Harry Borgman Art Blog

Poster that was used on TV show

2012-01-11T15:43:00.002-05:00

Here is the poster that was used on THE GOOD WIFE TV show last Sunday evening.

Paintings used in a TV show

2012-01-09T11:08:00.008-05:00

These paintings were used in a museum setting on THE GOOD WIFE TV show last night. It was very exciting to see them displayed so nicely.

Watch THE GOOD WIFE tonight

2012-01-08T05:36:00.002-05:00

Birdhouse for HCPAI auction

2012-01-06T06:17:00.000-05:00

The Harbor Country Public Arts Initiative has asked artists to decorate and design bird houses that will be auctioned off to raise money for their art projects. Here is the one that I designed, it's made up of old engravings of birds and a photo of a cat. The auction will be held at the Marina Grand in New Buffalo, MI on January 13th. They always exhibit some very unusual and interesting entries.

Ink line drawings

2012-01-04T08:04:00.003-05:00

A couple of recent ink line drawings done on tracing paper. Ink line art was one of my favorite mediums when I worked doing commercial illustrations. The drawing of Gloria and me was scanned into the computer where flat colors were added, an interesting technique. I think about Steve Jobs, his amazing career and his early death. I just read that his very last words were, "OH WOW, OH WOW, OH WOW".

A good start for 2012

2012-01-02T07:53:00.002-05:00

A new beginning !

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-05:00

2012 speaks !

2011-12-31T05:28:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year !

2011-12-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

I hope that the new year brings you happiness and good fortune ! Thanks for checking out my blog.

Happy Holidays everyone !

2011-12-26T12:31:00.001-05:00

3 paperback covers from the 1960's

2011-12-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

In the 1960's I painted a few paperback book covers, mostly science fiction subjects. It was more fun than doing advertising illustrations. However, my main source of income was from advertising work and the deadline demands usually were brutal enough that I had to limit my branching out in other fields. I think that I managed to do about 20 book cover illustrations. The 3 posted here were recently found on line at an internet book store. I lucked out with Dr. Futurity as it was an Ace double with The Unteleported Man on the reverse side. I now wish that I had pursued this field more as I really enjoyed doing these illustrations.

An old hero passes away

2011-12-21T05:17:00.000-05:00

Joe Simon, creator of Captain America, died last Wednesday, December 14. He was 98 years old. When I was 17 or 18 years old, my good friend Herb Schiebold and I took a trip to New York City and were determined to meet the great team of comic book artists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the creators of many great comic book superheros. We went to the offices of Timely Comics and were told that the team works out of their homes in Mineola, Long Island, so the next morning we boarded the train and were on our way. When we arrived at the street where Simon and Kirby lived we saw a guy walking down the street carrying a batch of comic strips. We asked him if he were Joe Simon, he responded " No, but I could be Jack Kirby". He was on his way over to Joe Simon's house and invited us along. They were under the usual deadline pressure but were very gracious and spent a lot of time with us, showing us all of the work that they were doing. It was a great experience that I'll never forget. Many years later, in the mid 1960's, one of my students, Bob Taylor, sold a cover to Simon who was the creator of Sick Magazine. Bob and I went to New York and met with Joe who remembered me from my earlier visit. Bob and I began to do a lot of artwork for Sick Magazine and I signed my work "The Professor" as I had been submitting ideas to Mad Magazine. I sold a few ideas to Mad but never any artwork. I did work for Sick for about 2 years and it was fun, but my advertising deadline pressures prevented me from continuing. Though I only knew Joe for a brief period, he was a great friend and was fun to work with. Below are a couple of things that I drew for Sick.

A third holiday gift idea

2011-11-30T05:30:00.000-05:00

I wrote a book called SURREALITIES which is filled with many of my photomontages. The computer is the perfect medium for creating surreal photomontages. It's a 72 page book and is available from Xlibris.com. Below are several pages from the book.

Another holiday gift idea

2011-11-25T05:07:00.002-05:00

DIGITAL DREAMS is a book I wrote about exploring the computer as an art medium. It has many examples of the various art techniques that can be used to create interesting images from realism to total abstractions. Shown below are just a few examples from the 80 page book which is available from Xlibris.com. A good book for beginners as well as established artists.

Paintings selected for TV show

2011-11-21T10:07:00.004-05:00

One of my favorite TV shows is THE GOOD WIFE and a couple of weeks ago I got a call from one of the producers. She said that they were very interested in using some of my new paintings in the sets of an upcoming episode. She had seen my new abstract nude paintings on my blog and thought that they would work well in the scene backgrounds. I said "WOW, yes!". A day or so later she contacted me again and said that they had made their choices, which I have posted below. Very exciting ! It was great to see the paintings displayed the way they were.

ALMOST RELAXED NUDE

MUSE

NUDE ON THE BEACH

DECONSTRUCTED NUDE

DANCERS

NEW IMAGE 1

THE DREAM

NEW IMAGE 2

A gift idea

2011-11-16T11:37:00.000-05:00

Christmas is fast approaching and if you are looking for gifts, you might consider my book ART THERAPY, which is full of cartoons about the fine art business. The book is available from Xlibris.com. Below are a few examples from the book.

New digital experiments

2011-11-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

For my new painting series I have been doing all of my preliminary ideas and sketches on the computer. It adds a whole new dimension to creating color studies for paintings as it enables me to quickly create several different versions of the same composition. I will also print these studies up as limited edition prints to sell in the gallery.

Dancers

Dancers 2

Deconstructed Nude

The Dream
I am especially pleased with the color and composition of the above image. The computer is a great medium for experimenting with color and design.

Craig Smith Gallery hosts benefit

2011-11-07T08:17:00.000-05:00

The art gallery that I am associated with hosted a fine benefit dinner last Saturday night. It was a fun evening and Gloria and I met some interesting people that came in from the Chicago area. Below is the poster that I designed for the event.

Having fun with type

2011-10-28T13:47:00.000-04:00

Over the years I have always been involved with graphic design projects as well as illustration. I actually started out as a graphic designer, so it was my entry into the commercial art business. I was working on a graphic design promotional brochure and developed these typographic designs during the process.

My blog's birthday!

