Mike Hinge 150 - 154

Here we have a collection of four preliminary pencil drawings and an almost complete preliminary dayglo painting. The subject appears to be a robot with a man's face or perhaps a man in a space suit or a man in a robotic shell. One of the drawings is dated 10/11 October 1978 so I am assuming that they will all be from this year as the pictures came to me together in one folder.

Written on one of the pictures are what might suggest a title or a clue for what the drawings were intended. "Dance of Light, Dance of Photon, Dance of Phaeton, Metamorphosis, Photon". I had a search on the internet for any possible SF story with a possible connection however I didn't find anything. An interesting search of "Phaeton robot" came up with "Exosquad" a tv series conceived by Jeff Segal in 1989, most probably not connected but interestingly humans and neosapiens are shelled inside a robot like "exo-skeleton" or "E-Frame" as described in the opening titles of the program. Could it have been possible that Jeff Segal, knew Mike in 1978 and this was some drawings done for the proposed show?

The last picture in this collection is the largest of the pictures a drawing on tracing paper. The paper is folded in half and can be opened out to double in size. The other side of the paper is blank but gave the idea that it was intended to have the reverse image to make a complete mirror image. Interestingly the half image also works on its own as a complete image if placed on its side. I don't know if a completed picture was ever made from any of these images but out of interest I made a reverse image of the largest drawing in photoshop to have a better idea what the completed picture might have looked like.

 Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton I . Dayglo paint on paper. Approximate size 60x49cm. Circa 1978. unsigned.

 Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton II . Pencil on paper. Approximate size 49x60cm. Circa 1978. unsigned.

  Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton III . Pencil on paper. Approximate size 60x49cm. Circa 1978. unsigned.

     Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton IV . Pencil on paper. Approximate size 60x49cm. Circa 1978. unsigned.

 Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton V . Pencil on tracing paper. Approximate size 38x106cm. Circa 1978. unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton V (Close-up 1)

Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton V (Close-up 2)

Mike Hinge - Dance of Phaeton V . Photoshoped image of original with added reverse . 

Mike Hinge - 147

Today is Mike's birthday, he would have been 81 years old. I wish that he was still here with us to see and hear more about his work and life. 

Here is an unpublished cover for Amazing Stories Magazine.

Mike Hinge - Amazing (unpublished cover) . Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 48 x 61cm. Date Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 143 - 146

Mike Hinge - Elephant Trunk 1 of 4 (#4023). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 25x31cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Elephant Trunk 2 of 4 (#4023). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 25x31cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Elephant Trunk 3 of 4 (#4023). Marker pen on cream velum. Approximate size 25x31cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Elephant Trunk 4 of 4 (#4023). Marker pen on cream velum. Approximate size 25x31cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 142

Mike Hinge -Monkey Tails (#4023). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 25x31cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

I tried to find something for valentines day today, however after checking it seems I have already posted all the suitable heart pictures I have. Anyway here are six cheeky monkeys that look as if they were drawn to be part of a game to hook the monkey tails together, i don't know, perhaps part of an advertising campaign. Next week I will post some more drawings that look to be part of this set as well. 

The top left monkey has a tick above his head, perhaps that was Mike's or the client's favourite. I like Monkey at the the bottom right .

Mike Hinge 133 - 138

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A Happy Christmas and A Happy 2012  to You All. And A Special Thank You to Everyone that has contributed to Onyxcube .

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A little bit of a reference to Christmas in these Mike Hinge, roughs for what looks like an in house promotional brochure for Chrysler "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre" and "The Bob Hope Christmas Show". I only have 5 of these roughs, what seems that there were more, there's some staining on the first page.

 Mike Hinge -   "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre" (1 of 5) . Pen on white paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date 1967-68?. Unsigned.

 Mike Hinge -   "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre" (2 of 5) . Pen on white paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date 1967-68?. Unsigned.

 Mike Hinge -   "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre" (3 of 5) . Pen on white paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date 1967-68?. Unsigned.

  Mike Hinge -   "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre" (4 of 5) . Pen on white paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date 1967-68?. Unsigned.

 Mike Hinge -   "Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre" (5 of 5) . Pen on white paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date 1967-68?. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 132

Mike Hinge - Robot Hand with Lever. Pencil sketch on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 131

Mike Hinge - Parsec City 4 (4of4). Pen, Ink and Pencil on heavy water colour paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

detail 1

 detail 2

 textovl

The above image has an acetate overlay like the Varuna Parsec City 1 image (Mike Hinge 128)

with a rough caption stuck on top. 

