Those Wonderful Toys...

The article I wrote about Mike and the toys and model kits that have been created from his Anderson designs has finally made it into Toy Shop Magazine.

The article, curiously named "The Future was FAB", appears in the February 2007 issue of Toy Shop. It includes text and photos that are not in the book, so you'll want to pick it up to get the scoop on the Dinky, Imai, Product Enterprise, Rosenthal and other toys and model kits based on Mike's designs.
The magazine should be available now in comic shops, bookstores, and newsstands everywhere.

All we hear is Radio Ga Ga...

Here's a link to an audio MP3 file of a radio interview I did about the book a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.scifizoneradio.com/podcast/SFZ120206.mp3
Yes, you can make fun of me for mispronouncing the word "Mysterons."
I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season!
Anthony

Meanwhile, Back At The Lab...

Here's another photo of Mike from Sector 25, standing in front of the display of Brains' Lab in the model room. I'll post more pictures as I find them.
Thanks to Tony Barnes for the photo.

Fanderson Sector 25 Convention Wrap Up

I'm back from London and starting to get over the jet lag. Sector 25 was an amazing gift of a weekend from Fanderson, the Gerry Anderson Fan Appreciation Society. Mike and I spent most of the weekend in the hotel bar, signing copies of The Future was FAB, as evidenced below.


All told, Fanderson sales moved about 60 or 70 copies of the book over the weekend, and had a record breaking £5,000.00 in overall sales. Mike and I enjoyed signing every one of the books, and seeing a hotel full of people walking around with copies.
My heartfelt thanks go to Stephen La Riviere for picking me up at the airport, lugging me all over London and Borehamwood and finally back to Gatwick so I could catch my plane home last Thursday. Thanks also to Chris Bentley, Martin Gainsford, Marcus Hearn, Len, Stephen, Nick, Ralph, and the rest of the Fanderson committee for doing an outstanding job in organizing the convention, and for their excellent hospitality. I'm looking forward to the next convention, hopefully in 2008.


I had a wonderful time meeting so many new friends at Sector 25, as well as seeing some old ones. More thanks to James, Duncan (who shot the photos in this entry), Louise, Ralph, Richard, Aimee, Tamsin, Hilton, Elliott, Mark, Sam, Tony, Tony, Tony, (sounds like a hip hop group) Chris, and especially Mike and Linda Trim (Linda's in the photo with me) for making the weekend very special for me.
For more photos of the models and puppets on display at Sector 25, take a look at the message boards at FABGearusa.com.

Typographical Errors as Metaphor for Life

I'm starting to get packed for my trip to London this week for Fanderson's SECTOR 25 convention in Borehamwood. Grabbing things to take to England, I picked up my personal copy of The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim, so I can have Mike sign it for me when I see him. It's still too new for me not to flip through it everytime I pick it up, and in doing so I found two more typos. On the first page of the chapter on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, David Essex is misidentified as "Davis Essex", and Thin Lizzy becomes "Tin Lizzy."
Sheesh.
I checked my manuscript; they were correctly spelled there.
In fact, most of the typos in the book aren't present in the original manuscript.
This is disheartening, as the book was proofed several times by eyes other than mine, but I never saw a final galley before it went to press.
That won't happen again, no matter how close we are to the release date.
If by some chance the book goes into a second printing, all the typos will be corrected. I just hope that in doing this, new typos aren't created.
Ah well, I think of it like a Top Secret Classified document - maybe the typos are there intentionally, to identify which printing your copy of the book is from.
That's what I like to call "adventure rationalizing."
Hope to see some of you at the Fanderson convention this weekend. Bring your books for Mike and me to sign.
We'll try not to mispell our own names.

Danger is his middle name...

In the spirit of title sequences from great 1960's TV shows like I Spy, Danger Man, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the like, I've created a short promotional video trailer for The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim.

Here's the direct URL if you'd like to let a friend know about it (and please do let a friend know about it!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87gMzod2Rq8
Special thanks to Gerry-Lynn Fore for his unequalled editing skills, and Ralph Titterton and Rob Fellowes for music and image permissions.

