Table Of Content

Be CREATIVE ILLUSTRATION Andrew Loomis THE VIKING PRESS - NEW YORK - 1947 To the furtherance of our craft of illustrating as a profession for young Americans, this volume is respectfully dedicated ACKNOWLEDGMENT May I express here my appreciation of and gratitude for the valuable help given me in the preparation of this volume by my beloved wife, Ethel O. Loomis. CONTENTS, INCLUDING ILLUSTRATIONS (The illustration pages are indicated by italics) Openinc Cuat 17 Tue Form Princip.e As A Basis oF APPROACH 21 PART ONE: LINE Frontispiece Tere Ane SEVEN Parmany FUNCTIONS oF LINE Line Is More Than Merely “Outline”! Line Is Proportion with Imagination Line Produces Formal Design Line Produces Informal Design Overlapping Line and Areas the First Principle of Composition Using the First Function of “Line for Itself” for Composition Composition May Be Based on Letters and Symbols Composition May Be Based on Geometric Forms The “Fulcrum-Lever” Principle Applied to Composition Use Formal Subdivision for Symmetrical Composition Introducing Informal Subdivision A Demonstration of Informal Subdivision Figure Compositions Based on Informal Subdivision Informal Subdivision Is Purely Creative, Not Mechanical Perspective Guide Lines Help You to Composition Everything You Draw Is Related to an Eye Level Eye Level, Camera Level, and Horizon Mean the Same 24 41 42 Find Eye Level of Copy and Make Figures Coincide Approaching the Subject in Different Ways Perspective Alone May Add Variety Using Line to Produce a Focal Point in Subject Providing an “Eye Pathway” in Composition Attention Devices Get Attention by Building Contrast of Line or Shape The Relationship of Line to Emotional Response Bad Composition Brings Negative Response Various Types of Vignettes A Vignette Is a Design Pure and Simple Simple Line Combines Effectively with Solid Blacks Combining Pen Line Treatment with Black Areas Pen Drawing Is Built on a Principle Pen Drawing Is Concerned Mostly with Shadow Pen-and-Ink Procedure Follow the Form with the Pen Strokes Decorative Treatment in Line The Brush Used Like a Pen Dry Brush Adding “Spatter” to Line Mediums Dry Brush and Black Pencil on Grained Paper Black Ink, Black Pencil, and Poster White on Coquille Board There Are New Possibilities in This Combination 48 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 64 65 66 67 CONTENTS, INCLUDING ILLUSTRATIONS “Sanguine” on Grained Paper Black Pencil on Grained Paper Drawing Procedure Drawing, Above All Else, Puts You Over Black and White Pencils on Grey Paper Poster White and Black Ink on Grey Paper Charcoal on Grey Paper Dry Brush on Grey Paper with Whites “Scratch Board” Craftint PART TWO: TONE Frontispiece Tuere ARE Four EssenTIaL PROPERTIES or TONE Basie Intensities of Light Versus Shadow The Four Properties of Tone Explained Setting up a Consistent Relationship of Light to Shadow The Meaning of Key and Value Manipulation The Four Properties of Tone Explained (continued ) A Simple Lesson in Value Relationships Composition by Tone or Pattern There are Four Basic Tonal Plans How to Look for the “Meat” in Your Subject If It’s Worth Painting, It’s Worth Planning “Thumbnail” Planning of Tonal Pattern or Arrangement The Subject Itself Often Suggests the Tonal Plan Four of the Thumbnails Transposed to Black-and-White Oil The Completed Sketch Suppose We Take a Subject and Work It Out 68 69 70 7 72 73 74 75 76 78 10 Old Mother Hubbard Is Your Problem TECHNIQUE IN TonaL Mepiums Formulating an Approach Technical Approach Detail The Treatment of Edges Where to Look for Soft Edges The Lens Sees Too Much The Eye Selects Stressing the Planes and Accents Breaking Up the Too-Smooth Tones Adjusting Tone and Pattern The “Big Tone” Approach The Direct Approach The Soft Approach The Brittle Approach The “Blocky” Treatment and Others The “Blocky” Treatment Painting Down or Across the Form “Scumbling” Tue TonaL Meprums Charcoal as a Tonal Medium Charcoal and Chalk on Grey Paper Grey Paper with Other Mediums Carbon Pencil as a Tonal Medium (Smooth Bristol) Carbon Pencil on Regular Bristol Carbon Pencil on Illustration Board Wash with Dry Brush Wash as a Tonal Medium Wash Is One of the Best Mediums for Reproduction Opaque Water Color as a Tonal Medium Thin Black-and-White Oil Scumble Howarp Pye CONTENTS, INCLUDING ILLUSTRATIONS Comments on Howard Pyle’s Theory of Approach Tonal Sketches of Some of Pyle’s Pictures The Relationship of Tone to Color The Form Principle Applied Preparing Samples in Tone Submitting Samples PART THREE: COLOR Frontispiece A New ApproscH Presenting the Spectrum as Related to Light and Shadow CoLor All Color Is Relative to Surrouding Influence Color Is Strongest in the Light Color