Hey, Publishers!

by Arnie Fenner

I love art books. I always have; I always will. And it doesn't matter how many might already be sitting on our increasingly-bowed shelves, there's always room for more. As hot as e-books and e-readers are, they still haven't been able to compete with the visual and tactile satisfaction a traditional art book offers. They undoubtedly will...eventually. But until that day comes...

I want more art books.

And I would dearly love to see fat, gorgeous collections devoted to...

Leo & Diane Dillon

Yes, there was a very nice collection of their art that was produced in, oh, 1981 (30 years ago!); it's way past time for something more comprehensive, something more complete, that fully celebrates both their originality and their many, many accomplishments.

Rose O'Neil

Best known as the creator of the Kewpie (art, comic strip, doll, et al), O'Neil was not only one of the first prominent women illustrators, but, for a time, was also the highest paid illustrator in the U.S. Collectors of her originals are enthusiastic and more than a tad secretive.

Bob Peak

Really. Who wouldn't want a Bob Peak art book?

Brad Holland

It's unfathomable that there hasn't already been a color retrospective of Holland's influential work. His art for Playboy's "Ribald Classics" bowled me over when I was a kid, and my regard for him has only increased in the decades since.

Gregory Manchess

Some artists are adept at SF. Others at fantasy. Some find their niche painting Westerns or wildlife or history or the figure. Manchess paints it all. Exceptionally. The challenge is to find the far-ranging places where his work appears. Hey! You publishers out there: a book that gathers Greg's art in one spot. Please! Oh, wait: is Manchess reading this? A-hem, uhh...as I was saying, somebody should take this guy's paints away and...

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Fun collection of Elvgren pin-ups with their reference shots

"Use reference. Don't be a slave to it." Thanks to Art Director of Tor Books Irene Gallo and Cyril Van Der Haegen for posting this up. These are so good I had to repost. There are plenty more examples on the link. Enjoy!





http://ulkacurl.livejournal.com/212899.html

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Studio Equipment: Part 1

-By Dan dos Santos



Over the next few weeks, I'll be highlighting a few pieces of studio equipment that I simply can not do without. First up is a simple tool that most painters make use of, a mahl stick.



Traditionally, a mahl stick is just a dowel with a ball of leather tied around one end. For those of you unfamiliar with the tool, it is simply a means by which to steady your hand, while avoiding the surface of a wet painting. The leather tip ensures you don't scratch your work surface.

Over the years, I have taken to customizing just about every piece of studio equipment I own in some way to better suit my needs. But by far, one of the most practical adaptations is my mahl stick.

My easel has canvas bracers that can be flipped upside-down, which make for nice rail supports. I decided to take advantage of this feature by designing a hands free mahl stick. All it is is a basic dowel attached to a  wooden 'hook' by means of a wing nut. I then cut an 'x' shape into the hook (with a dado blade) so that the dowel can pivot. By tightening the wing nut, I can lock the stick at certain angles.

 

It may not seem like a big deal, but having a free hand to answer the phone, hold reference, wipe my brushes, or drink while I work is a major help.



Obviously not every easel is designed the same as mine, so this design may not work for everyone. Instead, consider Donato's alternative, which is a simple piece of wood attached to a c-clamp. Since it is an actual clamp, instead of a hook, it has the advantage of attaching to just about any work surface.

Up next, on Studio Equipment: Part 2... sound systems and shotguns.

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Bouguereau & His Milieu

The Hirschl & Adler Gallery of New York City is currently hosting a small exhibition of William Bouguereau's work, as well as a few pieces of his contemporaries, entitled "Bouguereau & His Milieu". The show is extremely small, just eight pieces, but the opportunity to see five Bouguereau paintings in a single room is quite rare and definitely warrants the visit. Though I have not seen it yet, I would assume it also presents the seldom seen opportunity to view these paintings up close. At large exhibitions, curators tend to hang the Bouguereau's so annoyingly high, all you can admire are the toes.

The show hangs from March 31st - April 30th, 2011. The Hirschl & Adler Gallery is located in the Crown Building, at 730 Fifth Avenue, New York,  NY.



As usual, thanks to Matthew Innes for tipping me off to this. Matthew's blog is the 'go-to' spot for upcoming gallery shows, especially those based on figurative realism.

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The Black Pharaohs, Part 1

Gregory Manchess

I love working with the National Geographic Society. It tests all of my skills and much of my patience when I work with them, but I can think of no place better to stir my interests as a visual story-teller. That’s what NGS does with their articles about historical times and places: they tell stories about the people that lived there.

I consider it my job to get the reader to be just as excited about the article as the researchers and scientists are about the history they love to talk about. How does someone go about that? While the scientists are thrilled about somebody’s body armor, I’m tasked with the job of putting that armor in context...with excitement.

