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A love of Pen and Ink drawing.
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Posted
I love pen and ink, and so I spend time on the net looking at it. One genre that never fails to produce impressive work, is the world of graphic novels...or comics, if you like. Much of it concerns superheroes. I have no real interest in that subject matter, but can only admire the work the artists produce. They always give it their skillful best. However, not all graphic novels deal with superheroes...especially in Europe where such books are big business. I intend to touch on some of that.
Brian Bolland is a British artist acclaimed for the bold clean line. He does draw superheroes but not all the time. Here are examples of his work...
I can't imagine what the lady is doing in a World War 1 trench, but I think it's a superb drawing.
Jean Claud Claeys is a French artist whose main work is an homage to Film Noir...you know, those old black and white crime movies, acclaimed for their moody lighting and hard-bitten stories. So his reference material is Hollywood in the 1940/50s, photos from the era, and carefully lit photos he takes himself of models dressed for the era, and posed as he needs for his drawings. He works in pen and ink, adds shading with a brush and ink, mostly in black and white. Occasionally, he adds patches of colour with coloured inks, or this is done at the printing stage, when the text is added.
At least part of his appeal for me is the old planes and cars, which I find infinitely more visually interesting than modern examples.
Another artist I admire is the Italian Sergio Toppi. The panels for his graphic novels show marvelous design elements. He's illustrated many classics, including 1001 nights.
Another French artist is Jean Giraud or, as he's more often called...Moebius. One of the greats. A huge output of books, illustration, and concept art for movies.
An astonishingly imaginative artist, and I find drawings such as the one above mind-blowingly good.
I can't imagine what the lady is doing in a World War 1 trench, but I think it's a superb drawing.
Jean Claud Claeys is a French artist whose main work is an homage to Film Noir...you know, those old black and white crime movies, acclaimed for their moody lighting and hard-bitten stories. So his reference material is Hollywood in the 1940/50s, photos from the era, and carefully lit photos he takes himself of models dressed for the era, and posed as he needs for his drawings. He works in pen and ink, adds shading with a brush and ink, mostly in black and white. Occasionally, he adds patches of colour with coloured inks, or this is done at the printing stage, when the text is added.
At least part of his appeal for me is the old planes and cars, which I find infinitely more visually interesting than modern examples.
Another artist I admire is the Italian Sergio Toppi. The panels for his graphic novels show marvelous design elements. He's illustrated many classics, including 1001 nights.
Another French artist is Jean Giraud or, as he's more often called...Moebius. One of the greats. A huge output of books, illustration, and concept art for movies.
An astonishingly imaginative artist, and I find drawings such as the one above mind-blowingly good.
Posted
Putting colour to one side for a moment, there’s no doubting that pen and ink, solely depicted as a mono drawing, has great impact!
The clarity of the image is generally better also, nothing to distract the eye…
Same goes for black text on white paper, think newspapers as the best example here.
There’s often a more simplified graphic quality to them, crisper lines etc.
The use of counterchange is more obvious and important also, dark shapes against lighter and visa versa. Just my thoughts anyway, and probably my favourite medium.
Definitely a great selection above Lew.
Posted
Superb work Lew, I pleased you added comics etc to the thread as it’s comics that started a lot of people of over generation sketching . Lived them and would send hours copying scenes or developing new one . The artwork above is brilliant , pity that we don’t ave the same live of the old comics these days but I suppose the internet has seen to that in many ways.
Posted
It’s my favourite medium too Alan. When I look back at my work, it’s the pen and ink I’m most happy with.
Agreed Paul. The Dandy and Beano started my love of pen and ink, then access to a library led me to Arthur Rackham, and the Golden Age of Illustration. That really opened my eyes. It became a passion…a very un-English thing to say.
Some just dive in with the pen Russell, notably Kim Jung Gi who I featured earlier. Mind boggling. But I think it safe to say the majority DO start with a detailed pencil drawing. I don’t see how complex drawings can be done any other way.
Posted
I have another pen and ink artist whose main output is album covers and music posters. Right from the start in the 1930s artists had to compete with photography in this genre, and still do. There are creative photo based album covers but too many rely on rather boring headshots of the lead singer. In the main, as now, it's rock bands who've commissioned art for their covers and posters.
Richey Beckett lives in rural Wales, where the wild countryside provides inspiration for his art. He goes on walks with a sketchbook and pen, drawing weather blown gnarled trees and undergrowth, and the bones of foxes, mice and the like. From the start he settled on pen and ink as his main medium. He creates album covers, music posters and art prints.
Posted
Oops...hit the wrong button...here's the art...
He also does the occasional movie poster...
At work....
...the finished image...
He produces the drawings. Colours and text are added at the printing stage...but he has to plan the final look.
Art for the Game of Thrones Tv series...
His work is in similar vein to that of John Baizsley, covered earlier, but I think it's stunning. You can't have too much of a good thing.
I'm going to wrap up this thread now. In theory it could go on forever, I've only shown a fraction of their work, and there's always new artists waiting to be discovered on the net, or old ones re-discovered. Illustration is in a difficult place now, it's always had to content with photography, and now we have ai...the shameless plunderers of other people's creativity.
I haven't featured superhero comics, in a way they are Fairey tales for the modern age. One wonders if great illustrators from the past were working now would they be drawing superheroes. It's where the work is. Would Rackham be drawing Batman?
I admire all the artists featured in this thread. They are flying the flag for art in general, and pen and ink in particular.
So I'll wrap up with a couple of pics from a long time favourite. Arthur Rackham.
Rip Van Winkle...
....Toad of Toad Hall...
Ohh...make it three Rackhams.
He also does the occasional movie poster...
At work....
...the finished image...
He produces the drawings. Colours and text are added at the printing stage...but he has to plan the final look.
Art for the Game of Thrones Tv series...
His work is in similar vein to that of John Baizsley, covered earlier, but I think it's stunning. You can't have too much of a good thing.
I'm going to wrap up this thread now. In theory it could go on forever, I've only shown a fraction of their work, and there's always new artists waiting to be discovered on the net, or old ones re-discovered. Illustration is in a difficult place now, it's always had to content with photography, and now we have ai...the shameless plunderers of other people's creativity.
I haven't featured superhero comics, in a way they are Fairey tales for the modern age. One wonders if great illustrators from the past were working now would they be drawing superheroes. It's where the work is. Would Rackham be drawing Batman?
I admire all the artists featured in this thread. They are flying the flag for art in general, and pen and ink in particular.
So I'll wrap up with a couple of pics from a long time favourite. Arthur Rackham.
Rip Van Winkle...
....Toad of Toad Hall...
Ohh...make it three Rackhams.
Posted
I’ve never lost the enthusiasm for pen and ink drawing, but I realised that I hadn’t done any for a while.
I’ve been busy with the old oils, but I’ve put them away for a while and will concentrate on my drawing again… sketchbook scribbles I call them.
Busy this week and into next week, then it’s all systems go…
