polish poster design

poland is famous for it’s poster designers. one of the probably best known, for his animated films as well, is JAN LENICA. below a collection of polish posters from the past 20 years

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the following selection of illustrations was created by WILHELM M.BUSCH from the late 1940s to the 1980s. the change of his drawing style over that period of time should be interesting to watch…

© wilhelm m.busch

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you might have recognized one or the other artist in the past INSPIRING posts. there were only some files where I had noted the name of the artist, so I decided not to add names in the image compilations at all, it’s more about the art that inspires us, not the name. but – I understand that some of you are curious about some more work a particular artist might have created. below is a list of the, in my opinion, most important comic strip-, cartoon-, caricature and character-design artists, whose work is already represented in the past posts, or will be in the upcoming ones. I am still working on a second list of most important illustrators and concept designers.

after realizing I forgot some important artists I changed the list.

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art students are usually asked to create an INFLUENCE MAP, assembling artwork of artists that infuences them the most. classical paintings, contemporary illustrations, comic strips, character-/concept-designs from animated movies are among other things where we consciously or subconsciously borrow elements, techniques or looks from. as an artist we always need to be inspired, we get a lot of that from life around us. and the endless resources within the world of the internet provide us with all the information and reference we could dream of.
before the time of the internet most illustrators had a huge cut-out archives, reference images cut from magazines and books, and archived alphabetically. I still have cabinets full with those treasures. it took forever and was not cheap. today google is much cheaper and more important – faster.

probably about 15 years ago, when the internet speed in this part of asia where I live, improved, I started the same what I had done years ago, to collect all different reference images – but this time downloaded from the internet and nicely archived ( not always ) in folders for easier locating them. reference photography, classical art, children book-/magazine-/book-illustration, concept art and production design for live action and animation, comic strip. so far some million files.

during this pandemic, for longer than six months I am more or less stuck at my home, what gave me the opportunity to dig through my collections. you have seen already some of the results in my last posts, more to come.

today i wanna show you my version of influence maps, compilations of inspiring artwork that I put together randomly, from those thousands of reference folders.

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Krazy Kat (also known as Krazy & Ignatz in some reprints and compilations) is an American newspaper comic strip by cartoonist George Herriman, which ran from 1913 to 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run. The characters had been introduced previously in a side strip with Herriman’s earlier creation, The Dingbat Family.[1] The phrase “Krazy Kat” originated there, said by the mouse by way of describing the cat. Set in a dreamlike portrayal of Herriman’s vacation home of Coconino County, Arizona, Krazy Kat’s mixture of offbeat surrealism, innocent playfulness and poetic, idiosyncratic language has made it a favorite of comics aficionados and art critics for more than 80 years.
( from wikipedia )
I recommend to look at these 2 ( one / two ) articles about herriman

© george herriman

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maritime artists –
ivan konstantinovich aivazovsky , pieter bruegel the elder, bryan booth, jacob loutherberg, samuel scott, montague dawson, john stobart, marek ruzyk, geoffray huband, yves berube, alexander shenderov, winslow homer, willem van de velde, geoff hunt, william hodges, james brereton, patrick o’brien, caspar david friedrich, roger morris, andy simmons, samuel atkins, ludolf bakhuizen, joseph mallord william turner, philipp jacob loutherbourg, alexey bogolyubov, george hyde chambers, peter monamy, nicholas pocock, charles brooking

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below I have collected some of my own artwork containing house-designs from all over the years…

© walt disney enterprises
© universal pictures/amblin entertainment

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as long as I can remember there was this fascination with pirates. I loved to read PETER PAN and STEVENSON’S TREASURE ISLAND, and then there were the old hollywood swashbuckler classics like CAPTAIN BLOOD, THE BLACK CORSAIR, THE BUCCANEER, THE SEA HAWK, THE BLACK SWAN and of course lately THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBEAN.
but it was not just the adventurous stories, the sword fights and buried treasures, that made it all so interesting, for me it was the world where all that took place – those huge sailing ships and the endless oceans, the huge waves and the storms.
a while ago I found more accidentally beautiful artwork that depicted this world, paintings done by MONTAGUE DAWSON and IWAN KONSTANTINOWITSCH AIWASOWSKI. and recently, with more time, I started to search more intensively through the endless world of the internet, and found hundreds of the most amazing paintings. this genre is called NAUTICAL-, MARINE- or MARITIME ART depicting the world of ships and the seas.
in a lot of cases these paintings are available without the name of the artist and the year they were painted. thats why I decided to give you just a general list of maritime artists and you can find out more about them in case you are interested.

maritime artists –
ivan konstantinovich aivazovsky , pieter bruegel the elder, bryan booth, jacob loutherberg, samuel scott, montague dawson, john stobart, marek ruzyk, geoffray huband, yves berube, alexander shenderov, winslow homer, willem van de velde, geoff hunt, william hodges, james brereton, patrick o’brien, caspar david friedrich, roger morris, andy simmons, samuel atkins, ludolf bakhuizen, joseph mallord william turner, philipp jacob loutherbourg, alexey bogolyubov, george hyde chambers, peter monamy, nicholas pocock, charles brooking

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let me quote DAVID APATOFF in his incredible blog ILLUSTRATION ART –
‘HENRY PATRICK RALEIGH, (1880-1944), started and ended life in poverty and despair. but in between, he spent decades painting high society pictures and living the opulent life of one of the best paid illustrators in the united states.’
RALEIGH’S illustrations belong to the best I have ever seen, and it is not just the draftsmanship in his drawings, it is his amazing talent to tell us a story in these images, you know what the characters are saying and thinking! it is a rare talent that you can only find in a few artists. I am in awe.

here are a few links ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ) where you can find more information about him, as well as more artwork.

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todays collection is about german illustrator WILHELM M.BUSCH, 1908 – 1987. in the past I published already 43 posts about his extraordinary work, that’s why I thought an overview over his life work might be interesting, where you can see changes in style and drawing techniques. the images in this chapter are from 2 major work-catalogues.

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this is the first part of a new SERIES – ILLUSTRATION ARCHIVES -, where I am planning to share with you some of the hundreds of illustatrators I have collected over the years.

JOHN CONRAD BERKEY,1932 – 2008, was an american artist known for his space- and science fiction-themed works. some of berkey’s best-known work includes much of the original poster art for the STAR WARS trilogy and the poster for the 1976 remake of KING KONG, berkey produced a large body of space fantasy artwork, creating utopian scenes of bubble-shaped, yacht-like spaceships. his distinctive painterly style has been evaluated as “at once realistic, yet impressionistic and abstract”, and his space craft designs as being “distinctly elegant, yet clearly technological and unmistakably BERKIAN, more inspired by luxury yachts and manta rays than NASA”. he has been described as “one of the giants in the history of science fiction art”.
( from wikipedia )

© john conrad berkey