ONYX CUBE

Mike Hinge - Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T00:01:00.000Z

It's Chinese New Year! Thanks very much to Alex Jay for sharing his 1989 postcard from Mike

Here is a postcard from Mike to Alex Jay wishing him a happy new year. Nice clear handwriting and an intriguing message which I shall let Alex explain what Mike is referring to in a moment. A short message but clearly shows Mike's appreciation for his friends phone call and the goodies that he had sent... but who is Mary (M&M's)?

Alex says "This Chinese New year or Lunar New Year arrives January 23. As you know, it's the year of the dragon. Back in 1989 Mike sent this postcard with the year of the snake. This Chinese zodiac animal follows the dragon, so 2013 will be its year.

In his message, Mike referred to "ABCD"; this was a music catalog of unauthorized concert

recordings on CDs. Mike was listing some of his favorite groups and musicians he found in the

catalog. And the recordings were expensive.

And then he referred to the astrology information on the face of the card, "Well look[s] like yours made

it for this year." The snake is my zodiac animal, but I do not believe in astrology, Chinese or Western."

Travel back in time to 1989 and I would have been in my late teens and I was a massive fan of The Sisters of Mercy and Xmal Deutschland they were and still are amongst my top favourite bands! As well I also liked and still like Joy Division, New Order, Cabaret Voltaire, Wire, Durutti Column, Ultravox, OMD, Kraftwerk, Jean Michel Jarre and also aware of Japan, Roxy Music, Brian Eno and Mike Oldfield . However at that time and until now I hadn't really heard much of Tangarine Dream or Penguin Cafe and not at all of Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze or Seventh Wave.

I wish Mike could have designed some of the groups record sleeves or posters but as far as I am aware he didn't but perhaps there is something that is waiting to be discovered. I don't think I have or know of any of Mike's work from 1989.

Going further back in time Mike did work for a record company - Reprise Records, Los Angeles, for a short time (between Nov 1962 - Feb 1963) with Art Director Merle Shore and according to Mike's CV he designed record covers, which ones these might be would be a nice discovery as well.

Front of Postcard from Mike to Alex.

Mike Hinge 141

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000Z

Happy Chinese New Year - The Year of the Dragon.

Mike Hinge - Dragon Sketch . Pencil on white paper. Approximate size 55x30cm. Date Unknown. Unsigned.

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

Mike Hinge 140

2012-01-11T20:11:00.002Z

Mike Hinge - Fire Hydrant (CITY SLICKER) (2 of 2) . Pen and Ink on "Crescent Cardboard Company" Illustration Board, Cold Press Surface. No. 300, Medium Weight. Approximate size 38x50.5cm. Date 1962. Signed.

Mike Hinge 139

2012-01-09T13:53:00.000Z

Mike Hinge - Fire Hydrant (1 of 2) . Pen and Ink on "Crescent Cardboard Company" Illustration Board, Cold Press Surface. No. 300, Medium Weight. Approximate size 38x50.5cm. Date April 1962. Signed.

Mike's signature (a reflection is from the original protecting plastic wrap that's still in place).

Close up2

Close up3

Mike Hinge 133 - 138

2011-12-24T00:41:00.000Z

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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 - a christmas card

2011-12-16T00:28:00.000Z

It's nearly Christmas! Thanks very much to Alex Jay for sharing his 1981 Christmas card from Mike

Alex wrote "Mike's 1981 holiday greeting card measures 14 x 17 inches / 35.56 x 43.18 centimeters".

and "Photocopy colored with markers. The card was scanned in four sections and stitched

together; the alignment is a bit off. Back in Christmas 1980, I visited my parents who lived

in Arizona; we spent a few days in San Francisco with my father's sister. That's what Mike

was referring to in his note".

Mike Hinge - Nigel Rowe and Mike Kowalski

2011-12-15T23:39:00.000Z

I was recently put in touch with Nigel Rowe who is a writer, researcher and SF fan. Nigel has written several fanzines and a book Timeless Sands - A History of Science Fiction in New Zealand and contributed to Tom Cardy's obituary for Mike. Nigel told me that he first met Mike in the early 80's and here I am publishing his email to me which include some wonderful memories of Mike. As well Nigel included this rather nifty "Lawrence of Arabia" passport photo of Mike and a very special short story "The Quest For Mike Hinge's Boxes" by Mike Kowalski drummer of The Beach Boys on a 25th anniversary tour in New Zealand in 1984.

I really hope that we can hear those tapes one day and view some of Mike's early art. Many Thanks to you Nigel.

Mike's passport photo circa 1978.

Mike was a friend of mine who I met in New Zealand in the early 80's. He was amazed when after introducing himself as "Mike Hinge" I replied "Oh, not *the* Mike Hinge who immigrated to the States in 1958..." As a researcher and SF fan for some time I was probably one of the few people in NZ who knew who he was and his subsequent success overseas.

Over the years we kept in touch after he moved back to the East Coast. And when he unexpectedly passed away, I volunteered to take his ashes back to NZ on my next trip. And I delivered these to his brother in the rural wilds of NZ in 2004.

I subsequently bought some of his artwork from his collection as it was sold on eBay. I also own some of his original artwork from the 50's that he gifted to me when we spent a long time sorting through his original NZ possessions that had been in storage down there for the 30 odd years he had been away. I'm including here a story written about the trip to reclaim his stuff from his elderly aunt.

I also owned a bookshop for many years, and Mike helped me get it going.
Including designing the store logo, signs, and selling books when I went off to get lunch. We spent a lot of fun times together before he headed back to the States. I have several hours of him on tape talking about his early days, the Time covers and other interesting stuff that was intended for a magazine interview that never eventuated.

My one regret is that as I too moved overseas (Chicago) I had to part with some cherished possessions including the hand made wooden art drafting table he built in the 50's and left with me. Unfortunately it had too much wood borer after being in storage in humid conditions. Oh well, I enjoyed it while I could.
And it was fun seeing him draw my store logo on it, much the same as when he last used it 25 years earlier.

Enjoy the enclosed. I can't wait to check out your site! He would have been chuffed that 8 years after he shuffled off this mortal coil that people were still enthused and talking about him.

Nigel

THE
QUEST
FOR
MIKE HINGE'S
BOXES
August 1984

Mike Kowalski

We drove down through the rain and hills to Huia.

"This is just like Wellington," said Nigel as we descended. Easy to imagine the bush-clad hills covered instead with houses and winding streets, and aircraft passing through the huge gulf of air between the headlands. The windscreen on the hired station-wagon kept misting up, and it was hard to see through the heavy rain.

The blue Skoda we were following pulled over to the side. Across the road was a row of houses. We clambered out of the car, and I unfolded my umbrella.

The tide was out and the mudflats stretched out past the headlands, which were like a row of great grey spikes fading in the rain.

Mike Hinge, itinerant SF artist, hopped out of the other car and ran to the gate. The driveway was two strips of concrete but ran only from the other side of the gate. Before the gate was a stretch of spongy grass slowly puddling up with water. Mike swung the gates open, and I backed the wagon across the grass, leaving deep muddy ruts, and down the long driveway. The shed doors opened after a fair bit of pushing, and the wagon backed up half inside the garage. Mike went into the house and talked to his aunt and then came back out and showed us to the rear of the shed. The boxes were stacked to one side. They were each a metre and a half long and more than a metre high. The bases of some were damp and rotted; most had been riddled by silver-fish around the metal bands on the ends. These boxes had been sealed for twenty-five years.

We dragged them out one by one and prised them open with a crowbar and a hammer. Dust soon gathered in the rear of the shed, already festooned with cobwebs. Outside the grimy window sat a water-tank grown around with weeds. Mike com plained steadily and bitterly about relatives with no appreciation for the value of culture, as we unearthed time and again some especial treasure damaged by time and age.

The bottom-most crate was full of art material, and this had almost all perished, the most crushing blow to Mike. But three or four boxes of jazz 78's had weathered well, and a few boxes of books. Here were first editions of Arthur Clarke and others, an early Arkham Lovecraft collection, a first British edition of Foundation amidst a whole bundle of books about the saucer craze which had once occupied Auckland fandom. It was hard to guess what, if any, was valuable, but there was a lot that was very interesting. A booklet put out by the ARA (Auckland Regional Authority) in 1955 mapped out proposed changes to the public transport system, most of which still haven't got off the ground.

Finally the wagon was loaded, and the last box went into the other car, after the back seats had been taken out. The ground between the driveway and the road was very soggy by now, and the wagon heavily laden. It didn't seem likely we would be able to get out. So we carried down old planks from the box lids and placed them on the grass. Nigel drove the wagon down the drive and across the grass, managing to miss every single plank. For a moment one of the wheels slid, but he made it to the road. By this time we were all very wet, very tired.

We unloaded the boxes on Queen Street and took them up the lift to Martian Way Press. Mike shouted us dinner at the Hungry Horse. Over coffee we argued politics. It was the day of the General Election (I didn't vote, of course). Back at Nigel's office we phoned the Values Party party at Cathryn Symons' house to find the election result, and to learn that Cathryn - who had stood for election - was not destined to become New Zealand's first fannish politician.

Mike Hinge - a biography

2011-12-15T21:02:00.000Z

Mike Hinge in his own words, a short biography circa 1980. This glimpse into Mike's life tells about the exciting era and of the interesting places where Mike lived and worked and his ideas. Thanks very much to Sanford Meschkow and Matt Howarth for sharing this. The front cover is a Mike Hinge ASCII art portrait.

Mike Hinge - an obituary

2011-12-15T21:00:00.000Z

Thanks very much to Andrew Porter for sending me the obituary, Mike is very much missed.

