I Friday- Pioneer

I love the topic this week. It made me think of the Little House book series, a favorite of mine growing up.
A couple of years ago I thought my youngest daughter resembled Laura Ingalls Wilder. I dressed her up in pioneer garb and took a few reference photos. I thought they'd make good sample pictures, but I never got the time to go farther until this week.
My little "Laura" is a teenager now. She will be thrilled when she sees this blog entry, LOL.

Old Work

I found this old image from my University of the Arts days. It is pencil on illustration board, about 7" wide by 6" high.
I was inspired by this illustrator who came to speak to us, Ralph Gigure. He did the most amazing tightly rendered pencil illustrations in the 80's. They were beautifully composed and tiny. I don't know how he achieved the detail he got in his pictures.
I tried to draw like him but I gave up and moved to paint after a few attempts. I guess I am too impatient for pencil.
I still like this tiny picture after all these years. I can't say that for most of my student work.
The cows in the picture are from the family farm. Their names were Annette, Michelle and I can't remember the other one. They were very friendly.

working in watercolor

It probably seems like I am obsessed with the Amish story. I have been spending a lot of time on it lately, but really, I have other interests! I've accepted a portrait commission and thought I'd warm up for it by painting, what else, pictures from my Wonderful Good reference files.
After this project is over, I promise to move on with my life.

working on Wonderful Good...

A couple of color studies.

Wonderful Good!

I officially registered my book with the copyright office yesterday. Here a few cover ideas. This project has been a lot of fun, though I have to take a break this week and get the holiday stuff together.
Here are a few cover ideas.

Thesis color studies part two

Here is another chunk of a picture from my picture book project. I am trying to decide on a color temperature and palette that would be consistent in all of the illustrations throughout the story.

Thesis color studies

I am starting the color studies for my thesis project. I am going to begin the final paintings in about a week. At this point I am trying to determine the temperature of the book.

Reflecting on the work of Joe Bowler

Not many artists have it both ways. As an illustrator, the pictures by Joe Bowler (b.1928) graced the covers of major magazines and national ad campaigns. As a fine artist, Joe Bowler is widely recognized for his premier portraits. He enjoys rock star-like success in both the commercial and fine art arenas. A hard driving artist, Bowler has a unique ability that quite simply touches people’s lives. We find it difficult to critically explain Mr. Bowler’s techniques and painting style without first trying to understand his background. Therefore, discussing the influential work of Mr. Bowler must necessarily include an examination his life experience as an illustrator and fine artist.

Biography of Joe Bowler

Joe Bowler has had a long and storied career, climbing to the top in both the illustration and fine art worlds. He wanted to be a professional artist from a very early age. As a student, he won numerous awards and praise for his artwork. Bowler was also adept at math and science. His parents weren’t keen on his idea of a future in art until his high school had a career day. There, he was given a list of possible careers and what each one paid. According to the list, illustrators were considered the top money-makers, earning $100,000 a year. This figure easily surpassed current day salaries of doctors and university professors. Though Mr. Bowler felt this amount was just a bit inflated, even in the golden age of illustration, he noted that many artists were making a very nice living plying their trade. Bowler figured the people who compiled the career list based the illustrator’s salary on that of Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) who was a huge star at the time. This information encouraged Bowler’s father to change his thinking. He decided a career in illustration might be worth a try. Bowler’s father helped get his son an apprenticeship at a small illustration studio in New York City. At the same time, Bowler studied at the Art Students League under Frank Reilly (1906-1967), Robert Hale (1901-1985), and Howard Trafton (1897-1964). His initial experience led to another apprenticeship, and eventually a job as errand boy at Charles E. Cooper Studio, of New York City. The Cooper studio was the country’s top firm for illustration at the time. Working there were dozens of famous illustrators. Bowler’s duties included matting and delivering artwork and cleaning up after the 70 staff artists. He got first-hand knowledge of the process in which ideas were developed, reference was shot, and paint was handled. Many of the illustrators shared their expertise with him. Bowler was eager to learn, and spent his off hours working on pictures of his own. Famous illustrator, Coby Whitmore (1913-1988) noticed these paintings while Bowler was matting one of his pictures. Whitmore told Bowler he would like to show his painting to the editors when he delivered his finished assignment to Cosmopolitan magazine. Whitmore came back later that day and told Bowler to send Cosmopolitan an invoice for $1,000. Bowler, who was making $35.00 a week at the time, was thrilled. This sale began his illustration career at age 19 in 1948. Bowler never looked back. Within six months he had work in five major magazines. As a result of this first opportunity in the illustration world, Whitmore became Bowler’s mentor and close friend.
In 1958, in the midst of great success, Bowler was struck down by polio. The disease left him almost completely paralyzed. He persevered with self-determination and intense physical therapy. From a wheelchair, he painted a cover for The Saturday Evening Post just a few months after his diagnosis. The period of recovery lasted over seven years and gave Bowler a chance to reflect on the techniques of the old masters and traditional painting methods.
His success as an illustrator continued into the 1960’s. It was during that time that he noticed that many of his assignments involved portraiture type illustrations for the major magazines. He painted many people of note, among them, the Kennedys, the Eisenhowers, and Charles de Gaulle. He created several series of fashionable portraits, including one on the Presidential candidate’s wives. For the December 1965 issue, Bowler pitched an idea to McCall’s magazine. It involved a series of sketches entitled The Fine Art of Little Girl’s Fashion. The magazine bought the idea and gave him an eight page spread in the Christmas issue. The series of pictures received a very positive response. Because of this, he received inquiries from all over the United States and Canada for portraits.
This positive response presented a vast opportunity to Bowler. In the late 1960’s, Bowler made the transition from successful illustrator to one of the countries most admired portrait artists.
A lifetime of creating innovative, emotional artwork is not Bowler’s only accomplishment. His clients and peers recognized him with prestigious awards. Bowler was elected into the Society of Illustrators in 1952. The Artist’s Guild of New York named him their Artist of the Year in 1967. The Society of Illustrators inducted Bowler into the Illustrator’s Hall of Fame in 1992.

