At the end of last year, there was a new book released, celebrating the wonderful midcentury work of Ib Antoni. Written by Sara Alfort in collaboration with Antoni Legacy. It has been published in English with the title “The Man Who Drew Denmark”, also available in Danish, as an e-book, and an audiobook. It can be bought right here on the official Ib Antoni website. Ib Antoni was born in Esbjerg in Jutland, Denmark in 1929 and grew up in Aarhus, where he was educated as an advertising designer on the advertising agency “Buchtrup’s Klichéfabrik”, after which he was hired by the agency “Harlang ..read more

Born in Toronto in 1935, Tom McNeely studied with two prominent Canadian artists before setting off on his own highly successful career. He was a prominent artist of his time and was commissioned to work in all manner of subjects. Illustrating books, magazines, posters, adverts and even stamps. He had a real talent for both laying out a scene and for drawing you into one.   His paintings for Canada’s Expo ’67 and the 1976 Olympics brought him worldwide fame and his distinctively-styled portraits of some of the world’s most famous personalities have been featured in numerous museums ..read more

Robert Everett Barry was born on October 7, 1931, the son of William and Emma (Willis) Barry of Newport, RI. (Rhode Island). A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, author and illustrator Robert was a beloved and most modest man-about-town who loved libraries and often shared his favorite articles, stories, and drawings with lucky librarians.  One of his earlier books, Faint George, was selected by the New York Times as one of the Ten Best Illustrated Books of the Year in 1957. Sadly it’s been difficult to find many illustrations from most of his more well known title ..read more

More from the very talented Bernice Myers. This selection is mainly from the 50’s and 60’s, and it’s good to know that the very prolific Mrs Myers, some 60 books later, is still working ! I love the textures and animal shapes in this book. In contrast to this here’s a different style again, and did you know that Being Nice is lots of Fun ?  I really like the characters used here, amongst others Sociable Sue, Messy Bessie, Slowpoke Cyril, Cranky Conrad, Crabby Gert, Lonesome Lou, Polly Politeness, Stubborn Stan and Gentleman Johnnie, you can identify their characteristics straight away ..read more

A couple of months ago I blogged about Vintage Children’s Book Covers and whilst I was creating that post, I came across the idea for this one. I’ve previously talked a little about the work of Tom Funk and Joseph Pearson who both illustrated beautiful books for Betty Crocker. Here’s more from the 1950’s and 60’s. Enjoy. I like this image of the bear patiently waiting in line for his BBQ share. At this chilly time of year the illustration below for Bennett’s Vitamin Enriched Soup is perfect. Recipes fit for a king or at least the Fox family ! If you h ..read more

A couple of months ago I blogged about Vintage Children’s Book Covers and whilst I was creating that post, I came across the idea for this one. I’ve previously talked a little about the work of Tom Funk and Joseph Pearson who both illustrated beautiful books for Betty Crocker. Here’s more from the 1950’s and 60’s. Enjoy. I like this image of the bear patiently waiting in line for his BBQ share. At this chilly time of year the illustration below for Bennett’s Vitamin Enriched Soup is perfect. Recipes fit for a king or at least the Fox family ! If you have a ..read more

I love the work of Matte Stephens so much that I’m already on my second blog post about him, the first one was here for those of you who may have missed it.  It’s the colours, vintage feel and quirky characters, that really make me smile everytime I look at his work. There are prints galore on his Etsy site here. Great work as ever Matte, Keep it up ..read more

When he’s not dressing up as a space man, or looking like a character from Scooby Doo ! , you can find a great energy and style to the work of Glen Mullaly.  He manages to emulate and create that wonderful retro feel in his work, often with a modern twist thrown in. There’s a great interview about him, his origins and his own ‘ what makes you tick’, over at Design Inspiration. Some of his work looks so close to the genuine 50s’ retro, that I would struggle to tell the two apart. There’s also some great vintage pieces on his flickr site h ..read more

I am and always have been a collector… there now I’ve said it out loud, lol. In the past, I’ve collected records, books, cd’s, art materials and stationery products and more recently it’s been images of times gone by, usually with a 50’s or 60’s influence. I have a large collection of random images that I’ve amassed from the internet from so long ago and from so many sources, that I’ve lost track as to where they originated, and sadly therefore can’t be credited. However I feel it would be fun to share them. Inspiring, educational, amusing, and hopefully more. Make of them ..read more

  Bernice Myers was an amazing childrens artist. She met her husband Lou and together they went to Paris in 1952. Her husband was also children’s book illustrator and he started creating cartoons for french magazines and newspapers, whilst Bernice drew for children. They eventually did numerous collaborations on many kids books, in the fifties and were very popular. I love the fun figures she creates and the textures and shading used within her characters too ..read more