video. When I read about projects or film shoots that went awry, where things had to be re-shot and redone, I don't bat an eye. I nod and think to myself, "yes, been there, done that." It's all part of the artistic process. Sometimes you have to redo everything in order to see your vision through, even if cameras, computers, or the most basic technology happen to work against you.

All this talk of bikes and kids with animal heads reminds me of this bit of freakish-ness:



One Got Fat, a bike safety film from 1963. Directed by Dale Jennings and narrated by Edward Everett Norton, of "Fractured Fairy Tales" fame. You know, we need more safety and instructional films like this. Freak the kids into submission.

'Tis Christmas

Funny how we never really use those contractions like "'tis" and "'twas" until the Holidays. Makes anything we write sound so warm and folksy, like we should be sitting by the fire with a laptop in our lap, hot chocolate by our side. But not me. I plan on using these archaic contractions as much as I can next year. Or, until someone strangles me.


Click on image to view larger.

I was going through some of my old magazines, picking out the ones that were Christmas issues, and came across this illustration for a story in Woman's Day, December 1959. Taking a closer look, I found an artist mention: Andy Warhol.

Andy was a young illustrator trying to do his thing in New York in the 50's, doing some fashion illustration and advertising as well as the occasional album cover. His work mostly consisted of the "blotted-line" variety, and done very well, if you ask me. This is a nice one for the Christmas season. One of my favorite illustrated Blue Note album covers was done by Andy in 1958: Blue Lights, Vols. 1 & 2, by Kenny Burrell. I put an emphasis on "illustrated" because most of Blue Note's covers featured photos and graphics and I harbor a great amount of love for many of those types of covers as well.



Anyway, the Burrell cover was nice because of the posing and composition of the character juxtaposed with the simple sans serif type, the hallmark of Blue Note covers. Most of the design work was done by Reid Miles, featuring strong photography by Francis Wolff. There's a funny story about how Francis used to get so mad at Reid for cropping off the tops all the musicians' heads of Francis' shots.

You can see a great deal of these incredible covers in Blue Note: The Album Cover Art, by Graham Nash Marsh. I've owned this book since '93, and I still can't get enough of it. Highly recommended. UPDATE: My pal Alan from Chronicle Books informs us that this book is out of print, but there's another one available, titled, Blue Note: The Album Cover Art: The Ultimate Collection. Thanks for the heads up, Alan!

Things are ramping up around here for Christmas. Lots of stuff going on around the household, so expect a bit of a pause here on The Ward-O-Matic. I'll probably get around to posting something on Christmas Day, but until that time, have a great and safe Holiday.

Christmas in the Air!

Christmas in the Air!, featuring The Voices of Walter Schumann. Cover by Wilson Smith. 1951. Thanks to the miracle of the internets, you can download this album here.

Yes, it is in the air. Can you feel it?

From the liner notes: "There have been many fine albums of Christmas music; but never one like Christmas in the Air! Here is an inspired musical production which captures all the traditional beauty and sacred spirit of Christmas, yet adds a fresh and original touch."

'Twas the Day After Christmas

Oh, I know it's not after Christmas, but I couldn't wait that long to post this.

Drew this for Tom at LAIKA. He makes a Christmas mix CD each year and asked me to illustrate it for this year. It took me a while to get the concept down, just the way I like it. It's still far from what I originally envisioned, but I like the end result anyway. Plus, I'm happy with the type at the top there. That was a load of fun. Maybe I'll post some of the sketches. There was a lot of trial and error.

I was a little worried about the ultra-pink/purple happening here, but I think it's okay. Not as harsh as I think. Or is it? Are my burned retinas affecting my creative decision making here? Are the violent violets melting my gray matter? The world will never know....

Check him out: Santa just sittin' back, relaxin', listening to some tunes while Rudolf curls up by the fire, the day after the Big Day. Santa likes midcentury modern. He's a modern kinda guy.

Illustrator Wanted

Here ye! Here ye! The Great & Mighty King of Jingaling is looking for an illustrator to create some nice, Christmas-y cover art for his annual ADVENTure in Carols collection. Let's hear it from the King's own mouth (er...keyboard):

I'm looking for an artist to do the cover for this year's ADVENTure in Carols collection over at FaLaLaLaLa.com.

This will be the fourth annual collection of Christmas music goodness. I did the cover for the first collection. But the past two years have seen the beautiful work of Steve Mack and Ward Jenkins, who have added their immeasurable talents to the projects.

This is not a paid job. It's a labor of Christmas love. So if you have a flair for retro holiday style, pass me an email or message.

I can't wait to see the great cover that will grace this year's collection.

Thanks,

Brad
King of Jingaling

I've mentioned FaLaLaLaLa.com before on this post. I talked about making my cover HERE. I really enjoyed doing it. I know that the pro bono thing doesn't sit too well with some of you out there in illustration-land, but Brad's not making a penny off the ADVENTure series anyway. I did it, and I don't regret it at all. A great guy, Brad just does this because he loves sharing his massive collection of Christmas song oddities. Contact Brad here if you're interested. Looking forward to see what this year's ADVENTure cover looks like!

Make it a Hip-Hop Christmas

Click on image to view larger.

Occasionally I'll do some artwork for my brother-in-law, Nate (aka DJ DUST), for his hip-hop group Mars ILL. This year Nate decided to have a little fun by recording a Christmas album, so he paired up with fellow DeepSpace5'er, Listener, and thus, Just in Time for Christmas was born. To compliment the "fartin' around" attitude that the album seemed to take, Nate wanted to do something a little different from your typical yuletide cheery album cover art. What a better way to convey this than to have your average run-down hobo-like Santa taking a little listen to some beats on some funked-out super-MOOG? Makes sense to me.

To buy this hip-hop holiday extravaganza, click HERE. (Scroll down a bit.)