Years ago, much of the work in NGS reported mostly about what they found. It took great effort to connect those objects with the people that used them. But it focused so much on the objects that the scene itself was left to suffer. When the art director, Jeff Osborn, called me about doing this article entitled, The Black Pharaohs I asked him up front if I could work on finding an exciting pov first, then add the details that the researchers love back into the scene. He wasn’t sure what I meant, but he gave me the go-ahead.

After all, I was going to do a bazillion thumbnails for him to show him what I meant before going ahead with the process of completing the painting. A process that for NGS could take a year and a half. But he informed me that we needed to fast-track this particular assignment, which meant, I had three months.

I was asked to paint three pieces for the story. I’ll skip to the important parts and take you through the first painting, a battle scene at Memphis. The Nubians attacked from the berm along the waterway to the entrance to Memphis, using fire arrows and a surprise attack. Only this time, the shock and awe worked.

I worked up a number of thumbnails, searching for the right point of view to include the entire list of what they wanted to show: Nubian ships pulled up to a large earth berm, the Memphis entrance gate, Nubian soldiers conquering Egyptian soldiers, what they wore, what they carried, how they advanced, burning the city.

I had been looking for something intriguing to put in front of the gate from the beginning, something that said, “Egyptians Live Here” immediately. A statue? Nope, the researchers assured me there were no large statues. Dang.

 

I decided that I wanted to show the pov of a fallen Egyptian soldier, watching his city be overrun. It could actually be a Nubian fighter, too, watching his comrades conquer the Egyptians, but that’s what I find intriguing: it’s up to the viewer.

Jeff liked it and, after hours of research, helped by researchers at NGS, he asked me to pursue it to a finished pencil. NGS always wants to see a color comp, and this time I took a bit of a digital stab at it. (I got half way before I realized I’d had enough. But they saw enough of where I was going.)

 

Now the researchers really took it apart, a piece at a time. This is where I’ve learned great patience. Let’s just look at one aspect: the Memphis gate. And oh, by the way, the researchers said, yes indeed, there was a huge statue in front of the gate. Yay! They sent me this....wow! Look at the size of that baby.

For a while, my gate was too large. Then too small. The sketches below show how I changed all the aspects of the gate, but instead of redrawing the pencil every time, I just drew over it with tracing paper.

Then I got the word: wait, there wasn’t just one statue, but two. Even better. And flags.

Hold on. We were wrong about the statue. The shot we sent was 

a telephoto shot. It’s more like this; actually about this big:

Meantime, I was also working on the second painting design. As the scientists checked out details on one, I would switch back to another to work on. This took weeks.

Eventually, I was given the go-ahead for finish. Then, they would have at it again, picking over the details of color, light, wind direction, etc. (yes, they even knew the correct wind direction that day.)

The last thing they said was, “should we really have fire arrows?” Jeff came to my rescue on that one by saying basically, ‘are you kiddin’ me?’.

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Drive-By Posting

By Justin Gerard

Today's post is a quickie because I am in more trouble than a fox in a hen house. A hen house guarded by grizzly bears with rocket launchers.



Due to an important project due NOW, I didn't have time to finish my planned post on Art as it Relates to Technology and the Industro-Military Complex Throughout History. I flatter myself in thinking that it would surely have knocked some socks off. It will have to wait until a later date.



Instead, I have attached two recent experiments in water-mixable oils. As a product it may defy science and sound reason, but the more I use it the more I like it.

Underpainting for above painting.

Colored gesso on primed MDB.

Water-Mixable Oil on Primed MDB.

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Another Early Childhood Art Hero - Jon Gnagy

By John Jude Palencar






A couple of weeks ago Dan Dos Santos posted an entry about his early childhood art hero, “Captain Bob”. There were also other early Saturday morning art instructors. The guy that started me on my way was Jon Gnagy. My Grandmother purchased the deluxe art set for me when I was around six years old ... I think it is now called the “Gnagy Master Art Set”. Mr. Gnagy’s art program and art kits became a fixture in our home and were used until I was 11 years old. Further study was done through yet another art instruction program on PBS with a Japanese Sumi Brush Master. I had my first one person exhibit of Sumi watercolors on the bulletin board in my fourth grade class. The following year my work was chosen for the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s (Newspaper) student art exhibit. Seventeen years after that I was illustrating the covers for the Plain Dealer's Sunday Magazine.

While simple in their presentation, Mr. Gnagy’s demonstrations were pivotal in letting me see the world through an artist’s eye. I still have his instructional art books in my collection. Just like the late night horror movie hosts, I will always have fond memories Mr. Gnagy’s “Learn to Draw” television program. His daughter, Polly Nagy Seymor maintains a web site dedicated to her father.

And... "yes" his art kits are still available!

Thank you again Mr. Gnagy.

Here are a few links:

Wiki link: Here

Jon Gnagy page: Here (Includes a number of You Tube vids)

Jon Gnagy Bio: Here

Jon Gnagy Art Kits: Here

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