Prehistoric Days

The Gremlin is banished (for a while at least), let's try this again, adding a few more pages than last time.

Thanks go out to OtherEric of the Digital Comic Museum for sending over these scans of some early Alley Oop strips, as reprinted in The Funnies—in the prehistoric days of comic books.

Gremlins!

Some sort of gremlin got into the machinery, the other day, here at The Pictorial Arts, and dropped out a published post featuring some Alley Oop pages. I'll repost them some other day with more pages added to em, once I pinpoint the gremlin in charge.

In the meantime, let's see if this portrait of Oop sticks around.

VT Hamlin — Oop promotional drawing — 1961

(I think it's that gremlin hiding behind Saturn)

My biggest regret about losing the post was that the comment went with it—from 'charlie', our blog friend who in his 90s just celebrated his 65th wedding anniversary and informed us that his cancer is under control, and is doing relatively well. charlie is a huge fan of Pogo, Alley Oop, and all the great comic strips of the past, and it's always a pleasure to hear from him.

The Lesbian Flute Player

'Nuff said.

Vera Willoughby — The Lesbian Flute Player — 1927

Over a Century Later

Even over a century later, this ad could sell me dry ginger ale, etc.

Schweppes Soda Water etc. — 1908

Reference

Some people were rather surprised to find that Alex (Flash Gordon) Raymond used nude models as reference for his fully clothed drawing poses. In reality, it is a time honored practice for artists to get the anatomy correct:

Sambourne — program cover design — 1900

Sambourne — reference photo — 1900

The Angel of Night

A little bit of kitsch, a little bit of heaven . . . sort of that awkward time between Art Nouveau and Art Deco . . .

Frederick Marriott —The Angel of Night _ 1907

gesso and mother-of-pearl

Fashion Fantasy

From another Vogue fashion fantasy cover:

S.W. Reynolds — Vogue magazine — 1927

Posterized

A magazine illustration, using the posterized styling of Doug Johnson . . .

Doug Johnson — Women's Wear Daily —1981

There was a Young Mermaid from Pendour

See, there's this village in Cornwall, you know in England. And there's this mermaid, see, and, no wait wait, let me back up, there's this guy Matthew something...wait wait um Trewhella, yeah Matthew Tre-whatever and he was good in music or something or other and he was singing hymns or humming hymns...whatever...and this mermaid, see, she was living in Pendour Cove, you know, nearby, and she like fell in love with him and he like loved her too but he...he...then he...I don't know, it was sad, sorta, sorta sad or I dunno, this happened a long time ago and it's a true story, or well, a true legend, or I dunno, just cuz it's a legend, does that make it true or untrue...well, anyway:

John Reinhard Weguelin — The Mermaid of Zennor — 1900

Full Bloom

1939 was a monumental year for Hollywood films and Technicolor was in full bloom, as demonstrated in this vibrant portrayal of one of America's favorite pastimes. I'm not big into westerns, but this show looks plenty exciting.

Oscar Berninghaus — Movie Night at Taos Theater —1939

Flights of the Imagination

Every once in a while I feel a sudden shock that certain people, personal and famous, are no longer among us, even though I know they've been gone for some time. Of course we feel that way about our loved ones and friends.

But one such famous person is Frank Kelly Freas. I was so used to seeing his illustrative work come out regularly over the decades, that I feel sadness to never see new work of his again.

Of course that can be said of SO MANY people.

You could always count on Frank Kelly Freas to take us on colorful flights of the imagination into the books he covered.

Frank Kelly Freas — The Singing Stones

Frank Kelly Freas — The Probability Man

Frank Kelly Freas —The Tactics of Mistake

Frank Kelly Freas — Deeper Than the Darkness

P R E S T O

Another cover with the Art Deco stylings of William Welsh, demonstrating once again the lesson that modern magazines should take to heart:

Imaginative illustration, used with minimal blurbage gives a magazine more individuality, style and class, making it more desirable and marketable.