Mike and Linda Trim Upcoming Exhibit

Creativity is contagious! Mike and his wife Linda are busy preparing for an exhibit of his paintings and her original beaded jewelry at a very small venue in Kent next month.
Linda tells me Mike is planning on showing around 20 paintings, mostly still lifes, ships, and landscapes - though he may take an original SF piece and some sketchbooks for interested parties - to display at the Bay Art Gallery in Kent. She'll have a whole slew of new jewelry designs showing as well. The exhibit runs from Monday, September 25th through Sunday, October 1st. The following weekend, they'll be at the Fanderson Sector 25 Convention, of course.
On Monday the 25th, the gallery will be open from 2 to 4pm and the rest of the week from 10am to 4pm. Mike and Linda will both be there during opening hours all week long.
The Bay Art Gallery is located at 47a William Street, Herne Bay, in Kent.
Click here to peruse the gallery's website and get directions.
This is a great opportunity to see some of Mike's non-sci-fi work and spend some time talking with him and Linda. Almost all of the pieces shown will be for sale, and he will be taking commissions as well. If you're near Kent, please stop by! And if you can get a photo or two, how about emailing them to me so I can post them here?

Some people juggle geese...

Dragon*Con prefers to juggle panel schedules.
Once again, the Supermarionation panel has been moved from 1:00 p.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Convention rules don't allow us to sell books during the panel but if you catch me right after, I'll have some available.
Any guesses as to the source of the quote that headlines this entry?

Happy Birthday Mr. Trim

Mike Trim turns 61 today - Happy Birthday, Mike!
Many happy returns.

San Diego Comic Con Photos

Dan Herman finally sent me a few photos from San Diego Comic Con.

Here's Dan manning the Hermes Press booth at a rare quiet moment - this must have been before the convention opened, because there was never a time after that when the booth was this deserted.


Here's one of me, next to the spiffy banner I brought to help promote the book.


This is a shot of me talking with Special Effects director Albert Hastings. Albert's supervised effects for Polar Express, Monster House and is the CGI director for Spiderman 3. He's also a big fan of UFO and Mike's work.
If you have any other photos from San Diego Comic Con of the booth or the panel we did on Friday night at the show, please send them!

Dragon*Con Update

As I suspected, my Supermarionation panel has been switched to Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in the Science Fiction Classics Programming Room. Check your schedule or this blog at the convention to see if they shuffle me around again!
It looks like I will be able to show the presentation of Mike's art that was so popular at the San Diego Comic Con. And I'll have a Miketrimart.com T-shirt or two to give away as well - be there!
Aloha.

Hope you've been saving your pennies...

Here's a small image of the original art that will be auctioned off for charity at Fanderson's Sector 25 Convention. Of course, it won't say Miketrimart.com on it - that's just for this blog.

This is a color pencil piece on paper and was a rough for the original cover of the book. Unfortunately, Mike's work schedule on Agent Crush prevented him from creating a finished image, and we wound up using existing art.
This was created before negotiations with Jeff Wayne were concluded - the finished art would have included the Fighting Machine and several other Anderson vehicles.
Expect the bidding to be heated!
Once again, check the SECTOR 25 website for information on the convention.
See you there!

Dragon*Con!

The Labor Day weekend is full of traditions for me. Living in Atlanta, one of those traditions is watching asphalt melt on the roads.
The other is Dragon*Con.

Since I just got word that The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim is now in-stock at Hermes Press's warehouse, Dragon*Con seems like a fitting venue to release it into the wild. San Diego was the official premier, but D*Con will mark the book's availability to the public.
It should be on its way to distributors and larger accounts before the end of the week.
I'll be moderating a panel on Supermarionation and Anderson television shows in the Science Fiction Classics Programming room on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 11:30 a.m. (I believe, check the program schedule at the convention) and hope that anyone reading this who will be at the convention will stop by and say hello!

