Leynnwood was a teacher at Art Center, where I went to school, but I don’t think the school administration valued him enough at the time. In my day, the only place he taught gouache painting was at off-campus seminars, where I had the privilege of watching him paint a demo of a red car. 
In 1965, the Revell company turned to Leynnwood to paint the box cover for their model of the Army Air Force B-24D. When Revell switched to using photos instead of paintings on their boxes, I lost interest in plastic models. I didn’t want truth in advertising. I wasn’t just buying a box of plastic parts. I was buying the whole fantasy. And no one understood how to deliver that fantasy that better than Jack Leynnwood.
Read more about this painting and the aircraft shown at The Box Art Den, link.
Here's an even better link called Old Model Kits.
19 comments:
As you said, Jim, I, too bought into the whole fantasy on Revell kit boxes. I spent hours and hours attempting to copy those images, and count them as as huge influence. I'm still a great admirer of aircraft art, although at this point I think the whole genre has been run into the ground--no pun intended.
Thanks for another great post, Jim!
Jim,
You are shocking my fading memory synapses. I remember LynnWood and seeing him demonstrate. He was one of the more sane individuals there .
I remember those models and the images on the boxes from my youth as well. The painted images definitely sold them in my eyes. I sometimes wouldn't even build the things but I loved those boxes!
I agree, so many of those boxes made me really want to buy the model. Those beautiful paintings were a big introduction for me to illustration and realism as a kid. Long before art classes in high school! They definitely made me realize the potential of art as a real career. It's a shame that things like this always turn to photography out of convenience...I feel the same way about National Geographic too. Thanks for the reminder of this dying art form!
Yup, it is so sad that photos replaced the amazing illustrations that used to be the bulk of advertising. Not only are there less jobs for talented illustrators to fight over, but art is slipping from mainstream culture. I love going to other countries and seeing their hand painted signs.
Amen Jim
Ohmigosh, thanks! I used to build tons of these models, and I always cut the covers off these boxes and hang them on my walls because they're so gorgeous. Nice to have a name to attach to the art!
I liked Roy Huxley myself, but his stuff was a bit looser:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=1&ct=5&w=61941044%40N00&q=huxley&m=text
I wouldn't mind reading a lot more about gouache technique. It's a booger of a difficult medium, and those commercial artists of the mid-Twentieth Century could really make it sing.
Oh my... it's been about 25 years I think since I last saw one of these boxes. Used to decorate my room with them :)
In those days I was really looking forward to birthdays and such, coz I knew I'd get another box as a gift.
Man does that bring back memories.
I too was a avid model builder.
I had the Battle of Britain on my ceiling complete with cotton for clouds. I built Focke-Wulfes 109's and Spitfires and used the covers to help guide me when painting the models.
I was a sucker for great box art too! I wonder if sales fell off when they switched to photos?
I also loved the diorama instructions by the great Shep Paine that where in the Monogram models. He handled those scenes much like an illustrator would. He has a new book coming out: http://www.sheperdpaine.com/
How odd that I never made the connection between my current occupation (art) and my favorite childhood pastime. Maybe it's because as a kid, fantasy was such a regular part of life that I never considered the box art as a product of someone's skill and work? And yet, I too remember disappointment when model companies stopped using paintings on the boxes.
I remember Hasegawa had some good paintings on their boxes - really dynamic stuff. The models of Bf 109s usually featured backgrounds of African desert, or waves of Allied bombers.
I'll have to check out the link in depth!
Jack Leynnwood was one of the most influential teachers I had at Art Center in the early 1980s. The techniques I learned from his Marker Indication for Storyboarding class were put to use directly after graduation to support me and eventually my family as a commercial storyboard artist. I miss his dry humor and occasional off-color jokes.
Interestingly, he once commented in our class that if he had to do it all over again, he would have been a film major. I don't know if he really meant it or if he was just showing a little mercy to all us film majors who were forced to take his class. (I was an illustration major before that, so I loved it; but I felt bad for my fellow film types who absolutely couldn't draw but had to take the class nevertheless.) Thanks for reminding me of him, he was wonderful.
thats so fascinatingly true- I had never thought of it that way- nor during my time of building models- did I ever imagine my modeling skills even approaching the level of the professional model makers on display. As you, and many of your readers, I too discontinued the building. Which was something I now see as a sad day.
I too had Jack Leynnwood as an instructor at Art Center, in the very late '70s. I took his storybook marker class to get a break from my ID major studies, and to meet new ladies. Mostly as a 'coaster course'. Stupid me.
Had I known, at the time, I would have had a much larger appreciation of what wisdom could be gleaned from the man. Many months after I completed his class, I had heard that most of the gorgeous Revell model box art came from his brush. Even later than that, I also was told he was a child actor in the Little Rascals.
Had I understood all this before taking his class, I would have approached him to thank him for being my main mentor. I bought those model kits as much for the box art as the kit inside. During grade school and high school, I had used his art to teach me everything I knew about drawing and rendering. I never had any art training before Art Center. So, I learned much more from him, long before taking his class, than during. I did not realize that at the time. Or, hadn't the information to make that connection. Thank you, Jack!
There is a book on the art of Revell models. Mostly comes down to Leynnwood, plus a few other illustrators (Kishady, Steele, Eidson, and Knight). You may want to find a copy of that book! ‘Remembering Revell Model Kits’, by Thomas Graham. Plenty of full-color illustrations, and even preliminary comps.
I'll never come close to approaching the way he handled ships and ocean waves. Brilliant!
I too had Jack Leynnwood as an instructor at Art Center, in the very late '70s. I took his storybook marker class to get a break from my ID major studies (and to meet new ladies). Mostly as a 'coaster course'. Stupid me.
Had I known, at the time, I would have had a much larger appreciation of what wisdom could be gleaned from the man. Many months after I completed his class, I had heard that most of the gorgeous Revell model box art came from his brush. Even later than that, I also was told he was a child actor in the Little Rascals.
Had I understood all this before taking his class, I would have approached him to thank him for being my main art mentor. I bought those model kits as much for the box art as the kit inside. During grade school and high school, I had used his art to teach me everything I knew about drawing and rendering. I never had any formal art training before Art Center. So, I learned much more from him, long before taking his class, than during. I did not realize that at the time. Or, hadn't the information to make that connection. Thank you, Jack!
There is a book on the art of Revell models. Mostly comes down to Leynnwood, plus a few other illustrators (Kishady, Steele, Eidson, and Knight). You may want to find a copy of that book! ‘Remembering Revell Model Kits’, by Thomas Graham. Plenty of full-color illustrations, and even preliminary comps.
I'll never come close to approaching the way he handled ships and ocean waves. Brilliant!
Jack had the best sense of humor I ever experienced in an instructor. I had his class in perspective and another in gouache. The best!
... I believe Airfix still uses illustrations for their boxes. The magic definitely starts with their catalog and the illustrations. And by the way, thanks to you blog I was able to locate a Revell model of the Gemini capsule - plan to use it in a scene build out for illustrations.
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