close

Gurney Journey | category: Illustrated Books

home

Gurney Journey

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

gurneyjourney.blogspot.com

Louise Wright Paints a Fashion Illo

It's rare to see step-by-step sequences for illustrations done over a century ago. 

Louise Wright Paints a Fashion Illo

British illustrator Louise Wright (born 1863) creates a fashion plate with two female figures, and the process was captured by Percy Bradshaw in a book called The Art of the Illustrator

Louise Wright Paints a Fashion Illo

Stage 1: "The figures are lightly touched in with pencil on Roberson’s Fashion Board, B surface (extra smooth), the board measuring 14 inches wide by 21 inches high. The design of the costumes is original, and was suggested by certain characteristic details which were in fashion at the time when Miss Wright commenced the drawing."

Stage 2: "Brush work is commenced, Lamp Black and Sables of various sizes from No. 0 to No. 5 being used. Faint washes of tone are introduced into the face seen in profile, for instance around the eyes, nose and chin, while in the other face light washes can be seen across the forehead, down the nose, mouth and shadow side of the face, beneath the chin, and on the neck of the front view."

Stage 3: "The modeling of the faces is carried considerably further, by stippling up the light tones previously introduced. Dead white is still left over the major portion of the heads, but the strengthening of tone which would be noted in the reproduction is accomplished by a delicate cross-hatching with the point of the brush used comparatively dry. This cross-hatching needs very dexterous manipulation, and wherever it is possible to obtain the effect by fresh washes it is preferable."

Louise Wright Paints a Fashion Illo

Stage 4: "
The artist has been chiefly concerned here with the strengthening of tone all over the outdoor costume, while the Evening dress is taken a stage further by the introduction of some fresh, simple washes. It was noticed, in working upon the outdoor costume, that the drawing of the left hip created a somewhat ugly line, and the outline has consequently been reduced or flattened here by the introduction of a little Chinese White. A flat light wash has been taken all over the cloth portion of the dress, the folds at the left arm and the outline of the bust have been more definitely shaded, and the sash in the centre very considerably increased in color."

Stage 5: "The drapery of the sleeve has also been emphasized by outlining each of the shadows with this opaque white, a wash has been carried over the edge of the sleeve to form a frill, and further broad touches of white added to give transparency to the material. A bunch of flowers has been broadly indicated, chiefly with a wash of tone, the petals of the white rose being indicated with the opaque white, the dark flower with a wash of half tone, the shadows being filled in with black. The high lights on the waist-band have also been emphasized with the Blanc d’Argent and the outline of the band defined in the same way."

Stage 6: "The hair has been slightly strengthened in color, the outline of the face altered by introducing a slightly fuller chin, and rather more prominence and fullness in the lips, which formerly suggested a rather simpering mouth. These alterations have been made with Chinese White. The eye and eyebrow have been introduced more heavily, the lips strengthened in color, the line at the back of the neck more definitely drawn."

On Archive.org: Percy Bradshaw "The Art of the Illustrator"

Biopunk Truck

I painted this image for Thomas Easton’s science-fiction story “Down on the Truck Farm” (1990). 

Biopunk Truck

Biopunk TruckIn this biopunk future, living vehicles are genetically engineered out of the organic parts of animals:
"The genimal's legs were mounted high, above the wheels, their joints reversed; as they ran, they pushed against the tires, spun the wheels on their bony hubs, and propelled the vehicle down the grassy greenways that had replaced paved roads early in the Biological Revolutions."
To paint the setting of giant marigolds and pumpkin plants, I set up my easel outside in the garden.

Heath Robinson Exhibition Coming to Delaware


Heath Robinson Exhibition Coming to Delaware
The Fairy’s Birthday, 1925, published in
Holly Leaves, December, 1925. W. Heath Robinson
(1872–1944). Pen, ink, and watercolor,
17 1/2 × 12 3/8 in. (44.5 × 31.5 cm). The William Heath Robinson Trust.
An exhibition of the artwork of W. Heath Robinson will open March 4 at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington. The show is called "Wonder and Whimsy: The Illustrations of W. Heath Robinson." 