2011-10-21T05:57:00.000-04:00

Portrait of an artist

2011-10-19T09:47:00.000-04:00

These are some of the traits that many successful commercial and fine artists possess. Another quality is the ability to not get too discouraged by criticism, some art critics and art directors can be brutal. Actually, an artist must be his or her own worst critic as art is a never ending growing and learning experience.

My opening at Pure Reign Lifestyle Center

2011-10-17T13:37:00.000-04:00

I had an opening reception for my new paintings and sculpture at the Pure Reign Lifestyle center in Oak Park, Illinois last Saturday. My gallery owner, Craig Smith hung the show and did a great job. The space has recently been renovated and is really very nice. I met a few interesting people as well as their great staff, it was a fun evening. If you are near the area, check it out.

Exhibition opening

2011-10-14T07:17:00.000-04:00

Just a reminder that the exhibit of my new work is opening on Saturday, October 15th in Oak Park, IL, if you are near the area, drop by.

Great quote....and he did !

2011-10-13T14:44:00.002-04:00

Steve Jobs' Quote

2011-10-13T11:07:00.000-04:00

Another Steve Jobs' Quote

2011-10-12T08:37:00.000-04:00

This was part of a Commencement address by Steve Jobs on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University.

Great advice from Steve Jobs

2011-10-10T09:07:00.001-04:00

Terrific advice from Jobs, especially for artists. You can find some of his speeches on the internet, he had some great thoughts to share.

More of my promotional material

2011-10-06T11:27:00.000-04:00

Promoting yourself as an artist is very important both in the commercial and fine art fields. I recently sent out several promotion brochures to a book publisher and an art gallery. I presented the publisher with brochures that show many of my previous books and illustrations as well as three new book ideas. The art gallery was given several brochures showing a lot of my paintings done through the years. I'm hoping for good reactions here, but you never know, perhaps my work will not interest them.

The above images are the front and rear covers of a brochure showing some new limited edition digital prints that I am working on.

The front and rear covers of a brochure of some of my digital illustrations.

The cover of a brochure showing the books that I have written.

The above images are the front and rear covers of a brochure of my paperback book cover illustrations.

A proposal for a book of my comic book cover parodies.

ARTPRIZE in Grand Rapids

2011-09-25T11:47:00.000-04:00

Gloria and I went to see the third annual ArtPrize and it was very interesting with nearly 1600 works of art on display. My friend William Anderson has some very unique metal sculptures that are located at the Van Andel Arena. His unusual work consists of painted metal constructions, very interesting pieces that are well worth the visit to ArtPrize.

Course and Discourse
The little white rectangles on the sculpture are actually small magnets with William's information and voting number.

Journey

Laboratory of Awareness

Personal Measurement Process

Voyager

I designed William's promotional material. These are the magnets with his information and the number to use when voting for his work.

New exhibition in October

2011-09-18T15:37:00.001-04:00

If you are in the Chicago area, I'm having a one man exhibition of my sculpture and new painting series opening on October 15 in Oak Park, Illinois at the Pure Reign Lifestyle Center. The new paintings are based on my digital color and design experiments.

Contest for ARTPRIZE

2011-09-13T11:47:00.000-04:00

In Grand Rapids they have a very large yearly art competition called ARTPRIZE. This year the Grand Rapids Press also is holding a competition for a poster which will appear on their front page on the day of the opening. I developed a few ideas and submitted an entry.

I should have read the rules first which said that the entry should not include nudes, so the above creations would not be accepted.

A couple more ideas, incidentally, all these images were created on the computer.

My final entry which included a drawing by DaVinci, which Gloria reminded me was also a nude. We'll see what happens on September 21, the opening date.

Colored pencil drawings

2011-09-02T07:37:00.000-04:00

More drawings from my book DRAWING IN PENCIL.

ALONG KANDY LAKE
A drawing done from a photograph taken in Sri Lanka. When traveling I always take many photographs that might be used later as reference material for drawings or paintings.

BANANA GIRL, BESAKIH MARKET, BALI
I used Primacolor pencils for all of these drawings. This one was rendered on a smooth surfaced bristol board.

SANDRA
Another drawing done from a photograph of a young woman that was our maid when we lived in Paris. I used colored pencils as well as oil crayons on this drawing.

Various pencil techniques

2011-08-31T09:27:00.001-04:00

Here are some more drawings from my book DRAWING IN PENCIL. These show various techniques that can be employed when doing pencil drawings on various papers.

A portrait done with pencil strokes without any rubbing or blending with a paper stump.

Colored pencils, oil crayons, water and turpentine were used in this example. The water dissolved some of the water soluble pencil lines and oil crayons were blended with a rag dampened with turpentine. It's very interesting to mix mediums this way, you can achieve some exciting results.

An example of a pencil drawing done on a colored paper. I used a medium shade gray paper, drawing with gray and black pencils, adding just a few color accents. An effective technique using few colors.

Another mixed media example, using colored pencils and oil crayons on colored paper. I blended some of the tones with Bestine. You can also use pencil with other mediums such as watercolors or acrylics.

Drawing with pencils

2011-08-30T09:07:00.000-04:00

I enjoy experimenting with various art mediums. It gives one a new outlook when moving from one medium to a completely different one. After working with the ink medium for many years I began to work with pencils which eventually became a book titled DRAWING IN PENCIL.

A black and white drawing of MISTY done with a wax pencil, a quick, bold sketch.

A much tigher sketch of Mont St. Michel done in color on a textured paper. There are many interesting papers to utilize for pencil drawings.

This drawing was done using a photograph for reference. It was drawn on a sheet of regular surfaced bristol board. I blended some of the tones using a paper stump dampened with bestine. You can see that very tight renderings can be accomplished with colored pencils.

This drawing of Lucky was also done on a regular surfaced bristol board. Here I used simple, flat washes of color and drew with colored pencil over them.

These drawings are from a book published by Dover which is a reprint of two of my previous books, Drawing in Pencil and Drawing in Ink. It is available at most book stores including Amazon.com.

Creating a black and white magazine ad comp layout

2011-08-26T08:07:00.001-04:00

I always begin an assignment like this by doing a few small idea sketches to evaluate for design and composition.

Then I pick out a version that I like and do a larger, more developed image.

I liked the larger head and drew a larger version for evaluation.

Another sketch with a large head. This is the version that I felt would work best.

