Mike Trim Space Art - Vintage 1973

Another week, another piece of art that didn't make it into The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim.
This is one of the sample pieces Mike did when he decided to go freelance in 1973. Given his earlier science fiction experience, he imagined he'd end up doing a lot of that sort of work. As it was, Mike did very little Sci-Fi work during his years as an illustrator. This led to an increasing sense of frustration and the eventual emergence of The Unknown project in the late '80's. This was an original stab at a sci-fi themed puppet production Mike developed with his friend and former student, Mark Munroe. The project remains unfinished.
Click on any of these images to make them bigger. You knew that, didn't you?

Ranch Of The Future: Cattle Not Included

Here's this week's "Unseen" image from Mike's time on Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

Designed in 1966 for an episode of the series, this was yet another opportunity for Mike to play at being an architect. Felt tipped pens were a new innovation at the time. Unlike conventional ink pens, they offered a clean and easy media, with the added advantage that the ink was not completely waterproof and could therefore be blended with a wet brush, as shown here. Although the original paper has faded over the years, even when new it had a slight tint and that's why the white gouache highlights and tones were added.

Another new image goes up next week - be there! Aloha.

Welcome, Starfighter!

Welcome to the Unseen Mike Trim, week 2!
This is another image that we didn't have room for in the book, a gouache illustration of a Starfighter jet that Mike created in the early 1980's. This image is a combination of airbrush and good old-fashioned detailed brushwork, and was created at a rather small A4 size. Working in such a diminutive aspect means that the illustration demanded great accuracy in every respect. Mike's love of aircraft really shows through in this piece.
Another image will be posted next week, so stop back then!

Obscured By Crowds - The Unseen Mike Trim

As promised in my last entry, here's an image that we didn't have room for in The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim. This shot was taken in the Winter of 1964-65, outside the AP Films Studios in Slough (you can see a bit of the giant smokestacks and crane gantries of the industrial estate in the background). Mike and fellow modelmaker Roger Dicken are having a bit of a larff with a "pal" that's been frozen in the ice.
I'm happy to report that the fellow was lucky and only suffered slight frostbite.
Just kidding of course - obviously these are some fake legs from a mannequin that the duo set out the night before expressly for this photo.
More unseen images to come in the weeks ahead.

Mike Trim gets WIRED

The Thunderchild diorama featured on the Miketrimart.com webpage has been immortalized today in WIRED magazine's blog, here. It's also at Neatorama, and a nice photo of S.I.D. and a link to the website made it onto Stephen Years Dot Com.
Thanks for the mention, folks!

I'll be posting images here on this blog that didn't make it into The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim due to space limitations beginning in the next 48 hours or so. I hope to post at least one new image every week until they're all up. Keep checking back, there's some excellent stuff that didn't make it into the book!

More CRUSH!

The spiffy new website for AGENT CRUSH is now online, featuring an interview with Mike Trim, plus loads more of his designs for the film!


There's even an edited, scored preview sequence available, which looks fantastic.

It looks as though Ioan (Mr. Fantastic) Gruffudd has signed on the voice Crush, replacing Ewan MacGregor.
I'm really looking forward to the finished film - hope it gets a real theatrical release here in the States.


All images COPYRIGHT © 2007 AGENT CRUSH PRODUCTIONS

Hearts of Glass in Canyons of Steel: New York Comic Con 2007

The photo above shows the Jacob Javits Center, the New Yorker Hotel, and the Empire State Building. I've just returned from spending several days in two of those places - didn't get to the ESB this trip. The New York Comic Con was a much better experience this year than last; at least I was able to get inside for all three days. Last year, the Fire Marshal shut the doors at around 2 p.m. on Saturday, causing a giant logjam of frustrated fanboys unable to get their four-color fix... me among them.


I was there to sign copies of The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim, and enjoyed spending time with Hermes Press Publishers Dan Herman and Louise Geer in the booth (that's Dan above), as well as meeting fans of Mike's work. It was very cool to meet fellow HP author Ron Goulart who made an appearance on Saturday to sign his new book on the pulps. I've been a fan of Ron's work since I was very young and read his novel, "Nemo," as well as his Vampirella and The Shadow books. Ron's written more adventurous prose than just about anyone on Earth, and he was a truly nice fellow as well.

I also had a fun and productive time with Christopher Jones and Melissa Kaercher, my friends from Minnesota. Chris is one of the most talented artists in comics today, and we're working together on a graphic novel. It was great to be able to hammer out some details of the project in person, and we hope to have the book out sometime early next year. It's a period mystery, set in Hollywood in 1966 - lots of pop art atmosphere along with some noir-ish touches. I'll post more details in the future.


One of the coolest things about my trip was staying in the New Yorker, the hotel where mysterious genious Nikola Tesla spent his last years, and died in 1943.


If it weren't for Tesla, we'd most likely be sitting around making blog posts on difference engines by the glow of gaslight; he worked out the power delivery system that brings electricity into our homes. He most likely worked out a great deal more than that, things that may take years or centuries for us to rediscover. To say that he was eccentric and a bit troubled is an understatement. The plaque above is affixed to the New Yorker on the 34th Street side, commemorating his residence there.

I've got my spine, I've got my Agent Crush

Here's a bit of art from Mike's current project, AGENT CRUSH. He's working at the studio full time at the moment, and commuting home on weekends. Find more information by Clicking here. Here's a fairly extensive set of behind the scenes clips and footage from the film. New commissions will have to wait until shooting is finished, most likely.



My book signings at the John's Creek Borders Books and the New York Comic Con are still GO - hope to meet some blog readers at both.
Anthony

Upcoming Book Signing Appearances

Here's a quick rundown of some upcoming events where I'll be signing copies of The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim. Hope to see some of you there!

FX Show - The Florida Extravaganza
Friday-Sunday, January 26-28th
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida
Creator's Alley
http://fxshow.com/

Border's Books, John's Creek - Suwannee, Georgia
February 17th, 7-9 p.m.
3630 Peachtree Parkway
Ste 100
Suwanee, GA 30024
678-417-1425
Map

New York Comic Con
February 23-25th, Jacob Javits Center, Manhattan
Hermes Press Booth in the Dealer's Room
http://www.nycomiccon.com

Unfortunately, Mike won't be able to attend any of these signings as he's in a different country entirely! We hope to get him over to the U.S. for a signing this year. Watch this space for more information.
Anthony Taylor

Thunder Child Prints Still Available

St. Paul's Gallery still has several of the Thunder Child Giclee prints available via their website - Just Click Here for more information.
Signed by Mike Trim as well as Jeff Wayne, these enormous and beautiful prints make a real impression. The print has been created directly from the original artwork that is owned by Jeff Wayne himself. The original measures only 18 x 29" and so it was agreed that the print should be bigger in size (22 x 40") as it would highlight the detail difficult to see, especially in Vinyl or CD format.
These prints are in short supply with an edition of just 295 pieces worldwide. This might be your last chance to get one.
(Photograph is presumably ©2003 St. Paul's Gallery, as I cribbed it from their website.)