Technique

Bowler started his career painting in gouache. Many of his assignments involved portraying beautiful women in editorial and advertising illustrations. Working in gouache, Bowler would arrange complex scenes, rich in color, pattern and form. The work in his early years was often employed flat shapes, dynamically composed. Perhaps this was influenced by the prints of the Japanese or the work of fellow Cooper studio illustrators. Bowler boldly used color and value to draw the viewer directly to the main subject, most often a hot babe. Harkening back to the work of Coles Phillips (1880-1927), he sometimes used the fade away device, a magazine cover favorite.

His illustration work was romantic, skillfully combining figures, shapes and patterns into narrative pictures that made the viewer want to read the story or buy the product. Much of his early work had a graphic quality, but it all was based on a good, solid drawing.

During the 1950’s, abstract expressionism was the popular trend in the fine art world. Bowler’s good friend and fellow illustrator, Murray Tinkelman (b.1933) encouraged all of the artists at the Charles E. Cooper studio to take a class offered by abstract painter, Reuben Tam (1916-1991). A brilliant teacher, Tam was an abstract landscape painter. He was also known as an artist who interpreted the moods of nature. Tam used this ability to teach students how to interpret their ideas abstractly. Wanting to be on the cutting edge, Bowler attempted this approach. He discovered that although he made pleasant abstract designs, he needed to continue with his representational style.


At this point, Bowler realized that in order for it to be great, a painting must convey an emotion. The viewer shouldn’t have to think about it, the emotion should simply be present. He believes the abstract art movement got too intellectual, with critics directing the trends of the artists and collectors.
Good draftsmanship is another attribute Bowler believes to be essential:
“The ability to draw well is one of the most basic tools that every artist needs. Art students must learn to draw; it matters even if they go on to work in abstraction. Drawing is everything.”