Heath Robinson Exhibition Coming to Delaware
Shepherd’s Hill, Highgate by W. Heath Robinson
(1872–1944). Pen and watercolor, 29 1/8 x 20 1/16 inches
The William Heath Robinson Trust.
According to the museum:
"While little known today, during his lifetime W. Heath Robinson (1872 -1944) was ranked with Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac as one of England’s foremost illustrators. Beginning in the 1890s Robinson developed a linear style that looks back to the innovations of the Pre-Raphaelite illustrators and forward to the art nouveau creations of Aubrey Beardsley and others. He illustrated a broad range of texts, including William Shakespeare, Rudyard Kipling, and the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, in addition to children’s books he wrote himself. He is best remembered today for his humorous depictions of Rube Goldberg-like contraptions and gentle satires of contemporary life."
The show will be up through May 21, 2017.

Painting the Ideal Robin

Roger Tory Peterson wrote and illustrated one of the definitive bird identification books called Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America
Painting the Ideal Robin

The goal of the pictures in a field handbook is to present the essential type, the Platonic ideal of the species in question. His son Lee Allen Peterson says that his father's rendering of a robin:
"was not  just any old robin, but the perfect robin. Somehow, he was able to convey a bird not at a specific moment in time, awkwardly posed with feathers in disarray, but rather, as the mind saw it, the robin idealized, with feathers neatly patterned and plump." 

Painting the Ideal Robin
American Robin by Roger Tory Peterson from
Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America
In order for the art to include the characteristic and diagnostic features, the artist must be more than a convincing realist painter. He or she must possess a large body of knowledge and experience, accessible from memory, from which to screen out any accidental or non-essential detail.
Painting the Ideal Robin
American Robin, photo courtesy Wikipedia
Lee Allen Peterson continues:
"His results were all the more remarkable when one watched how they were achieved. He worked mostly from memory, using only a dry, beat-up specimen of the bird for details of anatomy and occasionally a photograph or two. And he was able to piece together an image of the bird as it should have been. Not just any robin, but all robins."
Book: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America

New Illustration History Website

Last weekend the Norman Rockwell Museum introduced a new illustration history website, which provides an rich resource for fans, collectors, and scholars.


The website includes capsule summaries of each period of illustration, starting in the Paleolithic, and going all the way through the 20th century decade by decade. 


Some of the major names in illustration are featured with bios and sample images. There's also a growing collection of essays which will be written by museum staff and scholars of illustration around the world. The list of resources includes blogs, recommended books, college study programs, and interview videos.


For example, in this 2004, video, (Link to video) Illustration historian Walt Reed (1917-2015) talks about how he got started as an educator for the Famous Artists School, how he got to know Norman Rockwell, and how that led him to opening the Illustration House gallery

The scope of the website encompasses genres such as editiorial illustration, comics, cartooning, storyboarding, tattooing, and architectural illustration.

The focus is primarily on American illustrators, and there are a lot of important names that are inadvertently left out (please mention 'em in the comments!). And they have overlooked many genres of illustration, such as natural history, medical, paleoart, concept art, pin-up, imaginative realism, reportorial, editorial, and paperback covers. But I trust they'll fix these gaps—they're just starting out, and they're open to feedback. 

(Link to video) The Rockwell Museum has a lot of other videos and audio interviews in their collection that they're happily beginning to release, such as this video where Mr. Rockwell talks about how he found "plain, everyday people" from his small New England surroundings to stand in for people of all religions in his painting "The Golden Rule."

Classic Art Instruction: The Crowd-sourced List


A week or two ago, I shared a list of my favorite classic art instruction books from Dover Publishing.

Classic Art Instruction: The Crowd-sourced List
In the comments, I invited you to suggest the classic art instruction books (more than 50 years old) that you thought were particularly helpful.

Here's the list you suggested below. The links take you to Amazon pages where you can read more about each title.

On the left is a poll. Please vote for your favorite books. You can vote for more than one.

An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists by W. Ellenberger et al. 

Animation by Preston Blair  

Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist by Peck 

Bridgman’s Life Drawing by George Bridgman 

Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson 

Composition of Outdoor Painting by Edgar Payne

Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgman  

Creative Illustration by Andrew Loomis  

Creative Perspective for Artists and Illustrators by Ernest Watson  

Drawn to Life by Walt Stanchfield

Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth 

Famous Artist’s Course by various authors

Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis 

Fun With a Pencil by Andrew Loomis

Hawthorne on Painting by Charles Hawthorne


Hensche on Painting by John Robichaux

How I Make a Picture by Norman Rockwell

Light and Shade by Mrs. Mary P. Merrifield

Modelling and Sculpting the Human Figure by Edouard Lanteri  

Oil Painting Techniques and Materials by Harold Speed  

On Drawing Trees and Nature: A Classic Victorian Manual (Dover Art Instruction)

