Julius...

El marinero flotante y las gauchas...

I'm still enjoying the book "LIFE: America's Parade" (2001), especially interesting are the vintage balloons and their abstract designs.

This visual caught my attention> because it looks like an Oscar Grillo illustration come to life, with its unique composition, color splashes and a certain sailor hovering above the cowgirls.

The photo was taken in 1968.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

The top two balloons are from 1948 & '47, and they both made an appearance in todays Macy's Parade for the first time in sixty years. I'm hoping that they bring back the clown next.

All photos are
Copyright 2001 Time Inc.

From the book
"LIFE: America's Parade"

Honeymooners promo art...

These ads were created for comic book distributors' preview catalogues, usually produced within a day or two. I was responsible for writing the copy, creating the illustrations, hand-lettering and production. They were a lot of fun to work on.

"The Thing" from another flat file--

I was five years old when I first saw "The Thing from Another World". Most of the overlapping and science-heavy dialogue couldn't hold my attention, but when the creature made his appearances my eyes widened. Just the thought of all those people being held hostage in a remote ice station by an alien monster made it seem like a terrifying version of the "I'm gonna get you!" game of hide and seek I'd play with my older cousins. The creature scared the hell out of me, but I couldn't look away.

The most interesting aspect of this film is how little screen time the alien creature was given. And when he is on-screen he's cloaked in shadow. Less was more, much more, as opposed to contemporary horror and sci-fi films wherein all of the gore and details are polished in cgi and thrown at us in each and every scene.

These sketches of the Thing were done while watching a vhs copy and trying to figure out just what this elusive creature actually looked like. In the sixteen years since there have been digitally remastered vhs and dvd releases, along with photos and "making of..." articles in mags like Filmfax, Outre and Cinefantastique, etc... But at the time I made these studies all I had was a vhs player and a pause button.

Looking at these sketches with older, wiser(?) eyes I see plenty of places where I dropped the ball - I didn't notice that he had a chest emblem, five fingers on each hand, his head's too bulbous, etc... but I do remember having fun drawing them.

I hope you've seen this film and appreciate it as much as I do. If you haven't seen it, I envy you- you're in for a real treat.

"Keep watching the skies!--"

We support--

tremors--