After a long delay, Tom Cardy's obituary for Mike Hinge was published in New Zealand's second largest daily paper. The Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand) December 11, 2003
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Michael Barry Hinge, illustrator and graphic designer. B Auckland, August 9, 1931, d Philadelphia, August 2003.

DESPITE success as an illustrator and graphic designer after moving to the United States 44 years ago, Mike Hinge remained virtually unknown in New Zealand. His success included portraits with a distinct pop art influence for the cover of Time magazine -- Japanese emperor Hirohito in October, 1971 and Richard Nixon, as the Watergate crisis deepened, in November 1973. The artwork for both covers are now held by the Smithsonian. Film-maker Stanley Kubrick hired Hinge to design a "cryogenic module" for a display at cinemas to promote his 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, but the display was never constructed.

Hinge illustrated many covers and interiors for American science fiction magazines Amazing Science Fiction, Fantastic and Analog in the 1970s, as well as book covers. A comic strip, which he also wrote, appeared in the graphic magazine Heavy Metal in 1982.

As a professional artist, Hinge was nominated for a Hugo Award -- sci-fi's most prestigious trophy -- in 1973. New Zealand has featured in the awards only twice since then, when Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring won best dramatic presentation last year and The Two Towers this year. Hinge was also nominated six times for the Locus Awards bestowed by American sci-fi news magazine, Locus.

Hinge grew up in a state house in Mission Bay, Auckland. His English father was a bus driver and his South African mother was a former nurse. Hinge's twin obsessions were sci-fi and everything American. As a child he would stay up till 3am, drawing spaceships and futuristic vehicles. By the time he was a teenager in the late 1940s, he regularly wore a cowboy hat, listened to the blues and Louis Armstrong and was learning to play jazz trombone.

By the standards of the day, he was a maverick. To the consternation of audiences at Auckland cinemas, the Americanophile refused to stand when God Save The King was played before each film. He hated the Union Jack on the New Zealand flag and suggested a koru design instead. Hinge studied at Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts in 1947 and 1948, then worked as a commercial artist at the Farmers Trading Company and advertising agencies. In his spare time he helped illustrate several New Zealand amateur sci-fi publications.

Hinge remained fixated with the US. In 1952, he had applied for a green card to work there. In 1958, he was granted one and left in June. Until he boarded a ship to America, the only place he had visited outside Auckland was Waiheke Island. He enrolled at the Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles. Commissions included record covers, fashion layouts for JC Penney and supermarket interiors.

In New York from 1966, Hinge worked in advertising agencies as an art director and designer. His designs for typefaces and graphics won him several awards and were exhibited, including a show at the Brooklyn Museum. A book about his art, The Mike Hinge Experience, was published in 1973, and his work featured in the anthology The New Visions, in 1982.

Hinge returned home only once. In 1984, his brother Noel, who had won $333,000 in Lotto's predecessor Golden Kiwi, paid for the trip and bought him a house in Orewa. But Hinge found the pace too slow and advertising agencies would not hire him. He returned to New York the following year and resumed work as a freelance illustrator. His last professional work was the cover of Amazing Stories in 1993.

Hinge was based in Philadelphia for the past 10 years. He never married, fearing he couldn't support a family as a freelance artist.He lived alone and friends became concerned after they had not seen him for several days. Police broke into his apartment and found his body. He had died of a heart attack, most likely about a week earlier, around his 72nd birthday. His ashes were interred in Auckland.

-- By
Tom Cardy. Sources: N Hinge, N Rowe, S Meschkow, Locus Online, The Mike Hinge Experience by James Steranko.

Mike Hinge 132

2011-11-26T18:00:00.001Z

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

Mike Hinge - The Warrior Robot

2011-11-15T18:52:00.001Z

Last week I posted the Algol warrior robot cover published in the summer of 1975 and an unpublished version undated. I started wondering when did Mike first draw this particular robot with the arm weapon attachments and its distinctively shaped head and what might be the story behind this drawing?

Putting aside Mike's other robot illustrations that have a similar build, I have made a chronological collection of illustrations of the warrior robot.There are quite likely a lot more but these are the ones that I know about. The robot's first published incarnation seems to have been in Amazing Stories, November 1969. Ted White had recently overtaken the role as editor of Amazing Stories and Fantastic Stories and updating the look of the magazines he engaged Mike with the duty of producing a series of 10 headers for the regular features. Amongst the 10 headers (5 for each magazine) the following three images are the robots published début.

Published in Amazing Stories November 1969

Mike had a regular display of the 10 headers in Amazing and Fantastic up until at least 1975 although I'm not entirely sure when they exactly came to an end I'd be interested to know.

I read that Ted White shared an interest in experimental music with Mike and had also offered Mike a job as art director for Amazing and Fantastic but Mike declined the offer.

Sketch 23rd April 1970

A sketch by Mike Hinge, front and side view of robot. White paper with black pen and yellow wax crayon. Approximately 50x70cm. Dated: 23rd April 1970. Unpublished. Signed.

Published in Algol May 1972

Algol interior header for Ted White's column. Interestingly the signature has written (C) Jones/Hinge 1970 and a nice quirky detail where it says Patent Pending. I emailed Andrew Porter former editor and publisher of Algol and he confirms that it was quite likely Jeff Jones as he remembers him living in New York at the time. Also Alex Jay believes that it is also quite likely a collaboration with Jeff Jones as he also remembers Jeff living in New York around about this time and says that Mike also spoke highly of him. Andrew also mentioned that this illustration was also used for a flyer or other printed piece. Within the spirit of collaboration the individual influences are lost over time but the final result is stunning.

Published Assignment in Tomorrow 1972,

Perhaps this robot shouldn't be included here as it hasn't the same shaped head but I have included it because of the weapon attachments.

Published front cover Fantastic Stories October 1972,

Published in Comic Media March 1973.

Alex Jay sent me this image scanned from a rare British SF publication called Comic Media edited by Nick Landau. It was used to illustrate an article "A History of Science Fiction" by Lee Hopewell. The illustration is the same as the original Algol version but now minus the credit Jones/Hinge 1970 and replaced with a large plaque with Mike's name.

It might be that the plaque was added by someone else other than Mike but saying that I do quite like the font and the detail of the screws. Alex pointed out that he hadn't seen any other art by Mike signed this way in large letters and told me that the font isn't designed by Mike but is a comercial font. Andrew Porter wasn't aware of this reproduction but it is possible that it was an official repoduction. Andrew says that there was a lot of swiping back then; people took stuff, from tear sheets or other places, and reproduced them via offset.

Published in The Mike Hinge Experience 1973
Two illustrations of the warrior with a circular saw attachment. The two illustrations are undated but are from somewhere between 1969-1973.

Published in Heavy Metal 1979

Undated, unpublished, original art

Original art by Mike Hinge - robot "Gravimat" cyborg design on illustration board, black ink and letratone, approximately 40x70cm.Unknown date and unsigned.

Undated sketch

A sketch by Mike Hinge - Robot Maintenance. Pencil on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge - The Robot on the Algol Cover and a different view.

2011-11-06T18:00:00.000Z

Mike Hinge A4 photocopy (From the Mike Hinge photocopy collection)

I was delighted to see this image having had been so familiar with the striking Algol cover. It is from part of a collection of photocopies that Mike made of some of his work. We can now see the whole robot as if looking up from the reflection. A wonderful image as also the Algol cover. I wonder where and who owns the originals?

ALGOL: THE MAGAZINE ABOUT SCIENCE FICTION, Vol. 12 No. 2, Issue No. 24, Summer 1975

Mike Hinge and his participation with Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)

2011-10-30T15:56:00.000Z

At last, I can say we have something on Onyxcube about Mike's sculptural work! It is known (through these pages) that after Mike's death most, if not all of his sculptures were junked and up until now I have not been able to track down any documented work. That is until recently when Alex Jay sent me a selection of scans from the exhibition catalogue "Some More Beginnings" organised by "Experiments in Art and Technology" (E.A.T.). The exhibition took place at the Brooklyn Museum in 1968, with the public viewing from November the 26th to January the 5th 1969. Mike exhibited a kinetic light sculpture titled, "2000 Light years from home". The title is borrowed from The Rolling Stones, 1967 song of the same name. A cool indicator of Mike's appreciation for music and this particular Space Rock classic! The exhibition catalogue's original size is 27 x 42 cm.

The photograph of Mike's work looks incredible and the following descriptions from catalogue are intriguing "Mike Hinge New Zealander: Born 0000. 2,000 Light years from home 1968. Aluminium, synchronous motors, cam timers, wood, electric lights, 24"x24"x14" Category: C:1.2".

And "The piece consists of a number of perforated discs rotated by synchronous motors. The major discs are 13 1/2" in diameter spaced 1 1/2" apart and are powered by 10 different motors of various slow speeds. The second set of discs is mounted below as a reflector for the first set. The discs are illuminated from below by coloured thermal flashing D-26 bulbs mounted on a 2" square with holes punched for wiring and ventilation: 20 surrounding discs are rotated by 20 motors and are sequentially illuminated by colored bulbs on a 12-hour cycle".

Once again, thank you very much to Alex for his contributions.

Front Cover

Further information about E.A.T. can be found on these web pages:

http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=237

http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/doc.php?NumEnregDoc=d00001940

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_in_Art_and_Technology

Mike Hinge 131

2011-10-23T20:32:00.000+01:00

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 and The Mars One Crew Manual

2011-10-13T23:47:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Alex Jay we have another bumper post of Mike Hinge wonders. This time we are revisiting The Mars One Crew Manual, 1985, Ballantine Books NY, for another extraordinary journey of creativity and an amazing amount of rare unseen roughs. You might like to compare this post with the earlier post that featured The Mars One Crew Manual that Alex Jay also provided the scans for, click "here" to see both posts together.

