Mid-Century Modern cartoons have a very unique nostalgic style. I decided it might be fun to collect some mid-century modern references and write a little about the subject. I while ago I came across and article about Creating a Mid-Century Illustration on Smashing Magazine that got me thinking about the subject.
Please Choose a Snippet by adding name=""
Section Header
Growing up, I remember watching various Disney cartoon shorts that had this style. Disney’s “Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom” and “Melody” come to mind.
From the short Disney Film “Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom” image from Heritage Auctions.
Another prime example would be the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, Fractured Fairly Tales, and Dudley Do-Right by Jay Ward and Bill Scott.
Rocky & Bullwinkle, Fractured Fairy Tales, and Peabody and Sherman were great examples of Mid-Century Modern Cartoons.
And there’s also the Hanna Barbera cartoons…
More Modern Examples
Looking at some more modern examples, I recall the end credits of Tangles used a similar style.
Tangled End Credits
Tangled Series – New Spin on Old Look
notice the flat colors and the mid-century-style textures, and quirky shapes.
The Tangle series also took cues from the mid-century modern aesthetic but added a 21st century spin. They took the mid-century quirky drawing style and softened it a bit, and added a more vibrant color pallet.
This landscape show beautiful colors that are far more vibrant and varied than you’d see in the classic mid-century modern cartoons.They also didn’t shy away from putting certain elements out of focus. These colors remind me of the hunchback of Notre Dame.Those barrels are purposely drawn with the flaw perspective often seen in the mid-century modern cartoons. notice how the top is rounded but the bottom is flat.The king and Queen are mostly rendered with flat color, but the queen still has soft lighting on her left side. The column on the left has a rough chalky highlight.There’s a lot of detail done with the lighting, but mixed with the roughly drawn grass in the foreground.The guards armor and clothing is smooth. But there is a lot of texture in the door and battering ram. the spiral is drawn with angular lines.The cliff has lots of straight lines and bold shapes. the tree has an interesting shape to it’s branches.
Throughout the cartoon you see rough charcoal-like edges, flat colors, and paper textures. There’s a much greater emphasis on lighting, as compared to the old-mid-century cartoons. This makes sense as the the gorgeous lighting in the original movie was an iconic part of the film’s look.
Space Illustrations
Beside the traditional fairly tale look. I’m also interested in mid-century style space illustrations. I wanted to put a collection together here…
An Illustration by Jez Tuyaspace man by Jez Tuya.star wars ships in a mid-century modern style.This has a fun vintage background.EL GATO GOMEZ PAINTINGThis mid-century sci-fi illustration by Nicole Renski