Value is important in Bowlers’ approach to composition. He believes in simplicity when composing a picture, developing the composition and the relationships of value first, before getting into any detail.
Bowler calls himself a temperature painter. His sensitivity to warm and cool colors in skin tones and shadows sets his work apart from others. Bowler relies on a solid knowledge of the color wheel and mixing the color temperatures from cool to warm. He believes this approach creates the illusion of volume:
“By using this color theory, I obtain vibrations of color that excite the eye.”
Bowler composes the colors on his palette in a way that moves from cool to warm then back to cool again. When applying color, he is always considering temperature as well. When creating darker values, he rarely adds black to the pigment. Instead he uses colors that are complimentary in a way that creates rich darks.
Bowler believes that painting is a process of building and destroying. He feels that when an artist understands how to draw and move paint around a canvas, it is ok to get in there and paint assertively. Nothing is too precious. An artist can use a big brush, try various approaches, and take chances. If something doesn’t work, a good draftsman can wipe off the unsuccessful area and redo it.
This approach allows Bowler to keep his pictures from getting too tight and confined. His brush strokes convey a confidence and freedom that take the viewer straight to the subject and emotion of the picture. When one watches Mr. Bowler work, they can’t help but notice the ease at which he paints. He makes it look easy.
Bowler’s illustration background has greatly influenced his career in portraiture. At Charles E. Cooper studio, he learned how to pose a model, create a setting, light a scene and plan a composition within predetermined dimensions. This knowledge led him to paint great illustrations at the time, and later set his portraits apart from the work of others. Bowler believes his illustration background makes his fine art more inventive than standard portraits. An example of this can be found in Bowler’s portrait painting, Impatiens. He places the focal point, the lovely faces of two little girls, in the golden section of the image area. Through the use of modeled brush strokes, he leads the viewer up from the bottom of the picture, across the dappled sunlight on the ground to the children, quietly engrossed in examining a flower. He draws attention to the faces of the children by using the warm colors and setting them against a much darker background. Professional illustrators commonly use these techniques.
Of Impatiens, client Hollis C. Kennedy writes:
“Your marvelous painting is…
Exquisite but simple
Sparkling but soft
Relaxing yet compelling
Active yet quiet
Impressionistic but detailed
Personal but universal
Colorful but muted
Forceful but unostentatious.”
Portrait clients seek Bowler out when they are looking for something more interesting than a standard portrait. When Bowler presents sketches to a client, he typically offers one or two ideas that are standard and one or two that are more narrative. In the narrative sketches, he tries to capture the personality and emotion of the subject. More often than not, these are the sketches that are selected.

Bowler became more painterly in his later years, employing broad brush strokes and fewer lines. His masterful use of temperature, brush strokes, composition, and value all work together in a visually pleasing manner. These elements combine successfully to set whatever emotion is needed. The term fine art bothers Bowler. He feels that it presupposes that fine art is superior to illustration, and that it should be taken more seriously. Bowler believes that the two are separate from each other and neither is better. However, both illustration and fine art rely on the same principles of design and craftsmanship.
Bowler’s pictures demonstrate his vast knowledge of what works best on the printed page. At the same time, they also show his keen command of the techniques and working styles of the old masters. In the art world, Bowler truly is a renaissance man. The appeal of his work spans the commercial and fine art markets. It will be relevant for generations to come.

It sure is fun when Mom's an illustrator...

Another typical Saturday here in Ohio. I am in the middle of shooting reference for my picture book about the Amish. One of the minor characters is a teenage boy. I figured I'd save a few bucks by using Juliet instead of hiring a real 13-year-old boy. I hope she's not too scarred by this experience.
The book's main character is a ten-year-old Amish girl named Sarah. She is portrayed by Tracy, our friend from the dojo. In costume, she really looks Amish, aside from the black nail polish and converse high-tops. Tracy earned her black belt in Karate last year. That would be a cool children's book... "Karate girl." She is one tough cookie.
They look so cute and the photos are working well. More on this project soon!

History of Illustration in context

I broke out the oils (the real ones, NOT the virtual ones) and started my project for Murray's class. The assignment is to choose a decade from the 1890's to the 1950's and paint an illustration that has to have the sensibility of that decade. It must be a magazine cover of that time, be the exact printed size of the magazine, and feature someone of prominence from that decade.
I chose suffragette Alice Paul and am painting her in the style of illustrators from the teens. I am attempting to work in the style of Coles Phillips, though not employ his fade away device. I am hoping to finish it up this weekend so it can be thoroughly dry before I take it to Pasadena in November. I will post the finished picture.

I finished the Photoshop course!

freed margaret

It took me three weeks, but I finished the entire Photoshop CS2 Essentials course. At the end of September, I signed up for Lynda.com, a computer software training site. I thought I would start out with a course featuring a software I already know very well. I was surprised to learn a lot of tricks and even a few tools and buttons that I hadn't noticed before in my five years running the software.
What is next? Essential Indesign, then Illustrator. After those two, I am going to break out of Adobe and try Painter.

CF Payne... a Rockwell for today?

