Postcrossing Blog

Recently, on another of those random browsing sessions (which we like to call “research”), I stumbled upon some fantastic postcards! At first glance they looked like perfectly normal, vintage postcards… but upon further inspection you start noticing the suspiciously out of place aliens, robots and all kinds of terrific spaceships and creatures!

Whoa! Isn’t it amazing? I can totally picture Darth Vader having some ice-cream while levitating his journal! :D After marveling at his Flickr gallery for a while, I decided to ask Italian illustrator Franco Brambilla about his fantastic creations. He replied promptly and was happy to give us some insight into his geek postcards:

Can you explain to us in your own words what your project “Invading the Vintage” is about? And what inspired you to do it?

“Invading the vintage” is an art project that I started in 2007… mainly for fun and because I wanted to create some nerd art. :) Cute aliens invade grandparents postcards! I’m an Italian illustrator in love with sci-fi. I have been illustrating science-fiction books since 1998 for a big Italian publisher. I also love vintage postcards, I have a little collection of Italian and world vintage postcards from the 50/60/70s.

Invading the vintage meshes 3D models (which I have to do for work) with my postcards and the result is quite funny and surreal. After a while I started to invade postcards with characters and ships from TV shows and movies, and also sci-fi movies from when I was a kid in the 70s.

I can see that you sort of specialize in drawing science-fiction themes and geek art. Was this a deliberate move in your career or did it just sort of happen?

I started for fun but I was already a specialized sci-fi illustrator. My 3D artworks are quite different from “Invading the vintage” and usually have a different audience. “Invading the vintage” is quite popular in the internet and I’m not tired to create some more. Geeks and nerds like me love them, I found out I’m not the only one who started to personalize childhood sci-fi myths… geek art is a reality! :)

Are you a big fan of science-fiction? And if so, do you have any favorite series of your own?

I love sci-fi in any form, my favourite shows are the British Space 1999 and UFO, but also Star Wars and Star trek.

Which kind of science-fiction items do you prefer drawing? Are some more fun to draw than others?

Aliens and robots are the best, I love to put them in 60's postcards interacting with people… the result is so retro futuristic!

Where do you find your vintage postcards? Are you a collector?

I’m an amateur, not a serious collector, but I have 400/500 postcards… I usually buy them in street markets but my friends also give me more from around the world to be invaded.

Thank you Franco, that was lovely!

Franco’s postcards are available worldwide on his Zazzle.com shop. If you’re in Europe, you might want to purchase them through his UK, DE, FR or ES shops.