> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bl.ag/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Uncovering the Spectacular Commercial Art of Wes Cook - URL: https://bl.ag/uncovering-the-spectacular-commercial-art-of-wes-cook/ - Published: 2025-03-27T14:00:55.000Z - Updated: 2025-03-27T14:00:54.000Z - Description: A mural at McDonald's, Centralia, Washington, leads Cabel Sasser down a delightful rabbit hole. - Author: Better Letters - Tags: People, History, Projects When I saw a link to [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df%5FK7pIsfvg&ref=bl.ag) posted to Mastodon, it was accompanied by a comment that said, "watch to the end". I did, and was floored. **Cabel Sasser, Panic — XOXO Festival (2024)* [on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df%5FK7pIsfvg&ref=bl.ag). The talk by [Cabel Sasser](https://cabel.com/?ref=bl.ag) is about his research into the life and work of [Wes Cook](https://wescook.art/?ref=bl.ag), an outstanding commercial artist whose clients included Disney, McDonald's, and Universal. Sasser has gone deep, including gradually scanning and publishing pieces from Cook's portfolio to [a dedicated website that honours the artist and designer](https://wescook.art/?ref=bl.ag). The [original drawing](https://wescook.art/2024/10/09/mcdonalds-centralia-mural-sketch/?ref=bl.ag) for the McDonald's mural above is among these, and here are just ten more that offer a glimpse into the variety of Cook's work. They show the stages his ideas would pass through before becoming a mural, set design, or themepark attraction. ![Techincal drawings for the platform with measurements, angles, and annotations.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/1979-Wes-Cook-Setmakers-Studio-Painting-Platform.jpeg) In 1979, Cook designed this [custom mural painting platform](https://wescook.art/2024/10/09/setmakers-studio-painting-platform/?ref=bl.ag) for the work he was doing for McDonald's at Setmakers Studio. ![Technical drawings with measurements and annotations.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/1973-Wes-Cook-Interior-Design.jpeg) [Interior design work](https://wescook.art/2024/10/09/home-interior-design/?ref=bl.ag), possibly for his own home/studio, 1973. ![Black and white sketch showing people circulating among a host of themepark attractions.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/1994-Wes-Cook-Comic-Strip-Street-for-Universal.jpeg) Unbuilt plan for the proposed [Comic Strip Street](https://wescook.art/2024/10/10/comic-strip-street/?ref=bl.ag) at Universal Islands of Adventure, 1994. ![Outline drawing for a wide-format mural, with measurements and annotations.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/Wes-Cook-McDonaldss-Circus-Mural.jpeg) [Circus mural](https://wescook.art/2024/10/09/mcdonaldss-circus-mural/?ref=bl.ag) for the McDonald's in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, Germany, 1979. ![Black and white sketch of a futuristic entranceway to a themepart attraction.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/Wes-Cook-Neptunes-Domain.jpeg) [Neptune's Domain](https://wescook.art/2024/10/10/neptune-exterior/?ref=bl.ag), the entrance to an attraction visualised for an unknown themepark. ![Rough sketch for an interior scene with people, benches, a table, and shelves.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/Wes-Cook-Tokyo-DisneySea-Fortress-Explorations.jpeg) [Exploratory sketch](https://wescook.art/2024/10/10/fortress-explorations-officers-common-sketch/?ref=bl.ag) for Tokyo DisneySea. ![Line drawing of an aerial view of a large galleon with people on board manning rigging, firing cannon, etc.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/Wes-Cook-Tokyo-DisneySea-Renaissance.jpeg) Exploration for [the Renaissance Galleon](https://wescook.art/2024/10/10/fortress-explorations-renaissance-overview/?ref=bl.ag) at Tokyo DisneySea. ![Technical drawing for a large globe whose circular base provides benches to sit on.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/Wes-Cook-Tokyo-DisneySea-Magellans-Globe.jpeg) [Magellan’s Globe](https://wescook.art/2024/10/10/magellans-globe/?ref=bl.ag), designed for the Magellan’s restaurant at Tokyo DisneySea. You can see how it turned out [here at wescook.art](https://wescook.art/2024/10/10/magellans-globe/?ref=bl.ag). ![Detailed black and white drawing depicting a sea-based scene from the adventures of Ronald McDonald.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/02/1978-Wes-Cook-McDonalds-Mural-Hawaii.jpeg) [Mural artwork](https://wescook.art/2024/10/09/mcdonalds-mural-hawaii/?ref=bl.ag) for a McDonald's in Hawaii, 1978. For more, visit [wescook.art](https://wescook.art/?ref=bl.ag), where you'll also find [this 'unused' McDonald's piece](https://wescook.art/2024/10/10/the-lost-mcdonalds-satire-triptych/?ref=bl.ag) that I'll let you learn about yourself... PS. Although they never met, both Wes Cook and Mark Oatis were involved in the work that brought Tokyo DisneySea to life. Oatis was designing signs and other graphics for the American Waterfront feature, which consisted of two blocks inspired by 1910-era New York. However, one façade remained un-named, as Mark explains: > "Many ideas had been floated, but none had hit the mark. I was asked for my opinion, and I suggested that, with all these signs in such profusion, there probably had to be sign shop somewhere! The idea was embraced on the spot, and I threw myself into creating the full complement of designs found on any quality shop of the era, right down to the 'A business with no Sign is a Sign of No Business' sign, lettered on the front door." ![Shopfront for a sign firm. In addition to a large fascia sign that reads 'SIGNS, Plain or Fancy, The Asmus Co.', there are gilded and painted signs in the window.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/2025/03/Tokyo-DisneySea-Sign-Shop-by-Mark-Oatis-1.jpg) Oatis named the shop The Asmus Co. in recognition of Denver sign painter Henry Asmus who, via his daughter Ellie Ulmer, gave him his first sight of [**Atkinson's Sign Painting*](https://www.loc.gov/item/09030271/?ref=bl.ag). That book, in that moment, resolved him to pursue a sign painting career, and everything that followed, which included Ulmer becoming his mother-in-law. --- ### More People [Sign Painter Profiles on Better Letters MagazineInterviews, films, and profiles of sign painters past and present.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/icon/BLAG_Issue_06_Social_Profile_Pic_03-2.jpg)BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & CultureBetter Letters![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/thumbnail/Cyril-Foster-Trinidad-01-1-4.jpg)](https://bl.ag/tag/people/) ### More History [Sign & Sign Painting HIstory on Better Letters MagazineThe history of signs, sign painting and sign painters.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/icon/BLAG_Issue_06_Social_Profile_Pic_03-3.jpg)BLAG Magazine: Adventures in Sign Painting Craft, Community & CultureBetter Letters![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/24/aa/24aaa208-ebb0-4f83-bc52-1f4f253367c8/content/images/thumbnail/T-L-Hamlyn-Transom-and-Fascia-1-4.jpg)](https://bl.ag/tag/history/)