Alex wrote in his email "I was down in the basement and uncovered another batch of Mars One designs by Mike.These photocopies show preliminary designs; you can see he explored many more designs than what was presented in August. He divided the designs into three groups: Graphics,Lettering and Pictorial".

Graphics

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Lettering

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Pictorial

Mike Hinge 130

2011-10-13T22:57:00.000+01:00

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 Fonts Put Into Practice

2011-09-27T22:49:00.000+01:00

Alex Jay has come up trumps again after finding these proof of fonts that he was working on for a holiday ad for toys, two of the fonts are Mike Hinge designs, unfortunately the advert got cancelled.

"Gobots!" is the font Hinge Integrated. "Robo-Toys" is the font ITC Machine (not a Mike Hinge font). "Time Machines" is the font Hinge Computer in italic.

Another example of a Mike Hinge font in practice is a cover mock-up for THRUST, which wasn't published., the source of the image he doesn't recall the website but it was possibly eBay.

Seeing the THRUST logo jogged Alex's memory.

Alex writes, "Mike designed an alphabet based on the logo; digital watches were proliferating and that triggered a need for fonts in that style. I don't recall the name of the font but Mike sold it to PLINC; there must be a contract or agreement in Mike's files. Mike showed a few letters from the alphabet to me; the letters were drawn in outline. Mike said PLINC told him to draw the alphabet in outline; if solid letters were needed, they could easily be filled in. I don't know if this font was ever published in a PLINC catalogue".

Mike Hinge 129

2011-09-27T22:25:00.000+01:00

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

Mike Hinge & Alex Jay - Future Visions

2011-09-17T18:56:00.000+01:00

Alex Jay has kindly sent in some scans of some Logos that he & Mike produced in March 1990, for a new publishing company, Future Visions, which focused on science fiction.

Alex told me that he and Mike worked independently on the project and says "We had to explore two solutions: a one-line version and a two-line version. It's a rather long logo on a single line; sometimes difficult to show large enough, say on the spine of book or game box or in a narrow advertisement".

"We made our presentation and the poor fellow couldn't decide on one. Later on we received a modest kill fee".

Choose your favourite I think you might agree that they are all pretty amazing.

The Mike Hinge Reference

2011-09-09T00:06:00.001+01:00

Our flight has been successful and we've docked on schedule at Parsec City, please have your library ticket at the ready to enter The Mike Hinge Reference...

Although nearly completed The Mike Hinge Reference is still undergoing construction so not everything is as it should and it will be some while yet until the library shelves are full. I hope you like it so far.

Mike Hinge 128

2011-09-08T23:11:00.000+01:00

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

2011-09-07T23:56:00.000+01:00

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 122

2011-09-03T19:15:00.003+01:00

Mike Hinge - What's Cooking with Springmaid (1 of 6). Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 42x34cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

There have been quite a few very nice Mike Hinge pictures for sale on ebay recently. I hope some of you have managed to get a picture or two. I noticed that there was a really interesting piece an advertising storyboard for a Buick saloon car, perhaps quite rare as I am not aware of any filmed TV adverts Mike worked on apart from that one. Unfortunately I didn't get the piece as I would have liked to. I don't know if that Buick advert was just a concept piece or actually got made.

Now back to the Springmaid illustration this is one of six of a series of rough sketches for a Springmaid promotion. The series of illustrations are for a counter display box advertising a competition to be a model for Spring Mill's Springmaid (a fabric bed linen/clothes company). This I think is the type of advertising that Roger Hines pointed out that Mike did a lot of, point of purchase/sales promotion or POP that would be as Roger put it, "counter cards and displays for merchandise, kiosks, in store merchandising promotions".

Merchandise feedback so far...

2011-08-28T20:21:00.000+01:00

I’ve had some feedback regarding Mike Hinge merchandise and it’s clear that amongst the things most wanted is a Mike Hinge book. A worthy tribute to Mike and his art is something that would be very much appreciated and long overdue - a complete omnibus of his work from his early New Zealand work, advertising, published SF works and Kinetic Art. As well it has been suggested a reprint of "The Mike Hinge Experience" or even a "Mike Hinge Experience II" either physical book reprint or a digital publication or even an interactive digital comic application as available on comiXology. Unfortunately though Jane Frank doesn't have any current plans for a book, but has suggested in the email i received at the time of hearing news about merchandise, at sometime a book could be put together. Perhaps if momentum continues we could see it happen sometime soon?

Other merchandise indicated as wanted are T-Shirts, posters and prints.

Another exciting and really interesting proposal was, to create an award in Mike's name that could be presented at a selected SF convention and It was suggested that this could be made possible from some of the profits from the Mike Hinge merchandise. The award could be to recognise new talent or work of excellence in a particular area of graphic art illustration related to science fiction. I think that this could be a really positive way to honour the memory of Mike's work.

Mike Hinge News Flash

2011-08-20T16:27:00.003+01:00

I have had some amazing news from Jane Frank, (she's the agent for Mike's estate), at Wow-Art. Currently she is in the process of considering to develop a line of Mike Hinge merchandise!!! And has asked for the viewers of Onyxcube what type of merchandise you would buy and also to know what are your favourite Mike Hinge images. I will see about setting up a questionnaire ASAP.

Mike Hinge 121

2011-08-20T16:11:00.001+01:00

Thank you again to everyone that contributed towards the Mike Hinge 80th anniversary it was a brilliant experience and I'm still very excited by it all and the feedback from everyone thank you very much. It was really good knowing that Mike was remembered so well and had made such good friends. His popularity then and now will continue to grow.

Mike Hinge -Bionic Hand. Colour photocopy collage. Gloss paper. Approximate size 18x13cm. Date unknown.

From the collection of Mike Hinge photocopies. Above is small colour photocopy of A detail taken from the Six Million Dollar Man centre-spread from Mediascene. The image is reproduced smaller than the actual printed image from mediascene and the colours reproduced are slightly different with a more purple graduation and a glossy look. A pattern (taken from lower down in the actual printed image from mediascene has been pasted where Steve Austin (Six Million Dollar Man) was and two triangular areas have been blackened out with black marker pen. See below for comparison.

For reference to the original art click here. (Thanks Kev).

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary

2011-08-09T10:30:00.001+01:00

Today is Mike Hinge's birthday, he would have been 80 years old. To celebrate this date I will be posting Memoirs, short stories, tributes and rare artwork sent to me specially for this occasion by friends of Mike FOM's (put by Sandford) and art from a fellow fan and collector.

List of contributions (which will appear as separate posts*):

*Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Matt Howarth
- Unlocking some Hinged Memories by Matt Howarth
- The Domino Afternoon by Matt Howarth (download link)
- Separation Anxiety by Matt Howarth (download link)

*Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Sandford Zane Meshkow
- MICHAEL B. (for BARRY) HINGE: A MIND NEVER AT REST by Sanford Zane Meschkow
- A Friend of Max by Sandford Zane Meshkow (download link)
- Mike's actual date of birth

*Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Andrew Porter
- Photograph of Mike Hinge with Ted White and Fred Von Bernewitz.
- Mediascene front cover Prelim of Fred Dreyfuss in Close Encounters
- Cover of MEDIASCENE, section two, issue 28, Nov-Dec 1977
- Cover of ALGOL Vol. 12 No. 2, Issue No. 24, Summer 1975
- Cover of Starship Vol. 17 No. 2, Whole No. 38, Spring 1980

*Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Alex Jay
- 13th Annual Type Director's Club Show (TDC XIII) of 1967 (including Scans)
- Alphabet Thesaurus Vol. 3, A Treasury of Letter Design by Photo-Lettering Inc., 1971. (including scans)
- The Onyx Group, Design Quarterly 78/79 (including scans)
- Mars One Crew Manual (including scans)
- Photographs of Mike Hinge

*Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Roger Hines
- Tribute to Mike Hinge
- The Art Center College of Design...a strong foundation in the "basics"...then to more "edgy"
- Mike Hinge short film collaboration "CITY"

*Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Kevin Foakes
- Original cover art of MEDIASCENE, issue 10, May-Jun 1974
- Rough experimental art for the LP Word Jazz by Ken Nordine

*Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Mike Hinge
- Unpublished Illustrated story by Mike Hinge

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Matt Howarth

2011-08-09T10:06:00.005+01:00

Matt is a writer/artist and met Mike Hinge in the early 70's and has written a personal Memoir for Mike remembering his taste in music and particular aspects of his working practice as well writing a short SF story "Domino Afternoons" inspired by the sad experience of clearing Mike's apartment after his passing and a link to a SF novel "Separation Anxiety" in which many scenes he wrote were inspired by Mike's art.

See Matt's work here:

http://www.matthowarth.com/

Unlocking some Hinged Memories
by Matt Howarth 7/2011

I was a kid the first time I met Mike Hinge. It was at a Philcon (the Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention) in the early 70s; I was a fanboy and he had a table in the Art Show where he was displaying his art and selling his posters. I was familiar with Mike's art (from SF magazines and book covers) and wanted to show him my own (admittedly primitive at the time) art. He proceeded to (verbally) tear my work to shreds, heaping garrulous criticism on my formative art, probably in an attempt to get this fanboy to move along. Unknown to him, though, I was not insulted by his critique; I took his comments to heart and went off to apply his remarks to bettering my art. Much of my sense of design originates from his advice, and I consider him one of my mentors (although he would later rigorously deny that honor, not remembering our first encounter at all).

The next time our paths crossed, years later at some other SF convention, it was our common tastes in eccentric music that brought us together and cemented a solid kinship that would last to (and beyond) Mike's untimely passing.