Here is the final comprehensive rendering which was done using markers and a graphite pencil on high quality layout paper.

Pencil line drawing

2011-08-25T11:00:00.001-04:00

Some years ago I did a pencil line illustration for Ketchum, McLeod and Grove, an ad agency in Pittsburgh, the art director was Jim Fox, a former student of mine when I taught in Detroit.

Here is the ad layout that was sent to me.

This is my rough sketch done to establish the composition.

Here is a tighter sketch to establish the gray tones.

The finished drawing was done using a Wolf BBB carbon pencil. The black areas were done with a brush and India ink. The gray tones were added using Instantex, a transfer sheet that is available in various patterns and textures. These examples are from my book, DRAWING IN INK that was published in 1977 and is still available in used book stores in case you are interested in obtaining a copy.

Expanding your horizons as an artist

2011-08-18T16:07:00.000-04:00

Even though I was a working commercial artist for many years I always was involved with the fine art business. I often took classes in woodblock and lithograph printing and it was a nice relief from the rigors of the commercial illustration and design business. It also got me interested in heading the Advertising Department and teaching classes at what is now the College for Creative Studies in Detroit.which I did for about five years. Below are a couple of my woodblock prints from that era, about 1964. I am running out of advertising material to post and hope to find more soon in my files. To all of you commercial artists out there, I recommend that you expand you talents into other areas, it is good for your development and it can be exciting as well.

Another promotion brochure

2011-08-15T08:07:00.000-04:00

Here is another recent brochure that I designed showcasing some of my commercial work as well as my paintings and sculpture.

The front cover. I love to experiment with type, the computer makes it easy and fun.

The rear cover shows some of my sculptures. I designed a new logo for the Krasl Art Center and proposed a large metal sculpture outdoor sculpture of the design, but the idea was turned down.

On the interior pages I show some of my graphic design work as well as traditional and digital illustrations.

The other page shows my cartoon work and also acrylic paintings.

A new promotion brochure

2011-08-13T08:42:00.000-04:00

Computers are great not only for experimenting, but also for creating promotion brochures. It's very important to promote yourself, whether you are in the commercial or fine arts fields. Below is a new brochure displaying some of my new paintings.

Here is the cover and below is the rear cover.

Above is the interior left hand page and below is the right hand page of the center spread.

These paintings are part of the new series of abstract nudes that I have been working on. They are based on studies and sketches that I create on the computer.

A brochure cover and a book idea

2011-08-05T07:57:00.001-04:00

Throughout my long career in the advertising business I have drawn many cartoons. Below is a cover design for a ski resort in Michigan.

Below is a book idea that I've been working on, a kid's drawing and design book. I've posted a few cover ideas as well as a couple of pages.

Examples of early cartoons and illustrations

2011-07-29T08:39:00.007-04:00

During my long career as an advertising artist I have done many cartoons as well as ink line drawings. Looking back, I'm even surprised at the variety of work that I produced. I enjoy experimenting with various styles of art and this also enabled me to reinvent myself.

A brush ink drawing done for the cover of an invitation for a Society of Arts and Crafts opening.

I don't recall what this was done for, possibly friends Magazine.

Many cartoon illustrations were done for Friends Magazine during my early days as a commercial artist.

I did the illustration for this rear cover ad for Friends Magazine in 1953.

An early ad promoting myself as an idea man and illustrator.

More Ward's Quarterly illustrations

2011-07-27T09:37:00.000-04:00

Here are a few more illustrations done for Ward's Quarterly Magazine while I was the art director. Because of a tight budget I did most of the art using various techniques to make the magazine more interesting visually.

Charlie Schridde 4/30/1926 - 5/15/2011

2011-07-25T13:57:00.000-04:00

I just learned yesterday that artist Charlie Schridde passed away. I worked with Charlie in Detroit for several years, we were associated with a freelance artist group. Charlie was one of the the top illustrators in Detroit at the time. When the illustration business started to falter, Charlie started a new career as a top flight photographer working for many years in the Detroit area. Eventually he moved to California and began painting western rodeo scenes. We have kept in touch over the years, but sad to say, I hadn't spoken to him for several months.

One of Charlie's national magazine ads.

Charlie painted this cover for the 1962 Chevrolet catalog saver.

One of charlie's promotion pieces for his western paintings. That's Charlie in the above left painting.

Charlie was a great friend to have known and worked with.

Illustrations for Ward's Quarterly Magazine

2011-07-22T01:27:00.000-04:00

In 1965 I was a freelance illustrator and also the art director of an automotive magazine, Ward's Quarterly. The publication had no budget for illustrations, so I did most of the art and a few illustrator friends pitched in occasionally. Below are some of the various styles that I used to add variety to the magazine.

A friend from the heyday of automotive illustration

2011-07-20T11:37:00.000-04:00

Yesterday an old friend from fifty years ago, Bob Pearson, visited me. Bob is an award winning automotive artist who learned his craft in the commercial art studios of Detroit during the years when the ad business was booming there. He started out as an apprentice for me and a small group of artists, which included top notch automotive illustrators such as Dave Lindsay, Ted Lodigensky, Jack Mills, Ted Paul, Jim Jackson and Del Nichols. He also worked for other Detroit studios and even became an art director at Campbell Ewald Advertising. Bob later moved to Toronto, Canada and worked for several ad agencies there as an art director. Now retired from the ad business, Bob has returned to his first passion, illustrating cars. If you would like a wonderful portrait of your favorite classic car, give him a call at 416.484.8180. Below are a few examples of Bob's great work.

The two cars below were painted for me when I was the art director of Ward's Quarterly magazine in 1965.

More ink line art and a color illustration

2011-07-15T07:07:00.000-04:00

Texstar was an interesting company to visit as they produced some very interesting items such as space helmets for the astronauts and aircraft canopies. They even built a full scale mock up of an Navy VFX aircraft out of plastic.

A full color acrylic illustration for Texstar.

Detail of the illustration.

For the cover of the brochure I decided to to do an abstract painting showing the plastic molding process.

Ink line spot illustrations for Texstar

2011-07-13T08:02:00.000-04:00

The Premier Corporation flew me down to Grand Prairie, Texas to photograph and illustrate the operations at one of their companies, Texstar Plastics. It was an interesting trip and my wife came along, so we also had sort of a vacation. One night the company's executives flew us down to have dinner in Mexico. These ink line drawings were spot illustrations that would be used in a brochure that I designed. They were drawn with a technical pen and the black accents were done with a brush.

A great assignment to have between all the hard boiled automotive work that I was working on in Detroit.

More ink line art

2011-07-11T07:37:00.000-04:00

Here are a few ink line drawings that demonstrate the variety of styles and work I have done through the years.

An ink drawing done for a Detroit TV station newspaper ad.

A logo design for the Paul Scott Realty firm.

I've done a lot of tightly rendered product ads like this.

This rendering and the two below were done for the Transcontinental Travel company.

The Detroit Free Press assigned me a story to illustrate that was about Aristotle Onassis. Below are two additional illustrations. These were ink line and wash illustrations.

An interview on ink line drawing

2011-07-08T08:27:00.001-04:00

My wife and I were moving to Paris, France in 1977 and I was trying to think of some things I could do to guarantee me some sort of income from clients in the States before we left. I sold a few cartoons to Penthouse Magazine and would continue submitting work to them while in Paris. I also proposed a book on ink drawing to Watson Guptill publications which they bought, and had several other book ideas. The American Artist Book Club interviewed me when my book DRAWING IN INK was published in 1977 and I have posted the interview below.

Here is the Japanese edition of DRAWING IN INK, there also was an Italian edition.

My association with Watson Guptill Publications was long and I wrote several "How to..." books for them. I had a very successful career in Paris as an illustrator/ designer and worked there for several years before moving to New York City.
DRAWING IN INK is long out of print but can easily be found on Amazon or other used book outlets. In 2002 Dover Publications republished DRAWING IN INK and DRAWING IN PENCIL under the title PEN AND PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES and it is still available new.

Small ink line art

2011-07-06T11:47:00.001-04:00

During most of the 1960's through 1977 about 75% of my illustration work was black and white ink line drawings. Below is a sketch of me in my studio with my faithful dog Angus, who was always hanging around.

In 1973 I did the illustrations for a book titled GREAT TALES OF HORROR AND SUSPENSE. I did the line art for the Dracula section including several large ink line drawings and quite a few smaller spot illustrations which are shown here.

The art was rendered with a Crowquill pen with brush accents using India ink. It was a fun assignment and a real break from some of the Detroit automotive work that I was involved with at the time. Randy Mulvey, my New York during that period, landed this assignment for me as well as a series of Dracula paperback covers.

Happy holiday !

2011-07-04T06:30:00.003-04:00

Have a great holiday, the weather here in Sawyer, Michigan is perfect

Various illustrations

2011-07-01T09:27:00.003-04:00

Through the years I have experimented with many different drawing and painting techniques. Below are a few examples from my book ART & ILLUSTRATION TECHNIQUES, published by Watson Guptill publications. The book has been out of print for a number of years but is still available at Amazon.com or any number of used book stores.

This drawing was done using charcoal pencil on bristol board. Charcoal pencils are more difficult to use than regular graphite pencils because they are softer and smudge easily.

This is a drawing done with a brush and India ink on watercolor paper. Drawing with a brush may seem quite difficult for the beginner, but with a little practice it becomes much easier.

Another brush drawing with gray wash tones. The scene is the Omderman market in the Sudan. I drew this from photographs taken while on a trip to the Sudan.

Another ink line and wash sketch of a scene in the village of Onekai in Suriname.

A watercolor sketch of a London scene. I painted this using a photograph of a sunny day in London as reference, but felt that it would be more interesting as a dark, rainy scene. This was painted using watercolors on a rough textured watercolor board.

Cartoons for a proposed book

2011-06-29T16:27:00.001-04:00

Sometime around 1983, when I moved from Paris to New York City I did a few cartoons for a friend of mine that was proposing a book idea to publishers. These were sketches done with a Pentel marker pen on layout paper. Nothing ever happened with this project but is was fun to create the characters.

Above are some other cartoons that I did during the same period, unfortunately I lost the captions.

My very first travel adventure

2011-06-27T09:02:00.000-04:00

My father left Germany in 1925 for America and later sent for my mother. Germany was going through a real crisis after World War I. To pay off their war debts they just started printing money which caused extreme inflation (Washington, are you listening ?). My mother and dad were paid every day because the next day the money would be worth half. A wheelbarrow full of money would buy a loaf of bread. The situation grew intolerable, so they left for a new future in America. My dad sold fruit on the train while traveling to Detroit where he would look for work. Once there, he followed the streetcar that took workers to a automotive plant where he applied for a job as a tool and die maker, many of the workers there were also from Germany. In 1935, when I was seven years old, my mother decided to take me on a trip to Germany. It was a strange trip to say the least, Hitler was in power and the usual greeting at the stores or bank was "Heil Hitler!". We went over on the ship Breman, which was later converted into a troopship that was sunk near Norway during World War II.

Everyone did not like that sailor suit, I had the crap beat out of me. A few years later, back in the States, the same thing happened to me during the war, the kids called me a Nazi.

Travels during my career

2011-06-25T16:07:00.003-04:00

I have had a long, exciting career in the commercial art and advertising fields, and have been lucky to have worked for clients that have sent me to some very exotic places, countries that one might not visit normally. On the maps, the orange dots represent vacation trips and the white ones represent work-related trips.

My first great trip happened in 1958 when I was art director on the Chevrolet account at Campbell Ewald advertising agency in Detroit. Chevrolet wanted to show their trucks and cars performing on very tough, almost impossible roads. They found that some of the worst roads were over the mountains between Argentina and Chile and decided to send us down there to take photos and to shoot TV commercials. When we arrived in Buenos Aires we were unable to get the previously shipped cars and trucks off the ship as the dock workers were on strike. The agency told us to stay, so what would have been a two week venture turned into six weeks. We finally were able to get the vehicles and get on with our photo shoot over those wild roads, it was quite an experience, to say the least.
When my wife Jeanne and I got married in 1965 we had a great cruise planned, but it was canceled for repairs on the ship. We then decided to go to Suriname for our honeymoon. Suriname is on the top of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, which we also visited. French Guiana is the location of the infamous Devil's Island.
I've also been on plenty of photo shoots in Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and California. Most of these were for art directing the photography for various automotive brochures and catalogs that I had designed.
I've also traveled in the Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp as well as the Florida Everglades, even camping out there. Puerto Vallarta is another place I have vacationed many times, a great place.
I had a travel agent client, Transcontinental Travel, that I did a lot of work for and instead of getting paid for my efforts, I chose to take airline tickets. Some of these trips included France, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, and we often traveled first class.

