Model Sheets (@modelsheets)

Model Sheets: Alex Toth, Jin Kim, Fleischer Studios, Alex Ross, Warner Brothers Studios, Jack Davis, Chuck Jones, Don Bluth, Jose Garcia-Lopez
Model sheets, sometimes called character sets or “settei”, are drawings of characters in various views that are distributed to teams who work on the same animations, comics, or other art or illustration projects for which consistency in the rendering of the character must be maintained between several different artists.

Model Sheets (@modelsheets) is a Twitter feed on which the user is posting model sheets and similar character standardization drawings from a number of sources and for a variety of projects, past and present.

I don’t normally post about things like Twitter feeds that require an account or login, but there is also a website (not related) called Settei.net, that offers a number of similar drawings.

(Images above: Alex Toth, Jin Kim, Fleischer Studios, Alex Ross, Warner Brothers Studios, Jack Davis, Chuck Jones, Don Bluth, Jose Garcia-Lopez)

[Via MetaFilter]

 
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Victor Gilbert

Victor Gilbert
In the late 19th century, artists in Europe, emboldened by the advent of Realism and the freedom it granted from historical or romanticized themes, began to depict contemporary daily life. Some specialized in specific aspects of day to day life, particularly in Paris, center of the art world at the time.

Victor-Gabriel Gilbert was a French painter who became known for his depiction of markets, especially flower markets, along with corner flower stands, flower carts and other subjects involving flower sellers.

He often painted Las Halles, the largest market in Paris, and also depicted fish sellers and other aspects of the market. He returned often, however, to the subjects of flowers, sometimes in gardens or interiors, though rarely in the context of still life, at least not without incorporating figures or an interior scene.

Gilbert brought to his realist style the vibrant color and free brushwork of the new Impressionist Painters, though he kept the influence somewhat restrained and created a nice blend of those elements with his more traditional draftsmanship.

 
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The Star of Bethlehem, Edward Burne-Jones

The Star of Bethlehem, Edward Burne-Jones
The Star of Bethlehem, Edward Burne-Jones

On Google Art Project, high res downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons, original is in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Watercolor and bodycolor on ten sheets of paper, on stretcher, 101 × 152 in (260 cm × 390 cm), or roughly 8 ft x 12 ft.

Based on his original design for a tapestry, Pre-Raphaelite painter Burne-Jones revisited his interpretation of the Adoration of the Magi in what was the largest watercolor of the 19th century.

There is an article with background on the painting on Wikipedia.

 
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Another wonderful Leyendecker Santa Claus

Leyendecker Santa Claus
I’ve suggested before that although others preceded him in developing the character of The Jolly One, I think the great American illustrator J.C. Leyendecker is most responsible for the contemporary version of Santa Claus we are familiar with today.

For more, see my previous Christmas Eve posts on Leyendecker’s Santas and Illustrators’ Visions of Santa Claus.

Image above from The J.C. Leyendecker Legacy.

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Antoine Gros chalk portrait

Portrait of a Woman, Antoine Jean Gros
Portrait of a Woman, Antoine Jean Gros

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Black chalk, 11 x 8 inches (28 x 19cm).

I love the way the application of the chalk is alternately bold and delicate. For such a seemingly basic material, chalk can be astonishingly subtle. With the help of a stomp, Gros has used it here like both a draftsman and a painter.

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Curran’s Fair Critics

Fair Critics, Charles Courtney Curran
Fair Critics, Charles Courtney Curran

In the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Use zoom or download icons below the image.

I just love paintings of artists’ studios, particularly those in which other paintings are depicted.

I wish the Met’s site had more commentary about this one. Does “Fair Critics” refer to the critical judgement of those viewing the painting, or to the physical beauty of the two of them most prominently depicted? (Perhaps both, as a kind of pun?)

I also find it fascinating that the model for the painting is showing it off, dressed as she was for the pose. I wonder if this was a common practice — to show the accuracy of the artist’s work — or perhaps it was a commissioned portrait, and the “Fair Critics” are her friends or family.

I don’t recall seeing a stand-alone Curran painting like the one shown, though that doesn’t mean there wasn’t one. I did find out that this painting was auctioned through Christie’s in 1999, and apparently gifted to the Met this year (2014).

See also my previous posts on Charles Courtney Curran (and here).

 
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