anna anthropy

Monster Party

A varied selection of retro SF and Fantasy book art. Sci-Fi-O-Rama was pretty much built upon the back of posting forgotten book and games art, so with a renaissance in blog activity what better than to revisit the archives and excerpt another sampler.

What’s fascinating with each of these examples is that though they might not always fully hit the mark there’s always something of interest or worthy of reference. This then might be a style of colouring, a technique in rendering, the choice and application of a typeface, or even something as obscure as the design of a motif. In short, even the most subtle fragment of detailing can flick a creative switch, it’s all about your own imagination. That isn’t, however, to say that every Sci-Fi book cover has merit – au contraire – they most certainly do not. But that’s what we’re here for, to filter and serve only the very finest…

In putting this (abridged) selection together we’re go revisit several of the artists featured at Sci-Fi-O-Rama before, people who defined and shaped the genre such as David Pelham, Dean Ellis, Ian Miller and others perhaps slightly less well known such Adrian Chesterman or Peter Tybus. The majority of covers here have come via my Flickr favourites feed and prior to that a Flickr group I’ve mentioned before, the simply titled ‘Sci-Fi Books‘ pool. Of course, these days with Tumblr and Pinterest and the ever-evolving Google image search there is a multitude of ways to sophistically search for this kind of art, but I would say the crowd sourced ‘Sci-Fi Books’ collection still represents the best entry point. As such I recommend that as the first stop on the road for further research.

Let us begin with the art and notes, starting with the header image….

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‘Nightmare Blue’ Art by Justin Todd 1975 (top of post)

As is customary I always load the post head with the most arresting image of the pack, so what to say about this one? Hmmm… Well, how about for starters it’s bloody mental. Supremely sinister and rendered in an unusual very idiosyncratic style, this is the work of British Artist Justin Todd. Something about it is strangely very contemporary, but in fact, it dates from 1975 and so is actually slightly older than your site author.

Todd, an artist I’ve only just come across, is a classically trained illustrator he lectured Illustration at Brighton University in the 1960’s alongside Raymond Briggs (The Snow Man, When The Wind Blows). Someone I’ve earmarked to revisit, for now you can read a little more on him here at arts.brighton.ac.uk.

The story, by the way, revolves around a highly addictive drug ‘Nightmare Blue’ whose users die without another hit… I’ll just point out I haven’t actually read any of the books featured here, so I’ll add a little snippet like this with each cover.

‘Cinnabar’ Peter Goodfellow 1978

This is one of those slightly abstract airbrush type covers so popular in the 70’s,  the indeterminable sense of scale and swathes of cobalt blues lend an appropriate otherworldly theme. This is English artist Peter Goodfellow’s depiction of Cinnabar, a city at the centre of’ time.

The book is actually a collection of short stories based around this would be futuristic utopia, I believe some which may have been printed in the legendary OMNI magazine which I’ve posted about way back when. Interestingly after forging a career Illustrating book covers, Goodfellow would move to become a highly regarded landscape painter in Scotland, that future path perhaps hinted at here by the covers distant snowcapped mountains.

Read a little more about Peter Goodfellow here.

‘Frankenstein Unbound’  Art by Paul Bacon 1975

The cover of Brian Aldiss’s ‘Frankenstein Unbound’ comes complete with an appended $1 mark scrawled on the monster’s temple. Ignoring the graffiti then, and this slick inked illustration is the work of American graphic designer and Illustrator Paul Bacon. Love the subtle shift in hues and the way the grained texture of the heavy watercolour paper comes through. This style is in fact very reminiscent of Micheal Foreman, who illustrated the original Erik the Viking book, that was featured here a little while back.

Again somewhat embarrassingly this was the first I’d actually heard of Paul Bacon, although I’m not entirely sure how as I am familiar with some of his work. Perhaps you are too? Bacon created the iconic first edition covers for some of the 20th century’s most important novels including Ken Kesey’s ‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest‘, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s ‘Slaughterhouse-Five‘ and the legendary ‘Catch 22‘ by Joseph Heller (love that book). Read a little more about Paul Bacon at Wikipedia.

A quick story synopsis: Time travelling 21st American Joe Bodenland finds himself with Byron and Shelley in the famous villa on the shore of Lake Geneva. More fantastically, he finds himself face to face with a real Frankenstein. Sounds pretty good, and indeed in 1990 was adapted to the big screen with no other than Roger Corman at the helm, the undisputed heavyweight champ of cult cinema. Frankenstein Unbound stars staring John Hurt, Bridget Fonda and Raul Julia check it at IMDB.

‘ The Incandescent Ones’ – Adrian Chesterman

This sinister looking chromed robotic figure is the work of Adrian Chesterman another artist who’s popped up here before. Chesterman, an American artist produced a series of these somewhat warped airbrushed covers for Penguin Science Fiction during the late 70’s and Early 80’s. It’s a look that’s quite distinguishable being characterised by exceptional costume styling and rendered with just the right amount of highlighting sheen. Above is a fine demonstration of these traits, and as with all Chesterman’s covers is underpinned by a deep love for the subject matter.

Also of note is that despite being a (one assumes) being from the future, it’s also impossible to escape the influence of the present or what is now the past. As such Chesterman’s work contains subtle visual clues that reflect the times; a touch of Disco here, a splash of ‘Simon Says’ and of course the inevitable Starwars references.