While Mike's tastes were widespread (running the gamut from electronica to reggae to pop to swing bands), my interests tended to focus on electronic music, with strong concentration on the European scene in the 70s. Consequently, he would often pick my brain regarding what was happening in that scene. Mike was a data junkie, and would jot down a lot of my comments on file cards during our discussions for later reference use. Back and forth over the years, we turned each other on to a variety of bands.

At some point (circa early 80s) Mike was staying at Neal Adams' Continuity Studios in NYC, where he had a niche for his drafting table and boxes of stuff and a ratty mattress shoved in a corner. I remember visiting him there one evening and we spent hours swapping sonic tales. While I had a strong interest in his art (his strong command of stylization shows heavily in my own mature art), the gist of our conversations usually concentrated on music. He would get very excited when I'd tell him about…say, the latest album by Ultravox, for his finances were never opulent, forcing him to appreciate a lot of stuff secondhand. In turn, he would dazzle me with discoveries he'd made scouring the discount bins of Manhattan record shops. That night at Continuity Studios, he pulled out one record and turned me on to Canadian rocker Nash the Slash (with whom I would, years later, form a deep and lasting friendship, working with Nash on several projects…but that's another memoir).

Over the years Mike and I fell in and out of touch, but inevitably the Great Magnet would bring us back together. I spent a lot of the 80s hanging out in NYC, seeing a variety of concerts--and ran into Mike at many of these gigs. We would catch up on each other's doings, but invariably the topic of our discussions would devolve to music…and endure for hours.

Years later, when Mike moved into Philadelphia, he would call every once in a while, to check in and chat…but what he really wanted was to be updated on whatever new music I had discovered. "This is silly," I would tell him. "Why are we wasting time talking about music when you could come over and visit--and actually hear some of this stuff?" But Mike was a recluse and would always beg off visiting for some dubious reason, leaving our exchanges limited to discussions about music. On a few occasions I recorded certain albums for him and sent him the tapes--this thrilled him. He was especially grateful for a live Can album I gave him one time; he really loved Can.

Other bands that Mike enjoyed included: Magazine, Klaus Schulze, the Human League, Japan, Neu, Fad Gadget, OMD, XTC, Ornette Coleman, Led Zeppelin…oh, the list could go on and on. He had a REALLY big collection of music. He also had a lot of 60s Californian psychedelic rock (like Moby Grape). His tastes seemed to focus on experimentation; he was attracted to musicians who pushed the envelope and broke the rules to discover new sonic ground.

It was only after his passing that I actually got the opportunity to see that collection, when I helped his friend Sandford Meschkow to empty out Mike's cramped apartment. As a diehard audiophile, I refused to allow that collection to end up in the hands of the Salvation Army or in a dumpster. I felt it only proper that his collection be disseminated among his friends who shared his tastes. It took a long time--it was a vast mass--but I feel I succeeded in doing the right thing. (I ended up keeping very little of his records for myself, only because I already had most of the stuff I would've wanted.)

During those post-mortem days, I also assisted in the gathering and organization of Mike's artwork (which was stored in the hands of a variety of his friends) to be handed over to an art agent for sale. At this time I got the chance to view his artist career in its entirety (for Mike was a packrat and never threw anything away). His range was incredible. While he is remembered mostly for his highly stylized SF art, he was an accomplished commercial artist possessing the adept skill of adapting his work to whatever style required by the job at hand. He designed several type faces, and built a few constructions that can only be described as futuristic machines with no more function than to be bewitching to the eye. He'd done numerous paintings, much to my surprise, since I was mainly familiar with his linear work. He worked big, often covering a wall with a sheet of paper on which he would do rough designs which would later be converted to smaller canvases. He kept a vast reference library, consisting of not just books but clipped pictures from magazines, all sorted by topic and stored in folders in plastic bags (to protect them from entropy). He had a sincere fascination for colorful lifeforms, like tropical fish (probably stemming from his youth in New Zealand).

At that point I found myself with a newborn respect for his talent…and a sadness that I would never get the chance to tell him about it. But then, I suspect Mike would've just waved a hand and dismissed my praise, muttering something about doing what was necessary to make it as an artist in the modern world…then he would pull a wad of index cards from his pocket and start interrogating me about what new music I'd found.

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Aside 1: As a workaholic, I'm constantly producing stories (graphic and prose). While the majority of my work is science fiction, sometimes inspiration comes from real life. My short prose story "Domino Afternoons" is one such, stemming from the experience of helping to clear out Mike Hinge's crowded apartment after his demise.
(Read Matt's story here: http://onyxcube.weebly.com/)

Aside 2: Being exposed to Mike Hinge's art en masse during posthumous sorting provided me with another such wealth of inspiration. There was a plethora of tantalizing imagery, for Mike's mind was a fertile one. I ended up writing an entire SF novel ("Separation Anxiety") in which many scenes were inspired by Mike's art. As one might expect, robots play a key role in the tale. Interested parties can check out the novel at: www.bugtownmall.com/New_Matt_Howarth_Stuff.htm

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary : Sanford Zane Meschkow

2011-08-09T09:44:00.001+01:00

Sandford is a writer and editor and met Mike Hinge in the mid 60's and has written a personal memoir for Mike remembering certain art projects and the materials and practices he used as well writing a short SF story "A Friend of Max". As well a clarification of Mikes actual date of birth.

See some of Sandford's early SF writing here:

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ch.cgi?14512

MICHAEL B. (for BARRY) HINGE: A MIND NEVER AT REST

By Sanford Zane Meschkow

When I first joined science fiction fandom back in the 1960s, authors always seemed to be writing essays in fan publications about being cornered by fans asking them where they got their ideas. Knowing Mike for 36 years, I soon learned where he got his ideas: EVERYWHERE! The artistic potential of all sorts of objects seemed to fascinate him.

When several Philadelphia friends and SF fans helped me clean out his apartment after his death, his effects included a slide projector and a huge collection of slides. A few were of his artwork, most of them sold or lost items. Many more were of views of his kinetic sculptures and frames from incomprehensible experimental movies. But the majority of the slides were part of a huge reference file. Think street signs, fire hydrants, traffic lights, street lamps, sewer grates, manhole covers, store fronts, posters on fences, cast iron gates, etc. It was as if he was collecting reference material to build himself a gigantic back lot version of New York. You might say that this was just the act of a compulsive person. But what did it lead to?

Founded in 1923, Barney’s once was a landmark New York men’s store that filled the whole block at 7^th Avenue and 17^th Street. Here’s a short paragraph from one of Mike’s resumes: “For Barney’s Clothiers: Supergraphic street mural, concepts for building entrance, lights, graphics, colors, etc. (3-D lettering sign made up of plumbing fittings and pipe, spacing and positioning logo cutout from steel, backlighted in fluorescent tubes).”

That street mural? It was an eye-catching arrangement of representations of manhole covers in a contrasting color on a black background. There were easily a dozen different manhole cover designs represented. Who but Mike Hinge could have conceived of making art out of manhole covers? Yes, if you wanted an illustration of a New York street scene, Mike was the guy to see. No, he didn’t only paint robots on roller skates.

Mike was fascinated by found objects. He collected everything from cigarette packs to, well, money. The U.S. coins he spent, of course, but it astounded us how many coins from Canada, France, and Caribbean and South American countries he had picked up from the street over the years. He had also accumulated a vast collection of bits and stuff for a planned giant collage which, sadly, had to be discarded after he died.

What media did Mike work in? Illustrators and designers used to do rough comps with marker pens. We found a huge set of Berol® PRISMACOLOR ® professional-quality markers that must have included over 100 colors, plus many shades of grey. He had replaced the markers in the original set with newer certified non-toxic markers as he used the old ones up. We would have liked to have donated it, except the oldest markers were so old that the pigments were in solution in some smelly hydrocarbon (benzene? toluene?) that we feared were probably pretty toxic. Working with them in a small room might have made Mike dizzy, but what he would have like about them was their ease of use and their vivid colors. He also liked to use Pelican Plaka casein emulsion paints from Germany and Dr. Ph. Martin’s dyes and acrylics. Robert and Joseph Switzer, who created fluorescent paints (like DayGlo) in 1934 couldn’t have hoped for an artist more eager to use them than Mike, who probably would have liked to have had DayGlo-colored blood.

Mike lived with my wife and I for about 14 months and in return he offered to paint our house – if he could pick the colors. Think of a staid suburban street with one incandescent painted lady of a house on it! We said no, but gently.

Mike liked to work large; the poster was a natural size for him. Also, his big preliminary sketches were as tight and as near completion as some other artist’s final versions. One of his works lost in various moves was a room-sized mural with a historical New Zealand theme that included a lot of Maori art motifs.

Yes, let’s talk of lost art and lost opportunities. Mike told us once that he had decided not to marry because he could never be sure of being able to support a family. He never seemed to have considered the possibility of finding and marrying a woman who worked outside of the home and who might have been capable of providing some cash as well as company during those lean times when art jobs are far apart. Marriage to a creative person can be a rocky road and the Mike I knew would have made a difficult husband, but marriage to the Mike I never knew, the one married to a women who made him happy and could have steered him in the right direction when he needed it – well, that would have been another story. How many covers for ANALOG and TIME might he have done then?

Had Mike been a more famous artist, less of his work would have been lost in moves or dumped when he couldn’t pay storage bills. To pay his taxes and convert some of his belongings to cash for his brother, we filled a van with his paintings and some of his commercial work and sent them off to be auctioned. We were told what not to include. Not his kinetic sculpture, no Parsec City posters, rough sketches, doodles, stats or machine copies of works, nothing of the type of thing that would have had auction value if Mike had been as famous at his death as, say, Jack Kirby. Local friends and fans and I saved some of that unwanted stuff from going into the recycle bin. A lot of that appears on this blog thanks to Ivan. And there is still more out there, so don’t give up, Friends of Mike (FOMs) and inhabitants of Parsec City. Maybe today someone will open a dusty box in an attic that their uncle was holding for some guy named Mike and find it is full of fluorescent wonders.

