Whenever overly complicated and seemingly unnecessarily contrived machines are required then there in no one better call than from the drawing desk of cartoonist William Heath Robinson. His whimsical inventions were improbable, rickety machine barely kept going by incessant tinkering.
A direct ripoff of the Six Million Dollar Man was introduced in 2000AD. A secret agent with computer brain implants strengthened by acupuncture. Wizard boffins in MI6! Here he chases a terrorist riding a Triumph Trident. Hmm, the belligerent is firing the Uzi with his throttle hand.
Street artist from the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago had a show on at the Elmhurst Art Museum. His street graffiti style depicts a youth with bird mask, a person who is able to find or escape to their freedom by placing them in a different reality. Here’s a canvas of him cruising on a low rider.
Most published illustrations are based on staged photographs. Norman Rockwell’s covers for The Saturday Evening Post we’re such examples. Here is a piece of work by one of his contemporaries Gil Elvgren, who was known for his pin-up girls as well as advertising illustrations for companies such as Brown & Bigelow. Many of his ladies ended up as nose art on WW2 bombers.
Between 1985 and 1995 cartoonist Bill Watterson created the wonderful duo of a mischievous six year boy and his imaginary feline companion. The newspaper strip was awaited for each day – especially when he was looking forward to his beanie hat. Here is someone’s reiteration of the pair haring down a hillside upon a motorcycle.