Hi, I'm Tom. I'm not as active on here as I used to be. I really like Bruce Springsteen, Nintendo, and Star Wars, and I post a lot of nature/city/retro stuff too. Hope you enjoy your visit.
Illustrations from Miroslav Šašek’s THIS IS NEW YORK (1960).
I discovered M. Sasek’s “This Is” travelogue books in the 90’s when I was collecting children’s books to share with my kids. His work exhibits an idiosyncratic, mid-century style and it became a visual touchstone for me when I was directing TheElectric Piper (2003). I was particularly interested with his bold, graphic use of black and it influenced our background designs.
The use of black in backgrounds is traditionally avoided because the prevailing wisdom is that black should be exclusively reserved for character line art and color so it is sure to always separate (“pop” visually) from the b.g.s.
I got to visit the Eugene, Oregon Craft Market last weekend and I saw a stall of this gentleman’s art. Aren Vandenburgh is his name. I only had cash to buy a sticker of one of his “Spacecats.” I would love more, but I have no wall space at the moment. If you love these samples as much as I do, check out his Etsy here:
