Thursday, April 6th, 2023
Mary Blair is one of the most popular golden age animation color stylists among today’s animation designers. This book was published in 1955, and it’s a great example of Blair at the height of her powers. The full color illustrations are great, but check out the duotones and the page layouts… It’s as if she can do no wrong! Her taste is impeccable.
Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources
This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit spotlighting Illustration.
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Tuesday, April 4th, 2023
Today I’m sharing a classic book from my collection by illustrator Maxfield Parrish.
Parrish was one of the most successful artists of the golden age of illustration. It is said that during the depression, there were more Maxfield Parrish prints hanging on the walls of American homes than there were American homes!
The book I’m featuring today was done early in Parrish’s career, but it contains all of the aspects of his style that would make him famous… the electric blues set off of bright sunset oranges, the dramatic lighting effects, the amazingly lifelike natural shapes and patterns contrasted with large flat areas of color, and the total control of the mechanical aspects of offset printing… if you look carefully at the foliage in the image with the urns on either side, you can see that the painting was pasted up from several pieces. Bud Plant’s website has an interesting article on how Parrish used the four color process. Check it out.
Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources
This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit spotlighting Illustration.
by Monday, March 20th, 2023
A few weeks ago, we featured the work of John Bauer from the Swedish Christmas annual, Bland Tomtar Och Troll. After Bauer’s premature death in a shipwreck, Gustaf Tenggren took over the series. A few years later, Tenggren relocated to America and the job was passed on to Einar Norelius.
I first heard of Norelius on P-E Fronning’s blog, Martin Klasch. I went searching for books Norelius had illustrated. I found a batch of various vintages of Bland Tomtar Och Troll with an online bookseller in Sweden and had them shipped to me sight unseen. I wasn’t disappointed…
Wouldn’t some of these designs work great as stop motion puppets or designs for CGI animation? If you have any information on Einar Norelius, please let us know about it in the comments below.
Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources
This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit spotlighting Illustration.
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