There’s a peculiar syndrome among artists that parallels the discussions of many a record store clerk, except amongst artists “have you heard” becomes “have you seen.” Depending on whose chin is wagging, you might come away with the names of a couple of Argentinian comic artists, a slew of nineteenth century naturalist painters, or someone’s favorite Japanese printmaker.
In no particular order, other than alphabetical, we present to you this weekly feature about artists who help power our pencils.
Zdzis?aw Beksi?ski
“Haunting” might be the best way to describe the oil paintings of polish artist Beksi?ski, but I think this quote from him sums it up best: “I wish to paint in such a manner as if I were photographing dreams.”
John Berkey
One of the titans of science fiction illustration, he forever redefined the look of the sci-fi spaceship. Transforming it from flying discs and cigars with fins into abstract masses of light and structure.
Ivan Bilibin
Rackham is to England as Bilibin is to Russia. His graphic, woodblock style illustrations beautifully meld both European and Japanese design sense into something uniquely his own.
Rob Bliss
A savagely talented concept artist who seems to have gotten his design chops contributing to the Harry Potter movies. He has a knack for inventing utterly creepy masks, ranging from the Death Eaters of Harry Potter to the Joker’s Clown Mask from The Dark Knight.
Franklin Booth
There was a time when illustration was only in black and white and one of the kings of this era was Franklin Booth. John Fleskes nicknamed him “Painter with a Pen.” It’s rare when an illustration has 10,000 lines in it, and each one of them entirely belongs there. Makes us quiver just by inking a cloud in the sky.
Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret
A barely known French painter from the nineteenth century. He was among a group of painters who combined the new color sense of the Impressionists with the drawing precision of the French Academy. We love him so much, especially the way he welds the darks together.
Frank Brangwyn
A famed British muralist whose bold, chunky painting style and complex multi-figure compositions served as an inspiration to the famed American illustrator Dean Cornwell.
C O L O P H O N
This week’s header image uses the interesting semi-slab hybrid Museo, released in 2008 by digital type designer Jos Buivenga; and Bodoni, designed in the late 1700s by Giambattista Bodoni, Italian printer and pioneer of high-contrast Romantic-era rationalist typefaces.
We are Kurt Huggins and Zelda Devon. We live in a pocket-sized apartment in Brooklyn where we collect neat, weird things. Our home is abundant with books, old furniture, mismatching tea cups, and a cat named Cipher. We both illustrate stuff for money so we can continue to invent stories, buy shoelaces, watch puppet shows, and eat sandwiches.
Zdzislaw Beksinski is sort of a “holy name” in this household. Such gorgeous work.
(This series of posts is so interesting; can’t wait for the rest. *g*)
I will add a few names:
Hieronymus Bosch. I don’t think he needs an introduction (frankly I’m surprised he wasn’t included in the list)
The Brueghels — all four of them
Enki Bilal, Yugoslavian born French comic book artist, a friend once referred to him as “the artist’s artist”. He not only illustrated classics like Exterminator 17 and The Hunting Party, but also directed several features including Immortel (Ad Vitam) and Tykho Moon
Frédéric_Boilet is a French born manga artist who lives in Tokyo. Credited, among other things, with launching the “nouvelle manga” movement. Look for Yukiko’s Spinach and Mariko Parade (there’s more, but it’s either in French of Japanese)
Once again, I love this segment!
My contributions:
William Adolphe Bouguereau, IMHO the most talented tecnical portrait painter in history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bouguereau
James Bama, the illustrator behind all the Doc Savage covers.
http://www.google.com/images?q=James%20Bama&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1234&bih=811
Fascinating! Thanks for these.
Thanks!
Glad to see the inclusion of Franklin Booth and Frank Brangwyn – two of my favorites.
The “Painter with a Pen” comment about Booth has a relevance beyond compliment. Franklin taught himself how to draw by studying and copying the illustrations he saw in books and magazines. Most of these were woodblock engravings illustrating the paintings of the masters. The force and charm of Booth’s painterly drawings are well worth the cost and effort of getting a copy of John Fleskes’ book Franklin Booth – Painter With A Pen.
Good to see Bilibin get a heads up.
I like this column.
I’d like to add John Bauer, *the* master of drawing Trolls to the list.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bauer
http://www.artsycraftsy.com/bauer_prints.html
That Dagnan-Bouveret reproduction doesn’t do it an ounce of justice. I could have stared at that thing for 3 hours in Montreal. Lots of subtle greens/blues in the skin that really made the nuns glow.
Great choices.
This is great! More please.
Lovely idea, but where is Vaughn Bode?