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Aside 1: Copy of an email I received from Sandy Meschkow and a Mike Hinge inspired story:
A Friend of Max.

Dear Ivan,

I thought the fans of your site might enjoy another bit of fan fiction inspired by Mike Hinge. Mike was no mad scientist, although his electronic sculptures were really something! And he could have made more money during his later years if he were socially adept enough to work with art galleries and smooze more. But he was pretty much a loner and both essentially shy and uncompromising – a bad combination in a field where self-promotion is essential. Mike’s actual apartment is well-described in this story and Mike did have a few friends that kept him going in his later years when the number of science fiction magazines dwindled and the rise of computer graphics cut the ground out from under many established illustrators working in the commercial art field. And if Mike had invented a time machine, it surely would have turned out to have something wrong with it, because he seemed plagued by bad luck.

Sandy Meschkow

Read Sandy's story here: http://onyxcube.weebly.com/

Aside 2: A contribution by Sandy Meschkow regarding Mike's actual birth date.

Mike’s date of birth actually was August 9, 1931. The exact date of his death is uncertain, but it was probably only a few days or two from his birthday in 2003. I still have a big file of letters and stuff about Mike, so it will be no problem to come up with something interesting to say.

Here’s one thing; some sources may say that Mike was born in 1937, and here’s why. When Mike went through the U.S. immigration process, he presented adequate paperwork to establish his date of birth, but in the English (or Continental?) fashion the “1” at the end of his year of birth had a slash through it, so the clerk read it as a “7”. Mike never bothered to go through the hassle of changing it when he was young. But in his last few years he could have really used those extra years of Social Security that he had been cheated out of by a clerical error. We were furious with him when we found out that he had not taken care of that!! Here was a guy who was known as Captain Copyright for enlightening other artists about their rights and got into hot water with some sleazy publishers by not allowing them to swipe his rights and artwork, but was so intimidated by the U.S. Immigration Service and Social Security Administration that he didn’t dare try to get his date of birth corrected. It’s really sad! We helped him sign up for Social Security and you could tell he was sweating bullets through the whole process.

Sandy Meschkow

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Andrew Porter

2011-08-09T09:34:00.003+01:00

Andrew Porter first met Mike Hinge in the early 1960s, when he moved to NYC from Los Angeles, where he'd been a student at the Art Center School [now College] of Design. Andrew Porter was the editor and publisher of ALGOL, The Magazine About Science Fiction.

For the 80th Anniversary blog posts, Andrew has contributed a photograph of Mike, some covers from Algol and Starship and a rare prelim for the cover of Mediascene of Richard Dreyfuss in the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

(L-R) Fred Von Bernewitz, Mike Hinge and Ted White, (1971 Lunacon possibly). Photograph by and © Andrew Porter

Rough of the cover for MEDIASCENE, The America New Magazine of Popular Entertainment, 1977

Cover of MEDIASCENE, section two, issue 28, Nov-Dec 1977

ALGOL: THE MAGAZINE ABOUT SCIENCE FICTION, Vol. 12 No. 2, Issue No. 24, Summer 1975

Andrew recalls that this cover was designed so that there were over-runs done without the logo which when folded made nice Christmas cards.

Starship, The Magazine about Science Fiction (formerly ALGOL), Vol. 17 No. 2, Whole No. 38, Spring 1980

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Alex Jay

2011-08-09T09:32:00.004+01:00

Below is an edited version of e-mails exchanged between Alex Jay and myself. Alex is an artist and was a friend and colleague of Mike Hinge and kindly shared with me some interesting facts and images which shed some light into the breadth of Mike's creative work.

http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=6724
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From: Alex Jay
Sent: 27 July 2011 13:53
To: Ivan Richards
Subject: Mike Hinge Blog

Hello Ivan,

Sandy Meschkow told me about your blog and sent your email address to me.

I've known Mike since 1978 when I met him at Neal Adams' studio, Continuity Associates, in

New York City; Mike rented a room there. I was invited to rent a space in 1980. My background

was graphic design so we had a lot in common. I also did a fair number of comic book logos

which can be seen at the Comic Book Database, comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=6724; click

on the link for Machine Man and you'll see where Mike's Monkey Wrench typeface came from.

I'll say more about it in another email.

Thank you for creating a blog about Mike and his designs. Most of it I've never seen because

he had it in storage. Regarding your post #119, I can show you Mike's designs from the 13th

Annual Type Director's Club Show (TDC XIII) of 1967; they were part of the ad campaign for

Mexico Magnifico. (click on images to enlarge)

Annual TDC XIII Mike Hinge's winning ad for Mexico Magnifico

On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 7:15 AM, Ivan Richards wrote:

Hi Alex
Thank you so much. This is fantastic information. It is really cool that you have the 13th Annual Type Director's Club Show catalogue and have scanned the pages, I would love to put the scans for blog. What a surprise, The Mexico Magnifico is familiar to me as I have two tags and a flyer with the design, I wonder if Mike got a wage raise for getting a prize?
(...)

All the very best
Ivan

------

From: Alex Jay
Sent: 28 July 2011 19:48
To: Ivan Richards
Subject: Re: Mike Hinge Blog

Hello Ivan,

Here are the samples of Mike's typefaces from the Alphabet Thesaurus Vol. 3, A Treasury of Letter Design by Photo-Lettering Inc., 1971.

The typefaces were identified by name and number; the number was followed by a letter.

n = normal

c = compressed (stretched north and south)

e = expanded (stretched east and west)

Most were shown in italic at a 12 degree forward slant; a few had an outline sample.

Do you have the book, The Mars One Crew Manual? It was published here by Ballantine

Books in 1985. I designed it and hired Mike to do some technical drawings; the art credits

are on the copyright page. He also designed the patch on the cover; the art was by

another artist. If you can't find it, I might have an extra copy in my basement.

Onyx was represented in the periodical Design Quarterly. It's also in the basement.

Did Mike get a wage increase for his work in TDC XIII? I doubt it because his firm paid the

entry fee, and the hanging fee for the exhibition. Most likely he got a pat on the back, a

hearty congratulations and a copy of the award certificate.

Best,

Alex

On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 9:26 AM, Ivan Richards wrote:

Hi Alex
Thank you so much, a dream come true. It's really good to have the Plinc vol. 3 scans I will put them on Onyxcube blog for Mike's birthday. I had always wondered which book Mike's typefaces would be in. This book is worth a small fortune, along with your Director's Club Show catalogue. My favourites are Hinge Electronic and Hinge Quasar. The Quasar looks familiar I think that I might have an illustration in a book somewhere with this design.
I'd love to see the periodical Design Quarterly with the Onyx font. Do you know of any other fonts Mike designed? Some while ago I remember seeing a font rough design on ebay and didn't make a note or copy of it, which i always do now.
Yes I am lucky to already own a copy of The Mars One Crew Manual. It's very good and great design lovely and complex. There are masses of illustrations here, I wonder how long it might have taken to do? How long would it have taken for Mike to complete one of the large technical pictures? Would he have used photoraphs and traced? It is a nice book and hasn't yet been given enough attention on the web, it's on my list to post some images and info sometime soon.
(...)
Many thanks again
All the best
Ivan.

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From: Alex Jay

Sent: 01 August 2011 20:08

To: Ivan Richards

Subject: Re: Mike Hinge Blog - thank you

Hi Ivan,

Attached is a scan of the cover of "Design Quarterly 78/79: A Special Double Issue on 'Conceptual Architecture'"; near the top of the cover, the letter is addressed to Onyx and others; near the bottom you'll see "ONYX (pages 42-46).

On page 44 Mike was represented by his Parsec City illustration of the space vehicle flying into the wall of circuits with the title, Parsec City, is in the upper right corner. I'm sure you've seen this illustration. On page 46 all four members of Onyx were represented; Mike's design is in the top right. This issue of DQ was perfect bound or square back; I did not want to crack the spine to get a better scan of Mike's design. I have no information on the other three members of Onyx, who had some background or interest in architecture. I'm not aware of a font, by Mike, called Onyx.

In the next email, I'll write more about the Mars One Crew Manual and related graphics.

Best,

Alex

From: Ivan Richards

Subject: Re: Mike Hinge Blog - Onyx group

To: Alex Jay

Date: Tuesday, 2 August, 2011, 13:20

Hi Alex,

Thank you very much, this Onyx group is very interesting. It is the first I have heard of it. Initially I thought you meant that Onyx was a typeface as I have a letterhead in my collection that has ONYX in an unusual green font and then a New York address, it's posted in my blog 119. I have made a quick search of the other members of Onyx but I think it will need a finer search to find them all. I wonder what other projects Onyx were involved with and if they had a manifesto, (...)

(...)

All the best

Ivan.

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From: Alex Jay [mailto:alexjay10@gmail.com]

Sent: 02 August 2011 03:18
To: Ivan Richards
Subject: Mars One

Hi Ivan,

As I mentioned in an earlier email, Mike designed the Mars One patch which was rendered by another illustrator.

Attached are the alternate patch designs plus unused logos. Many of the logos were influenced by other fonts,

which he incorporated into the name. There were some exciting-looking logos but the editor and marketing head

at Ballantine Books wanted the cover to have some resemblance to the Space Shuttle book which was by the

same author. The Ballantine art director made the font selection for the cover.

The author supplied the technical drawings and most were used, as is, in the book. (There is a full-page photo

of the author, dressed in uniform, in the book. I cut out a press-proof of the patch and taped it to his uniform.) In

some cases the drawings needed to be modified and there's where Mike came in. I'd explain to Mike what the

author wanted in the new drawing and then we would go over the reference material and discuss what to do. He

took the material and returned in a few days or so with the finished illustrations. This was done over a period of

about four weeks.

