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March 20th, 2023

Illustration: EInar Norelius’ Bland Tomtar Och Troll

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…

1929

1934

1944/49

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.

Labeled: bland tomtar och troll, einar norelius, fairy tales, illustration |

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Posted by admin @ 11:30 am

March 17th, 2023

Pinups: John Held Jr.

John Held Jr Playboy had some of the greatest “girl cartoonists” of all time on their staff. You might have seen our previous posts on Playboy cartoonists Sokol, Dedini, Interlandi, Sneyd and Vargas. We will be posting more by these great artists soon, but I particularly wanted to bring this great Playboy retrospective on John Held Jr. to your attention.

John Held Jr was born in 1889, and by the age of 16 was an accomplished sports cartoonist for the Salt Lake City Tribune. He served in the military during WWI, and soon after his return he gained fame for his work as an illustrator for Life, Judge and College Humor. His style and subject matter defined the "Jazz Age" of the 1920s. His cartoons depicting sexy flappers and their raccoon coated beaus living the life of flaming youth were all the rage. In later years, he worked in woodcuts and illustrated scenes from the "Gay Nineties"

Here is a feature on Held from the January 1966 issue of Playboy magazine…

I just added the last page of this article, which includes some great biographical info on Held. (A nice Virgil Partch comic too!)

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Magazine Cartoons.
by

Labeled: john held jr, playboy |

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Posted by admin @ 1:10 pm

March 16th, 2023

Illustration: N. C. Wyeth’s Legends of Charlemagne

Today, we digitized a beautiful first edition of Bulfinch’s "Legends of Charlemagne" illustrated by N. C. Wyeth. No illustrator of the golden age had a wider influence on the world of art than Wyeth. His son, Andrew Wyeth became a reknowned fine artist, and many of his other children and grandchildren became artists and musicians as well.

Wyeth studied under illustrator Howard Pyle, and quickly made a name for himself. His first published art was a cover for the Saturday Evening Post, a plum job right off the bat. In his early days, he was known as a Western artist. He travelled West to soak up the landscape. The trip resulted in a portfolio of images of Indians that vividly capture the light and spirit of the Old West.

Wyeth is best known for his book illustrations though. In 1911, he painted 16 color plates for Scribner’s edition of Stevenson’s "Treasure Island". It remains the classic version of the book. Wyeth was incredibly prolific over the next decade or so, "Treasure Island" was followed by "Kidnapped", "The Black Arrow", "The Boy’s King Arthur" and many more. The book we are presenting today was published in 1924 by David McKay. It displays Wyeth at the top of his form. Even the endpapers are beautiful!

N. C. Wyeth Biography at the Brandywine River Museum

Great news! A new book on N. C. Wyeth is being released… Legendary Art of N.C. Wyeth by J. David Spurlock. It’s been quite a while since a good collection of this fabulous artist has been in print. Pick up a copy at Amazon.

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

This posting is part of a series of articles comprising an online exhibit spotlighting Illustration.
by

Labeled: fairy tales, fantasy art, illustration, wyeth |

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Posted by admin @ 12:53 pm

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