Cartoon Modern

A blog by Amid Amidi of inspiring cartoon art from the 1950s. For more, see my book Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation from Chronicle Books. And don't forget to visit Cartoon Brew.

[cartoonmodern]

TV commercial (UPA, ca. 1954-'55)

Designer: unidentified, but might be Chris Ishii

(Via Michael Sporn)

[cartoonmodern]

I Love Lucy (1952) Designer: Gene Hazelton

[cartoonmodern]

It Never Rains Oil (1953, John Sutherland Productions)

Director: Arnold Gillespie

Designers: Gerald Nevius, Ed Starr

[cartoonmodern]

Flebus (1957, Terrytoons)

Director/designer: Ernie Pintoff

[cartoonmodern]

Sleeping Beauty (Disney, 1959)

Concept painting by Eyvind Earle

[cartoonmodern]

Walt Disney TV commercial (ca. 1955)

Character designer: Tom Oreb

Background designer: Victor Haboush

[cartoonmodern]

Concept painting by Mary Blair from Peter Pan (1953, Disney)

[cartoonmodern]

Symphony in Slang (1951, MGM)

Director: Tex Avery

Designer: Tom Oreb

Background painter: Johnny Johnson

[cartoonmodern]

90 Day Wondering (1956, Warner Bros.)

director: Chuck Jones

designer: Maurice Noble

[cartoonmodern]

Sailing and Village Band (1958, UPA)

director: Fred Crippen

designer: Jimmy Murakami

[cartoonmodern]

A segment from Stan Freberg Presents The Chun King Chow Mein Hour: Salute to the Chinese New Year (February 4, 1962)

director: Fred Crippen

designer: Saul Bass & Art Goodman

(Soundtrack is from Freberg's album "Stan Freberg Presents The United States Of America")

[cartoonmodern]

Character from a Bar-S Meats commercial produced by Ray Patin Productions (ca. 1950s)

designer: unknown

[cartoonmodern]

Unidentified characters from a commercial produced by Ray Patin Productions (ca. 1950s)

designer: unknown

[cartoonmodern]

Unidentified characters from a commercial produced by Ray Patin Productions (ca. 1950s)

designer: unknown

[cartoonmodern]

Man drawn onto cel

Artist: Len Glasser

(ca. late-1950s)

[cartoonmodern]

Stills from a Union 76 Gasoline commercial (Playhouse Pictures)

designer: Sterling Sturtevant

(PS - I promise to post more.)

[cartoonmodern]

I think this was a TV commercial for Mars Candy, but I could be mistaken.

(ca. 1955, UPA)

director/designer: Gene Deitch