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.
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