Definitel a favourite of mine, check out the complete set of Adrian Chesterman cover’s over at the excellent Penguin Science Fiction website.

A quick note the on the book itself and this one sounds perhaps targeted towards a younger adult demographic. A young art student receives a cryptic message that is to lead him on to a series of startling adventures…

‘Times Last Gift’  Art by Peter Tybus  1975

A rainbow coloured somewhat fauvist cover from Peter Tybus this one dating from 1975. The story, if you hadn’t of guessed revolves around time travel.

Tybus is something of a Sci-Fi-O-Rama enigma, and there is little or no digital footprint of him beyond a series of magazine and book illustrations dating from the 1970s. Indeed the top search result listed by google is in fact a Sci-Fi-O-Rama’s past feature on him. Anyway there’s always alot of love here for his iridescent style that’s also reminiscent of the work of  David Pelham, of course, also a Penguin Sci-Fi Cover illustrator.

If you do have more info on Peter Tybus do let us know, it’d be great to one day run an expanded feature…

‘R is for Rocket’ cover art by Ian Miller

A collection of Short Stories penned by Ray Bradbury. This cover is the unmistakable work of British illustrator and blog favourite Ian Miller, featured a good few times before. Millers work is a demonstration in ornate crafting finished with laser guided precision and is juxtaposed into chaotic compositions swathed with wild gothic stylings. This is the definition of frenetic, never a moment will your eye rest upon Ian’s work, such is demonstrated above. Also take note of a hawk-eyed passion for architectural and geometric detailing.

Miller doesn’t really do Sci-fi or Fantasy, the work is simultaneously both and neither, and of course is all the better for it. If you are unfamiliar with his work and intrigued (you should be) why not have a browse back through past entries or check his official website ian-miller.org.

‘The Menzentian Gate’ (Year Unknown)

The Menzentian Gate is a fantasy novel, penned in 1958 and is part of whats known as the Zimiamvian Trilogy. The saga fact loosely linked to Eddison’s more famous work ‘ The Worm Ouroboros‘ featured here way back in 2008.

The cover is by Barbara Remmington an American artist and Illustrator most famous for her Ballatine Books first edition covers for Lord of the Rings. It’s a colourful style of work reminiscent perhaps of that Bayeux tapestry  mode of visual storytelling, and busy composition loaded with clues and character. Certainly captures the ethos of what a fantasy book should like, and the Dragon/Serpent looks fantastic.

‘Der Himmel über Pern‘

From the dragon that devours its own tail to one that shrouds an astronaut. Let’s not beat about the bush here, this cover is tarnished by some feeble typesetting. But lets clone stamp that out of the way and concentrate on the artwork. Judging by the creatures sinister almost demonic appearance I’m guessing this could be the work of Wayne Barlowe or possibly Chris Achilleos, both masters in the art of fashioning evil looking winged reptilian beasts. It may well be however that it’s the work of someone else entirely, please post if you know. Also are dragons actually reptilian?  If I ever see one I’ll be sure to ask.

The German title translates as ‘The Skies of Pern’ a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. The story is just one of a series set on the mythical world of Pern and the concept of Dragon Rider’s, hence the cover art.

‘Gillis Bonde från Ham’ (Farmer Giles of Ham) – 1970 by Rolf Lagerson

Another Dragon here and a swerve towards decidedly lighter material. This is cover for a 1970 Swedish edition of the  J. R. R. Tolkien children’s book ‘Farmer Giles of Ham’. Tolkien originally wrote the story of Farmer Giles and his encounters with the wily Dragon Chrysophylax (great name) back in 1939 but it wasn’t to be published until 1949.

Lovely illustration from Rolf Lagerson which I came across by chance whilst pin-balling around various Pinterest boards. Drilling through to source to uncover Laura Ottina‘s wonderful Illustration blog ‘Animalarium‘. Animalarium put simply is a a vast resource of illustrated animal imagery, best summarised by it’s own simple strapline: “Animals as an endless source of creative inspiration”.

Check it out: www.theanimalarium.blogspot.co.uk. Also worth a look a collection of Rolf Largerson’s Illustration at Flickr.

‘The Tar-Aiym Krang’ art by Dean Ellis 1972

Back up to Sci-Fi and here’s another taster from a prolific genre Illustrator, the late Dean Ellis. I believe this is the seventh appearance on Sci-Fi-O-Rama of an Ellis Illustration, all are characterised with a highly distinctive almost classical style, similar in many ways to the work of space art pioneer Chesley Bonestell. Beautiful renderings of distant worlds and the inky black star-fields the lay within, Ellis’s work is awash with soft hues and subtle shading.

