Heinz Edelmann dies at 75; art director for the 1968 Beatles film 'Yellow Submarine'. "MGM Studios Heinz Edelmann, a graphic designer who went on to teach at a German art academy, conceived the bright, surrealistic aesthetic and two-dimensional characters for "Yellow Submarine," the 1968 film revolving around Beatles songs. Edelmann also designed many book covers, including the first German edition of Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings,' and won a contest to design the mascot of the Expo '92 world fair in Spain." -- L.A. Times

In a 1992 interview with Dr. Bob Hieronimus, Edelmann said, "...I had never taken any drugs. I'm a conservative working class person who sticks to booze all his life. And so I just knew about the psychedelic experience just by hearsay, from hearsay. And I guessed what it was."

The Heinz Edelmann Interview with Joe Strike of Animation World Magazine in 2005:

JS: How did you become involved in Yellow Submarine?

HE: The invitation came out of the blue. Charlie Jenkins, the movie's special effects man was married to a German girl who'd seen my work in German magazines. Jenkin's boss, George Dunning [Submarine's director] was the one who extended the invitation.

I went to London and asked, "What do you want me to do, am I to do the characters?" "No," they said, "We've got somebody to do the characters." "Will I do the backgrounds?" "No," Dunning said, "We've got somebody already." I thought, well, this will make a great job. Dunning said "You just do the little odd things you do."

I hung around for about two months getting more and more frustrated. There was no script. They started on a storyboard and abandoned it and considered dozens of people to do new script. Finally the day of the presentation to the producer rolled around and these being all archetypical Englishmen, they religiously followed the tradition of the long weekend.

They all went away and said "Just do something over the weekend, do Davy Jones' Locker" [a sequence that later evolved into the Sea of Monsters]. For some reason I thought this was a very hateful idea. There is a similar character in German called the Klabautermann [a spirit protecting ships from harm] that I'd always hated. I just didn't like the idea. I'd go home to my wife and tell her, "It's high time I quit and go home. I'll just leave them a souvenir." Then I sat down and did the Meanies....

Other work: Book covers

A student remembers Edelmann, 2002: A tribute to Heinz Edelmann.

Interesting comments at Cartoon Brew, source of the image at the top of the page.