Month: March 2011
-
George Tooker
When I was a teenager, I subscribed to a rather bizarre and eclectic experimental magazine called Avant Garde, published by Ralph Ginzburg. The value of its contents varied, but I remember one thing about it above all else — in one of the issues it introduced me to the work of American painter George Tooker.…
-
Not the usual Van Goghs
Browse through a dozen different books on Vincent van Gogh and chances are you’ll see many of the same paintings again and again. You might be tempted to think he had a limited oeuvre, but nothing could be further from the truth. Van Gogh was astonishingly prolific, particularly in light of the fact that his…
-
George Nick
Contemporary realist painter George Nick is highly regarded by his peers, by students who encountered him in his 25 years of teaching at Massachusetts College of Art, where he is now Professor Emeritus, by literary luminaries like John Updike, who wrote an essay In Praise of George Nick, and by major museums, including the Museum…
-
Blacksad (Juanjo Guarnido)
There is a genre of comics and animated cartoons called “funny animal”, referring to animal characters that have anthropomorphic characteristics. Even if the genre name is unfamiliar, some of the characters are among the best known, e.g. Mickey mouse and Bugs Bunny. Much less familiar to the general public is a sub-genre, sometimes called “furry”,…
-
Sir Frank Dicksee
Sir Frank Dicksee was an English painter and illustrator active in the Victorian era. Originally taught by his father, artist Thomas Dicksee, along with his brother, Herbert, and sister, Margaret, who were also artists of note, Frank Dicksee went on to study at the Royal Academy. There he learned from renowned painters like Frederick Lord…
-
The Art Center (blog)
The Art Center is a blog devoted to, as the tagline says, “Sharing Ideas and Tips from Artist to Artist”. An offshoot of the Character Design blog, which is devoted largely to interviews with artists working in the film, gaming and illustration fields, The Art Center features tutorials, walk-throughs, how to videos and discussions of…