On the Art of Drawing by Robert Fawcett

Pencil Drawing by Ernest Watson

Pencil Pictures by Theodore Kautzky

Perspective by Rex Vicat Cole

Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling

Pictorial Composition by Henry Poore

Rendering in Pen and Ink by Arthur L. Guptill

Successful Drawing by Andrew Loomis  

The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren

The Artistic Anatomy of Trees by Rex Vicat Cole

The Classic Point of View by Kenyon Cox

The Human Figure by John Vanderpoel

The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicolaides

The Painter in Oil by Daniel Parkhurst

The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed

The Practice of Tempera Painting by Daniel Thompson

Twilight of Painting by R. Ives Gammell





































 

 
 

Part 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book Launch

When the book was published, Turner Publishing sent me on a three-month-long book tour.


Part 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book Launch
They put me on Good Morning America and Larry King Live and a lot of other TV shows. Which was funny, because I haven’t owned or watched a TV since the mid 1970s. So I had never watched those programs and didn’t know the celebrities. The publisher also wanted me to go on QVC to push the book, but I had never seen that show either and I declined because it sounded like something I didn’t want to do.

They flew me to 35 different cities, and whisked me from one bookstore to another. The tour was disorienting for me, because I had to meet so many new people each day, and say the same things over and over.

It was difficult for my wife, too, since she was left home with two small kids. We only had one car, which was often left at the airport. That meant she had to put the two kids in a wagon and walk a mile to pick up the mail and groceries. When the publisher realized our problem, they sent stretch limos, but that was kind of weird too, because I just couldn’t get used to living that way.

Part 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book Launch
At St. Columba's School in Ballarat, Australia

During the tour, I met lots of kids, and received boxes of letters. I tried to respond to each one, and I’ve been very pleased recently to meet some of the kids who wrote to me and even sent me their drawings. They’re all grown up now, and some are artists, which makes me really proud of them for sticking with it.

I was excited to learn that the book had a strong effect on some of its readers. One girl told me that when she read the book she was careful not to lean too far forward, for fear that she would fall headlong into the pages and never return.

Part 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book Launch

I visited a school in Connecticut where each of the teachers—in science, art, and language —did a unit based on Dinotopia. I put on the costume of Arthur Denison and we had an impromptu parade in the field out back.

Part 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book Launch
When Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time was published, what struck me was how each new reader discovers something of himself or herself on the island. One girl wrote me and said: “My brother and I had an argument. Can you settle it? He says Dinotopia is made up. I say it is real. Please tell us who is right. And don’t lie.”

That’s a hard question to answer. On one level, the brother was right, because as I’ve shown, the book came into existence from an arrangement of pencil and paint. But at a much deeper level, the sister was right, too.

Myths and stories are real, I tried to tell her. And they're enduring. They're the one thing that lives on through the years as the physical monuments of old civilizations crumble into dust.

Part 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book Launch
A well-worn copy of the first edition
The key to inventing Dinotopia was believing that it already existed beyond the confines of my own mind. Even if I couldn’t tell the the latitude and longitude, I believed it was out there somewhere beyond the reach of my senses. To engage readers with that reality I had to pay attention to the spaces between the paintings, the moments poised across the page turn, which each reader conjures anew.

Part 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book Launch
I’m grateful to Dover Publishing for making the book available again in this new edition, so that new visitors can find their way to its distant shores.

So, thanks, Jeff Poindexter for asking me that question: “What inspired you really to create Dinotopia?” I’m afraid I’ve given you a rather long answer. Now, back to the drawing board.
---------
More at these Links:
-----
The new official Dinotopia website
-----
Dover has just published two new 20th anniversary editions of the original  Dinotopia book: a regular hardcover edition and a slipcased collector's edition. Both have 32 pages of new content and 45 behind-the-scenes  images. You can get a signed copy from me via Paypal at my website shop. For multiple-book or international orders, you can order them unsigned and send me an email saying to whom you’d like your books signed. We’ll ship within 24 hours of receipt  of your order.
You can also get it from Amazon, and you can give a review there.
------
"Origins of Dinotopia" series on GurneyJourney:
Part 1: Childhood Dreams
Part 2: College Obsessions 
Part 3: Lost Empires
Part 4:  Dinosaurs
Part 5: Treetown
Part 6: The Illustrated Book
Part 7: Utopias 
Part 8: Building a World 
Part 9: Words and Pictures 
Part 10: Canyon Worlds 
Part 11: Putting it Together
Part 12: Book Launch

Part 9. The Origins of Dinotopia: Words and Pictures

Continuing the story of how the illustrated book, Dinotopia, came to be....