I have a few photos of Mike, from November 2002, to share with you in the next email.

Best,

Alex

From: Ivan Richards
Sent: 03 August 2011 13:21
To: Alex Jay
Subject: Re: FW: Mars One

Hi Alex

Thank you very much, I wanted to first re look at my copy of Mars One, before replying. I had a good look again last night and have the copy here with me. It is such a clearly laid out book and with excellent notes crediting the art work. It has some great technical drawing from Mike (and you) with the occasional noticible Hinge style. With all the technical detail it might have been a joy for mike to do, there's a nice illo of a communication station 2.5.1 that has some buttons which he's used in other illustrations which is a nice continuity. The main computer console 6.1.1 looks amazing. Understandably the project didn't call for stylised drawings pity as i think it would be even more stunning. The drawings are they drawn large do the originals still exist?(...)

(...)

I look forward very much to seeing the photos of Mike.

All the very best

Ivan.

------

From: Alex Jay

Date: Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 1:49 AM

Subject: Re: FW: Mars One

To: Ivan Richards

Hi Ivan,

Photostats were made of Mike's original art. These photostats or line positives were pasted, along with the photo-typesetting of the text, on the mechanical. (These are terms from the pre-didgital age.) The original art was returned to Mike who always made a point of getting his art returned. I assume Mike stored the Mars One art with his other art. On this project I believe he did a few alternate drawings.

Back in November 2002, I invited Mike to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with my family, in-laws and my wife's relatives. I hadn't seen him for a few years so it was good to see him again. Actually, the last time I saw him was at my wedding back in 1994. The next day we travelled around the city; he always loved New York City and missed it very much. There are three photos of him at the World Financial Center which was across the street from what was the World Trade Center, which was now a construction pit. This was 14 months after the September 11 attack. In the photo of the palm trees, Mike is standing in front of the second row from the left. Debris from the Trade Center towers crashed through the atrium and badly damaged the area where Mike and the trees are standing. This area was rebuilt in about a year. The other two photos of Mike shows him standing in front of the large glass windows. At the time, this location offered the best view of the World Trade Center construction pit. The tall slender building next to Mike is a hotel which is on the east of the Trade Center. If I recall correctly, we went to the East Village and had lunch at an Indian restaurant, one of Mike's favorite cuisines.

The other group of photos were shot at the 42nd Street subway station at Times Square. Mike is standing under pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's mural. You can read more about it here, www.mta.info/mta/aft/permanentart/permart.html?agency=nyct&line=A&station=5&artist=1

(...) From the subway we walked to the street level and on to the bus station.

At the bus station we said our good-byes and that was the last time I saw him. Later, we talked a few times on the phone; one conversation was about a portrait he was working on of my wife. Then, in August 2003 I got a call from Larry Hama, who got a message from Jim Steranko, who was notified by Sandy Meschkow, about Mike's sudden passing.

Lastly, regarding the ONYX letterhead, I don't know if it was for Mike or the group. Mike told me he lived in the Chelsea neighbourhood which is on the west side of Manhattan. The address on the letterhead is an east side location.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Best,

Alex

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Roger Hines

2011-08-09T09:16:00.002+01:00

Below is an edited version of e-mails exchanged between Roger Hines and myself. Roger is an assemblage artist and met Mike Hinge at Art College in the 60's and has kindly shared his reminiscent stories which bring wonderful insights into Mike's early work in advertising and experimental art.

See Roger's artwork here: http://www.mindspring.com/~rogerhines/
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From: Roger Hines
Sent: 28 July 2011 22:59
To: Ivan Richards
Subject: TRIBUTE TO MIKE HINGE

Hi, I'm Roger Hines. I'm an assemblage artist and live in Manhattan.

I first met Mike in 1965 when we were attending The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. We also resided at the same boarding house that was run by my aunt. It was then that I became aware of Mike's fantastic work. It really inspired and influenced me as I was just beginning my art and design career. Back then, Mike was waaaaay ahead of his time. His endless child-like curiosity about everything greatly shaped his work...and others too.

Mike was a true eccentric. Really danced to his own tune. Difficult at times but he never lost his integrity. He never stopped reaching ever further into everything he touched and created.

Integrity, energy, passion, curiosity, inquiring, talented, foresighted, innocent... are but a few of the words that remind me of Mike.

Mike, Where the hell are you?...now that we REALLY need you!

------

From: Ivan Richards

Sent: Jul 29, 2011 9:02 AM

To: Roger Hines

Subject: Re: TRIBUTE TO MIKE HINGE

Hi Roger

Thank you for your email it's great to hear from you. I'm so pleased to be hearing from friends of Mike or FOMs (as Sandy put it). I checked out your website love your "rooms of the mind".

You met Mike very early on I would be facinated to hear about the teaching of The Art Center College of Design. Apparently Mike choose the college specially when in New Zealand because a draughtsman he worked alongside had studied there. Was there a particular teacher that might have had an influence or books studied?

Your Aunt's boarding house might have been a fun place to be, i can't help thinking of your rooms of the mind! I guess you had some good nights out and interesting conversations. Mike would have been a little older than you but still young, do you remember seeing any bands with him around about that time and art shows. I have a feeling that Mike was interested in a lot of things and would have made use of that "energy, passion and curiosity" I get the impression that he had a wide interest in art and would have liked had been more involved in the fine art world as well as being an illustrator, I haven't seen any of his kinetic sculptures but I'd really hope to see one or two one day and know more about the work he did for E.A.T (experiments in art and technology). As well I know he collaborated in at least a couple of short art films. I am encouraged by your description of Mike I think he is an interesting character even though having never met him.

I notice [from your website] that you were one of the "Mad Men", do you watch the tv series? Was it like that? Did you work with Mike at that time? Apparently he worked in an ad agency in Los Angeles (I don't know which one) and he was also an art director in New york and worked at a couple of Agencies BBDO & Young and Rubicam. Do you know of any ads that he did? I sometimes trawl through ebay looking through ads from the mid 60's hoping to recognise his style. I have made a few guess' not sure if I'm right or not.

If it's okay i'd like to include your tribute on my blog, for Mike's 80th birthday (August 9th).

All the very best

Ivan

------

From: Roger Hines
Sent: 31 July 2011 06:38
To: Ivan Richards
Subject: Re: TRIBUTE TO MIKE HINGE

Hey, Ivan...Thanks for the reply back. I'll try to answer some of your questions:

Just who had influence on Mike at Art Center...I don't know. We were at ACS at different times. Art Center emphasized a strong foundation in the "basics"...then to more "edgy". By then, you were really equipped to pushed to your limit.

Mike and I shared an apartment in Los Angeles for about a year or two. At the time, He was working as an art Director for the May Co., a large west coast retail chain store and another smaller agency I don't recall now.. I was just finishing up graduating Art Center. We never went out to hear bands but Mike had an amazing, vast music collection. A lot of it way out experimental electronica. One group in particular was a group from Germany...Musik Koncret from 1947. WOW! talk about ahead of it's time! He would be working on some of his stuff while I worked on homework assignments way into the night...listening to all kinds of music from his collections....AWESOME FUN!

Mike did a couple of kinetic sculptures which were pretty cool. Whatever happened to them, I don't know. However, Mike was more of an illustrator than a fine artist, although he did have some aspirations in that direction. He mostly did illustrations to make a living. Some bordered on "fine art". He and I collaborated on a short film once, but it never reached completion.

The Mad Men series was fairly accurate. They were wild times. By around 1967, Mike and I were working in New York for Young and Rubicam. I worked in General advertising. Mike in point of purchase/sales promotion. He gave the look to the "Mexico Magnifico" campaign which you have a couple of images for.

Hope this helps. Stay close.

Peace and Light

Roger

------

From: Ivan Richards

Sent: Aug 1, 2011 8:27 AM

To: Roger Hines

Subject: Re: TRIBUTE TO MIKE HINGE

Hi, Roger

I'm so in awe that you and Mike had jobs as Art Directors in the 60's so amazing, thanks to Mad men I can imagine what it might have been like. I guess that all the work produced at these ad agencies wasn't allowed to be taken out of the office and taken home for the portfolio or was it less strict? Would you and Mike have kept a portfolio of published ads? Do you remember any particular clients and ads that Mike did? (...)

(...)

Thanks for pointing out that he was the ad director at May Co, i really wasn't sure if it was an outside agency or in house.

What are the differences between General advertising and point of purchase/sales promotion? Did Mike do any tv commercials?

(...)

(...), I had been hoping one day to know more about the short film's Mike worked on. Even though not complete does any footage survive of this film? Is this filmed on 16mm color film? Was it called "City"? What did you and Mike do on this film? What was it about? I would love to see this film, I'm really hoping it still exists.

All the best

Peace and light

Ivan

------

From: Roger Hines

Sent: 02 August 2011 23:14
To: Ivan Richards
Subject: Re: TRIBUTE TO MIKE HINGE

Ivan...

When we worked for those ad agencies, we always had plenty of reprints of our work including commercials. Mike did a lot of work for Eastern Airlines when they developed the promotion "Mexico Magnifico". He did the typographic illustrations for that.

The difference between general advertising and "POP" was, general mostly consisted of TV, print ads, radio, etc. "POP" consisted of things like counter cards and displays for merchandise, kiosks, in store merchandising promotions, etc.

I'm surprised you knew about the short film Mike and I started "CITY". How did you know about that? It was never completed because Young and Rubicam transferred me to Germany. It was an animated stop motion short depicting a city building up out of brightly colored abstract shapes and blocks with wild graphics which Mike rendered. I have no way of knowing where the footage is. I believed I turned all of that over to mike. However, there is a real remote chance I may have some it stored away. (...)