As a current non-magazine buyer, I would purchase women's (or any other) magazines all month long, all year long, at full modern prices—if they used modern illustrators, but looked at all like this:

William Welsh — Woman's Home Companion — June, 1932

Amazing Heroes

Kevin Nowlan brings a certain je ne sais quoi to his comic book art, even after decades in the biz. Nowlan has a blog with a subhead that says: "started with the best of intentions, but like most other efforts, doomed to perish from neglect as soon as the novelty wears off." Currently his last post was on April 14, so possibly the novelty is thin, but check out his older posts anyway—good stuff. I enjoyed and collected his work way back when:

Kevin Nowlan — Amazing Heroes — 1980s

Who or What

Decay and disuse haunts this painting by Jean-Marie Poumeyrol, evoking a mystery of who or what might reside behind those bricked-in windows, or the subterranean recesses, of this house. And in fact, in the 1980s, Omni magazine used this painting to illustrate an article about real-life ghost busters.

Jean-Marie Poumeyrol — 1980s

Fashion Fantasy

This 1927 Vogue cover art by George Plank, the last he did for the magazine, was to the theme of A Forecast of Spring Fashions—continuing the eternal trend of outlandish fashion fantasy disconnected from any Earthly reality.

George Plank — Vogue — 1927

Born of the Sunday Funnies

Born of the Sunday funnies, Jim Silke takes us from the past into the future, melding several genres along the way — with comic strip art (Buck Rogers), space-opera art, pin-up art, Bettie Page art, and let's see, what else . . . fanboy frenzy?

Jim Silke — Rocket Bettie

The Wizard and the Child

An odd, but interesting little graphic by Rose O'Neill, originator of the Kewpie . . . with an odd, but interesting little story . . .

Rose O'Neill — The Wizard and the Child —1920s

Woman with Palette

A LaGatta painting that makes me want to paint . . . or be painted.

John LaGatta — Woman with Palette — 1940s

Up on the Roof

Sarah Brightman, "world's favorite soprano", flees to the rooftop of the Palais Garnier — Opéra national de Paris — as Christine in Phantom of the Opera—perched here under one of Eugène-Louis Lequesne's magnificent twin statues of Pegasus.

. . . Christine breathed freely over Paris, the whole valley of which was seen at work below . . .

— Gaston Leroux

Phantom of the Opera

A full view of the phantastique sculpture.

The Garden of Caresses

There's much to be said for the sensual pleasures of life. Though by the looks of it, this woman isn't enthusiastic for her part of it.

Léon Carré — from Le Jardin de caresses — 1914

My Affaire with Fred Astaire

Astaire was an attitude, a joi de danse, an unflappable tappable regular guy who whirled his way through high society with a wink and a wave.

Kim Whitesides — Fred Astaire —Rolling Stone magazine — 1973

watercolor-pencil-pastel

Jazz Age

From deep in the Jazz Age comes this iconic magazine cover.

Benito — Vogue magazine cover — 1927

Delicious

Two of Arthur Rackham's less well known, but delicious, graphics.

Arthur Rackham — Faeries — 1914

Arthur Rackham — Mermaids — 1914

Cleopatra

Looking like a beautiful rendition of A Princess of Mars by J. Allen St. John, this is actually a beautiful rendition of Cleopatra by Harrison Fisher, from 1907 — five years before Princess first saw print. It could have been interesting if Fisher had been assigned to the Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories.

Harrison Fisher — Cleopatra — 1907

Paine's Passionate Propaganda Pamphlet

202 years ago tonight, the body of Thomas Paine lay on a mortuary table awaiting a funeral that only six people would attend, due to his arguments against institutionalized religion and Christian doctrines.

Yet this was one of the fathers of the American Revolution. It was said of him by President John Adams, "without the pen of the author of 'Common Sense', the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain."

Below, a dynamic and colorful depiction of Paine, in the act of creating the pamphlet's passionate propaganda, using clear and concise writing — intelligible to the average reader — arousing and spreading resentment of Britain's rule, offering a solution for the threat of tyranny.