If it’s your first time viewing a Dean Ellis cover I certainly recommend taking the time to study more
www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/category/artist/dean-ellis

The book itself; ‘The Tar-Aiym Krang’ sounds like classic space opera fare and focuses on young orphan and thief  known as ‘Flinx ‘ who comes cross a fabled star map…

‘Empire of The Atom’ 1974 (Designer Unknown)

An interesting typographic solution with smart colour schemes forms the cover for a 70’s edition of Van Vogt’s 1957 novel. Empire of the Atom caused something of a stir at the time due to similarities with Robert Graves’s Claudius stories. Having read neither, I couldn’t possibly pass judgement! Slick graphics though proving minimal jacket sleeves such as these can have just as much impact…

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Well once again, what started out as mini post idea and a brief scan through Flickr has completely snowballed out of control into another creaking behemoth type article. This one is playing out like a Sci-Fi-O-Rama Who’s Who, and there’s, of course, many more artists I can and will feature. However, I’m slightly conscious of post length and attention spans, not least of which my own! so I’m going to sever the post here and conclude with a Part 2…

In the Meantime, be sure to check out the following resources…

The Art of Penguin Science Fiction

Sci-Fi-O-Rama Flickr Favourites

Flickr Sci-Fi Books Pool

Back soon…

Military girls!

http://gamejolt.com/blog/interview-the-catamites/32/

Read this cool interview with intensely radical game maker “thecatamites”

Read it

[Play online]

Source

macros by Leon Arnott

reviews/notes: The Average Gamer, Indie Statik, John Brindle, Rock, Paper Shotgun

Lethal League is a one-on-one competitive game where the goal is to launch a ball into the face of your opponent. Your only weapon is your only weakness, as the ball can be send right back at you. Every strike reflects the ball at a higher speed and every smash instantly doubles the speed. It’s played by two people using one keyboard with an added single-player challenge mode. – [Author's description]

[Play Online]

(via Phack)

At GDC this year, Porpentine and I talked about some cool games at the Independent Game Summit. The talk is now available to watch online for everyone!

[Watch the talk on the GDC Vault]
[List of games from the talk]

Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warpship

Our text-mode demo Dansa In is showing today at the UCLA Game Art Festival in Los Angeles. 44 kilobytes is enough to tell a good story, aiit? 

A story with pirates, sloths and sex told completely in text graphics. A blocky and brutal visual aesthetic synchronized with explosives, drunken funk and computer screams. All made in 44 kilobytes, to be executed by a Commodore 64 and its colourful ASCII-alternative called PETSCII. Visuals by Raquel Meyers, audio by Goto80 and coding by Johan Kotlinski.

More here. Original C64-executable available here.

Yeah, humans need to step up their game. (via writing-system)

Darius Kazemi's recent piece "Fuck Videogames" talks about how videogames are not necessarily a medium suited for expressing all the sorts of things we'd like to use them for. Ian Bogost summarizes the aim of this piece in his short response:

1. It's not necessarily more "noble" or whatever to express something in videogame form, particularly if it's not working for you.
2. Often expressing something with videogames primarily serves a meta-rhetorical purpose or benefit ("Look, X made a game about Y"), which might actually detract from or even reverse the desired expression.
3. Often the desire to express something with videogames is really just a desire to gain approval from a particular audience associated with videogames (he uses Twine games as an example), which may or may not be a valid goal but it's wrong to bind it to videogame expression.

an issue that i see underlying the whole piece that is never really expressed explicitly - it's the case with many "gamers" and techies in general that so many who have constructed their lives and identities through videogames often have a hard time accepting that there are other valid means of expressing or legitimizing their own emotions outside of technology. the world of technology is, after all, what they know. they want to make personal videogames because they understand how videogames work (having played them a lot) and that they can express deep emotions through play, but they don't have the kind corresponding experience with other forms of art to understand how those work. this lack of understanding combined with videogames' newness means they get raised to the top of the pantheon as the all-encompassing, clearly superior, art-form-to-end-all-art-forms.

and that defines conversations among people passionate about games more than anything else - a spirit of "we can do anything with games". one that can take on a socially progressive angle, but is often really driven by the same ultra-capitalist, highly fascist idea of tech culture's that humankind can overcome any kind of obstacles facing it through better technological products - or building more "perfect" systems.

but let's talk about points 2 & 3 of Bogost's summary in more detail. here's a direct quote from Kazemi's piece:

"Some people make games because games are cool, or sexy...if you write a blog post about your cat, probably nobody will care. But if you make a GAME about your cat, it’ll get covered on a blog or something!"


i love Twine. it has plenty of issues, but it is a very accessible tool that has allowed many to make games who would otherwise not have the patience or understanding for it. this is a good thing. i have mostly avoided doing my own Twine games, though, because if i usually feel like if i want to write something personal, i'd rather just do it here on my blog - instead of presenting players with some vaguely game-like, and ultimately not very meaningful set of choices. plenty Twine games don't do this - but it's always a danger of making games in that (or any other) format.

making a Twine game does not divorce you from all of the trappings of videogame culture and substitute it with something more pure, and it certainly doesn't absolve you of artistic responsibility as the creator. using a Twine game as a way to write about your own personal experiences doesn't absolve you of artistic responsibility, either. a game, like any piece of art, is a subjective window to reality - not reality itself. presentation is always the key, and it always defines how others will interpret and respond to your experience.

a lot of people also make Twine games as a social activity, and to have their experiences accepted and legitimized by others. and that's alright, but i find it highly peculiar that it seems to be treated as a somehow more momentous or more deep medium to express one's own emotions.

we are a culture that defines itself through words. the "important works of art" we're exposed to in school are novels, and maybe poetry. we inherently value words as way more deeper and insightful signifiers of meaning than images or sounds. anything that doesn't fit into that way of thinking is either treated with suspicion, or seen as vague, or strange, or manipulative, or incomprehensible, or frivolous. and i think this is a toxic idea. it is very easy to wrap oneself up in a cloud of words, or to build a tower out of them, convinced their ultimate rightness and trueness. but there is nothing inherently more right and true about words - in fact, they often serve to obscure meanings much more intuitively communicated through images or sounds.