The quote is from a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).

Mike Hinge 130

Mike Hinge - Parsec City 3 (3of4). Pen, Ink and Pencil on heavy water colour paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

vertical

 detail

Mike Hinge 129

Mike Hinge - Parsec City 2 (2of4). Pen & Ink, pencil, white paint on heavy water colour paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 128

Separate title on paper

Mike Hinge - Varuna Parsec City 1 (1of4). Pen & Ink on heavy water colour paper. Approximate size 45x30cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

detail 1

detail 2

detail 3

The above image has an acetate overlay with very rough captions stuck on top. To me, it doesn't look like Mike would have done the text as the writing looks a bit uncharacteristic and it interferes with the illustration.

The text are quotes from poems by Aratos (310-245 BC) and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Mike Hinge 123-127

Mike Hinge - Springmaid (2 of 6). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 42x34cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Springmaid (3 of 6). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 46x55cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Springmaid (4 of 6). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 46x55cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Springmaid (5 of 6). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 55x46cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - Springmaid (6 of 6). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 55x46cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 119

Mike Hinge - The Carriage Trade. Approximate size 57x47cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

I don't know what this might have been for? The name of a company or an album or perhaps it the name for the font? 

For the past few years I have been trying to track down the fonts that Mike designed. The Carriage Trade is perhaps not very typical (not very sci-fi) but then Mike's style is not always narrowed down to that genre. My last post had the front cover for the Lunacon 68 where it had what i'm sure is one of Mike's many typefaces, its his adaptation of a font called "Westminster" which was designed in the mid 6o's to be a machine readable typeface (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition or MICR) for the National Westminster Bank. There are many versions of this type face and I'm not sure if 1968 was the earliest time that Mike first used this but even so it is with out a doubt one of the first adaptations of Westminster. What I think makes Mike's typeface distinctive is the little tail on the end of the capital N & A and the large dot in the small i. Mike uses this font quite a lot in his work.

Another example of Mike's version of Westminster:

Android - A detail from the Mike Hinge Experience (1969-1973)

New York from about 1966 - 1969 Mike was an Art Director for Young & Rubicam and B.B.D.O (he could be in the tv series Mad Men), during this time I know that he won two awards at the 13th Annual Type Director's Club Show of 1967 (not be confused with Typography 13, by the Type Director's Club). What it was that he did for him to win two awards I don't know, I would really love to know. 

Mike produced several fonts for commercial reproduction and one of the type-houses that he worked with was a company called "Photo-Lettering Inc" or PLINC which were based in New York, established in 1936 closing in 1996. The 1000's of fonts held by PLINC have been locked away unseen and unused since, that is until now. Recently House Industries acquired the entire collection and have been taking care  of this amazing heritage and faithfully preserving the fonts, check out  PLINC's website.

At the moment there are not that many fonts on line but I am hopeful that we should see a few Hinge's sometime in the future. Here are a few fonts that I know were designed by Mike for PLINC: Hinge Computer, Electronic, Robot, Quasar, Integrated and Digital Readout. There are hopefully lots more and of those that I've listed I am not entirely sure what they look like.

Here are some more examples of Mike's typefaces below:

Monkey Wrench - From the collection of Mike Hinge's A4 photocopies date possibly late 60's

Earth Unaware (cover illustration) 1983, There's nothing to say that he designed the font as well but I think that he did and until I'm told otherwise... I remember reading somewhere that Ted White (editor of Amazing Stories, Fantastic...) said that Mike would not stop at just doing the illustration but would also want to have control on how the title was placed and would also want to design the typeface if he was allowed.

Archimedes - A detail from the Mike Hinge Experience (1969-1973)

Assignment in Tomorrow (cover illustration - printers proof) 1972.

Astarte - A detail from the Mike Hinge Experience (1969-1973)

Onyx (letterhead) -  From the collection of Mike Hinge's A4 photocopies date Unknown

No No Yes - A detail from the Mike Hinge Experience (1969-1973)

Shaggy Planet (cover illustration - printers proof) 1975.

Mexico Magnifico, Eastern Airlines, (One flyer and two tags) date unknown.

Mike Hinge (Logo) - date possibly 1980.

Tobacconist - - From the collection of Mike Hinge's A4 photocopies (traces of being touched up with tipex and pen) date unknown.

Hinge (Logo) - A detail from the Mike Hinge Experience (1969-1973)