Transcontinental Travel planned to open offices in Cairo, Beirut and Damascus and sent me there to take photos of the area for future brochures. On one occasion in 1973 my wife and I were in Luxor, Egypt when the war broke out between the Arab countries and Israel. We were immediately brought back to Cairo where we were waiting to leave the country. At 3.00 AM our hotel notified us that buses were ready to evacuate us. We were driven across the desert to Benghazi, Libya. It was quite a ride which included a long border stop to enter Libya and later a harrowing ride through a wild desert sandstorm. We had no diplomatic relations with Libya at the time, but the U.S. sent an ambassador there to help us get accommodations and a flight out of Libya in a few days. Finally we were put on a Bulgarian airliner which flew us to Rome, a relief as we thought the Libyan government might have held us hostage.
For Transcontinental I traveled to Morocco, Ghana, Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya.

I had another great client in Michigan, the Premier Corporation. The Advertising manager was Jim Donahue, who I began working with at his art studio Allied Artists in 1947. He sent me on a trip to Japan to photograph the unloading of cattle that Premier was sending there. I flew over on the cattle-loaded cargo aircraft and they sent my wife over on a regular flight. I was seated in the cargo hold with the cattle and it was kept very cold, the pilots felt sorry for me and invited me into the cockpit for most of the flight. When we arrived I took photos of the unloading, which took a few hours, then I met Jeanne and we had a wonderful two week vacation in Japan and we even spent a week in Hawaii on the way home.
When I freelanced in Detroit I used to get called in to work on premises at McCann Erickson in New York on client presentations for a couple of weeks at a time. On one occasion I found out that McCann was looking for an art director for their Sao Paulo, Brazil office. Jeanne and I were thinking about moving out of Detroit, so I immediately applied for the job. I lost out to another Detroit art director, Bill Gilmore. At that point, we decided to move to Paris. I lived and worked in Paris, France from 1977 through 1983 and one of my best clients was the Lintas advertising agency. They sent me to work at their offices in Vienna and Madrid, sending my wife Jeanne along also. They also sent me to teach their staffs how to render comps and storyboards in their Jakarta and Singapore offices and even threw in a trip to Bali as a bonus. These trips all made it worth dealing with the outrageous deadlines that are part of this business.

Various illustration styles

2011-06-20T06:27:00.001-04:00

The first two examples below are part of a series of illustrations that were done for the American College in Paris when I lived in France. They were basically pencil drawings with washes of gray tones. My wife, Jeanne, attended the college and got an art history degree. When I flew over to Paris, the girl in the seat next to me was Mary McClean, who ended up working at the college as their graphics director and she commishioned me to do these illustrations.

Ink line drawings done for a Chevrolet brochure.

Ink line cartoon illustration done for Friends Magazine.
Doing a lot of illustrations in various styles was very interesting to me as I love to experiment and I never got bored by the commercial business. When the illustration business slowed down I started doing storyboards. The only thing bad about that phase of the business were the brutal deadlines.

More illustration styles

2011-06-18T15:07:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed a very long career in the commercial art business because I liked experimenting and exploring various art techniques and styles. I also did a lot of graphic design work through the years as well as being an art director on a magazine and at Campbell Ewald Ad agency.

A Magazine illustration, not sure, but I think it was for Friends Magazine.

Line illustrations for Volkswagon.

A line drawing for Family Weekly.

I don't recall what this ink line drawing was for, possibly a magazine or newspaper ad.

Sketch, sketch, sketch !

2011-06-15T08:07:00.000-04:00

A lot of my time is spent doing sketches of ideas for paintings or cartoons. I keep them in a file and review them every once in a while.

This sketch was done when I was developing characters for my CATZ PAUSE cartoons. Those are my cats, Laura, Jpeg and Tiff.

More cat sketches done with a marker.

Idea sketches for cartoons for Gloria's blog.

A quick sketch of Gloria.

A sketch of Gloria and myself.

I scanned the above sketch into the computer and added some color.

Figure studies

2011-06-14T11:07:00.009-04:00

Before I began painting my new series of abstract nudes I did a series of realistic nude studies. I have posted a few previously, here are a few more. These are from an exhibition that I had at the Craig Smith Gallery a couple of years ago. I used acrylic paint on canvas for these paintings.

A photo of me painting "Harry At Work".

Censored Nude

Draw....Me !

Dress Me

Musing Muse

Frolicsome Muse

Portrait by John Trusk

2011-06-10T07:17:00.000-04:00

A friend, John Trusk, did a portrait of me. If you live in my area of Michigan you would be familiar with his work, he always has pigs in his paintings. He has exhibited in The Scarlet Macaw and also in various restaurants in Sawyer.

I responded this morning by creating the digital print below which I will give him today. One of these days I'll convince John to start to experiment with the digital medium, I think that he would be great at it and would also love it.

Marker book

2011-06-08T09:57:00.000-04:00

This book on rendering with markers is the first of many I have written for Watson Guptill Publications. It is still available at used book stores, check Amazon.com.

Below is one of the many demos from the book, this one shows markers being used on rice paper. There are many step-by-step demonstrations that show markers being used on various paper surfaces.

Marker rendering on bristol board

2011-06-07T11:17:00.001-04:00

When I first started writing books for Watson Guptill Publications the editor was intrigued with the fact that I had done a lot of marker renderings and suggested that my first book should be Landscape Painting With Markers. This is one of the step by step demos from the book. It is a marker rendering done on bristol board. Markers can be used on a variety of interesting paper surfaces, which I demonstrated in the book.

I began by doing a very tight drawing with a Pilot Fineliner pen, then the sky area was put in with a pale blue Magic Marker, using the fibrous core inside the bottle. Then I colored in the bright clothing of the people. I begin to add a yellow green color to the grass area. The sky was a flat blue, I don't know why the scan has a yellow color running through it.

I finish the grass area and add shadows of olive. Next I add a few black areas so I have some darks to work against. I add the tree and the background buildings. Then I fill in many of the smaller areas as well as define some of the details.