Charles Santore —Thomas Paine Writing Common Sense — 1975

Inspiration

This beautiful picture of this beautiful woman has been floating around in the image morgue as inspiration for my photography, with no information attached to it.

It's been in the morgue for several years. I'm thinking it might be a Chris Fortuna photo. Is it possible that's a young Keira Knightly or is it some other well-known model? I'm not well-versed on the modeling world. But I know when I like an image.

Summer of '82

I love Elwood Smith's cartoon illustrations, but I would NOT want to be anywhere near the beach portrayed here on this record sleeve from an album with a variety of musical artists.

We'll come back to an appreciation of Smith's illustrations later.

Elwood H. Smith — Endless Beach — 1982 —ink & watercolor

Refresh Yourself

Speaking of Andrew Loomis, I tend to think of him only as a 1940s illustrator, not always realizing he'd been in the game for some time, with some plush assignments.

Andrew Loomis — Coca Cola ad — mid 1920s

For All It's Worth

Got a word from Daniel that the artistically worshipped book Figure Drawing for All its Worth is back in print and available—and he gives us a link to information here.

The book has been available on the 'net as a digital doc, but that can't top having the real deal as part of your reference library.

And HERE is a scan from my copy of the original volume that was and is a cornerstone, not only in the education and edification of myriads of illustrators, but also in the wholesome and healthy appreciation of the undraped female form.

Andrew Loomis — Reclining Figure

Her Authority

I'm still going through my mother's papers, piecing together a mosaic of my early life that I was too young to understand or remember. I don't feel that I'm nosing in where I shouldn't, due to the fact that my mom saved these scraps of life with the purpose that I should inherit them. Much of this stuff I could certainly do without, indicating how poor we were financially, but there are bits and pieces that shed light on how rich we were with family love.

This note was written by my brother when he was eleven and I was five. Even though my father had recently moved out, we were all still close emotionally, even my mom and dad. When I found this note, I laughed and cried at the same time. I hesitate to post it, but this IS an autobiographical blog, and I've redacted my brother's name so hopefully he won't kill me if he should stumble across this post.

Short Fuse

Speaking of bomber nose-art, this is a design drawing I did for a project that I really enjoyed. I would love to do something WWII-ish again.

©2005 Thomas Buchanan — ShortFuse Bomber

Lucky 13

I don't have time to go looking for it right now, but I'm wagering that there's a Vargas painting that was the basis for this babe on the cover of a motorcycle mag from a few years ago. Seems she ought to be on the side of a bomber more than a cycle.

Inspiration

Inspiration is where you find it. Here retro illustrator Robert Rodriguez found it in an old Vargas painting and paid homage to it on the cover of Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano. It's very cool how he modernized it and made his adjustments to the pose.

Robert Rodriguez

Alberto Vargas

the cover

Op Art

'Op art', some 50 years before it was the thing.

George Plank — art for Vogue cover — 1918

Fairy Aids

Magazine ads used to be like unto a fairy tale.

Willy Pogany — Djer-Kiss ad — 1922

Favorite Subject

While we're on the subject from the previous post, here be another tapestry panel design of Edmund Dulac, woven by Leo Belmonte.

Edmund Dulac — Danaë — 1917

Danaë — impregnated by Zeus, who came to her in the form of golden rain — has been a favorite subject for artists for centuries. I'm sure it has nothing to do with being a really neat rationale for painting a nude woman in her bed.

The Enchantress

Edmund Dulac has portrayed Circe, the enchantress, several times — but none MORE enchanting than this seldom-seen version that was designed for a tapestry.

Edmund Dulac — Circe, the Enchantress — 1915

Figure and Drapery

Harold Speed — preliminary figure & drapery study — 1905

Illustrative Magic

Illustrative magic wasn't confined just to the early 1900s:

Stephen Fabian — Cover art for Born to Exile by Phyllis Eisenstein

Rescue

Oh, hurry, hurry, HURRY!! . . . SAVE him!!!

Arthur Rackham — The Rescue — 1905