I was tipped off to this link last week and have been studying these covers ever since. Sure this isn't entirely on topic, but there is no denying the creative think...<P><P>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
ryan, i found that link a while back while researching.... some new people moved in near a friend of mine and were cleaning out....and BURNING all the junk i got probably 15 feet of bookshelf space worth of those books like that....not all the same title...they were in wooden military cases destined for the fire!!! dating from the early 1930's-early 1950's most in the early-mid 40's just tons and tons and tons of great pictures and information they even have the great smell of old dusty rotten books....adds to the mystique of my library!
I feel another collection coming on... Love that stuff... The typography is just so... perfectly mechanical? People had some mad skills back then...
Great post.... and completely on topic. I love that you're able to see the different styles between the artists that created the covers. Modern methods like photoshop are great but we've lost this individuality.
You won't see many -- if ANY -- painted covers today. It's a bygone era, when people were free to dream about the future. I have lots of those musty old books, too.
While many of those covers represented an optimistic Futurist attitude, many were much more sinister. Many of them envisioned war machines. Here's an odd one from my collection -- perhaps uncomfortably odd, almost 5 decades after it was published (1960).
That's a really cool site Ryan. The colors and the fonts being used on the covers are perfect. My 9-5 grind is an art director for a publishing company so I am definitely intriguedas well as inspired.
Awesome covers- illustrates a time when natural talent ruled unlike today when its more about software. Great find. I agree with Ryan-I see a new collection in the works...........
Great artwork!Old magazine covers are the best! One thing that stands out(in my mind at least)about all of them is the almost constant use of the color red to highlight a particular item.Virtually all of them have the main figure done up in red.Wonder what the psychology behind that was(if any). Another thing I really like is the exaggerated perspective of most of the drawings;especially to indicate motion(speed). I also noticed that in most of these magazines,the artist rarely got credit for the painting.
When I was growing up - I really wanted to be an illustrator for a comic or magazine (anything published really). There was always something about seeing this crisp and clean art in such volume that made the viewer almost tingle while looking at it. I would draw and draw and draw....I'd basically copy what I was seeing, especially the issues of comic books like CARtoons which I realize are not quite as sophisticated as these are but I at least had a chance of making something that looked like a comic - as a kid I had no chance of rendering anything like these pieces. During this early time in my life - I had a moment of self awareness, and realized that I could NEVER keep the pace that these artist were holding. Month after month having to come up with something that was as good as the last issue (or better).... I am now and always have been far too slow. I truely admire more than just the pure artistic talent of these guys - but their work ethic and the ability to (at least in my mind) produce something under ridiculous deadlines. And they always delivered quality. Not some rushed looking knock off or half assed effort. Nice article Ryan.
The covers are what get me. So much imagination.. being drawings, causes your brain to dream... (what ifs)..
ryan mentioned the blog.. lookie what I found there.. http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007...e&Qif=bonneville_2.jpg&Qiv=thumbs&Qis=XL#qdig
i have long been obsessed with the sci-fi and cover artwork of that era, its optimistic outlook on the future has always inspired me. thanks for the heads up on the site, many of those i have never seen before. this one really got me going though i would like to have a big print of that hanging on my wall . . .
I still prefer Diamond Dave over Sammy. Not sure if the new tour with Eddie's son, Wolfgang, will work. Gotta have Michael Anthony! Ken
i been collecting these since the 60's and have filled a semi with my moveing a couple of times, all bagged boxed ,and i have a complete pop mech i have a hundred year collection,, went out to the museum in detroit when the had the display and celebration of the pop mech magazine,,,sold them a few for thier colection,haha , and most of the others some are in such perfect condition i find a better one to replace a worn if i find it,some ,looked like they were just printed, all kinds of pop science, science and mechanix, the cover art and the ideas just jump out at you, built a few project vehicles also, just from the art or a lone picture from somewhere inside,, a whole of what some one thinks is new... it isn't some of the first go for quite a bit of money ,,i found that out early
I posted a few of my favorite articles a while back. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150785
picked up a huge box of those a while back too...can't stand the thought of getting rid of these wonderfully informative books with articles on such things as finding your own uranium, hundreds of boat plans...man, there's so much cool stuff in them! They may be a fire hazard, but they're mine! I hate that too many of them were eaten halfway by some yet unidentified insect, I would love to have seen what information they devoured... oldest one in the collection is dated 1917, they go up from there to the late 60s, and the one 1970s popular mechanics that featured the polaroid SX-70 camera...closest thing to an Instant SLR that came along.