(to determine if illustration or artwork was produced by Mahlon Blaine - American 1894-1969)
These indicators usually are found in the lower corner of the work. Of particular importance is the presence of a dot in the center of a circle of dots (black on white or vice versa), which he often used -- even without signature or initials.
Although
this illustration (from The Tattooed
Man by Howard Pease) is among his earliest
(1926), it is a style he returned to in the 1950s. It is
characterized by a loose, sketchy pen line.
Here is a titlepage "doodad" and a
chapter head drawing in a typical late 20s/early30s style.
From
The Living Buddha, this is extremely typical of Blaine's main style. The
style of the "MB" signature is less typical, but note just above it
and to the left is a small pattern of white dots circling another dot
-- Mahlon's primary method of "signing" his work.
Here is a fine
example of his scratchboard (or "woodcut") style, from the late
1920s. (from Bushwacking by Hugh Clifford)
A
few times Blaine went for a more decorative approach, again in the
late 1920s. Note that there is no signature or attribution marking
whatsoever.
Use of two
penline widths can be found in both early and late work, particularly
in chapter heading drawings such as this from the early 1950s.
A
few times he used color with his pen and ink work by utilizing hand
drawn plates of color application to underlay the black lines.
The early 1960s
saw the last of Blaine's work in published illustration. Seven Edgar
Rice Burroughs books by Canaveral Press were probably his last
hurrah. Here, The Moon Men, 1962.