 I believed that the book should have enough scope to feel like a novel, and should be no shorter than 160 pages, fully illustrated with color on every page. This sort of “long-form picturebook,” was pioneered by the Dutch illustrator Rien Poortvliet (with Wil Huygen) in Gnomes and Noah's Ark.

Part 9. The Origins of Dinotopia: Words and Pictures
Producing that much artwork would mean that I would have to cut myself off from all my freelance illustration clients. My wife, our two little boys, and I would have to survive on the sale of art prints and originals until the book was published.

Part 9. The Origins of Dinotopia: Words and Pictures
Seaside Romp, 1990
 I had about a hundred and fifty paintings to complete in about two years. A few of the paintings could serve double duty, both as book illustrations and as art print subjects. Those keynote images had to be larger and more finished, and they also had to stand alone outside of the narrative.

Part 9. The Origins of Dinotopia: Words and Pictures
The longer form gave me plenty of scope to develop the fantasy. It was five times the length of a typical thirty-two page children’s picture book. It wasn’t like a graphic novel, because each page had only one or two images, and it didn’t require dialog and word bubbles to tell the story.

Part 9. The Origins of Dinotopia: Words and Pictures
Storyboard: Will learns to Write
 The running text could be a mix of narration, description, and dialog. The text didn’t have to match the pictures exactly. The pictures could provide side excursions into details of the world.

I felt that the illustrated book medium, since it allowed the reader to skip around or pause on a single image, lent itself to a mode of conjuring that could be found in no other medium.

Part 9. The Origins of Dinotopia: Words and Pictures

Storyboard: Code of Dinotopia
 I wanted to depart from the good-versus-evil dramatic formula that motivated most fantasy universes in literature and film. I knew there must be other ways to set up an imaginary world.

I read more deeply in Irish and Italian folktales, which are full of whimsy and tricksters. I reread other fantasies that I had loved as a child, such as Gulliver’s Travels, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland. Those stories inspired me with their fantastic invention and episodic plot lines.

Read More at these Links:
-----
The new official Dinotopia website
Purchase a signed 20th Anniversary Edition of Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time 
----
Gnomes by Poortvliet and Huygens
 Noah's Ark by Poortvliet
------
"Origins of Dinotopia" series on GurneyJourney:
Part 1: Childhood Dreams
Part 2: College Obsessions 
Part 3: Lost Empires
Part 4:  Dinosaurs
Part 5: Treetown
Part 6: The Illustrated Book
Part 7: Utopias 
Part 8: Building a World 
Part 9: Words and Pictures 
Part 10: Canyon Worlds 
Part 11: Putting it Together
Part 12: Book Launch

Dean Cornwell Paints

Here's some archival footage of American illustrator Dean Cornwell at work as he paints an illustration.

The oil painting is from The Robe, by Lloyd Douglas: "And now, with a deft maneuver, Marcellus brought the engagement to a dramatic close."  Click on the image below for a very large scan of the final artwork (Thanks, Joe).

 
The footage was shot by Frank Reilly in 1947, part of his "Artists at Work" series. According to Reilly himself, the purpose of the film "is to impress upon us the accomplishments of those among us now and to perpetuate their memory for the inspiration of those who are to follow.”

Thanks to Mr. Reilly, and thanks to the individuals and institutions who have preserved Reilly's legacy. If anyone knows where the original motion picture film copies are, please let me know.

Correction, March 5, 2013: According to one of Cornwell's grandchildren, "Dean was actually ambidextrous and could actually paint with both hands and apparently sometimes did so simultaneously (I would guess only if it wasn't great detail). Not a lefty; an ambi."
-------
Dean Cornwell on Wikipedia
Previously on GurneyJourney:
Louise Wright Paints a Fashion IlloAfrican Warrior FantasyBiopunk TruckHeath Robinson Exhibition Coming to DelawarePainting the Ideal RobinNew Illustration History WebsiteClassic Art Instruction: The Crowd-sourced ListPart 12. The Creation of Dinotopia: Book LaunchPart 9. The Origins of Dinotopia: Words and PicturesDean Cornwell Paints

Report "Gurney Journey"

Are you sure you want to report this post for ?

Cancel
×