TWO FOR THE ROAD
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
3d ago
America loves a good "road story" about  traveling companions who encounter adventure and learn lessons along the way.   Jack Kerouac wrote the famous beat generation classic, On The Road.  Mark Twain wrote the story of Huck Finn and Jim traveling down the Mississippi.  John Steinbeck wrote Travels With Charley.  And James Gurney and Thomas Kinkade wrote the newly re-released The Artist's Guide to Sketching. As Gurney recounts in their book, Before he was the painter of light, and before I was the creator of Dinotopia, Tom Kinkade and I were to unknown and pennile ..read more
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A TALE OF TWO COMIC STRIPS
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
2w ago
 In the 1980s, there were two comic strips about the White House.  One was well written, the other was well drawn.  Doonesbury was brilliant, witty satire.  Its caustic humor revolutionized the comics page (and in fact, some newspapers moved it from the comics page to the editorial page).  It developed a huge following.  However, the drawing in Doonesbury was always mediocre at best.  Artist Garry Trudeau could not draw a decent caricature to save his life, so he would always draw the President off screen, either with a word balloon above the White House...&n ..read more
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BILL MAYER IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
3w ago
 I've had some unkind things to say about illustration in the New York Times in recent years.  I felt that the Times had lost its taste for traditional drawing, and its replacements-- digital collages, naive scrawls, and postmodern mewlings-- were unworthy of the Times.  I suggested the Times had succumbed to the "I'm-so-smart-I don't-have-to-draw-well" attitude that infected too many other publications.  Some of its digital illustrations in recent years demonstrated a young medium with potential but even then, much of it substituted flash and gimmickry for genuin ..read more
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NOT JESUS, BUT MUSCLE
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
1M ago
I find Boris Vallejo's painting of bodybuilder Jesus hilarious.   It's hard to imagine a picture more clueless about who Jesus was, what he stood for, the significance of the cross, or the principles of the New Testament. Its temptation-- to worship something with bulging muscles-- is understandable but its dumbnicity is comical. There is a long tradition of imperial art that serves as a tool for the glorification of imperial dictators. The ancient Egyptians or imperial Romans at the height of their power well understood how to use monumental sculptures and triumphal arches.  ..read more
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UNDERNEATH THE DESIGN
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
1M ago
I love Mark Borgions' picture of a gorilla:  At first it looks like it's all about the design:  the simple, flat geometric shapes, the bold colors, that striking composition-from-above-- yup, this has the kind of power you can achieve with pure, uncompromised design. Yet, underneath these abstract shapes there's a great deal of observation about the forms being captured.  That head seemingly so reckless and unbridled perfectly captures the prognathic shape of a gorilla skull.  The powerful turned wrists and curled fingers are an excellent observation about a knuckle walk ..read more
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ARTISTS IN LOVE, part 24
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
1M ago
Pliny the Elder tells of a young maid in ancient Corinth, the daughter of Butades the potter.  The woman loved a young man who had to leave on a long trip.  The night before he left, she was so upset that she traced his shadow on the wall by lamplight so that she could keep him with her. Some say this was the origin of all painting: a desperate attempt to hang onto as much as we can of what is destined to decay. Over the years, I've been touched by sketches by artists who wanted to preserve a particular moment of their loved one.   The sketches aren't always perfect, but ..read more
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THE END OF 2024
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
1M ago
 The tail end of 2024 is jumping the fence. All that remains of the old year are its flanks disappearing into the night, never to return. But it is the hope and faith of this blog that some qualities are timeless, and remain undiminished by the turning of the calendar page; that excellence is new forever, and that it rewards revisiting.  I think Harold von Schmidt is one of the most under-appreciated of the great mid-century illustrators. Harold von Schmidt, detail from "Major Dawes Takes a Shortcut," 1934 There are thousands of paintings of riders in the night ..read more
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WHAT THE HECK WAS ANDREW WYETH THINKING WITH THIS SYCAMORE TREE?
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
2M ago
Andrew Wyeth drew this "preliminary" study of a sycamore tree in preparation for a landscape painting. Andrew Wyeth, 1941 (30" x 40") Every artist has to be prepared to sacrifice their only wealth-- hours of their life-- on the altar of the Great God of Art.  Still, one might be excused for wondering: was this guy nuts? Was this drawing a wise sacrifice of the artist's time?  What did he learn?  What did he create?  Could this image have been better handled by photography?  Or AI? Would the Great God of Art have even noticed if its worshiper cut corner ..read more
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JAZZ AGE ILLUSTRATION AT THE DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
2M ago
Nicholas Remisoff, cover for Vanity Fair, 1923 One of the most exciting and edifying exhibitions of illustration art this year is currently on display at the Delaware Art Museum.  The show, Jazz Age Illustration, surveys illustration from a period of American history that was crackling with energy-- an era of music and dance, of flappers and prohibition, of the new freedom and permissiveness that came with the automobile, of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary and visual stylings of Vanity Fair.   From the "Club Hot-Cha" to the "Radium Club," cartooni ..read more
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MORT DRUCKER PRELIMINARY SKETCHES
ILLUSTRATION ART
by David Apatoff
2M ago
  Early in his career, cartoonist Mort Drucker attracted attention with his riotous drawings of large groups:  Drucker seemed to have a limitless supply of faces, personalities and visual puns which he dispensed freely in these group drawings. Detail Detail How did he fit all those puzzle pieces together, with figures looking at each other and interacting?  We get some clues from Drucker's preliminary drawings.  It's clear from his sketches that Drucker was a fast, talented draftsman.  But it's also clear that he worked like a ..read more
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