The Art Of Roy Cross

Roy Cross RSMA GAvA began work as an illustrator in Fairey Aviation during World War II. Over the next thirty years, he progressed from line illustration, via colour artwork, to top-class advertising art for the aircraft industry and other companies, including Airfix, for whom he produced many hundreds of artworks to adorn model kit boxes over a ten-year period. His illustrations for Airfix included superb depictions of aircraft, cars, ships, spacecraft, armoured vehicles and dioramas. Though Roy is perhaps most famous for his Airfix box art, his work has encompassed book and magazine illustrations, including highly detailed cutaways and other technical drawings. In more recent years, Roy has concentrated on the production of his magnificent maritime paintings.

Airfix has been commercially producing plastic kits since 1952 and its models have been made by successive generations of young boys and men alike. In the 1960s, a talented graphic artist called Roy Cross was commissioned to paint some of the box art for Airfix, and for a ten-year-period he provided many of the glorious paintings seen on the boxes, setting new standards for realism and accuracy. Many are still being used today, a full four decades later. Inside the pages of this book are some of Roy's best artworks, shown here in full format and in superb detail, with many reproduced here in book form for the very first time. As well as his vintage box art, Roy has included many sketches and alternative versions of his Airfix box art. After Roy left Airfix in 1974, the company went through a turbulent time. The present owners are Hornby, who have ambitious plans for Airfix and the other brands it acquired including Scalextric and Corgi. The decade that Roy Cross worked for Airfix, though, could be classed as their vintage era, with some of their finest models being produced then in their millions, ready for eager youngsters to build up into detailed miniature models of their favorite aircraft, ships and locomotives.

Features paintings by Roy Cross, one of the foremost marine painters working today. Dozens of his best paintings are showcased in full colour and accompanied by detailed captions giving historical information on each of the vessels featured.

The 1960s and early 1970s might be called the vintage years of Airfix, when some of their best and most popular kits were produced. For ten years up to 1974, renowned artist Roy Cross produced some of the stunning paintings that appear on the boxes of Airfix kits of the era. Roy set the standard for such artwork, to the extent that many are still used today, four decades later. Roy Cross's The Vintage Years of Airfix Box Art contained a host of the paintings he prepared for Airfix, but the unearthing of many more images in old Airfix files has enabled this entirely fresh look at Roy's work to be presented, coinciding with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first Airfix kit. Thus the remainder of Roy's ten years' work for Airfix is reproduced here.

Roy Cross' genius in portraying aircraft in a wide range of illustrative styles has been admired by every generation since World War II. He created many of the distinctive paintings which adorned the famous Airfix model kits that every keen aviation enthusiast will remember with affection. This book is a collection of some of Roy's best sketches, paintings and technical drawings. They are gathered together in a logical chronological sequence that will offer the reader a visual history of aviation from World War II to the latter part of the last century.

Five world-class marine artists exhibit some of the most breathtaking paintings of ships ever published, in huge, oversize, full-color gallery-quality reproductions. Along with the gorgeous art comes the artists' own descriptions of their subjects and explanations of how they executed their work. The term "tall ships" calls to mind the majestic beauties that graced America's Bicentennial, but this collection also features paintings of such immortals as the Bounty, the Pinta and the Nina. Enjoy the views the clipper Southern Cross saw leaving Colonial Boston Harbor; an 1870 New York Yacht Club race; and many more scenes unforgettable to lovers of art and sailing alike.

Enjoy looking back over the career of this colorful artist in over 700 brilliant photos and witty prose. From his early days painting model box tops for the Hawk Model Company to his invention of the iconic Weird-Ohs model kits, Bill has continued to create some of the most unique artwork the world has seen.

Why is the sky blue? Why is pink for girls and blue for boys? Why do prisoners wear orange? And why can one colour have so many opposite meanings? If lobsters are a red emblem of privilege how is it that a red flag can also be the banner of Communism? Jude Stewart, a design expert and writer, digs into this rich subject with gusto, telling her favourite stories about colour as she discovers what it can really mean. Each chapter is devoted to a colour, opening with an infographic map that links such unlikely pairings as fox-hunting and flamingos. From there on in, you're plunged into a kaleidoscopic tour of the universe that encompasses everything from wildflowers to Japanese warriors. The links between them reveal hidden realities that you never would have suspected. Roy G. Biv is a reference and inspiration for everyone, with sidebars and graphics galore. The aim is simple: to tantalise and inform, and to make you think about colour in a completely new way.