Futuropolis

I found an interesting article online from England's The Guardian newspaper here:
http://tinyurl.com/hxamc
about the Future City Architectural exhibit currently at the Barbican through September 17th. The author examines the effect of cinematic design on real world architecture, and mentions Mike Trim by name, as well as Derek Meddings. Of course, Mike designed most of the buildings beginning with Thunderbirds through The Secret Service, and many of his original drawings are in the new book.
More information on the Future City exhibit is here:
http://tinyurl.com/zlzs9
Unfortunately, I won't be in the U.K. until October and will miss it.

This is Space Intruder Detector...

Mike is now accepting commissions for original art in all mediums! If you've flipped through The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim (and I realize that not too many of you have been able to do that yet), you've seen several pieces that Mike did as commissions. The SHADOmobile piece on page 109 is one that he created for me a few years ago in colored pencil on Canson paper, and every time I look at it I enjoy it anew.
If you have an idea of what you'd like Mike to render as well as an approximate size and preferred medium (pencil, colored pencil or marker, full color painting, etc.), please email the information to us by clicking here and we'll get back to you with a price and delivery estimate as soon as possible.
SHADOMobiles, Martian Fighting Machines, Maximum Security Vehicles, S.I.D., Moonbase - whatever subject you'd like, be it Anderson, War of The Worlds, or original - you *can* own a piece of Mike Trim original art.
How cool is that?

Comic Con Wrap Up

This is a bit late, as Comic Con wrapped up on July 24th, but I was up in Hollywood for a week working on other projects and I'm just now getting around to catching up on my blogging duties. Ahhh, Hollywood... where else can you see an Asian Granny wearing a Hustler t-shirt eating chili spaghetti at Bob's Big Boy at 3 a.m.?

Comic Con was an enormous success! I was ensconced in the Hermes Press booth for most of the convention, meeting Anderson fans and signing copies of The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim. Publisher Dan Herman busted a hump to get 120 copies to the show (the book should be in stores by the end of the month), and we sold out of them by 2 p.m. on Saturday! If you stopped by the booth and bought a book, thank you VERY MUCH. Dan was astonished that we sold out and now has a newfound respect for the sales potential of the book.

I was finally able to meet Richard Taylor from Weta Workshop, who graciously wrote the forward for the book. He's a terrifically nice guy and loved the signed, limited edition hardback and Comic Con exclusive MikeTrimArt.com T-shirts I gave him. Hopefully, Mike and I will be working with him on a future project - more on that if it develops.

The Mike Trim Art panel on Friday night at the convention went surprisingly well, save that I forgot the punchline to a story from the book and totally made a new one up off the top of my head. Oh, and I corrected legendary Hollywood model maker Greg Jein about the use of Chartpak tape on the models from Thunderbirds and felt like a dolt for the rest of the night. Greg was very kind to appear on the panel (as were CFQ's Jeff Bond and Robert Meyer Burnett) and I felt bad that I'd bothered to call him out on such a small issue. Greg, mea culpa. Thanks again for sitting in, it's always great to have you around! Public speaking is scary stuff, folks. Don't attempt it alone.

If you bought a copy of the book at the convention, please write a review at Amazon.com! The more information there is available to potential buyers, the more copies we sell, which may mean a second volume of Mike's art in the future!

Finally, if you shot any photos of the Hermes Press Booth or at the Panel, please send them to me by clicking here. I'll post them in the blog and give you a photo credit.

Own a piece of Mike Trim art!

Mike has generously donated an original piece of art to be auctioned for charity at the Fanderson Sector 25 Convention in October. Here's a link to the convention's website:
http://www.fanderson.org.uk/s25p1.html

Good stuff - start saving for it now!

Shuttle Foam and Space Haggis

There were several delays, but the shuttle Discovery finally lifted off on July 4th, the traditional day for Americans to launch rockets. Apparently it's a new tradition in North Korea as well, as Kim Jong Il sent a few missiles flying himself. While the shuttle wound up docking with the International Space Station, KJI's (as I like to call him) birds took an early swim in the Sea of Japan. Just goes to prove that there's a yin to every yang.
Meanwhile in Scotland, Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson wants to launch commercial space journeys from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, starting as early as 2010.
From the BBC:

The company made the announcement on the day its test pilot, Brian Binnie, received an honorary degree from Aberdeen University.

