Rainbow Brite hankens

[ReiTheJelly]

I've had these in my possession for awhile now, but for some reason just never got around to uploading them. I'm sorry that they're not uniformly sized, but due to the size of these pieces I was required to photograph them. While each page is larger than my scanner bed, it was made even more impossible due to the fact that they're still on the uncut publisher's layout sheets. Each printing layout has FOUR of these large ink drawings taped to it, which has made storage the biggest pain in the butt.



These pages are actually from two different coloring books, yet they only use the page numbering system of ONE of the books. So, while I have coloring book pages 71-106 and 123-126 from the Giant coloring book, only certain pages were used in the coloring book "Dome Sweet Dome," for which I have the cover art. When I asked the liquidators about it, they just said they sold it as a lot based on physical proximity in their warehouse. Thus, I may never see the rest of the pages for these two coloring books. *sigh*

The cover art is separate and presents its own archival difficulties.


Take a look at all 40 pages, plus cover art:
http://stemcels.rubberslug.com/gallery/ ... esID=42658

[star-phoenix]

Awww! Totally neat! I grew up with Rainbow Brite! Such amazing art pieces. Congratulations on finding them and thanks for sharing!

[tex-chan]

Those are wonderful, Rei! It's too bad that you're not likely to see the rest of the pages for the one book. But it seems that you made quite an amazing find! Congrats!!

[sensei]

Interesting cover art: the "harmony cel" approach must have been pretty commonly used for illustrations and such, as some of the period children's literature illustrations that I saw at Hollins College were done in the same way. The Miyazaki tests also, from what I can see, were done in a similar medium, with trace lines done on a plastic sheet and the colors added in watercolor on a backing sheet like your RB art, rather than painted onto the back of the plastic as in a cel.

(I saw "cels" too at the Hollins exhibit. Conserving children's illustrations must be a daunting task for a curator. Some were actually executed as wall-sized oil paintings. And all the "Runaway Bunny" illustrations by Clement Hurd that were displayed were rough or repro efforts by the artist. The actual art submitted to the press was done as color separations, with each color isolated on a separate sheet of paper, and none would make sense hung on a wall and viewed by itself.)

Thanks for sharing not just the art but the context in which you received it, which preserves much of how it was actually used by the printer.

[toonybabe]

That cover art is really impressive. It brings back memories of watching Rainbow Brite with my sister. I'm sure she had one of those coloring books when we were little!

[sugarcels]

RAINBOW BRITE! Oh man, I adored this show as a kid. Lovely stuff! Someday maybe I'll find RB stuff too, and we can have a party XD

[D123]

Amazing to see what goes into coloring books, I’ll never look at them the same again!

[ReiTheJelly]

Star-phoenix: Thank you! Considering how popular Rainbow Brite was and the volume of merchandise, I am surprised that more of the artwork hasn't made its way to the secondary market.

Tex-chan: Unfortunately, the liquidator has so much stuff from that old archives that they're not really willing to dig through tens of thousands of pieces of ephemera looking for the missing bits. Which sucks for me.

Sensei: Yes, I thought it was a very interesting approach to take for the cover art. I guess it was the only way to ensure the outline being crisp enough, while still retaining the original watercolor look from the Hallmark greeting card line. But that's just my theory.
It is intriguing seeing the artwork still attached to the original publisher's layout sheets. Storage is an absolute nightmare, though. And I was originally going to have several pieces framed, which would mean cutting apart the layouts (or at the very least, untaping the artwork).

Toonybabe: I keep looking for the "Dome Sweet Dome" coloring book on eBay. Apparently, it is one of the rarer coloring books, as I hardly ever see it for sale.

Sugarcels: Well, next time you're in the Ann Arbor area, I'd be happy to show you the artwork in person!

D123: I know! I had no idea coloring books were made this way until I purchased this artwork. I wonder if modern ones use the same technique, or if everything is digital now?

[Promethium]

OMG Super cute!! Fabulous find

[ReiTheJelly]

Promethium: Aren't they? I am so happy to acquire so many adorable pieces. I'm thinking about getting the cover art framed.