Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Drew Struzan
It used to be said, “If you could
draw you could make a living.”Sadly this is no longer the case. The computer has
been the final death knell for much of the production artists in industry. In fact more people have lost jobs
to the advent of computer technology than anyone is willing to admit. As we all know, one guy on a
computer can produce more work than a whole company of animators, typographers,
photographers, printers, illustrators,designers,
graphic artists, combined.
At one time, the top illustrators
were considered celebrities and were paid tremendous amounts of money. In the 1930’s almost everyone had a
Maxfield Parrish print on their wall. The next generation replaced this with a
Norman Rockwell print.From the industrial revolution to
the computer age, technology has reduced the need for the artists and craftsmen.
In regards to illustrators, the
invention of photography and the ability to place the photos in a printed copy reduced
the need greatly for artists.
In the 1960’s most the big
advertisers began to pull out the popular magazines of the day and invest their
money in the new technology called "television." This again reduced the need for the
advertising illustrator.The last industry where there was still
a need for creative personnel and artists could make a decent living was
the movie industry. Being a movie poster illustrator
was a coveted prize for an artist. However by the 1980’s this became more of a
rare commodity as entertainment executives opted for the computer generated
photo montage of little or no artistic merit.
It seems to me that there is a
direct relationship between the rise of technology and the downfall of artistic
integrity and craftsmanship.
So, next time you wax poetically
about your new PC remember all the artists and
craftsmen that were sent to pasture, before you boot that thing up.
Ok, with this rant coming to an
end I will now publish this blog article, so you can read it on your computer...
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
Anatomical Studies: A Left Forearm in Two Positions and a Right Forearm, 1600–1608
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
Drawing, pen and brown ink
Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
Drawing, pen and brown ink
This scan was brought to you by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Haddon Sundblom
These scans are from the Today's Inspiration Blog which has an article on Sundblom's Santas
Haddon
Hubbard "Sunny" Sundblom was an American artist of Finnish and Swedish
descent and best known for the images of Santa Claus he created for The
Coca-Cola Company. Thursday, July 25, 2013
Sculptor's Drawings
click on pic
for sharper enlargement
As mentioned several times in
this blog, it is always better to draw from life. Photographs inherently have
numerous distortions in contour, tone value and perspective. Of course working
from live models is not cost effective for many of us.
A sculptor will draw differently than a
painter because his interests are in form rather than color. A contoured line
defines form, so a linear drawing will be more useful. Sometimes I draw
directly on a xeroxed copy of a photo to help better understand this form.
In a preparatory drawing for a
painting one generally needs to mass-in tonal areas separating the dark from
the lights.
In some areas of these drawings, I
have created tonal shapes next to light areas that define a particular plane,
as well.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Frederic Rodrigo Gruger (1871-1953)
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| Illustration from “Show Boat” by Edna Ferber, Woman’s Home Companion, April 1926, Carbon pencil & wash, 10.75 x 16.5" |
Time magazine, at one time, proclaimed Frederic Rodrigo Gruger "the
dean of U.S. magazine illustrators”.
For more examples of Gruger’s
work and a detailed description of his technique you can go to Illustration Art,
where I borrowed the following pictures.
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