Twine games - and "personal" games in general, of course, can be a great avenue for fostering empathy, and letting us explore aspects of ourselves and others we couldn't otherwise. but they're only one avenue.

i worry that we're more used to connecting with systems in videogames than with people. we tend to have trouble understanding how to make choices unless they are presented in a game-like manner. so we're using these games as a way to better understand ourselves and others through a way that we can connect with. and that's not necessarily a bad thing at all. but games are often not the best mirrors, either - particularly when creators aren't very thoughtful about the choices they provide their players. it's easy to misrepresent personal experiences in all kinds of awkward and manipulative ways and undermine your ultimate goals.

i have to admit - "personal" games have been a real thorn in my side. i did the music for Dys4ia, a game i love by a game designer (and human being) i love that has done many wonderful things for many people. but i don't know if critics would've understood at all what the game was communicating if the text wasn't there to tell them exactly what each little minigame was about. and maybe that's underestimating their intelligence, but i haven't given much reason to suspect that most critics have any ability or desire to comprehend subtlety in the thing they're experiencing either.

i am extremely skeptical that making an on-the-surface "personal" game is an inherently more valid or emotionally honest way to express oneself. i have seen too many times where clueless critics only construct meaning of works of artists as either a form of political protest or some kind of evocation of personal demons. these are the two pre-baked avenues allowed artists in a society that doesn't really understand or value artistic expression very highly.

in an effort to expand the expressive and empathetic range of the medium i feel like we've made a mistake in what we've chosen to highlight the most. to put it another way: i am tired of the lazy way we talk about these games. i'm starting to feel like i won't be taken seriously unless i make a game that is viewed as "serious" or as "personal". i am starting to feel like unless i say my game is "about rape" or "about transphobia" or "about misogyny" (three things i know a lot about) and clearly articulate why this is the case, that i won't be taken seriously. i must be trying to achieve some kind of articulable political goal, and/or the things featured in the game must be "my" experiences. otherwise, i'm just making another stupid cartoony videogame.

"Buying into the idea that validation can/should/will come from a given culture is way more nourishing to that culture than it is to you."


let's not beat around the bush: the culture around "indie" games is classist and racist as hell. yes, i said it. those who have the most access have the time and money get to control the distribution and the conversation for everyone else. they also get to run the events and choose what gets talked about at those events. we may try to do all we can to fight against this and subvert it, but they're still controlling the outlets for discussion in the end. major events happen in places like the SF bay area, or NYC, or LA, etc etc - these are where the real connections are made and relationships are built. if you're not around at events like GDC networking and meeting new people (because, let's say, you can't afford them), then you probably won't be taken very seriously or have access to many resources.

people trust people they know. i know this because i've experienced it firsthand. any degree of success or exposure i've had has been a direct result of the people i've surrounded myself with after moving to the bay area. and i'm privileged for that.

the more i've gone to events and met new people, the more i've begun to realize that everyone in this community knows everyone else. and i find that incredibly disturbing. why? because it means we, as participants in this culture lack the ability to be critical of ourselves - because we don't want to hurt our friends' feelings. once you start to greatly prioritize their needs above the needs of people you don't know, you stop becoming critical of yourself and the people around you. and this leads to cliques and increasingly greater and greater conflicts of interest.

one high-profile example that most people know about: Brandon Boyer, chairman of the IGF is friends with Phil Fish, whose game Fez won the overall award in the IGF in 2012, despite having already won an award back in 2008. and yes, i have interacted with Brandon a bit and have seen that he is a swell guy in many ways who cares about a lot of important stuff. and Brandon is no means the only person in this position. i've seen many journalists become close friends with their subjects. but with a lot of power comes a lot of responsibility. being a nice person doesn't mean that he has the ability to take on his friends to do what is needed in that situation. because he hasn't shown that he does.

and yes, i understand that artists tend to connect with like-minded artists. the internet assists greatly in bringing us all together. and the world around "indie" games and thereabouts is a small one as it is. i know that it's inevitable that many of us will make friends with each other. but i don't think it's a desirable situation for everyone to be friends with everyone else. why? because i don't think there are any adequate incentives for people to be critical of their own friends.

i certainly don't need to be friends with everyone. i already feel like i'm stretching myself thin a lot of the time, and i constantly worry about hurting other people's feelings with my opinions. the bay area is a wonderful place in many ways, but i don't think everyone should move here either.

i want to see all kinds of people who are not in positions of privilege, who are poor and non-white, who live nowhere near the power centers of this world do vastly more insightful and interesting things than anything i or my friends could come up with. i know this is very possible, or at the very least, is desperately needed. a vaster breadth of culture would certainly help save us from the increasingly narrow western frontier of highlighting expressive innovations in games built around new mechanics and novel subjects. we're not really respecting these games, as it is. they're ultimately treated as objects for us to feel better about ourselves as self-respecting educated white people who like videogames. they're monuments to a medium we still think of as ultimately stupid and immature.

the worst part is that we secretly don't even like them that much anyway. we say we love Cart Life but we don't actually want to play it. it's just there to make us feel good. we'd much rather sink our teeth into some flashy, mass-marketed sludge by an egomaniacal dilettante.

