'Retro-Renaissance'

I love Diane and Leo Dillon, as artists and as people. I can't believe it's been nearly 18 months since I posted about them, but here's what I said then, that still holds true now:

Husbands and wives rarely work together well, or so I've heard. But Leo and Diane Dillon are so good together, they literally work on top of each other's work. My wife and I aspire to work similarly, but we have found how difficult that is.

I met and talked with the Dillons at a book signing and was so impressed with their loveliness.

My wife and I are working on a book project together right now where we literally blend our efforts together. We are constantly inspired by the Dillon's work and lives.

Here is a lovely group of 'retro-renaissance' works by the Dillons:

Armadillo Woman

Sketch for Armadillo Woman

Owl Woman

Sketch for Owl Woman

Cricket Woman

Grasshopper Woman

These are all © Leo and Diane Dillon.

Don't forget everything on this Blog is copyrighted by somebody!

December 7

December 6

This is crazy. With all the things I've got to do over the next few weeks, I'm committing myself to another self-imposed obligation. In addition to my regular posts, I'm going to post at least one New Yorker holiday cover per day, for the rest of the month. And it's jes' cuz I happened to notice that I've got one or more with a cover date for each day of the month even if they're years apart. New Yorker covers are clever and colorful and beautifully drawn, but no one really cares about em. So, why am I doin' this? Bah, humbug!

And remember, all these covers and everything else on this 'blog is copyrighted by somebody, somewhere. So nix on doing anything that'll get anybody in trouble. This is an educational venue, so don't screw it up you beezle bubs!

Glory and Pageantry

OK, for the pleasure of comic strip illustration connoisseurs, I will scan and post some more Hal Foster Prince Valiant black and white art some time next week.

I really enjoy studying his line art, and I know there are some black and white purists in this viewership, but color is such a part of the glory and pageantry of the Valiant Arthurian epic. Here's a panel just to remind us of that:

In the Days of King Arthur

Anyone who loves Hal Foster's artwork, and specifically Prince Valiant, has seen his work dozens of times in dozens of different editions of printings, including the beautiful current hard covers from Fantagraphics.

But somehow I am so enamored of the 1950s Hastings House editions that printed Foster's artwork as black and white line work, with a narrative text by Max Trell. The artwork is so clean and crisp, looking much like his original drawings would look like. And there were epic scenes throughout.

I'm only showing a few of the many illustrations in this volume, not in any particular order, and one of those I cropped. We've seen this work in many places, but if you'd like to see more of these beautiful black and whites, let me know and I'll be glad to scan some more.

I love this set of books!

An Era of Erotica

Georges Barbier was one of the great early 20th century art deco sensualists, creating an era of erotica with a graphic technique that found favor with the aristocratic mavens of society.

If his work finds your favor, even if only a little, check back sometime next week to view his illustrations for a special little book.

Georges Barbier — L'eventail et la fourrure chez Paquin — 1911

Georges Barbier _La Belle Helene —1922

Day & the DawnStar

While we're on the subject of Draper's figure studies, here's a classic sketch for his painting Day & the Dawnstar. I've posted that painting and its oil study before, but I'm including the oil study again, for comparison.

The Draper Method

Herbert Draper is a favorite artist of many. His figure studies are appreciated nearly as much as his full-blown paintings. Here are a few for those of you who are fans of the Draper method.

Study for The Evening Hours

Study for The Vintage Morn

Study for Chariot of the Dawn

Study for Literature

Study for Science

Figure study

Study for an Elf

Study for Tristam and Yseult

Study for A Vintage Morn

Study for The Mountain Mists

Time Lord

Ah, yes — a Dr. Who Time Lord . . .

Retro Sci-Fi

Here I go jumping around from subject to subject, genre to genre, artist to artist. I need to thin out my image morgue.

Here's a nice retro sci-fi graphic by retro graphic illustrator Jon C. Lund. Go see his website here, and commission some work for your next ad campaign.

© Jon C. Lund

Frontis

A sumptuous frontis piece for a magazine by Mucha, 1897:

And the preliminary drawing:

Inspiration

Let's do one more go-round with Disney Pinocchio pre-production art, with all of these being Gustaf Tenggren's fantastic creations. Tenggren had been hired solely to create watercolor art for the purpose of inspiring the animators and background artists.

Geez.

As great as the final film is, imagine if Tenggren's art was strictly adhered to for characterization, composition, color, mood and atmosphere. Perhaps in some parallel universe . . .

And mayhaps we see some primary inspiration for Peter DeSeve (?).