I continue to accent details throughout the picture with a black Markette pen. I used colored pencils to add detail on some of the clothing. This pretty much is the same technique that I employ when doing marker renderings for my advertising clients. It is a fast, clean-looking technique that is well-suited for working under the pressure of a tight deadline.

More shoes

2011-06-03T06:15:00.000-04:00

A few more shoe compositions for my new series.
Mike Vosburg, an artist friend of mine, has started a great blog, catch him at voswords.blogspot.com, you'll enjoy his very interesting art and commentary.

Photo experiments

2011-06-01T17:57:00.000-04:00

I do a great deal of photography and am involved in an interesting project, taking photographs of some of Gloria's shoes, of which she has many. I like the colors as well as the interesting shapes and unusual compositions that can be created with these items. These photos eventually will be exhibited in a gallery, I'll have to come up with a crazy title for the show.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T09:27:00.000-04:00

Quick head sketches

2011-05-27T08:00:00.006-04:00

The other day a friend of mine called and said that he needed a couple of line head sketches for a comp layout. Below are the preliminary pencil sketch and the final drawing done with marker pens.

Aircraft paintings

2011-05-25T06:47:00.000-04:00

A couple more paperback book covers featuring aircraft. I have always found airplanes very interesting since I was a boy building all kinds of flying models. Illustrating aircraft can be quite complex, especially military airplanes because of the squadron and other markings as well as the type of camouflage used. There are plenty of experts out there that will examine every little detail of your illustration. I have a extensive collection of aircraft books which I use as reference material when getting assignments like these.

Paperback book covers

2011-05-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

Recently I found a paperback book on the internet that I had painted the cover for in the early 1960's. When I received the book I got a surprise, the book was a double edition and had another cover that I had painted on the other side. The covers were painted using acrylics on illustration board.

A blowup section showing some of the detail in the illustration.

On this illustration I used myself as the model.

A blowup showing the detail in the painting. The glowing white and black spots were done using an airbrush. I only did about a dozen paperback covers as I was very busy with automotive assignments. I wish now that I had done more, they were a lot of fun to illustrate.

A moody storyboard

2011-05-20T06:27:00.000-04:00

A series of storyboard frames for TDK, not sure of the ad agency, it probably was done for Doner. I had a reputation for rendering moody scenes and whenever an art director wanted a certain mood, I would get the assignment.

Again, these frames were all 5 x 7" and rendered using markers on high quality layout paper and delivered over the internet. There may have been more frames, these are all that I found and they probably had the usual tight deadline.

Storyboards for Doner

2011-05-18T05:40:00.000-04:00

On November 10th of 2009 I posted a series of storyboard frames done for Doner Advertising. It consisted of a boy taking his new bike out for a ride in the rain. In an old file I found another version of the same idea, this time the boy takes his new bike out for a ride in the snow. I'm not sure why there were two versions, one must have been scraped.

The art directors at Doner used to call me to work on premises frequently for a week or two at a time when they would have a big project or important presentation to prepare. One of the problems with working at the agency is that I have no reference material and everything must be drawn from scratch. I can't drag my reference files with me from Sawyer to Detroit. So, it's a bit tougher and a lot of pressure when one works at the agency. These were all 5 x 7" frames all rendered with markers.

Another tight deadline

2011-05-16T05:42:00.000-04:00

When the deadline is impossible, often I will do very small, fast sketches to send to the art director. Then we discuss the frames and I make notations on the changes or additions necessary. After doing tighter sketches, I render the frames in color in the 3 x 4" size, scan the finished frames and send them off, meeting another very tough deadline and usually making everyone at the ad agency very happy and relieved.

What to do when you have an impossible deadline

2011-05-13T12:57:00.005-04:00

This happens fairly frequently and what I do is suggest to the art director that I do small, tight black and white line sketches that they can blow up larger if necessary. Here is an example of what I usually propose, and it works. It really would have been fun to render these frames larger and in color.

Markers on tracing paper

2011-05-11T08:42:00.000-04:00

For most of my comp and storyboard renderings I used markers on high quality layout paper. However, very interesting effects can be achieved by using markers on tracing paper or on glossy surfaced paper. These are two rendering done on tracing paper, they were used in my book ART & ILLUSTRATION TECHNIQUES.

This rendering was used on the cover of the book.

Portrait of Sukri

2011-05-09T14:47:00.002-04:00

When I was living and working in Paris one of my best clients was the Lintas advertising agency. They sent me to Jakarta and Singapore to teach their art staffs how to render ad comps and storyboards. It was an exciting venture as they also sent my wife and I to Bali as a bonus. We spent a week there and it was a great place to visit. I was working on a book for Watson Guptill Publishing titled DRAWING IN PENCIL and did these drawings for examples of colored pencil drawing and charcoal drawing.

I began the study by first doing a line drawing on Strathmore four ply regular surface bristol, using a medium warm gray 962 prismacolor pencil, then I washed Designer's Colors Ivory black over the hair section of the drawing. I added a wash of raw umber over the face.

I then began to draw in the facial details using a black pencil. I added a linear texture to the hair. I added various tones to the face and softened the lines using Bestine and a paper stump.

I kept working on the face, carefully blending the strokes as I drew. I gradually built up the tones until the drawing was finished.

Another drawing of Sukri, she was selling shells on the beach and always had one on her head. The drawing was done on Arches textured paper using a charcoal pencil.

An occasional magazine illustration

2011-05-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

While working in Detroit on automotive related illustrations I also was represented in New York by Neely Mulvey Associates and used to do some illustrations for various magazines, the example shown was for the August 1963 issue of Saga Magazine. I really didn't do a lot of magazine illustration as I was very busy in Detroit, but it was a nice refreshing break from the hard boiled automotive work.

More MONSTERMAN art

2011-05-04T08:17:00.000-04:00

Here are some more sketches from my MONSTERMAN book that I sold through ads in comic books in 1974. The book was specifically done for kids that liked to draw and had a lot of examples and hints for aspiring young artists.

I had a lot of fun doing this book and it eventually led to writing many "How to..." books for Watson Guptill Publications.

More Storyboard frames

2011-05-02T09:17:00.000-04:00

Another group of 5 x 7" storyboard frames. Not sure of the product, client or ad agency. It's kind of a strange concept as sometimes the scripts can be. There may have been a few additional frames which might have given the sequence more sense. Again, these frames were all rendered using markers.

