Eye Candy for Today: Hal Foster Prince Valiant strip

Panel from Hal Foster Prince Valiant strip
Hal Foster Prince Valiant strip

A beautiful Hal Foster 1939 Prince Valiant Sunday newspaper comic strip from the glory days of newspaper adventure comics.

This is a photo of the original art. It would have been printed in color as a full newspaper page, at a time when newspapers were much larger than the ridiculous size they’ve been reduced to today (in an apparent effort by publishers to remove the last remnants of what used to make newspapers a pleasure to hold and read).

I place Foster in the tradition of great pen and ink artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as he, Alex Raymond, Winsor McCay and others followed in their footsteps.

Sourced from Heritage Auctions, large image here.

 
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Eye Candy for Today: illustration by Kay Nielsen

illustration by Kay Nielsen
illustration by Kay Nielsen (details)

I believe this illustration by turn of the 20th century Danish illustrator Kay (pronounced “kigh”) Neilsen is for a collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that included The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Image sourced from poulwebb.blogspot.com.

 
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Rudy Siswanto (update)

Rudy Siswanto
Rudy Siswanto

Rudy Siswanto is an Illustration Craft Lead at Riotgames; which basically means he leads a team of illustrators and concept designers who help craft the look and feel of particular games.

I’m not a gamer, so I don’t recognize the games for which these images were created, but many of them involve animal characters that Siswanto has portrayed in exaggerated, stylish and dramatic fashion.

 
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Pierre Commarmond

Pierre Commarmond
Pierre Commarmond

Pierre Commarmond was a French landscape painter and poster artist, most recognized for his delightful railroad travel posters created in the 1920s and 30s.

I particulary enjoy posters of this kind; their flat colors and strong design elements remind me of color woodcuts.

I believe many of the original paintings for these were done in gouache.

 
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Stephanie Law

Stephanie Law
Stephanie Law

Stephanie Law is a watercolor painter from California. Her work ranges from straightforward botanical art to fantastical imaginings with a botanical feel, to stylized animal and plant forms, to fairie images that evoke a feeling of 19th century European illustrators like Rackham and Dulac.

Her watercolor paintings often incorporate elements of metal leaf and ink, and they are sometimes set off in custom frames that she forms into stylized dimesional elements complementary to her images.

Many of her works are circular in shape. I’m not sure if this is for a reason other than a fondness for that form on her part. Most are part of a series.

Her website features galleries in a number of clategories. There is also a store with prints, original art, books and other items. In addition, there is a set off section of her site devoted to her botanical art.

Law has a YouTube channel that features videos of her process.

 
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Frank Sherwin

Frank Sherwin travel posters
Frank Sherwin travel posters

Frank Sherwin was a British artist active in the early to mid 20th century. He is best known for his delightful travel posters, as well as his traditional watercolors.

He also painted watercolors for a number of “carriage prints” (images above, bottom, with details). These were horizontal format banners displayed in railway cars for the entertainment of passengers, much the way ads are often displayed in a row above the windows in subway trains and busses here in the U.S.

 
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