‘Lord of the Rings’ (German Book Cover) – 1970

Sci-Fi-O-Rama is proud to present a selection of ‘far out’ imagery sequestered from the fantastically titled ‘Electrical Banana’ Psychedelic art book – and yes that title is indeed derived from a reference to a certain type of ladies sex toy.

This article was originally planned as a feature on 60’s Psychedelic Music Posters by artists such as Bonnie Maclean, Victor Moscoso and Wes Wilson and you may well have spotted samples appearing in the Sci-Fi Overflow . Upon searching for an appropriate book to feature I came across Electrical Banana and a selection of artists I was less familiar with so I thought I’d give it punt. Here’s the blurb:

Electrical Banana is the first definitive examination of the international language of psychedelia, focusing on the most important practitioners in their respective fields with a deft combination of hundreds of unseen images and exclusive interviews and essays, Electrical Banana aims to revise the common perception of psychedelic art, showing it to be more innovative, compelling, and revolutionary than was ever thought before.

The artists include: Marijke Kroger, a Dutch artist responsible for dressing the Beatles; Mati Klarwein, who painted the cover for Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew; Keiichi Taanami, the Japanese master of psychedelic posters; Heinz Edelmann, the German illustrator and designer of the Yellow Submarine animated film; Tadanori Yokoo, whose prints and books, defined the ‘6os in Japan; Dudley Edwards, a painter, car designer, and graphic embellisher for the London rock scene, and the enigmatic Australian Martin Sharp, whose work for Cream and underground magazines made him a ‘hippie household name in Europe.

As you can imagine the book is impeccably researched and is laced with some excellent, fairly unique content. What I’ll do here then is run through each of the artists and add a couple of samples. Before starting I’ll stress that this barely skims the surface, and if your even the slightest bit interesting in the swinging 60’s and psychedelia in general Electrical Banana is an absolute must have.

Lets begin then…

‘Yellow Submarine Stills’

Heinz Edelmann (20 June 1934 – 21 July 2009) was a German illustrator and designer, most famous for his art direction and character designs for the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine. An immensely talented individual  Edelmann’s career spanned four decades, and utilised many styles. It is however the playful and gloriously vividly coloured work with The Beatles that will remain his most famous work.

As with all featured artists, Electrical Banana includes an extensive interview with the artist, in his Edelmann explains he had little love for the Psychedelic scene and his work of the period. As the compiling authors Norman Hathaway & Dan Nadel note “Never of the scene, Edelmann instead invented it, imparting his visual language to a culture he was barely interested in”. It’s a fascinating read and you can’t help but wonder why the disdain for something so wonderful, of course though the strive for perfectionism and purity of ones artistic vision are crosses all artists half to bare – who are we to judge.

It feels a little strange too then to underline this fact by choosing two more illustrations from another project Edelmann reflects upon with unfond feelings. ‘Andromeda SR1’ was illustrated children’s book about a voyage to Mars, again featuring the dynamic iridescent and totally unmistakable style. I love the way the Ink bleeds and blooms, this effect was achieved apparently by using Dr. Ph Martins Dyes.

‘Andromedar SR1’ Book Illustrations – 1970.

Moving on from Andromedar SR1, a quick mention with regards to this articles header image. This is Edelmanns Book jacket for a German edition of Tolkiens legendary ‘Lord of the Rings’ which gained traction and was popularised by the hippy movement. The publishers thus wanted psychedelic styled Illustrations, and approached Edelmann who was by this point  “Fed up of this entire flower power thing”.  Persevering anyway he states that for the book jacket (which I love) he “unforgivably parodied” Milton Glaser’s famous Dylan Poster.

There’s no doubt then that Heinz Edelmann was supremely talented if slightly hesitant individual, (with regards to Psychedelia) and I’d love to write and research more but that’ll be the subject of a future post….

For further artwork try this tumblr selection and for wider overview check the Wikipedia article.

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Martin Sharp

The books next selected artist is Australian Martin Sharp (born 1942), these days considered one of the finest Antipodeans Pop Artists. As opposed to Edelmann Sharp was very much part of the scene, becoming roomates with Eric Claption during his swinging London years.

As is demonstrated below, Sharp was capable of extremely trippy draughtsmanship and Electrical Banana compiles a varied selection of his portfolio including work from his long dedication to Oz Magazine, the infamous counter culture magazine that ran (in it’s 2nd guise) from 1967 to 1973.

Interesting to note that apparently Sharp did not apparently plan nor pencil his hyper-detailed drawings and would rather populate a page with just the right amount of line and the fill out the composition.

‘London Oz’ – Offset Promotional Poster 1967

Here’s a perfect demonstration of Martin’s playful, swooping linework and zealful hand cut typography, the above image was designed for the first edition of London Oz, but however was not released at the time.

‘Dantalians Chariot’ – Silkscreen poster on foil 1967

On this poster Sharp notes “It was an image Inspired by Syd Barret and Pink Floyd and my experiences at the U.F.O Club. Mark Boyle did wonderful lightshows there over Floyd’s music. The Speakeasy, for example, was a typical night club where musicians met and played. The U.F.O Club was a weekly event and total psychedelic experience. Pink Floyd always amazed me”….. 

‘Float’ – Offset/silkscreen poster 1969

With far more than one string to his metaphorical bow the above bold and vivid abstract print serves as a fine example of Sharp’s more Pop Art slanted minimalism.