My pencil roughs that are used as underlays when doing the final renderings.

In frame 5 the guy kicks a hole in the door, but in frame 6 it's gone. I can't remember why the hole disappeared, it must have been in the script that way.

Found more marker renderings

2011-04-29T10:07:00.000-04:00

I've run across a few more marker renderings, having thought that I had exhausted my supply. These are probably the last I'll find, but you never know, I'll keep looking.

This first rendering was part of a series of magazine ad comprehensive layouts that I produced for one of my Chicago clients. It's a large 9 x 12" piece and is rendered a bit tighter than most of the storyboards that I did. It's possible that I've posted this one before, but I don't think so.

A group of storyboard frames in which the product was a soft drink. These frames were 5 x 7" in size.

This probably was another overnight assignment and I think that there were a couple more frames. I'll keep digging through my files for more storyboard work.

More ad comps

2011-04-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

Here are three more magazine ad comps that probably were done for one of my Chicago clients. They are rendered using markers on layout paper. If I remember, this assignment had an overnight deadline as most of my jobs did during the last year that I worked in this field.

Sketches for a comic book cover parody

2011-04-25T13:17:00.000-04:00

I recently ran across a couple of sketches that I had done for one of my comic book parody covers. I actually did the art, but my computer crashed suddenly and I lost everything and was unable to retrieve anything. These sketches show some of the stages that I go through when creating these covers.

I first created the logo and made a print to evaluate, using a rough pencil sketch combined with the logo.

This is a more advanced pencil sketch before I inked the final art. I decided to make a print of the sketch and give it to my friend in Sawyer, Richard Hellyer, who incidentally has 12 cats, YES 12 !!!!, He was pleased with the print and is actually the real CatMan.

My first "How to...." book

2011-04-22T08:17:00.001-04:00

In 1974 I decided to write a book for young artists which I sold through ads in comic books. Usually I sold just enough of them to pay for the ads, so I gave up on the project. However it was the forerunner of all the books that I would eventually write for Watson Guptill.

Here is a cartoon of Dracula.

A more realistic version of Dracula. About the same time I was actually illustrating a book full of Dracula drawings.

Various stages of the Dr. Pimple drawing. First the rough sketch, then a tighter drawing done with a marker pen, then the finished art drawn in ink with a brush.

The same stages of the King Kung Fu drawing.

Jpeg is Fine

2011-04-20T08:07:00.005-04:00

My cat Jpeg had an operation yesterday to remove a growth from her neck. Everything went fine and she's a happy cat again. It was a bit tense for me, however, just like I would feel if one of my kids had gone through it. It's always a problem trying to get a cat into the cat carrier, and when you get to the vet's, the cats won't come out of the carrier.

Spring

2011-04-18T07:57:00.000-04:00

SNOW!!! Yes we had snow overnight here in Sawyer ! Spring has sprung in a bad way.

Outside my kitchen window.

View from my studio.

We had about an inch of snow.

Opening at Robert Northington Interiors

2011-04-16T17:07:00.000-04:00

Last night was the opening of my painting and sculpture exhibition at Robert Northington Interiors in Valparaiso, Indiana. Craig Smith, my gallery owner, hung the show and it looks great. There was a pretty good crowd and I enjoyed chatting with them.

A nice variety of wines were available.

It is a very nice space full of interesting items.

My carved wooden masks.

Some of my sculptures were also on display.

Here's Craig Smith, waiting for the crowd to arrive.

Exhibition opening this evening

2011-04-15T06:47:00.000-04:00

If you are anywhere near Valparaiso, Indiana stop by for the opening of my exhibition of paintings and sculpture at Robert Northington Interiors, from 5 to 9 pm.

VAMP

Carved wooden masks.

FOUR WINDS, a bronze casting.

Acrylic painting of abstract nudes.

More magazine ad comprehensive renderings

2011-04-13T07:07:00.000-04:00

I found 6 more magazine ad comp illustrations. These were done for one of my Chicago clients, I don't recall the ad agency, or the product. They were 8 and 10 inches wide and rendered with markers on high quality layout paper and done quickly, probably an overnight deadline as most of these assignments were.

You will see the other 3 on the next post.

Writing art instruction books

2011-04-11T06:07:00.000-04:00

When I was the head of the Advertising Department at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit (now the College for Creative Studies) I could not find contemporary instructional books to recommend to my students, so I thought about writing a few. I worked up a presentation and sent it to Watson Guptill Publications, the book was titled DRAWING IN INK. They bought the idea, but suggested that I first do a book on painting with markers. The editor knew that I worked with markers on advertising renderings and felt that it would make a fine book. I wasn't sure about how successful a book on painting with markers would be, but I dove right in and finished it so I could get started on the book that was my favorite subject, drawing in ink. The Editor in Chief gave me great advice before I began, he said "You don't have to know how to spell....and don't buy a yacht".
Long out of print, these books can be found on Amazon or other used book dealers at very low prices, in case you are interested. There is a new Dover reprint, PEN AND PENCIL DRAWING TECHNIQUES which is also available.

A few of the books that I have written, including DIGITAL DREAMS, which is about experimenting with digital art, it's available from Xlibris.

Here is the first instructional book that I wrote. I am going to post some examples from it on this blog.

Pencil drawings

2011-04-08T08:07:00.001-04:00

I've posted many examples of various ink drawings and one of the keys of success is to do preliminary as well as tight pencil sketches, especially if you are new to the medium.

I often do several very rough pencil sketches to establish the composition.

When first starting to do ink drawings it's wise to also do a tight pencil drawing like the one above, to establish tonal values.

LISA
It's also a good idea to do a lot of pencil drawings from photographs before doing sketches outdoors or from live models. All this will help when attempting ink line art.

Various stages of an ink line drawing

2011-04-06T09:51:00.006-04:00

Here are the stages that I go through when doing an ink line drawing.

I first do several compositional sketches, drawing from photographs taken of the subject.

Then I do a rough pencil drawing on tracing paper directly over the previous sketch to establish the final gray and black tones.

I trace the previous drawing onto a piece of illustration board.

Using a technical pen I draw the basic outline.