Is More Than Local Color Look for Color on the Edge of Light The Limitation of Color in Pigment Relating Color by Tonal Influence Toning the Spectrum or Palette Four Subjects in “Toned Color” Don’t Be Afraid of the Creys of Nature Blue Green, Yellow, and Cool Red as a Scheme Painted with Yellow as a “Toner” Color Considered as “Tone” in Tis Natural Relationship Color, Its Function and Charm The Primary Color Groups The Primary Color Groups—Color Shades Color Selection and Background What to Do When Your Picture Is Dead in Color ‘The Emotional Effects of Color 138 M1 142 148 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 165 166 167 168 169 11 Outdoor and Indoor Color How to Experiment with Color Experimental Color Roughs Worked Out A Subject Worked Out in Color from Black-and-White Copy What Is Color Charm, and How Can We Know It? Should We Eliminate Black from Our Palette? 170 171 172 178 174 175 PART FOUR: TELLING THE STORY Frontispiece Tuere ARE Five Essrntias Waar Is ILLustrration? The Essentials of Telling the Story Staging Your Subject “Thumbnail” Settings Huw to Cet Suggestions from Clippings Figures Suggested on Tracing Paper Planning Dramatic Action and Poses Establish the Action Before Hiring a Model The Essential Arrangement Arrangements Based on One of the Previous Roughs Embcllishment Using the Camera to Obtain Working Material The Hlustrator’s Scaling Screen The Scaling Screen and Camera Distortion Camera Distortion Drawing to Avoid Photographic Distortion Camcra Dramatics A Single Lighting Works Out Best Use Your Camera to Catch Emotion and Expression 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 192 198 194 195 196 197 CONTENTS, INCLUDING ILLUSTRATIONS PART SIX: FIELDS OF ILLUSTRATION Studying the Character There Is No End to Facial Expression and Character Manufacturing Convincing Emotion Expressions Tell the Story Loss and Gain in Backgrounds Examples of Background Loss and Gain What Is Faking, and What Is Imagination Never Guess When You Can Find Out An Imaginative Subject Need Not Be “Faked” The Originality Is Within the Conception PART FIVE: CREATING IDEAS Frontispiece A LocicaL METHOD The Plan of Working Up a Questionnaire Searching Basic Appeals for Ideas A Sample Questionnaire Rough Ideas Developed from the Questionnaire A Different Approach from the Same Questionnaire Creating Ideas from Basic Appeals Scribble While You Think: Think While You Scribble Your Scribbles Are More Original Than Your Camera Get Used to Sketching from Life You Get Something the Camera Can't Give You Sentiment the Keynote of Illustration Psychology Applied to Covers and Calendars There Is Even Psychology in Comic Ideas Ideas in General 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 Frontispiece THe Macazine AD - The Approach to Good Advertising 12 Illustration Using Your Freedom Twenty-Four Types of Ads Types of Magazine Ads Relating Your Illustration to the Whole Ad Developing the “Co-ordination Sense” A Typical Magazine Ad Assignment A Typical Agency Layout Rough Compositions for the Picture Final Arrangement Based on Photos Taken The Finished Advertising Illustration What Is the Future in Magazine Advertising? Better Taste in Magazine Advertising THE Ovrpoor Poster How a Poster Is Divided into Sheets Typical Poster Arrangements A Typical Poster Assignment The Idea Roughed Out Halftones of the Color Roughs The Finished Poster Display ADVERTISING Displays Are “Point of Sale” Merchandising Working Up Ideas for Displays Types of Lithographic Displays Working with Display Lithographers CALENDAR ADVERTISING Basic Appeals Applied to Calendars A Calendar Can Be Anything That Is Good Essentials of Good Calendar Illustration . Painting for Calendar Reproduction 224 226 CONTENTS, INCLUDING ILLUSTRATIONS Covers AnD JACKETS Some Jacket Arrangements Stony ILLustration ‘What Do the Magazines Want? Putting the Fundamentals to Work Exciting and Unusual Arrangement Style and Technique in Story Illustration IMustrations That Sell the Story Questionnaire for Starting an Illustration Working Out a Typical Story Thistration Miniature Roughs for the Ilustration Developing the Actual-Size Rough Photo of the Medel Study from the Photo The Final Interpretation Head Studies for Illustrations Getting into Story Ihistration 264 266 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 13 PART SEVEN: EXPERIMENT AND STUDY Frontispiece 284 EXPERIMENT AND STUDY 286 Finding Subjects for Experiment and Study 287 Your Pencil Can Keep Busy 288 Practice Heads All You Can 289 Study of an Old Man 290 A Sample Illustration 291 Sketching 292 Figure Painting 293 Outdoor Sketch in Color 294 Portrait Sketch in Color 295 Cosine CHaT 296 ANSWERS TO QUERIES 299