Paul Mann Artworks

Tribute poster artworks by illustrator Paul Mann. Acrylic and casein on illustration board, 61 x 91 cm.

Marketing Guides: Thunderball and You Only Live Twice

Last December I compiled a marketing guide for "Thunderball" as a Christmas gift for my close collector friends. Things got a bit out of hand and I ended up with 118 pages to cover every country and item that I knew off. And now the Corona lockdown gave me the time to create the same for “You Only Live Twice”. Both are non-commercial projects for fun.  

Tribute to Frank McCarthy

Art tribute to Frank McCarthy's artwork for "Thunderball", painted by Peter Lorenz, gouache on artboard, 120 x 50 cm.

Original Thunderball Frank McCarthy Artwork

Original painting by Frank McCarthy for "Thunderball", 60 x 90 cm, casein on illustration board

From The Nixdorf Collection

Spanish TV Guide Illustrations

Two ads from the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia promoting the TV screenings of "You Only Live Twice" and "The Man With the Golden Gun". 
Thanks to Eduardo for sharing these!

Thunderball Edition from Folio Society

2019 Hardcover edition of Ian Fleming's "Thunderball" , Folio Society UK, artwork by Fay Dalton.

Thunderball TV Ad Artwork

TV ad for Thunderball, artist unknown. Thanks to Stephan for sharing it!

Swiss Thunderball Posters

Swiss posters for "Feuerball / Operation Tonnerre" from 1965, 90 x 128 cm, Design by Werbeatelier Kipf. Produced for Unartisco S.A. Zürich. There are 3 variations: The German one, the French version and a smaller German version advertising the novel. The large posters are stamped on the back.

Thanks to the 007 Collector for sharing the information and pix!

Swiss Re-Release Posters

Swiss James Bond re-release posters from the 70s, 60 x 80 cm, each exist in English and French language version with German subtitles. Unsure if there is a "Goldfinger" variation. Does anyone know?


Big thanks to the www.007collector.com for sharing these.

James Bond Books from Thailand

James Bond books from Thailand, published in 1964: Casino Royale, Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, Ian Fleming.

Look Down Art Tribute

Tribute to Robert McGinnis' illustration for the "Thunderball" Look Down artwork. 78x54cm, gouache on artboard by Peter Lorenz

Thunderball Artwork Tribute

Artwork tribute to Frank McCarthy's "Look Down" Thunderball painting. Gouache on art board, 90 x 60 cm. 

Frank McCarthy Art Tribute

1:1 Copy of Frank McCarthy's artwork for "Thunderball" Look Up / Jetpack. Gouache on artboard, 80x60 cm.

The Other Thunderball “Look Down

American artist Frank McCarthy created the iconic “Look Down” artwork in 1965 for the film “Thunderball” But there is a lesser known alternative for this artwork which was used in the US 24 sheet and the French 8 panneaux.

Sketches for this artwork were recently unearthed by enthusiast Adrian Olivera.He recently came into the hobby through a stroke of luck, having acquired a collection of 1960's era MGM artwork. The collection consisted of pieces from films such as Where Eagles Dare, Ice Station Zebra, and Doctor Zhivago. Many artists were represented, including Howard Terpning, Frank Frazetta, Bob Peak, and Frank McCarthy. This find ignited his interest in movie artwork, and especially those of Frank McCarthy. His pursuit of more artwork led to the preliminary discovery.

These preliminaries provide a fascinating insight into the creative process:
McCarthy seems to have started with a much darker, bluer version of the artwork measuring 14" x 23", painted on artist vellum.This first version included much more details such as parachutes
and an airplane seen through the water.

A note on the back – presumably feedback from the art director (Donald Smolen?) – gives change instructions including “lighter water“.

Consequently McCarthy created a second version of the painting. The sketches were done on semi-transparent artist vellum, which gives an interesting insight into his work style: The back reveals that he first blotted out the broad composition with bold colours and then painted the details.

The resulting artwork is very detailed and highly dynamic with a lot of depth.

This pure version was rarely used. The only example I’m aware of is the Milton Bradley Thunderball game.

The published artwork is actually combination of the two artworks – Connery fighting the diver from the regular “Look Down” and this artwork. More details about this in this previous post:
http://illustrated007.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/split-artwork.html

Thanks and credits to Thomas from the Nixdorf Collection and Adrian for sharing this!
To view more McCarthy drafts, please visit the following links:
Frank McCarthy Movie Poster Drafts
Frank McCarthy Round 2!

Silk Screen Banners

US Silk screen banners usually measuring 152 x 61 cm for the first 4 Bond movies

Spanish Cinema Display

Advertising display for "Operacion Trueno" (Thunderball) at the Palacio da la Prensa cinema in Madrid.

MI6 Confidential

Thunderball edition of "MI6 Confidential" available here.

Operazione Tuono Posters from Italy

10 variations of the Italian locandina poster for "Operazione Tuono" (Thunderball). 

I'm puzzled by the many variations that exist. Some variations are obvious such as the blue title of the changing distributor logos. Other appear to be different print runs which all have variations in terms of positions and the fine print at the bottom. 

Pan Cover Art Tribute

Happy New Year! 

I always had a weakness for the "what if?" scenarios, so I could not resists to toy around with a Thunderball retro cover in the old Pan paperback style.

Thunderball Art by Ciriello

Recently discovered the record by Ray Martin on the left. Which made me wonder: Did Ciriello paint the Thunderball artwork without the white box in the middle or not? Does anyone know?