Dreams
From Russia: Experimental videos by 22 year old art director Maxim Zhestkov.
More videos here. Website here.
Found via Planetary Fokelore
entries Tagged as [cool finds]
Pino Tovaglia: Alfa Romeo
Series of futuristic drawings by Pino Tovaglia for Alfa Romeo, 1958
I just picked up a used copy of the book Pino Tovaglia. La regola che corregge l’emozione. Book review over at Grain Edit.
Monty Python meets Star Trek
‘Bones McCoy was not a morning person.’
How much for just the planet? was one of the silliest books I’ve ever read. Author John M. Ford (1957-2006) did a lot with this Star Trek thing. And that’s actually him as part of the cover art (above).
Not for purists though, which is why I enjoyed reading it. It was released in 1987. Details (and spoilers) here. Snag a cheap used copy here.
‘A boldly different Star Trek experience’
I read somewhere that this novel sent Gene Roddenberry into a tizzy. Don’t know if it were true, but this book has some nasty religion stuff, nymphomaniac Ensign Sara George, lots of sex and the crew in a nakkid crucifiction in the rain something or other. I remember reading this as a kid and thinking about the rather frank, adult content, This is NOT going to be made into a movie is it? Also thought: This Star Trek thing is pretty damn interesting (teenage hormones speaking, of course).
‘Ensign George was pure, unadulterated, wanton sex.’
Yeah.
This was one of the first original Trek novels, released in 1976. I loved the stark whiteness of the original glossy Helvetica-set cover (now faded); paired with wonderful artwork by Gene Szafran. Unfortunately, future printings ended up with more literal interpretations up front.
Here’s a blow by blow review. Snag a copy here (is this thing even still in print?)
The long lost Star Trek comic strip
In 1979, the week the first movie premiered, Paramount launched a daily Star Trek comic strip. Thomas Warkentin was the first writer/artist to work on the title and I loved his attention to detail.
The strip adapted the production design of the first motion picture and Warkentin even went so far as to put small details on the viewscreens that was often wasted when printed small in the paper. I had a drawer full of the clipped strips, they’d turned a nice gold color over time.
The strip itself has never been reprinted, lost in a world of legal ownership issues. But the entire run can be found here. Though not in the best user friendly format. There’s also links to some great UK-based Star Trek comics from the 1970s. Handy checklist here.
More Trek: Artist Toru Kanamori
When Star Trek first became a global sensation, Toru Kanamori landed a gig illustrating Japanese translations of the original series stories. Wouldn’t it be great to reprint a bunch of these in an art book with text from the Blish novels?
You know, I’d love to design something like that. Somebody call me.
For more about the work of Toru Kanamori, jump here.
Ken Adam and Ralph McQuarrie do Trek
The Enterprise by Ken Adam
Somewhere in the limbo that was the 1970s was a never-completed UK-produced film Star Trek: Planet of the Titans.
They made it as far as the conceptual illustrations. Ken Adam was hired as production designer and Star Wars visionary Ralph McQuarrie set about redesigning the Enterprise.
Article here. More McQuarrie art here.
Enterprise interior
Enterprise shuttlebay
Ken Adam: Bond production designer
Sir Ken Adam was the production designer for the Bond films.
He also developed the forced perspective look of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (his War Room made a retro/1960s/1980s appearance in Watchmen). Many of the recent Bond films still reference his work.
The War Room from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, 1963
Less and More: Braun in London
‘Transparent plastics and wooden veneers were mixed and colour schemes were limited to tones of pure whites and greys, the only splash of colour being allocated to switches and dials’
Designer Dieter Rams’ work for Braun inspired Jonathan Ive at Apple. And just opened at the London’s Design Museum is a Rams retrospective. Details here.
Edu in Spain: Friday night show
The jazz-inspried work of Edu Camacho. MySpace here. His work reminds me of several artists, including Fortunato Depero and Ben Shahn.
Edu is part of a group show Friday night (tomorrow): which includes paintings, illustration, projected photography and short film. November 20, 2009 in at maumau underground in Barcelona. Details here (translated).
007: Illustrated
Peter Lorenz’s Illustrated 007: The Art of James Bond blog looks at all forms of artist interpretations of the British secret agent. Including these great pulp renderings.
Click on the images for the related posts.
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