Two years ago, he became the first Scot to fly into space.

And last year the rocket plane SpaceShipOne shot to an altitude of more than 100km for the second time inside a week to claim the $10m Ansari X-Prize.

The vehicle raced straight up into the sky over the Mojave Desert in California, US, with Mr Binnie at the controls.

President of Virgin Galactic Will Whitehorn told BBC Scotland there was a system in development based on the prototype flown by Mr Binnie.

"We are designing it so that we will be able to tour it around the world. So we will have a main base in New Mexico and we are looking at three bases outside there to be able to operate from," Mr Whitehorn said.

"As far as the UK is concerned the only area that we have found that has all the right conditions is the north of Scotland.

"It has relatively little overflying by aircraft, there are not people on the ground who could get injured and RAF Lossiemouth is an ideal location."

He said that test flying of SpaceShipTwo would begin next year and be completed in 2008.

Mr Whitehorn added that commercial operations could begin in 2009, with flights from a Scottish base such as Lossiemouth or Machrahanish the following year.

The Golden Age of Commercial Space Travel is very close.
There's an enormous profit to be made for all mankind in exploration and colonization of the Solar System. It's good to see some actual movement in this direction by people with the courage and the financial means to make it happen.
Let's just hope they leave the Haggis on the ground.

See it? Saw it. Good!

Ever been to England? October's a little cold and wet, but it's a great time to make the trip if you're a Mike Trim fan. Mike (and I) will be appearing at the Fanderson Sector 25 Convention, October 7 & 8, at the Holiday Inn - Elstree in Borehamwood (right next to the film studio). Not that both of us appearing and signing copies of the book isn't remarkable enough, but if you truly need more to get you on a plane, in a car, on the back of an Ostrich... whatever it takes to get to the convention... Mike will be bringing the surviving artwork from his days as a designer on Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service, Doppleganger, and UFO with him to display! Look, here's a piece now:



















Of course, most of this art appears in The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim, but there's nothing like seeing it in person. I'm sure it will be displayed in such a manner that touching it will be out of the question, but attendees will be able to get very close to the art and examine it in detail.
For most people, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Mike's original designs - don't miss it!
There'll be plenty of original models, props, costumes and other widgets on display as well - well worth a look for fans of the series. If you've never been to a Fanderson convention to see these items in person, what's holding you back? Expensive airfare? Saving for a rainy day? C'mon, if this stuff is important to you - if it fills you with a sense of wonder and excitement that makes you feel like a kid again - don't you owe yourself the experience?
Other guests include Gerry Anderson himself, Nick Tate and Zienia Merton from Space: 1999, Shane Rimmer, Dominic Lavery, Francis (Captain Scarlet) Matthews, Art director Keith Wilson, and plenty more.
Hope to see you there!

June Press Roundup!

As any author will tell you, writing a book is one thing, but if you want it to sell, people need to know the book exists. Publishers do what they can to get the word out, but authors must do their part as well.
My efforts in this area are beginning to pay off, with two magazine pieces currently on the stands. The first is a mention of The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim in CFQ Magazine, which I mentioned on www.miketrimart.com last month. Here's the cover if you're trying to find it.

I had a devil of time locating a copy; I finally found one at Barnes & Noble, after trying two other stores that were already sold out. CFQ is a great magazine, and many thanks go to editor Jeff Bond for including us in this issue. To order it online, stop by their website at http://www.cfq.com.
Also on newsstands now is ImagineFX issue #5, the magazine of Fantasy & Sci-Fi Digital Art. This is a very slick, all color British magazine devoted entirely to the creation of digital SF&F art. Definitely recommended, even if you aren't an artist yourself because of all the gorgeous color paintings. Here's the cover for the issue that contains a nice article on Mike and the book in their news section.

Many thanks to editor Rob Carney and writer Ed Ricketts for covering the book.