Roger

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Kevin Foakes

2011-08-09T09:00:00.003+01:00

Kevin is a musician and artist/designer and like me lives in London and is a fellow fan and collector of Mike Hinge. He has also posted a tribute of rare Hinge images on his website and can be seen here.

For Mike's 80th anniversary Kevin has sent me some photos of two artworks by Mike.

You can also visit Kevin's web page here:

http://www.djfood.org/djfood/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Six Million Dollar Man" Original centre-spread art for MEDIASCENE, issue 10, May-Jun 1974

Detail 1: L-R, Final version and alternative unused head.

Detail 2.

Detail 3.

Experimental artwork for the LP Word Jazz by Ken Nordine (unused)

Mike Hinge 80th Anniversary: Mike Hinge

2011-08-09T08:30:00.000+01:00

Draft Prelim Unpublished Illustrated story by: Mike Hinge

From the collection of Mike Hinge's A4 photocopies

Mike Hinge 120

2011-08-06T14:39:00.001+01:00

This is an email I received from Sandy Meschkow, one of Mike Hinge's close friends, clarifying about where Mike lived before he died.

Dear Ivan,

I think Mike fell out of direct communication with a lot of his New York contacts while he was in Philadelphia, so there is some confusion about where he was living after he left New York for Philadelphia. While he did spend the last few years of his life in a rented room just over the Philadelphia city line in Upper Darby, PA, he lived there alone. For about two years previous to that he lived with my wife, Marian, and I about ten miles west of Philadelphia in a little town called Havertown. In fact, the cover painting for George Allen Effinger’s novel, When Gravity Fails, was done in our back bedroom.

Sandy Meschkow

A3 photocopy of a prelim for the cover of George Allen Effinger’s novel, When Gravity Fails

Mike Hinge 119

2011-07-12T21:51:00.005+01:00

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)

Mike Hinge 118

2011-06-26T12:11:00.002+01:00

Mike Hinge, front cover wraparound for Lunacon 1968 program.

Whilst researching Mike Hinge I came accross Cecilia Cosentini a film maker in New York who had known Mike Hinge personally and was able to recall some interesting encounters which provide further insight on his personality. Cecilia kindly wrote this article specially for Onyxcube and I hope you will enjoy it. Thank you Cecilia!

Some links and history to Cecilia's work...

2003, Worked on the SciF Channel's Frank Herbert's Dune and Children of Dune which both won Emmy's for Special Effects.

1998 HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon" 12 part miniseries that got 17 Emmy Nominations (including one for special effects for the episode which she worked on),

1984 Interior illustrations for S. P Somtow's - Vampire Junction.

1978 Galaxy cover is found here.

1969 designed a Tarot Card for a Tarot Card project by Bruce Pelz that featured various artists. You can see it on this page here. It's the Lady of Swords which was one of the cards Bruce invented.

I was a long time reader of Science Fiction and grew up watching Star Trek. I was involved with SciFi fandom professionally from approximately 1975 to about 1985ish. During those years I attend Trek conventions and SciFi cons like Lunacon to sell my initial art experiments at the Art Shows.

There were also gatherings at Andrew Porter's home in Brooklyn, meetings at Stu Shiffman's in upper Manhattan and various other's: Devra Langsam of Spockanalia fame, "The Frog Palace" which was the home of Connor Cochran who in those days used his nickname, Freff (a contraction of FRiend jEFF) and Amy Sefton. The large home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn was so named because of two cement frogs standing guard on either side of the staircase entrance. This was how artists, writers, editors and readers of SciFi networked. Somewhere in this melange of odd people, creative people and just plain nutty people I met Mike Hinge, but the exact occurrence is lost to the mists of Time. And I hope people reading this will recognize some names to help piece together more of the hinge puzzle. One of the first things that struck me is that he would sometimes sign his work with a drawing of a hinge. How clever, I thought!

In my 20's and at the start of my career I was totally focused on learning and figuring out where my talents really were. I was not mature enough to really appreciate Mike Hinge and his various interests and talents. I say this by way of apology because I wish I had more brilliant observations of Mike. Unfortunately, I was a dummy.

However, I do recall one very important lesson. At the time publishing was a major source of income for artists. Even I had covers and interiors in Galaxy magazine (1978ish) and other publications. It was well known that most new artists are so desperate for work or acknowledgement that they will allow editors, agents and anyone to abuse them. One editor regularly screwed the artists out of their money. Editors and publishers would often keep or throw away an artists original work. The disrespect was amazing. And Mike was understandably bitter about this.

There were many subtleties when dealing with the Politics of Publishing and Mike showed me one. Generally (in those days, anyway) when you got a commission for an illustration you brought in several mock-ups and the editor chose the one they liked. I remember talking to Mike about this while looking over some of his work on a long table. He said he would make approximately five mock-ups, look them over and pick the "worse" one. He would set THAT one aside and bring the other best ones to show the editor. Mike knew that the editor would ALWAYS, Every Single Time love the worse image. He said this with some understandable disdain. (The look on his face could be translated to , "man, those guys are idiots") This was an important and revealing lesson. An artist should Always trust their own taste above everyone else's. You have to live with your decisions and what others do to your work. So, you don't give any opportunities for others to abuse you. You only show people work that you know you can be proud of. After all, it's your name on the page. Artists have to be responsible for their career.

And because of similar lessons I always made sure to get my original work back, to have editors sign a kill-fee contract and get the respect I deserve.

When I look back I think I carried this outlook with me as I went on with my career in films and computers.

Mike had many interests and one was music. Somehow I ended up going to a club with Mike. I don't know why the location of Columbus Circle in Manhattan pops into my head when I think of this, but I hope it's because it's near where this took place. I can see myself and Mike standing in a balcony area looking down at the band raucously and loudly playing. The crowded audience near the band were jumping up and down as if their feet were on fire. I later learned this was a "pogo". To say I was shocked is putting it mildly. I don't think I had seen anything so loud and so chaotic. I'm sure Mike was disappointed with my reaction, but it wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last. Mike was WAY ahead of his time and I was too young to know it. When I was in my 30's I frequented CBGB's and throughly enjoyed Hardcore shows to the point where I was there every week at least. By then I had abandoned most of my scifi connections so I wasn't able to let Mike know I had finally SEEN THE LIGHT.

Mike was very much an "analog" artist, He knew how to pick up a pencil and draw. How to use a rapidograph pen, cut Screentones with exacto knives, design font faces, paint in gauche and probably knew various printing techniques like Silkscreen. I've noticed in my work in films that lots of "kids" seem to only have experience with their computers. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with "digital". I just think that an artist's work is influenced by the Many techniques they learn. I know that's been the case with me as MY analog experiences definitely affected my later digital work. Each technique adds an important point of view and understanding to all future work. Mike's sense of design was bold, unusual and beautiful. I wish someone had plumbed the depths of his brain about his influences and the process.

Yes, I do think Mike left a lasting impression on me. And it's shame more people don't know him and his work. I hope this small contribution helps remedy that unfortunate vacuum. And maybe looking at Mike's work we can, like archaeologists, begin to unearth the meaning.

Mike Hinge 117

2011-06-13T23:14:00.003+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's Shoes and Purses Spring Clean 2. Marker pen and pencil on tracing paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 9th of May 1965. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 116

2011-06-13T23:08:00.002+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's Shoes and Purses Spring Clean. Pen and pencil on thin paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 9th of May 1965. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 115

2011-06-13T22:54:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge - May Co - Sale. Carbon Copy?. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 3rd of March 1960. signed cutty / mike.

Mike Hinge 114

2011-06-05T17:09:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge - May Co - Children's Clothes. Carbon Copy?. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 3rd of April 1960. signed mike / dian.

Mike Hinge 113

2011-05-31T20:06:00.004+01:00

Mike Hinge - Spring *Lingerie Sale. Carbon Copy?. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 10th of March 1960. signed mike / diane.

Mike Hinge 112

2011-05-25T19:50:00.001+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's - Sensational Savings on Famous Label Coats. Marker pen on tracing paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 111

2011-05-23T21:03:00.002+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's - July Bargain Days. Marker pen on tracing paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: July 1960? Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 110

2011-05-16T21:59:00.003+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's - Wampoise ad for The Los Angeles Examiner. Large printed advert on newsprint paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 11th November 1960. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 109

2011-05-15T12:58:00.001+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's - Towncraft Gift - Shirt Values. Large printed advert on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 108

2011-05-07T17:55:00.001+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's 2 Big Days - Rain Or Shine Values. Large printed advert on blue paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: November 1960. Unsigned.

This is second of two large adverts printed on blue paper.

Mike Hinge 107

2011-05-07T17:45:00.003+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's 2 Big Days - Big Buy In Bulkies. Large printed advert on blue paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: November 1960. Unsigned.

This is one of two large adverts printed on blue paper. Perhaps to be used as in-store promotional posters? or printed large for proofing?

Mike Hinge 106

2011-05-02T23:09:00.002+01:00

Mike Hinge - Penny's Times and Exam rough Ad. Pen on thin paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 12/12/1960. Unsigned.

Almost a year and a half after arriving in Los Angeles an advertising rough for JC Penny's department Stores for what I am guessing is for the newspapers "The Los Angeles Times" and "The Los Angeles Examiner".

The copy at the top says "She'll love you for giving her our home appliance values. Your choice... One low price".

Mike Hinge 105

2011-04-29T15:48:00.004+01:00

Mike Hinge - May Co Wilshire, Oriental Bazaar. Pen and Ink on thin paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

This is one of Mike's advertising pieces for a store in Los Angeles called May & Co on Wilshire Boulevard. The building itself is pretty grand and impressive, I'd love to see it for real one day. This piece would have been produced when Mike lived in Los-Angeles either as freelance or with an Advertising Agency.

