Favorite Illustrations?

Geez . . I'm a kid again, poring over some of these unbelievabley beautiful illustrations in books that THEY LET YOU TAKE HOME ! from that wonderful place they called the Library. (next to Noble Rd Elementary School, Cleve Hts.)

Thanks
 
I was wrong,
it's a story I don't know.
I read the title is this :
"il racconto del vento" Edmund DULAC vintage art print. Hans ANDERSEN FIABE

I was wrong,
it's a story I don't know.
I read the title is this _

however you show the works of Dulac,
also Goble's works are also beautiful.
 
Time to reboot this thread. Here are some works by Maria or Duong Thuy Nguyen. She is a young illustrator who lives in Toronto.

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It should be obvious why I would find these attractive with their strong emphasis upon the decorative use of flowers and other flora and the strong linear graphic aspect.
 
Yuko Shimizu

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Yuko Shimizu (清水裕子) is a Japanese illustrator based in New York City. She was born in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of eleven, her father's company moved the family to the United States. She lived there for four years before returning to Japan. According to Shimizu, attending school in the US encouraged a sense of individuality in her that she would take back to Japan which was not usual for women in Japanese culture.

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Having a great appreciation for Japanese comics, Shumizu dreamed of becoming a manga artist, but her parents dissuaded her from following an art education. She majored in business, graduating as valedictorian. Shimizu worked for a decade in the PR department of a large Japanese corporation, headquartered in Tokyo. Realizing that women in the firm who had been there for multiple decades were not advancing she made the decision to pursue an MFA in illustration in the United States.

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She saved for two years in order to have enough money for four years of tuition and living expenses. In 1999 she enrolled in the School of Visual Arts. Her roomate when she began her graduate studies was the equally talented James Jean. Shimizu graduated with a Masters in Illustration in 2003. Since then, Shimizu has carved a succesful career as an illustrator creating works for clients including Apple, Adobe, The Library of Congress, Microsoft, MTV, Target, NPR, TIME, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, and over 70 covers for CD Comics.

Shimizu has taught at the School of Visual Art BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department since 2003. She co-teaches with another incredibly talented artist, Marcos Chin.

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-Ink drawing for the Vote poster above

(continued...
 
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Yuko Shimizu works in the traditional manner of painting with black ink inspired by the ink drawings for Japanese Ukiyo-e prints...

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... Japanese (and Chinese) ink paintings...

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... and the traditional manner of inking the underdrawings in comic books...

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Shimizu did realize her dream of becoming a comic book artist creating a good many comic book covers:

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The artist begins her illustrations with rapid sketches in pencil which she then refines using black ink usually applied with a brush:

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These drawings are then photographed and imported into Photoshop where color is applied:

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(continued...
 
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Shimizu is one of a good number of Japanese artists who I admire. In part, I respect these artists' rejection or disregard of many of the aspects of Western Late/Post-Modernism that dominates many of the galleries and art media. I admire their ability to hold firm to aspects of traditional Japanese art while speaking to the contemporary experience. I also appreciate the emphasis upon figurative (yet not photo-realistic) art, the use of patterns, and the dominance of line.



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Many of Shimizu's works address issues of culture, race, and women's rights and the place of women within culture.

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*****
 
is "illustration" merely one possible function of art, the finest examples of which are every bit as fine as any other work of art?
yes.

But part of the confusion - especially in the past - is due to the method of production and presentation.
Art was (is) broadly thought of as paint on canvas, stone on pedestal. As one of a kind. As a precious object.

Whereas illustration - broadly speaking - is produced on non-archival materials and mass-produced on multiple disposable copies often of low quality - not one of a kind and not a precious object.

So in general it is thought that "art" cannot be an illustration because it's a one of a kind precious object and illustration cannot be art because there is no-there-there - only a page from a comic book, a clipping from a magazine -- nothing to hang on the wall, auction at Christie's.