At a time when the current illustration market seems to be moving toward digital imagery, one traditional illustrator remains at the top of the market. Chris Payne, or C.F. Payne, uses a unique mixture of media to create one of-a-kind illustrations that work in multiple markets, from editorial to children’s. To all who encounter it, Payne’s work is memorable. He is often compared to legendary illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978). Upon reviewing his series of pictures for Reader’s Digest Magazine entitled Our America, one can see why the comparison is legitimate.
The Our America series ran on the back cover of Reader’s Digest monthly from 2003 to 2006. These covers by Payne were the reason many subscribed the magazine. Subscribers anticipated the newest cover every month. Payne’s pictures made the magazine a collector’s item. Many were appalled when the magazine (myself included), in a cost cutting decision, decided run advertisements on the cover in 2008. I believe that short sighted decision will mean the end of Reader’s Digest magazine in the near future.
In Our America, Chris Payne documents the current day in a way few others are doing. He has an ability to depict the details of modern day society in ways which nearly everyone can relate. Payne is extremely sensitive to the trends, fads, and technology of present day. The latest electronic gadgets are often featured prominently in his pictures. This may in fact, “date” his pictures in later years. The fact that Payne’s work does show stories of people using present day devices may also make his work meaningful in years to come. At some point, cell phones will be a relic from the past. But people in the future will laugh about how they were used or perhaps misused when they see Payne’s humorous picture of the couple in the restaurant both talking on their phones. Some of the emotions shown in his pictures are sweet, but his work is never smarmy or overly sentimental.
Payne works traditionally, painting on watercolor board. His approach is unusual in the fact that he applies layers of acrylic paint on top of an oil-based wash. He is able to do this by sealing the painting with a photographer’s varnish. The varnish allows Payne to apply an oil-based purple wash to his image. This wash settles into the watercolor board and gives the picture a uniform tone. While the wash is still wet, Payne removes areas of the wash with a rag, sculpting out the figures. He works in this way to build up the values of the image. After the wash dries, Payne finishes the picture using washes of acrylic and Prismacolor pencil. His pictures are true mixed media masterpieces.
Chris Payne is often called the current day Norman Rockwell. In many ways that is true. Both artists paint scenes of everyday American life, the common experience. Both artists’ work depicts subtleties and emotions that speak to the masses. Much of the work of Payne and Rockwell are humorous. In my opinion, the best artwork by both is their narrative paintings.
Rockwell’s influence can be seen in Payne’s compositions. In Finish Line, Payne shows a graduate having her photograph taken in her cap and gown. He positions the graduate with her back to us. We see the faces of a crowd of well-wishers taking her picture. The emotions in the group range from pride and elation to awe. One woman seems confused by the operation of her camera.
The way Payne composed and illustrated this picture reminds me of some of Rockwell’s homecoming paintings. He too chose to focus on the various reactions of the crowd rather than on the subject itself. The emotions in Rockwell’s crowd range from all-out excitement to restrained elation to pride and even puppy love. Often, both Rockwell and Payne place themselves in the somewhere in the scene.
Another device that both Payne and Rockwell put to use is the idea of looking through one setting and into another where the action is taking place. In Wireless Connection, Payne places the viewer at eye level in a cold snowy parking lot. He is looking through the coffee shop window, perhaps voyeuristically, at a young couple kissing behind their Apple lap top computer. Another customer looks visibly annoyed at this display of public affection.
Although painted in a much more realistic style, Rockwell’s barbershop scene uses the same device to draw the viewer through the window of a closed barbershop and into a lively scene in the backroom. Both Rockwell and Payne employ value and temperature to establish the setting and focal points in the back of their scene.
Much of Payne’s work depicts the subject as part of a larger community. Many of his pictures show people relating to each other, sharing a common experience, one that the viewer can also understand. Rockwell did this too, as shown in Homecoming Marine. The subject matter is very different, much more serious than in Payne’s Big Shot, but they are similar in the posing and expressions of the figures. Both pictures show their subjects relating something; either an intense account of a battle or the pride of owning a really cool golf club. They accomplish this with the portrayal of gesture and facial expressions. This summer, Alice Carter told me something I had never given much thought to before. She said that it is easy to paint an action picture, such as a knight slaying a dragon. What is more difficult is conveying a subtle thought or emotion. Payne and Rockwell both have the ability to do that well. Payne has an innate ability to get to heart and emotion of a picture without drawing conclusion or casting judgment upon the subject.