Gradually I add the various tones using the photographs as reference.

Ink line sketches

2011-04-04T14:17:00.000-04:00

After taking a trip I often do drawings and sketches from photos. Some of these were done for a travel agent client that I produced brochures and ads for. Drawings seemed to work better than photographs in the brochures. These drawings were all done using a technical pen 0n illustration board. The black areas were added using a brush and India ink.

Ink line art

2011-04-01T08:57:00.001-04:00

Working in a Detroit art studio in the 50's and 60's was an exciting time as things were booming. There was more than enough work for many artists. Commercial artists came from Chicago, Cleveland, St.Louis and even from New York to work in this lucrative market. For years I specialized in ink line art and the assignments could vary greatly as shown by the two examples below.

The art director specified that he wanted a thin line drawing with no variation or tones. This was drawn with a technical pen.

This thick line illustration was drawn using a bristle brush. I don't recall the ad agencies on these pieces but the one above was probably done for my travel agency client.

I did all types of line art, from detailed crosshatch drawings to bold brush renderings, mostly for the Detroit automotive companies, but there were many other clients at the Detroit ad agencies as well. I was also getting work from clients in Chicago and New York as well.

Exhibition poster

2011-03-30T07:47:00.000-04:00

My gallery owner has arranged for me to have an exhibition in an interior design studio in Valpariso, Indiana. He needed a poster, so I designed two versions.

This is my rough idea sketch from which I developed the design.

I used strong type and showed one of my new acrylic paintings as well as two of my wooden carved masks.

Variations in line drawings

2011-03-28T15:37:00.000-04:00

I have been searching for more storyboard examples to post but have not had any luck. I found some ink line drawings that I did for my book DRAWING IN INK. These images illustrate the variations possible when using this medium, you can do a straight line drawing and can add blacks or gray tones to make them more detailed.

All three versions of each subject work quite well. Actually I could have even done a few more variations. when doing line art it can be fun to experiment with some of the possibilities. You can also try adding washes of gray or color tones. Another fun experiment would be to scan the art into the computer and then add gray or color tones.tones

More illustrations

2011-03-25T08:17:00.001-04:00

I'm still searching my files for more storyboard frames, but no luck, I may be finished posting that kind of material. Here are a couple of illustrations from my book Art & Illustration Techniques.

This is an assignment from one of my New York clients. I sent the above sketch to my client for approval, the art directors often ask for a color sketch before I proceed with the finished art.

Here is the final acrylic illustration which includes all of the changes that the art director requested.

I'm not sure who this illustration was done for, probably was an assignment from Transcontinental Travel Bureau. This art was done using markers as well as acrylic paint.

My Art & Illustration Techniques book has many more examples, it was published in 1979, but used copies are still available through Amazon and used book dealers on the internet. The cover art was done using markers.

Preliminary sketches for illustrations.

2011-03-23T08:47:00.002-04:00

When starting to do an illustration I always do several small sketches to establish the composition. Often art directors will request sketches like this to see if that artist has understood his instructions. This is a very important step in creating interesting illustrations.

I received an interesting assignment while living in Paris, it was an illustration of Phebus, a new French space satellite. At the first meeting with the client I was asked to submit pencil sketches, these are a couple of them.

They approved this version which gave me a clear direction to go for the final painting.

Here is a more accurate compositional sketch, it was done using black and gray markers on layout paper.

The final painting which was done in acrylic paint.

Preliminary sketches for the cover of my Drawing In Ink book.

The final cover, this is the Japanese edition. The final drawing was done in in using a pen and a brush.

Pencil drawings

2011-03-21T10:27:00.004-04:00

I have done a lot of sketching and drawings with various pencils. In 1981 I did a book on pencil drawing for Watson Guptill publications which contained a great variety of my pencil work, some shown below.

A drawing of the Boulevard St. Germain in Paris, it's a simple sketch using only flat tones done on a textured paper.

CRISTINA
A portrait sketch of one of our friends in Paris, also done on a textured paper. There are a great variety of papers available, it's interesting to try the different surfaces.

A very tight rendering done using a Koh-i-noor Hardtmuth Negro pencil. This Paris scene was drawn using a photograph as reference.

MONA
Another quick sketch of one of our friends in Paris. Color was added by using washes of watercolor, a nice fresh technique to explore.

Certain colored pencil brands like Stabilo and Prismalo are water soluble. Here is an example of a drawing done with water soluble pencils, after finishing the drawing I washed clear water over some areas, blending them and dissolving certain tones, a great technique to explore.

Here is the book in which contained these and many other drawings. If you are interested, you can still find used copies at Amazon.com and other internet book stores.

Pencil and wash illustrations

2011-03-18T09:27:00.000-04:00

Sometime in the late 1960's I was asked to illustrate a brochure titled "When a tornado strikes" for Michigan Blue Cross and Blue Shield, instructing people on what to do in the event of a tornado warning. These illustrations were drawn with pencil on Whatman illustration board and the tones were added with ink washes. I used my wife,kids and friends as models for this assignment.

Ink line work

2011-03-16T05:27:00.001-04:00

A couple more ink line sketches, a medium which I specialized in for many years.

This and the drawing below were done for an article on my trip to Africa which ran in the Detroit Free Press Sunday magazine, if I remember correctly.

A drawing done for a brochure for the Premier Corporation.

A brochure cover done in the early 1970's.

More ink line sketches

2011-03-14T15:17:00.008-04:00

Here are some more smaller ink line drawings that I did after I got back from my African trip. They were sketched from photographs that I had taken. I believe that they were done to be used as small spot illustrations for an article I wrote for the local newspaper. I was trying to simulate on the spot drawings which would have been quite difficult to do, I've tried it and it's rather difficult as the animals do not pose.

Additional sketches

2011-03-11T05:39:00.000-05:00

Additional sketches done through the years.

The gold market in Beirut. I used to have a travel agent client that would send my wife and I to Egypt, Lebanon and Syria, a great client. He was going to open offices there but because of the constant unrest, it never happened.

A Mexican sketch that was drawn back in my studio using photographs as reference.

In the jungle village of Onekai in Surinam I did this sketch of the local chieftain and his top drum carver. They were all very friendly towards my wife and I in the village. Sketching is a great way to meet people in foreign places.

These last two watercolors were painted on the spot in Cairo.