Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

Until the mid-1950’s paperback covers tended to be illustrated in a very ‘literal’ style. Then along came a young artist named Mitchell Hooks.

In the mid-’50s Mitch (and a few others) revolutionized the look of paperbacks by montaging brash graphic images together and rendering them in unorthodox mixed media techniques that tipped their hat to abstract expressionism.

Its easy to be blasé about punk rock design in today’s visually overloaded world where everything’s been done… but in the Leave-It-to-Beaver America of 50 years ago this was pretty wild stuff!

There are some remarkable collections of vintage paperback covers on Flickr. One of the best has been compiled by collector/archivist UK Vintage. Recently, he assembled for our viewing pleasure a tidy little set of 1950’s Mitchell Hooks covers ( with a promise of more to come).

If UK Vintage’s Mitchell Hooks set leaves you hungry for more (and I don’t blame you one bit) then drop on over to Kyle Katz’ Mitchell Hooks set and satisfy your craving with even more hot dames, cool dicks and sizzling art, design and type that’s as fresh and inspiring today as it was half a century ago.