Des Condon

Des Condon illustrations from the Australian Woman's Weekly circa 1939-1942.

Source: http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Mandrake the Magician Cover Gallery - Feature Productions

Feature Productions produced 222 issues of Mandrake the Magician from the late 1940's until the early 1960's. The Phantom, another creation of Falk is the only other New Zealand published comic to surpass Mandrake the Magician with 556 issues produced by Feature Productions.

Notes on New Zealand comics publisher Feature Productions and covers of first twenty issues of Mandrake the Magician here, #20-#40 here, #41- #60 here,  and #61 - #80 here,  and #81 - #95 here, and covers for a selection from #96 - #130 from FP editions of Lee Falk's long enduring character, Mandrake the Magician, featured below.

Stan Pitt Science Fiction Illustration

 

Selection of Stanley Pitt Science Fiction Illustrations for Thrills Incorporated and Novel covers.

Stanley Pitt Sci-Fi Novel Covers.

Examples of Stanley & Reginald Pitt's story Only Skin Deep for Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery #33.

Paper Trail

Michael Farrell and Marijka Gooding - TV.

Geoff Pryor talks about his experiences as a political cartoonist.

Free Download: Anthony Woodward's Sketch Book #4 Rose Parade

Catch Up: Truth Zone: Best of 2013.

 
Art and Musings by Katee Moon. 

There's a lot to look at on Matt Huynh's site.

 

I'm a sucker for early twentieth century antipodean commercial art and this book, 

Promoting Prosperity - The Art of Early New Zealand Advertising by Peter Alsop & Gary Stewart, looks like a fascinating read. From Craig Potton Publishing PR:

 

This is a book about the art of early New Zealand advertising, before colour photography and TV changed the media landscape forever. With over 600 images and 13 essays by respected commentators, it fills an important gap in our art history as the first dedicated and extensive collection of this rich material. But more than that, Promoting Prosperity is a celebration of the dreams and aspirations of early New Zealanders, and of our development as an emerging nation. It profiles many of the economic and social foundations that once made New Zealand the envy of the world; successes that offer an inspiring reminder that no challenge is too big to overcome and no opportunity beyond reach.

Promoting Prosperity will leave you in no doubt as to the quality of New Zealand's early commercial artists, and of our entrepreneurial and creative roots. Be inspired and promote prosperity.

(Hat Tip - Darian Zam.)

Media 3 story on the history of New Zealand Advertising with Dick Frizzell's commentary on Promoting Prosperity - The Art of Early New Zealand Advertising (Starts at 21.25).

Catch up: Jason Chatfield and David Blumenstein on Australian Comic Strip cutbacks.

Long White Kid: Ex-Mass marketing.

I'll be posting an article by A. B. Clark this week on the mobile printing unit used by the New Zealand Army Division. Clark's article was originally featured in A History of Printing in New Zealand and reprinted in a Korero Army bulletin during World War Two. Mobile printing units were used to produce Divisional orders and anything else 'from a louse ticket to a short catalogue'. New Zealand cartoonists such as Nevile Lodge, who honed his skills as an artist during the three years he spent in Italian and German prisoner-of-war camps, contributed to some of these wartime publications.

Illustration from Korero AEWS Background Bulletin Vol 2 No 4

 Australian Pulp: Selection of painted Horwitz covers.

Paper Trail masthead courtesy of Toby Morris.