For more on Martin check his either his Facebook Page, or shy of purchasing a copy of Electrical Banana read more via his Wiki page.

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Dudley Edwards 

West Yorkshire’s Dudley Edwards (born 1944) first came to prominence as co-founder of the ground-breaking ‘Pop’ design collective with fellow artists Douglas Binder and David Vaughan (Binder, Edwards & Vaughan).

To quote from Electrical Banana: “Binder, Edwards & Vaughan exploded into the creative carnival that was 1960’s London with it’s brightly coloured and electrified take on traditional fairground painting. Applying the awe-inspiring hand skills onto heretofore unvisited areas of applied art such as pianos, shop fronts and automobiles”

In layman’s terms Binder, Edwards & Vaughan perhaps defined the look of swinging 60’s London more than any other.  And though their collaborative time together was short their work would propel them to the lofty heights of collaborating with The Beatles. It’s also doubtful (for better or for worse) that Austin Powers would ever of come to conception for it not for the craftsmanship of the trio.

‘Carnaby Street’ – Mural 1967

‘Dragon Cafe’ – [With Mike McInnery] Mural 1968

‘Cosmicomics’ – Book Jacket 1968

Edwards also went on to a stint in Record Sleeve and Book Jacket Design of which the interesting above Graphic illustration is a sample.

Read more about Dudley Edwards at Godfrey Townsend Music.

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Marijke Koger

Marijke Koger (Born 1943) was the primary visual artist behind the four-person art group ‘The Fool’ a Dutch design collective (and later band) who rose to prominence in late 1960’s London. Alongside Koger ‘The Fool’ consisted of fellow artist Simon Posthuma, Fashion Designer Yosha Leeger and Barry Finch, the groups name being derived as a reference to the Tarot Card. The Fool made a tremendous impact at the time via there work for the Beatles, Cream and The Move to name but a few. In fact such was the popularity of the group that despite having few musical inclinations they record a Psych-Folk album produced by Graham Nash – I’ve got to track that one down!

Electrical Banana contains many of Koger’s rainbow coloured illustrations, murals designs and more, carefully documenting the huge influence she had on defining the Technicolor hippy look. Here’s a pretty cool quote from the book when describing her style:

“She did not engage with modernism or pop art, preferring a more accessible, almost colloquial approach to art-making. This is not psychedelic art made by a designer or psychedelic designs made by an illustrator, but rather full-blown psychedelic visuals made by a woman who inhabited that space in her mind’

‘Love Life’ – Offset poster 1966

‘Tiger Man’ – Offset poster 1970

Read more about ‘The Fool‘ collective or visit Marike’s official site www.maryke.com

**

Keiichi Tanaami

Next up is the first of two Japanese Designer / Illustrators featured in Electrical Banana, and all seven artists featured here I’d have to say that Keeichi Tanaami (born 1932) is definitely my favourite.  Tanaami’s style, characterised by beautiful and distinctive line work was to continually evolve and adapt throughout the 60’s becoming increasingly fluid and hedonistically playful thus mirroring the mood of the subcultures he was so fascinated with at the time. Today Tanaami is considered one of Japans leading pop artists, with back catalogue of work that’s meandered between a variety of mediums, following the doctrine of Andy Warhol whom he met and became fascinated with in 1968.

As with Heinz Edelmann, Taanami’s definitely an artist I’ll be revisiting this year, for now here’s a small taster of his wonderfully kitsch draughtmanship.

‘Happening’ [projection on models and car] 1966

A projected coloured transparency, essentially a Tanaami piece wrapped over models and car and captured again on film. I have to say I loved this kind of Photograph Installation, a really interesting way to extend an Illustration. The style of work is very similar to ‘After Bathing At Baxter’s’ a Jefferson Airplane cover that you can see below.

‘After Bathing At Baxter’s’ Jefferson Airplane Record Sleeve – 1967

‘1967 Tokyo: C’  Silkscreen edition – 1967

‘1967 Tokyo: C’  Silkscreen edition – 1967

The Tokyo series give you a good sense of the flavour of Tanaami’s pop art sensibilities.  These are strikingly printed pieces of art, with a almost viscous contrasting colour palette, stare longer and pick out the subtle texturing and gradient fills, instilling a level of depth and movement.

‘The Savage Eye: A’ Silkscreen edition – 1966

‘The Savage Eye: B’Silkscreen edition – 1966

With an extremely obvious sexual theme ‘The Savage Eyes’ builds upon techniques applied in in the prior ‘Tokyo’ set, but the volume here is now cranked up to 11. Fantastic stuff.

Read more about Keiichi Tanaami in an extensive article on him over at Wikipedia or check this tumblr tag search for more imagery.

**

Mati Klarwein

Abdul Mati Klarwein (April 9, 1932 – March 7, 2002) was a painter best know for his many  album covers of the 60’s and 70’s. As you can see below, Klarwein’s work has a strong surrealist curve, in fact the samples I’ve selected from Electrical Banana probably owe more to that genre than Psychedelia, though lets face it the two are closely intertwined. It’s no surprise then to learn that Klarwein actually studied with Salvador Dali at Viennese Fantastic Realist Ernst Fuchs.

Whilst much of Klarwein’s famous work is inspired by Surrealism and Pop Culture, it’s also catagorised and reflected by  his interest in non-Western deities, symbolism, and landscapes. Klarwein was also friends of LSD Guru and prophet of counter culture Timothy Leary and of the artist Leary stated that based on the character of his paintings, that Klarwein “didn’t need psychedelics”.