There is another version of this piece that I have seen but do not have. The other version is signed and has the same composition but has different colouring and doesn't have the text or border. If you have it fantastic! It is a really nice piece. Please feel free to get in touch.

It is well documented that in 1959 Mike Hinge emigrated to the US and lived and studied art in Los Angeles and whilst there In Los Angeles he worked at major advertising agencies and also freelanced. Now the thing is I would love to know the names of the Advertising Agencies and the clients that he produced work. Up until now I haven't been able to find this information. (I know that later when he moved to New York he worked for Young & Rubicam & BBDO). I do have one clue that whilst living in Los Angeles one of the agencies he worked for was co-owned by a contessa in Beverly Hills [sic], perhaps meaning a Countess(?) .

Mike Hinge 104

2011-04-29T15:06:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge - May Co Wilshire. Pen on thin paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 103

2011-04-22T11:51:00.003+01:00

Mike Hinge - Easter Bunny Honey. Pen and Ink on white card. Approximate size 30x40cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 102

2011-04-18T23:33:00.005+01:00

Mike Hinge - Planetoid Idiot. Water colour, ink on white paper. Approximate size 30x40cm. Date July 1966. Signed.

I believe that this was a proposed cover illustration for "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction", May 1967 for the short story "Planetoid Idiot" by Phylis Gotlieb. It didn't get used and instead it was illustrated by Ronald Walotsky. The blank boxes at the top of the illustration would have fitted the magazines title. If it had got published it would have been his first Cover for the popular monthly science fiction magazine market. However that didn't come until later, when Ted White commissioned a cover for "Amazing Science Fiction", November 1970 and with a similar style and robot theme of a close up of a robots hand.

Planetoid detail1

Planetoid detail2

Planetoid detail3

Planetoid detail4

Mike Hinge 101

2011-04-10T18:41:00.001+01:00

Mike Hinge - Geometric Girl. Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 30x40cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 100

2011-04-03T15:50:00.001+01:00

Mike Hinge - Popular Mechanics. Colour ink & Paint on Hammermill Bond paper. Approximate size 43x58.5cm. Date: Unknown. Signed.

detail 1

detail 2

detail 3

detail 4

detail 5

detail 6

detail 7

Mike Hinge 099

2011-03-26T19:08:00.003Z

Mike Hinge - NZV Gentek. Pen and ink on water colour paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Detail 1

Detail 2

Detail 3

Detail 4

I don't know if this picture was published or not and have wondered if it was intended for a particular story. NZV Gentek would be a clue but I haven't found any mention on the web specifically. The NZ I assume stands for New Zealand but it could be something else entirely!

Mike Hinge 098

2011-03-20T16:43:00.005Z

Mike Hinge - Unplotted Object (original Orientation). Pencil and pen on paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

This is a sketch that belongs to the series of drawings by Mike for a story that he wrote and illustrated called "OBJECT - COMPUTE...COMPUTE...READOUT...REALTIME /// 0" for the September 1982 magazine "Heavy Metal".

detail

rotated

I have a collection of a few of a few more sketches for this story that I have already posted on the blog you can see them HERE.

With the collection of Mike Hinge photocopies, I got recently, there was a rough draft of the story OBJECT so I thought it might be interesting to compare and contrast the rough draft with finish published images.

Here are the two frames of "Unplotted Object", draft and then published.

Here is the front cover of the draft story and an inside page and then an inside page of "Heavy Metal" magazine.

I have cobbled together a youtube film the draft "OBJECT - COMPUTE... COMPUTE... READOUT... REALTIME /// 0" and have combined it, to compare and contrast, with the finished illustrations that were published in "Heavy Metal" magazine.

Mike Hinge was a massive music fan and had a wide interest in music. From one short biography he wrote, "Work to favourite New Wave Groups: Ultravox, Joy Division, Magazine and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, with which the listening preference is headphones..." Hence the decision for the chosen sound track - Ultravox - Maximum Acceleration.

All the best.

*UPDATE* 10/04/2011

Later I realised that I have another of Mike's photocopied images from this series that shows a little more of the scene and has the difference that it doesn't have the name Barney on the space helmet.

A3 photocopy

Mike Hinge 097

2011-03-16T21:19:00.001Z

Mike Hinge - Open Door. Colour Pencil, Water Colour, Black Pen and wax crayon on white paper. Approximate size 16.5x25.5cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

A small design that I am guessing is late 80's or 90's. I don't know what it was intended for. The bit that I like the most about this piece is the orange/gold, white and blue wax crayon and the black pen patterns drawn on the "hat". They are drawn very loose and seem spontaneous.

Below is a black and white photocopy that Mike did before adding the pattern decoration.

Mike Hinge - Open Door. Photocopy on white paper. Approximate size 16.5x25.5cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 096

2011-02-28T00:55:00.004Z

Mike Hinge - Study. Pencil on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Some time last year I found an excellent website owned by Dan called "Dan's Fantasy Art Collection" and on his website he had a similar "Study" by Mike Hinge but with a more evolved picture that you can see "here" (21 pictures down). Dan told me that this work was commissioned to illustrate "Redeemer"- a story by Gregory Benford in Analog Magazine April 1979, but carries the notation on the back "rejected/unpublished".

The published "Redeemer" illustration can be seen below.

The original of this picture was recently sold on ebay and of course I really wanted it but unfortunately my finances wouldn't allow it. Congratulations on who did! Please get in contact...

In the last few weeks through the grapevine I was contacted by Matt (a friend of Mike Hinge). Due to a house move he thought the time had come to let go of some Mike Hinge - tear sheets, photocopies, books and printers proofs that Mike had given him over the years. The long treasure items have now safely arrived with me and I now plan to share all the pieces here...first off... Look familiar?

Mike Hinge - A3 size black and white photocopy, date unknown.

Mike Hinge - A4 colour photocopy and acrylic paint (the title Weird Tales has been hand painted).

Date: Summer 1993?

Thanks Dan, Thanks Matt.

Mike Hinge 095

2011-02-14T00:43:00.001Z

Mike Hinge - Valentine Heart. Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 25x31cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 094

2011-02-14T00:27:00.002Z

Mike Hinge - Switch on Baby Valentine. Marker pen on white paper. Approximate size 30x40cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 093

2011-01-02T18:29:00.001Z

Mike Hinge - Hung On You (4). Colour pen on thin paper. Approximate size 35x43cm. Date: Unknown. Signed.

This is the final image, redrawn, traced from the reduced print and coloured. There are some small differences the most noticeable is the choice to break the border where the lady's hair ribbon flows from the picture.

The question is who was the picture for and was it used?

"Hung On You" was in the late 60's a psychedelic fashion boutique on Kings Road in London England and where there was also a fashion boutique called "Granny takes a Trip" that was at number 488 Kings Road (mostly associated with the English artists "Michael English and "Nigel Waymouth". I also found a remote reference to Coca Cola and "Hung On You" on the web, from a magazine from 1967 called "Boys Life" it has a Coca-Cola advert that has an article on a band called The Fortunes in this article the band visits "Hung On You" where they try on some clothes and drink Coca-Cola.

Mike Hinge 092

2011-01-02T17:26:00.001Z

Mike Hinge - Hung On You (3). Some type of print (photocopy?). Approximate size 35x43cm. Date: Unknown. Signed (facsimile).

This is a print of the previous drawing reduced in size to 16 1/2".

Mike Hinge 091

2011-01-02T17:11:00.001Z

Mike Hinge - Hung On You (2). Black pen on tracing paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Signed.

The image is traced from the previous drawing but has been done more neatly and he has made an adjustment in placing the image centrally on the page and reducing the width by introducing a border on the right hand side. The hair of the woman is neater and more elegant and now she has a breast.

Written on the right hand edge in blue "NEG & POS MATTE STAT 16 1/2" ON MARKS".

Mike Hinge 090

2011-01-02T16:33:00.001Z

Mike Hinge - Hung On You (1). Colour Pen on tracing paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

I am calling this number 1 as it is perhaps the first drawn in a series of four pictures that I have of this design. This image is drawn and coloured in rough and is slightly larger than the following version.

Mike Hinge 089

2010-12-16T14:39:00.001Z

Mike Hinge - Christmas Plonk. Pencil, pen and gold coloured sticker on white card. Approximate size 34x45cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

The picture appears to be unfinished as there are pencil bits not inked. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not I have recreated a couple of versions one without the pencil and one inked (the contrast of the pencil increased on photoshop).

Mike Hinge 088

2010-10-31T10:08:00.000Z

Mike Hinge - Lady Web. Pencil on tracing paper. Approximate size 70x60cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 087

2010-10-30T14:52:00.001+01:00

Mike Hinge - Skeleton Planet. Pencil and pen on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Sept 1967. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 086

2010-10-28T18:22:00.001+01:00

Mike Hinge - The Way West 9. Collage and mixed media. Approximate size 50x40cm. Date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 085

2010-09-23T20:54:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge - Robot Maintenance. Pencil on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: Unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 084

2010-09-14T22:52:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge, Phoenix Fire. Pencil on white paper. Approximate size 60x70cm. Date: 1978. Signed.

Mike Hinge 083

2010-09-13T21:22:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge - Lady Eyes, Charcoal on white paper, approximate size 60x70cm, date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 082

2010-09-09T19:31:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge - All American Female, Charcoal on white paper, approximate size 60x70cm, date unknown. Unsigned.

Mike Hinge 081

2010-08-26T20:30:00.000+01:00

Mike Hinge - STP 73. Pen on white paper. Approximate size 70x30cm. Date unknown. Signed.