American illustration

How did artists like Norman Rockwell, Austin Briggs, Jon Whitcomb, and others create the believable unique faces that can tell a whole story by themselves? In a magazine cover, like those by Rockwell and Stevan Dohanos, the image, with its setting and, most of all, its characters, must convey an anecdote without any help from words. So each face must be carefully crafted to do its part in creating the drama⸺or comedy.

CHARLIE DYE (American, 1906-1972) The Big Game, American Weekly cover Oil on board 20 x 18 in. Signed lower right - Available at 2010 August Signature...

These stunning images, from a Massachusetts exhibition, cast fresh light on the iconic illustrations of Norman Rockwell, revealing for the first time the study photographs the famed artist used as references for his work.

Joseph Leyendecker - 20s beefcake.

In the 1950s the Maxwell Paper company commissioned a series of paintings by famous illustrators showing the process for creating advertising art. The series is a great archaeological record of a long dead world. The series was called "Partners in Productive Advertising." It gave each illustrator the opportunity to show his (yes, they were all male) interpretation of a key man (yes, they were all male except for the pretty model) in the creation of an ad. In a few short years, this world…

Illustration by Bob Peak

Recent work by talented British artist Jonathan Burton. “There’s a old-time darkness to Jonathan’s work, most present in his series of Kingsley Amis book covers…