In July, the September issue of Toy Shop Magazine will include an article on Mike's designs that have been released as toys and model kits. This issue will be distributed for free at the San Diego Comic Con, so stop by the Comics Buyer's Guide/F&W Publications booth on your way to see me in booth #506, signing copies of the book.
In September, Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeller 'Bookazine" issue #3 will feature a 10 page interview with Mike Trim as well as a review of the book. More info on these when they hit the streets.
If you see any coverage of The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim in magazines or newspapers, please drop me a line at webmaster@miketrimart.com so that I can include it here.

San Diego Smackdown!

Do I even need to tell any of you that the San Diego Comic Con International is the largest pop culture gathering in America?
Surely you know that last year more than 100,000 fans of comics, movies, sci-fi, horror, fantasy, anime, and more descended upon the San Diego Convention Center, creating a crowded but exhultant gestalt that transcended the term convention and burst into a convergence...? Ok, flowery prose aside, the SDCCI was one big honkin' con last year, and 2006 promises to be even bigger. Click here to visit their website.
What better place to premier The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim? No place, of course.
This year the convention runs from Wednesday, July 19th to Sunday, July 23rd. I'll be in the Hermes Press booth (#506) most of the weekend, but I will make it out for this panel:

The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim
Friday, July 21
6:00 - 7:00 P.M.
Room 2
Mike Trim began his career as a designer and model maker for Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service, UFO, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, and Space: 1999. In 1978, he designed the Martian fighting machines and illustrated the album cover for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, which has sold over fifteen million copies worldwide. A new book of Trim's work is being premiered at Comic Con this year by Hermes Press (Booth #506). Join author Anthony Taylor (The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim), CFQ Magazine Editor Jeff Bond, director Robert Burnette (Free Enterprise), and legendary model maker Greg Jein (Star Trek, CE3K) for a peek at the new book and a discussion of Trim's influence on the current generation of filmmakers. Presented in association with www.miketrimart.com.

Pretty cool lineup! We may even have a special guest who's name I won't mention (Richard Taylor), but you might be able to guess if you know who wrote the foreword for the book. Come see us at the booth and the panel and let me know I'm not writing this stuff only to have it vanish into thin air.

This is the beginning...

Welcome to the blog! I'll be posting updates on Mike's projects regularly. Let's start with the press release for the new book, The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim, shall we?

In 1964, young Mike Trim answered a newspaper advertisement seeking modelmakers for a film production crew and began an odyssey that would last for more than 40 years. Beginning in the final days of Stingray, Trim would work as a modelmaker and designer for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's television series Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service, and UFO, as well as their feature films Thunderbirds are Go, Thunderbird 6, and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (a.k.a. Doppleganger).
Starting out in the model shop, Mike eventually became Special Effects director Derek Meddings' assistant in designing the fabulous futuristic vehicles, buildings, and look of the Andersons' imaginitive series. Eventually, he would take on the bulk of design work for the series as Meddings became more involved in feature films.
Contributing a single (unused) vehicle design and model to Space: 1999, Trim then moved into freelance illustration, creating an iconic cover painting for one of the best selling albums of all time; Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds, in 1978.
The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim is an in-depth look at the career of this creative and talented man. Featuring hundreds of full color and black & white drawings, paintings, marker comps, and photos from his entire career, the book offers a detailed view of how to foretell the future at the end of a paintbrush. Along the way, Mike relates humorous and interesting stories of his years working with Derek Meddings and the Century 21 Films crew, as well as his experiences as a freelance artist and how the instantly recognizable cover art for The War of The Worlds was designed. With chapters covering his techniques and early influences, unproduced and upcoming projects and more, The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim is a fitting tribute to an artist whose work has permeated the pop culture landscape for the last 40 years.
By Anthony Taylor with Mike Trim
Forewords by Richard Taylor and David Tremont of Weta Workshop
Published by Hermes Press
128 pages, Trade Paperback - 8.5"x 11"
Limited Edition Hardcover available separately
Shipping in late July
Now available for pre-order http://fabgearusa.com