Eye Candy for Today: Samuel Prout street scene

French Street with a Medieval Turret, Samuel Prout
French Street with a Medieval Turret, Samuel Prout

In the National Gallery of Art, DC.

The National Gallery’s page says this was done in brush and watercolor, as apparently does the artist’s inscription, but I would have assumed an initial drawing in pen and brown ink. Though it exists in that fascinating boundary between drawing and painting that watercolor often traverses, this feels much more like a drawing than a painting to me.

It’s hard to tell if some color has been lost since the early 19th century, but I love the subtle bits of color, particularly blue, within the otherwise largely monochromatic composition. I also love the atmospheric feeling of the background street, and wonderful touches like the stylish sign on the wine store.

The original is roughly 12×9 inches (30x22cm).

 
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David Chambers

David Chambers, concept art
David Chambers is a concept and visual development artist, based in British Columbia, who works primarily in the gaming industry.

His website home page acts as a portfolio slideshow, but you can also drill down into his portfolio, which is arranged by subject matter. I found his approach to environments of particular interest for the way he handles realistic (in terms of possible in the real world) industrial environments and complex street scenes.

Much of the character work in his portfolio is from Company of Heroes 2. You will also find vehicles and various other objects, along with designs for mech, for which Chambers has a separate dedicated blog, MechCreation, in addition to his regular, more general blog. There is also a link to “Archive”, which is a mixed Flickr set.

 
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Niroot Puttapipat (himmapaan)

Niroot Puttapipat (himmapaan), illustration and paleo art
Niroot Puttapipat is a London-based illustrator who uses the handle “Himmapaan”.

His work shows his admiration for Golden Age illustrators like Arthur Rackham, Howard Pyle and Edmund Dulac, as well as natural history and paleontological greats like Charles R. Knight.

Puttapipat works with a nice balance between detailed rendering and graphic shapes, particular in his series of illustrations for classics like Aladdin, and modern novels like Salman Rushdie’s Luka and the Fire of Life (images above, second and third from bottom).

He has provided illustration for a number of recent editions of classics. There is a list of publications here, and a listing of books for which he has done illustrations on Amazon.

As continuing Lines and Colors readers will not find surprising, I particularly enjoy his fanciful takes on dinosaurs and related subjects. Sometimes Puttapipat’s fondness for classic literature and paleontological art collide, as in his hilarious and wonderful “Brontesausus” (above, bottom).

[Via Wil Freeborn, (my post here)]

 
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Mick McGinty (update 2014)

Mick McGinty
I’m delighted to say that after a hiatus of three years, painter/blogger/illustrator Mick McGinty is back to posting his small paintings on his blog Twice a Week, and offering them at auction.

Presumably, McGitnty has been busy in his other role as an illustrator, but it’s great to see him once again posting his plain air paintings and other small works on his blog, which I have been following since early 2007.

I have this painting by McGinty, which I managed to snag at a low auction price back in 2008 (while everyone else was apparently sleeping), hanging in my living room.

When viewing his blog, bear in mind that it’s one of the older Blogger layouts, in which there are no “Previous Posts” links at the bottom of the page. Use the monthly links in the right column to browse back through McGinty’s work from past years. Also, be sure to click on the images to see the large versions of his work, the painterly nature of which is not always evident in the smaller reproductions.

For more, see my previous posts on Mick McGinty, listed below.

 
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Eye Candy for Today: Carlos Reis Plus de Vin

Plus de Vin, Carlos Reis
Plus de Vin, Carlos Reis

On Google Art Project; downloadable large file on Wikimedia Commons; original is in the Dionísio Pinheiro And Alice Cardoso Pinheiro Foundation.

In this loosely rendered and fascinatingly dark composition, it’s evident that the wine was more in demand than the fruit.

 
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Joseph Todorovitch

Joseph Todorovitch, figurative painter
Joseph Todorovitch is a California painter who works primarily with figurative subjects, though these often include elements of interiors, still life or landscape.

Todorovitch has a refined, restrained approach to value and color, as well as a subtle sense of the use of edges; elements that together give his paintings both a quiet power and a contemplative feeling not always present in figurative works.

Unfortunately, the gallery on his website presents his work in rather small images, particularly as the surface quality of his technique often appears quite interesting in larger reproductions. You can see larger examples on this Arcadia Fine Arts Flickr set, and the website of the Maxwell Alexander Gallery.

Todorovitch teaches at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, and their website profile of him includes an additional portfolio of work. Todorovitch also conducts independent workshops.

[Note: some of the images on the sites linked here should be considered NSFW (depending, of course, on where you work).]

 
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