In the 1970s and 1980s, the sci-fi art of Japanese illustrator Shusei Nagaoka graced numerous album covers and appeared in a variety of advertisements, magazines, and movie posters. Here is a small sample of his fantastic work. (Click the "+" under each image to enlarge.)
Munich Machine (album cover), 1977 [+]
Midnight Star: "The Beginning" (album cover) 1980 [+]
ELO: "Out of the Blue" (album cover), 1977 [+]
The Humanoid (movie poster), 1979 [+]
Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind [+]
Star Trek [+]
Conceive [+]
Airplanes are not as safe as you might think (magazine announcement) [+]
Earth, Wind & Fire: "I Am" (album cover inside), 1979 [+]
The Skyliners: "The Love Bug" (album cover), 1978 [+]
Station (illustration for Tsukuba Expo '85), 1984 [+]
Space Flower (illustration for Tsukuba Expo '85), 1984 [+]
Nuclear explosion over Tokyo (for NHK's "Earth After Nuclear War"), 1984 [+]
Monster Bird, 1972 [+]
Deep Purple: "When We Rock, We Rock..." (album cover), 1977 [+]
Sun: "Destination Sun" (album cover), 1977 [+]
The Sylvers: "New Horizons" (album cover), 1977 [+]
Hovercraft for leisure use, 1975 [+]
Humanoid (magazine cover), 1982 [+]
Bridge (poster for Mitsubishi Cordia XG), 1984 [+]
Station (poster for Mitsubishi Cordia XP), 1984 [+]
Birth (poster for Mitsubishi Starion GSR-X), 1984 [+]
Caldera: "Sky Island" (album cover), 1970 [+]
[Images from "The Works of Shusei Nagaoka" Part 1 (1981) and Part 2 (1985), NHK Publications]
Banpei
Love them all! :)
[]BTW: last poster (Birth) of the Mitsubishi series is not a Mitsubishi Cordia but a Mitsubishi Starion. ;)
eB
"Love Bug" is incredible.
[]Derick J
What I like about these pictures is the combination of strong linework mixed with the softness of the colors. It makes an excellent contrast.
[]robot makes music
All that and nary a photoshop nor 3d program (nor PC really) to be had in those days.
And hey, who wouldn't want to party with giant robots? I know I would!
[]Lesley
Oh. My. God. Freaking AWESOME!
[]Vjex
This is truly inspiring, tweet it immediately. Really amazing
[]mooncaine
I fell in love with Mr. Nagaoka's art when I got the ELO album pictured here. Haven't seen that hovercraft image in so long, I forgot where I saw it, but I WORSHIPPED it. I had no idea how such things were painted. I thought he was magic! I used to stare at the inside cover of that ELO album (he painted the spaceship's interior) for hours.
I once had that ELO album cover art on a mylar poster. That was awesome as hell, dudes.
[]Daniel Bauer
I, too, was fascinated by the ELO cover, and also the hovercraft image, which appeared in an issue of Future magazine (aka Future Life) in an article about the artist and his work that I bought when it came out in 78. I distinctly remember drawing many variations of the hovercraft, and that one of my teachers confiscated that issue in class and never returned it! It's issue #5, they can be found around for about 5 or 10 bucks on ebay or used book sites, I need to get one for old time's sake, but likely will try to get a parcel to check out other issues and defray the cost a bit. Need to get an Out of the Blue LP to put up on the wall as well!
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