UNIVERSAL STUDIOS MONSTERS STYLEGUIDE - 1997

[Monsters For Sale]

A while back I posted pictures from what I am now calling a 2001 Monster Styleguide under the mistaken 1995 date in another thread.  Curiously, there is not a date to be found on any of its many pages.

Here is a link:

       http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=20296.0

The little 9½" x 6¼" guide is fun to have but not nearly as nice as the big, 10" x 14" 3-ring binder which holds the 1997 Styleguide.  The images are generally better-looking, too.

I thought I would share a few of them with you.  Click on the picture for a larger image.

This is the embossed front cover:




Page 6:




Page 7:





Page 8: (Check out notation #26 - Who knew?)





Page 10:




Page 12:




Page 13:




Page 14:




Page 16:




Page 20:




Page 26:





Page 30:




Page 45:




Page 47:




Page 94:




Page 99:




Page 100:




That will give you an idea.  If you want to see more (or larger) images, check out Flickr:

(Something keeps happening to my link.  Just go to Flickr and search for Universal Studios Monsters Styleguide.)

I didn't try to photograph all of the pages.  There is just to darn much stuff - and a lot of it is design elements that are kind of boring when they are not part of a composition.

I do not have the computer discs that would have come with this Styleguide.

[zombiehorror]

Cool!!  Thanks for sharing...I'll definitely check out the rest of the pages!

[aura of foreboding]

That is not a 1995 style guide.  It is definitely from the 2000s (1999 at the earliest).  The Monsters still looked like this in 1995:

http://x-entertainment.com/updates/pics/hallopogs/1.jpg

As we discussed in the other thread, those images came out after the 1997 designs and are still in use today.  So, that is, in no way, shape, or form, from 1995.

However, these are definitely from 1997, and I would like to thank you so much for sharing them.  The 1997 designs were, hands down, the best... far better than the 2001-2003 designs we are stuck with today. 

[Monsters For Sale]

That is not a 1995 style guide.  It is definitely from the 2000s (1999 at the earliest).  The Monsters still looked like this in 1995:

http://x-entertainment.com/updates/pics/hallopogs/1.jpg

As we discussed in the other thread, those images came out after the 1997 designs and are still in use today.  So, that is, in no way, shape, or form, from 1995.

However, these are definitely from 1997, and I would like to thank you so much for sharing them.  The 1997 designs were, hands down, the best... far better than the 2001-2003 designs we are stuck with today.

HA!  I reversed my dates. 

Yeah, the little Styleguide was originally thought to be 1995, but proven to be 2001 or better.  I just forgot to change my records from my earlier assumption.

Makes more sense that the monsters got worse-looking the same time as the Stylguides got smaller and cheaper.

Thanks for the correction.

(If this exchange doesn't make sense, it is because I went back and modified my original post.)

[aura of foreboding]

I was saying...  Wait...  I know we've already been over this!  ha! 

Anyway, I assumed that is what might have happened, but I didn't want anybody else getting mixed up, because we all know that Universal does a great job of that as it is.  If you haven't done so, you may want to change the title of your comparison photo in Flickr just so nobody on the outside gets the wrong dates... and then we have to go over it all again and again.   

Oh and the problem with the Flickr address is that it had an "at" symbol in it, and the forum converted it to **at**.  Alas nothing can be perfect in the tech world. 

But, back to the Style Guide, I just got done looking at all of the images, and I am so pleased you shared them.  These are fantastic designs -- from the Monsters (best version of non-Lugosi art Uni has ever had) to the "official seals."  Everything about this style guide is classy... except for those four photographs of the faux Dracula that I had never seen before.  Good thing only the one -- really good one -- was ever released to the general public.   Thanks again for taking the time to upload these.  It is so very appreciated.   

[Monsters For Sale]

I went back and changed that 1995 date - and all of the others from my previous upload of the 2001 Styleguide.  I also put all of the 2001 pages in their own set.

I am now changing the photo files in my computer.  Looks like I didn't upload all of the 2001 pages that I photographed.  Soon as I figure out which dozen or more that I didn't add to Flickr, I will add them to that set.   Then you can see the kind of design components that I didn't copy from the big 1997 book.

The 1997 binder also includes phone numbers for graphic artists to call to get more examples that just didn't fit into the thing.

Wish I had copies of the discs.

[Monsters For Sale]

OK, I finished making all the corrections and uploading 19 more images to the new Flickr set Universal Studios Monsters Styleguide - 2001.

That will give you a very small taste of what is missing from the larger 1997 Styleguide.  The bigger guide has more than twice as many pages.

[aura of foreboding]

Wow!  Fantastic.  Thank you!

[Earth 2 Chris]

I have some coated paper Halloween decorations from around this time with that same Karloff/Monster image used on the style guide cover. Oddly enough, there is an accompanying Dracula that goes with it, and it is definitely in the likeness of Bela Lugosi.

Chris

[Herr Hussmann]

The "Screaming People" line art sample #SLA11 appears to be the crowd in the movie poster for THE BEAST FROM 20,000  FATHOMS which was a Warner Bros. film, not Universal. How did that get in there?

[zombiehorror]

I have some coated paper Halloween decorations from around this time with that same Karloff/Monster image used on the style guide cover. Oddly enough, there is an accompanying Dracula that goes with it, and it is definitely in the likeness of Bela Lugosi.

Chris

Those products (the head cut outs and other party supplies) were also licensed thru Lugosi Enterprises!

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Ah, thanks for the info. My set is stored with my Halloween decorations, so now I don't have to dig them out!

Chris

[Monsters For Sale]

These same images were used for the 1997 Burger King Premiums 20" x 20" poster:






And the 10" x 11" cardboard standees:











There was also a large window cling made using the Frankenstein image.  I don't know if the other two were made into clings.

[aura of foreboding]

I have some coated paper Halloween decorations from around this time with that same Karloff/Monster image used on the style guide cover. Oddly enough, there is an accompanying Dracula that goes with it, and it is definitely in the likeness of Bela Lugosi.

Chris

Those were actually released in 2007/2008.  They used the 1997 art, interestingly enough.  (That is, of course, with the exception of Dracula, which was a new commission, as pointed out, in partnership with Lugosi.)  Had a good relationship continued, I am sure this art would have become the current standard. 

[Monsters For Sale]

I just did a "Burger King 1997 Monster" search on eBay and there are quite a few listings showing these.

A search for "Burger King 2007 Monster" returned no Universal monsters.