In Mother’s Day, he depicts a woman soldier taking a break from fighting in an unpopular war to read her mail. She has received a mother’s day card, reminding the viewer that this combatant is also a parent. She is in front of a bullet-ridden wall with an automatic weapon on her lap. Her expression is tender and reflective. Payne makes no statement here about whether or not the war is wrong. He simply shows a soldier in a personal, emotional moment.
Rockwell was good at showing the human side of military personnel as well. During the Second World War, at the height of his popularity, Rockwell painted a series of Saturday Evening Post covers featuring a fictional character, Willie Gillis. The covers depicted Gillis’ military service with humor and patriotism. These were themes that struck a chord with both Rockwell’s audience and Payne’s sixty years later. Payne and Rockwell illustrations often depict scenes from a typical day in America. Both have portrayed Presidents and important
moments in history. Sometimes the scenes that are most compelling are those one wouldn’t expect to see depicted. One example of this idea is Payne’s Garage Sale. Set in the driveway of a typical middle-class home in Any town, USA, a middle-aged woman peruses an assortment of junk looking for a bargain. Skillfully placed in the foreground, background and in between is the same crap that most of us have in our basements.
Though the subject matter is quite different, in many ways Rockwell’s Marriage License is similar. Rockwell sets his subjects in a county clerk’s office. The décor may have been a bit dated for its time. Around the picture is an assortment of clutter, typical for any bureaucratic office past and present. Both pictures feature the main subjects deep in contemplation. Both artists keenly depict the subtle gestures required, the future bride up on her toes, the gentleness with which the groom has his arm around her waist, or in Payne’s illustration, the placement of the garage sale shopper’s hands on the item and the skeptical posture of her head. Both illustrations feature an older, maybe wiser, gentleman off to one side, looking a bit chagrined. This is a device Payne and Rockwell use to “keep it real.”
The artwork of C.F.Payne is still prevalent in publishing today, despite the loss of the Reader’s Digest covers. His work appears regularly in Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic Monthly, and U.S. News and World Report. This year his portrait of Barrack Obama appeared on the cover of Time Magazine’s inauguration issue. Payne is also a busy children’s book illustrator. To date he’s illustrated ten picture books, including The Remarkable Farkle McBride and Micawber, written by John Lithgow.
Payne’s work has garnered gold and silver medals from the Society of Illustrators, the National Cartoonist Society Magazine Illustration award and Book Illustration award. Payne lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife and children. Currently, he is chair of the Illustration Department at the Columbus College of Art and Design. Hopefully the success and accolades will inspire Payne to continue building a career as prolific and imaginative as Rockwell’s.

Writing about great illustrators...

The Hartford MFA program requires me to write three papers. They're for Murray's history of Illustration course. I am writing about Joe Bowler this week. I am finding myself becoming almost obsessed with his work. I wish I could meet him in person sometime. He combines what is best in illustration with what is best in portraiture. What a life he has led, what an amazing body of work.
Here are a few facts about Joe:
Born in Forest Hills, NY in 1928, Joe wanted to become an illustrator at an early age. His high school had a discussion about different career paths one could take. The top money earner on the list provided by the school was illustrator, ahead of doctors and lawyers. It said an illustrator got paid $100.000. That was an unheard of sum of money back then, probably only earned by Rockwell. But no matter, Joe's dad was on board with his dream of an art career after seeing that list.
Joe got his start as an apprentice at Charles E. Cooper studios. He was 19 when famous illustrator Coby Whitmore took one of his paintings along while he delivered a finished commission to Cosmopolitan magazine. The magazine bought Joe's picture on the spot and paid him $1,000. That was a lot of money in 1958.
Joe had work in five major magazines within six months.
In the midst of his success in 1958, Joe contracted polio. The disease left him almost completely paralyzed. He underwent intense physical therapy and was painting from a wheelchair within a few months. His recovery took seven years.
He went on to paint romantic illustrations for all of the major women's magazines of the day. A lot of the work he was asked to do began to trend toward portraiture, especially celebrities. In the mid-sixties, he pitched a series of sketches for McCalls Christmas issue. It was titled The Fine Art Of Fashion For Little Girls. They liked the idea and gave him an eight page spread. After the work appeared, Bowler began to get requests for portraits from all over the country. His portraiture career had begun.
Joe uses his experience as an illustrator to make his paintings more than standard portraits. This is why his work is in such demand today.
On a side note, the red McCalls cover has a story about a woman who regrets adopting her demon children. She wonders if she can ever learn to love them. Does anyone have that issue? I wonder if she did or if she gave them back.

The statue arrives in Wooster.

After months of planning, designing, critiquing and waiting, the statue of Mary and Jesus finally arrived in Wooster. It is more amazingly beautiful than I imagined it would be. Here are a few shots of the installation and unveiling.

I gotta take a break...

Here are a couple of shots of the projects I've been working on the last few days. All are taking a lot longer than I planned. I am taking a break and painting something in watercolor for myself today. I will post it if it's any good.

One Big A#% Painting

I am still working on a large wrap-around decorative illustration. I have to consider text and a spine. I painted most of the front and back covers before I left for Hartford Art School. I am trying to fit them together today and incorporate a spine and text blocks. Margo is working today. When she gets back I am hoping she can help me out with some effects for type and textboxes. I have huge gaps in my knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite.
BTW, the textblocks will be partially covered by the illustration. Ralph was disturbed that I covered up the fish. They won't be covered in the final layout- the current box is for placement.