Dorothy and Otis

sorry for the delay. no, there is no record. the island has an archive but it’s not complete are logged extensively. if you have any unique shepard items i’d love to see them. sorry i couldn’t be of more help.

Two designs for Wrigley by Otis Shepard, the first is a 1930s matchbook done in a style verging on the surreal, the second a chewing gum box announcing the return of the brand after its absence during WWII. More Wrigley and more Shep in Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

Several rare original drawings by Otis Shepard. From top, a 1930s whimsical sketch; a caricature of the writer G.K. Chesterton; a card for Shep's son, Gordon (and the only piece of original airbrush art by Shep that we've found); miscellaneous late 1950s body language and billboard studies. Note that none of these drawings are included in our ode to Shep, Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

Three ultra rare sketches for Wrigley's billboards by Otis Shepard. Note how Otis finds his forms in pencil, carefully reducing faces into planes  and shapes. And of course a great finished late 1930s Double Mint billboard by Shep.

The famous All American Girls Baseball League from 1943. Uniform and logo design by Otis Shepard. More designs in the epic tome Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

Dorothy Shepard's glorious hand-painted 1930s mural for the Catalina Island Casino's Marine Bar. Her trademark abstracted tropical fish appear in full effect here. So much more in our book: Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

The rarest of the rare: The concept sketch for this classic 1939 Wrigley's billboard by the great Otis Shepard, inventor of the Doublemint Twins - is one of only four surviving sketches done for his commercial work. More here: Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

Here's a very nice piece on the book from Collector's Weekly, with a good bit about the process involved in finding the material. 

Three unpublished Pabst billboards by the great Dorothy Shepard, pioneering female graphic designer. Note the flat Dubonnet-like characters, expert gas pipe lettering, and over-all composition. So much more in Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

In 1943-44 Otis Shepard took on a commission for the US Navy, completing the above billboard, an enormous installation in Chicago's Union Station, and numerous portraits of enlisted men, such as the one above. More details in our book, Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

Great piece in the Wall Street Journal today!

Can you name these players? They posed for Otis Shepard's camera in the mid-1930s during spring training on Catalina Island wearing Shep-designed uniforms. So much more Cubs in Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream. 

(Dan's lifelong dream).

Early work by Otis Shepard, all not in our fab book - discovered just after the darn thing came off press. The top images show Shep still in representational form, drawing and painting in a classic Victorian mode. The bottom two show the effects of Shep's immersion in European poster design, including the a flat silhouette reminiscent of Tom Purvis and an abstracted strobe motion. Plenty more in: Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.

http://www.printmag.com/design-culture-2/history-2/modernist-design-dorothy-otis-shepard/

Dorothy Shepard airbrushing a Pabst illustration in her Catalina Island studio in the mid 1930s. Note Shep's drawing of Johnny Weismuller behind her, and the hand painted dancing couple on the wall next to her.  More brilliance on display in Dorothy and Otis: Designing the American Dream.