Saturday Evening Post artist Joe de Mers profiled in latest Illustration magazine

By John Freeman on June 13, 2019

The latest issue of the US Illustration magazine (#64) features the work of American artist Joe de Mers, best known for his many slick magazine illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post and others.

In a profile on Illustration History, it’s noted that with guidance from his wife Janice, De Mers would dress his heroines in styles that would not become dated in the six months it took for the image to be published.

Dinotopia creator James Gurney notes on his terrific art blog, Gurney Journey, that he typically combined abstract areas of flat colours with carefully rendered faces and hands. Large heads in illustrations were an exciting innovation borrowed from the closeup in feature films.

Also featured is artist E. Simms Campbell, famous for his gag cartoon illustrations for Esquire and Playboy, and his long-running comic strip Cuties.

Pulp magazine cover illustrator Alex Redmond in the 80-page magazine from Illustrated Press which, as usual, includes book reviews, exhibitions and events information.

Based in St. Louis, Illustrated Press publishes books and magazines devoted to the history of American illustration art. Their full colour Illustration magazine, available on subscription worldwide, is published quarterly, each issue featuring the highest quality printing, photography and color reproductions of original art and rare ephemera available anywhere.

Their books have profiled such legendary illustrators as Bernie Fuchs, Tom Lovell, Norman Saunders, Jon Whitcomb, Coby Whitmore, Haddon Sundblom, and Reynold Brown.

• More details and ordering information for Illustration magazine #64 here on the Illustrated Press web site | To preview the issue, follow this link on Issuu

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.