Last week we took a look at the FATHER OF AMERICAN ILLUSTRATION – HOWARD PYLE. If you have yet to look at his work, please do so. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained from studying his compositions, his color, and the devices that he uses to tell a story in one picture.
Not only was he one of the greatest illustrators ever, he was also one of the greatest teachers. He had so many students who became big names in illustration after being his students- this week we will take a look at two of the most famous.
First we have Jessie Wilcox Smith.
Learn from her! She’s got mad drawing skills; subtle, elegant color, and design that makes you wanna faint from an overload of compositional fantastic-ness. Just to be clear- the words DESIGN and COMPOSITION, are synonymous- they both refer to the arrangement of value shapes on the picture plane. Design, Composition, Arrangement- call it whatever you like- either way Jessie Wilcox Smith is one of the best.
To see more of this knock-out illustrators work, look here: http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/jwsmith.htm and here http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/illustrators/smith.html
Another one of Pyle’s greatest students was N.C. Wyeth.
Like his teacher, adventurous narratives were N.C.’s preferred subjects. He illustrated some of the novels written by his contemporaries that became instant classics- Treasure Island, The Last of the Mohicans, and The Adventures in King Arthur's Court. See more of his exciting work here: http://www.ncwyeth.org/
(Side note - N.C. had a son named Andrew Wyeth, http://www.andrewwyeth.com/ who was one of America’s greatest painters, (he lived a long, prolific life 1917 – 2009) Andrew’s son is Jamie Wyeth, contemporary painter http://www.jamiewyeth.com/ )
As for other contemporaries of ours, here’s a couple:
C.F. Payne
He's known primarily as an editorial illustrator, but he has also done some popular children’s books as well. See his work here: http://www.cfpayne.com/
She's Canadian but her work is HUGE in America. Look especially at her paintings- a great example of how an illustrative style can be brought to a level of fine art. http://www.anitakunz.com/
Interesting connection:
Andrew Wyeth, best known for his “Christina’s World”,
recently had his portrait painted by C.F. Payne:
Here are some questions to get your mind warmed up for your blog comments:
What are your observations on the differences between the 3 Wyeths' art? Who’s your favorite? Why?
What do you think of Jessie Wilcox Smith?
Can you see her influence in any contemporary illustrators?
Looking at her work next to Pyle’s- what did she learn from her teacher?
What about N.C.? His and Pyle’s narrative work deal with a lot of the same adventurous subjects- do you notice any obvious or subtle stylistic differences?
How do you think C.F. Payne gets his soft, grainy look in all of his work? If you’re interested, see if you can find out, it’s a pretty complex process.
Anita Kunz work is full of intelligent concepts made clear through pictorial means. Is there a particular piece that you like for the idea behind it? Tell us about it.
Who is your favorite out of the four? Why?
Write comments! Read comments!
Those are all great, it's hard to choose my favorite, but I'd have to say the one by Andrew Wyeth , "Christinas world" might be my favorite. It's such a simple picture but it tells story. I like to try to make my work simple yet mysterious at the same time and I think that is what this picture does, which makes me really look up to it.
ReplyDeleteI like the work of Anita Kunz. The way she renders value gives her figures a sense of three dimensional form. There is also so much expression and gesture in her pieces. Although many of her characters are representational to famous figures in the world, she is not trying to be realistic. She is trying to solely capture the essence of character and that to me is more believable than a realistically rendered image of a person that can often times seem the most lifeless...unless we're talking about Ben Stein.
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I love Andrew Wyeth, I actually have his art book with sketches and thumbnails and all of that. I can bring it in if you want!
ReplyDeleteOut of the three Wyeth's, I noticed that they all focus on realistic images. But I think their realism really pays off in their illustrations. My favorite out the three though would have to be N.C Wyeth. I was just amazed how much work he actually has done, there were hundreds of pictures on his website. I really like his native american work such as the "Hunter".
ReplyDeleteThere is an awesome Andrew Wyeth museum in in Maine. You can go and actually stand in the places where the paintings are set. Something that I love about all the Wyeths is their use of light, and how luminous the images seem!
ReplyDeleteAndrew Wyeth is the bomb, yo
ReplyDeleteI love Andrew Wyeth's work as well, especially the piece on his website titled "The Carry" . The painting is so realistic. The way he captures the light and reflections in the river makes it look like a photograph instead of a painting.
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