Once again really just a taster of some of the super-far-out work, if you’d like to read more on Mati Klarwien check his wikipedia article  or visit his nicely designed official site matiklarweinart.com

‘Bitches Brew’ (commissioned by Miles Davis for his album Bitches Brew) 1970

‘Jimi Hendrix’ (commissioned by Hendrix for incomplete Gil Evans collaboration album) 1970

**

Tadanori Yokoo

And so we come to the final of Electrical Banana’s featured artists, Japanese  graphic designer, illustrator, printmaker and painter Tadanori Yokoo (born 27 June 1936).

Yokoo is interesting and similar to Heinz Edelmann in that he was not absorbed by psychedelia but rather was influenced strongly by the zeitgeist. This is typified in an extensive body of work typified by the use of searing colors, off-kilter contrasts and optical illusions. Yokoo is also something of a chameleon of style, seemingly able to turn his hand to different disciplines with consumate ease. He’s has produced some stunning work through the years, and you can see much more at his official Japanese site tadanoriyokoo.com.

‘A Ballad Dedicated to the Little Finger Cutting Ceremony’ Silkscreen poster – 1966 

‘Sho wp Suteyo e Deyo [Throw Away Your Books, Rally in The Street]’
Shuji Terayama, Book Jacket Design – 1967

**

Epilogue

So then lets draw to a close this special feature, with a couple of notes for further reading / viewing.

Firstly of course a big shout out to author Norman Hathaway and Dan Nadel. Electrical Banana is a fascinating book and impeccably researched. If your even the slightest bit interested in Psychedelia, the swinging 60’s or just graphical history in general you need to own a copy of this book! As usual I’d recommend Amazon to pick up a copy though I actually picked mine up via an independent online store.

Finally here’s the youtube movie of  the Electrical Banana book launch seminar at MoMA PS1.

After this year’s GDC in March, Tami wrote about the panel that rocked the conference: #1ReasonToBe. That panel is now available to watch online for free on the GDC Vault. Check it out to see Brenda Romero, Robin Hunicke, Leigh Alexander, Elizabeth Sampat, Kim McAuliffe, and our own Mattie Brice talk about their experiences in the game industry and their visions for a more welcoming community.

#1ReasonToBe — GDC Vault (H/T Tami)

“You play this game in NOTEPAD.EXE or similar text editor. It’s like a choose-your-own adventure story.” — March 1, 2010

Noyb’s remarks: “This is structurally interesting, a short narrative game that branches depending on your initial blind choices, deriving some good humor when the demands of the moment call for some obvious item that you forgot to bring.

“It’s a riff on Monty on the Run’s inventory system, one with more player freedom and that thankfully does not ask the player to perform numerous platforming challenges before obliquely informing her that she’s a dead man walking.”

[Download (.txt)] [Play Online]

roarlivia:

1990-present:

ZINEFEAST. MAY 5TH. THERE IS A POSTER NOW.

(We will add names before printing as last-minute folks clamber aboard)

mastermind barm doing his thing

come to this dang event

You can pick up your own copy of redcrossbook here, which features my Rei collage. 

Also if I can find a ride, I may be show up and buy things. You will probably not know who I am though. If I had more time I would have gotten a table and stuff, but things happened and I never have time, and eh.

anfael:

atoms2ashes:

Hey guys, I made fake tarot cards of your favorite music video ever.

my desires r now met

At the Center for Sex & Culture in SF.

On May 26, 5 to 7pm.

I and two other Mommies will be presenting a discussion and workshop on Mommy identities, Mommy play, and femme/femme dynamics in a community that puts a lot of stock in the butch/femme set up. 

I’ll post more stuff about it as I iron out the details.

I’m just excited because this is essentially my return to organizing/community outreach since my nervous breakdown last year. 

ewok-gia:

Alternative Limb Project

fantagraphics:

ronregejr:

kids coloring cartoon utopia panels from we make marks 2009

Buying an extra copy of The Cartoon Utopia for you or your kid(s) to color in is encouraged.

A: I just don't understand why it bothers people so much.
B: Because they, if only unconsciously, recognize us as a threat to the stability of systems which, through generations, reproduce male, cis, and hetero privilege, and they fear the consequences of a resultant shift in the distribution of power along the axes of gender and sex (probably accurately grasping that greater balance would strip them of privileges they presently enjoy.)
20 minutes pass
A: But why does it bother people so much? It's none of their business.
B: Because they, if only unconsciously, recognize us as a threat to the stability of systems which, through generations, reproduce male, cis, and hetero privilege, and they fear the consequences of a resultant shift in the distribution of power along the axes of gender and sex (probably accurately grasping that greater balance would strip them of privileges they presently enjoy.)

2009 is the fifteenth anniversary year of System's Twilight, my old Mac puzzle extravaganza. In celebration, I'm releasing the audio files. (CC license.) All the little zip, zwoop, sproing noises that I made for the original game. Download as MP3, AIFF, or iPhone ringtones.

Run Hello is proud to present a piece of video game history: an unlicensed port of Midway’s arcade hit “Lesbian Spider Queens of Mars”, released for the Atari XL in 1992 by Latvian developer Sveiki Atvyke. “Lesbian Spider Mars Queens” is noteworthy for, unusually, abandoning the arcade version’s top-down gameplay in favor of a “first person shooter” format that pushed the XL to its limits; this arguably makes it one of the first person shooters ever commercially released, predating Wolfenstein 3D by several months.