It's only when we think of "virtual" imagery can "art" and "illustration" be put on equal footing and freely exchanged.

P.S.
I'm aware of all the exceptions - the blurring of distinctions that modern methods of production and presentation create- I'm speaking in generalities and conceived perceptions and more to the roots of the "conflict".
 
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Bongo; I agree that the fact that illustration is mass-produced certainly impacted its perceived value... but as you suggest, there are more than a few exceptions to the rule. We could start with the prints of Dürer, Holbein, Grien, Van Leyden, Piranesi, Rembrandt, Breugel, Goya, William Blake, Whistler, Ukiyo-e prints, etc... Alphonse Mucha is perhaps the best example of an artist whose work was deemed "illustration" or "commercial art" from the start... and yet whose work was arguably the most influential of the late 19th century (much more so than that of the Impressionists) and jealousy sought after and collected. What is problematic is that works that are clearly commercial in intent when produced by artists deemed as "fine artists" are revered as "fine art" and not "illustration". For example:

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Wylie Beckert

I don't know if this is a "favorite" illustrator, but I came across her work on Pinterest. Generally, whenever I see this type of “dungeons and dragons” art...like warrior women with big boobs and shields, and muscle men wearing diaper clothes in dynamic poses, I skip over them. (Don’t I just mean fantasy art??) I was mesmerized watching her videos and think she’s pretty masterful with both drawing and ink washes, as well as composition and anatomy. All I kept thinking was that “She has such a sure hand”....with barely any false starts or hesitations, and a nice intuitive sense of where to lean in, or pull back. (Don’t I just mean good eye/hand coordination??)
 
She definitely has some serious skills... but a good many illustrators have far more skills in a traditional figurative manner than a lot of contemporary "fine art" painters. I like her use of the value chart to help establish light and dark after staring at the piece for an extended period of time. I used to do this when I worked in oils in establishing the tonal underpainting. Not so much now. It's also helpful to have color charts... or even pick up a ton of those paint chip samples from the hardware store... maybe half-a-dozen at a time so that they don't become suspicious. 😄
 
All I kept thinking was that “She has such a sure hand”....with barely any false starts or hesitations said:
She PRINTS OUT THE DRAWING onto the watercolor paper. Then goes over the lines with pencil so that would pretty much eliminate false starts and hesitations.
 
Yes, that’s true but it’s not what I was trying to describe. (Clumsy words.) She makes the sketchy drawing FIRST and feels her way around the forms to get it to materialize into an image. Just like with anybody else doing a sketchy drawing, “false starts and hesitations” are part of the process and the end result is scribbly looking and gestural. (Duh). So when she gets to the next stage - the drawing print on the watercolor paper - it’s just a way to refine and clean up her messy drawing.

Her “sure hand” starts at this point when she’s able to retain the freshness of the sketch, correctly build up the tones of the ink, knows where to place the light and dark parts, senses where to sharpen or soften the pencil lines, and understands the shape and placement of the highlight.

Simply, she knows what she’s doing...skills+experience.
That’s all.
 
thanks also for this report OliveOyl and thanks again stukesguild and all

this post, there are so many incredible lives for discoveries or rediscoveries.
, incredible artist, it is a genre that I love very much and his works are incredible.

do you use ink for coloring? ink and graphite,
or perhaps watercolor pencils, black or gray of watercolors.
I don't know in any case great works
 
on your site I have now read an article entitled
COSTLY THY HABIT AS THY PURSE CAN BUY

where he said that he usually uses oil and that he was experimenting with something different and talks about what I asked for, about the ink, those colors that I like so much

there is a fantastic work.
 
Glad you like HER work, Joe. ;)

I thought she was a he too because generally, fantasy art is kind of boyish stuff. Not to go all stereotypical here, but Wylie sounds like a boy’s name to me. (Guess that’s the problem I created for my OWN girl...by giving her a boy’s name.)
 
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