Download

• Mac version
• Windows version
• Linux version
• Source code

This is an FPS version of Anna Anthropy‘s game Lesbian Spider Queens of Mars that I made for Anna for her birthday. She said what she wanted for her birthday was fanart, so I made this. My high score is 2100; see if you can beat that.

THIS IS A SUMMATION OF ALL MY FEELINGS ABOUT FETLIFE.COM

 

oh boy another fucking social networking site to remind me HOW MUCH IHATE EVERYONE

I LOVE PAIN I LOVE SERVITUDE i love pushing my limits i love asking for more blows while sobbing and begging for mercy i love being objectified, being used as a table, being used as a means for my ma’am to get off i love giving up everything i have to prove my devotion, i love having everything taken away from me, i love being nothing i also love picking fights and fueling grudges, i love lose/lose situations, i love it when the odds are against me my submission is something to earn, i dont go down without a FUCKING FIGHT its an EXCHANGE you see

seriously half the profiles i read sound like a goddamn resume more than anything. is that how you people flirt? you talk about all the fucking seminars you’ve taught and how many websites you started and THANKS FETLIFE FOR MAKING MY SEXLIFE FEEL LIKE JOB HUNTING. ITS RIDICULOUS. i mean yeah its cool that you’ve given back and are active within a niche community but it totally comes off as you comparing cock sizes

I KNOW THIS ISNT A DATING SITE OR WHATEVER BUT STILL HOW CAN I MEET ANYONE IF IVE ONLY BEEN DOING KINKY SHIT IN MY OWN TIME FOR TEN YEARS AND NOT TEACHING OR WRITING BOOKS OR SETTING WORLD RECORDS FOR MOST KNOTS TIED IN A ONE INCH ROPE

i remember when i was fourteen all i had to go on was my moms porno comics but it was enough to make an alt.com account. having the wordINEXPERIENCED in my profile was definitely a beacon for ‘dominants’ to hound and try to ‘teach’ me. eleven years later i know exactly what i want, and i have no problem scaring away predatory skeezbags BOO

the bottom line is i dont take myself seriously but if theres any anchor to reality thats totally hot and serious and true and real its fuckin boot lickin ball gagged getting caned and waxed and hissed at and stepped on sat on fucked teased tortured tickled yelled at pissed on slapped beaten bruised left crying humilated embarrased ignored and used or not used in whatever way desired

GOD IT IS SO HARD NOT TO BE CHEESY

i have a ma’am and i want to be put into unfair situations, i wanna be the victim of a sadistic tag team or a beat buddy for endurance contests WE CAN BE WORST ENEMIES IT WILL BE SO FUN

i dont carea bout your stupid philosophies on kink, i hate the word fetish and how everyone is like YOU’RE INTO FETISH? I LIKE FETISH, LETS PUT SOME FETISH ON THIS SALAD, BE SURE TO BUCKLE YOUR FETISH BEFORE DRIVING ANYWHERE ETC ETC i think jay wiseman is a sissy nancy careful pants and if you want me to fucking sign 10 waivers and have blood tests and birth certificates and hair samples ready before playing IM NOT THE PERSON FOR YOU safety is cool but GOD YOU AHVE OT DRAW A LINE SOMEWHERE

ugh i hate reading long lists so im taking out obvious run of the mill kinky shit like all the things i like to be hit with and shit thats LOOK BASICALLY I DONT WANT TO DROWN POTENTIALLY INTERESTING KINKS IN FUCKING BORING BDSM BABBLE OK

Google's rolled out an "Inactive Account Manager" -- a dead-man's switch for your Google accounts. If you set it, Google will watch your account for protracted inactivity. After a set period, you can tell it to either squawk ("Email Amnesty International and tell them I'm in jail," or "Email my kids and tell them I'm dead and give them instructions for probating my estate") and/or delete all your accounts. This has a lot of use-cases, from preventing your secrets from being tortured out of you (before you go to a protest, you could set your dead-man's switch to a couple hours -- if you end up in jail and out of contact, all your stuff would be deleted before you were even processed by the local law) to easing the transition of your digital "estate."

No one wants to think about their own death, but not thinking about it has a zero percent chance of preventing it. The Inactive Account Manager (great euphemism) can send your data from many Google services to your digital heirs, alert your contacts, delete the accounts, or do all or none of the above. It affects Blogger, Contacts/Circles (in Google+) Drive, Gmail, Google+ profiles, Pages and Streams, Picasa albums, Google Voice, and YouTube.

It also serves as a useful self-destruct button. Don’t want anyone watching your stupid YouTube videos after you’ve long forgotten that you had an account? Don’t want your kids to find your password notebook years after you’re gone and read your dirty chat sessions with their dad? You can have your account auto-destruct after trying to reach you using other e-mail addresses and by text message. You know, in case you just get tired of Gmail and wander off somewhere else.

Google Introduces Dead Man’s Switch For Your Accounts

(from Which Way #2: Supergirl - The Girl of Steel, 1984)

brandonnn:

DO NOT TOUCH is an interactive music video by Moniker for you and tens of thousands of other mouse pointers.

Get the Light Light song itself here.