Monday, December 28, 2009

On my walls


It's taken me a little longer than usual to post any new drawings due to the fact that most of what I am doing these days is for feature animation and cannot be shared without terrible retribution from on high. So apart from the random drawing (see above), I am constrained to talking about work created by people other than myself, as difficult for me as that may be.
I've been wondering about exactly how to go about it though. After all, there are a LOT of people, dead and alive, whose work I love.
So I've decided to start with artists whose work I own. My goal, apart from the obvious one of showing off my collection, is to hopefully introduce some of you out there to work by artists you may not have heard about until now. I remember the first time I encountered some of this work and each one these artists opened up a new door for me.
I hope one or two of these will do the same for you.



This is a lovely watercolor by Harry Rountree, an illustrator from New Zealand, who had an uncanny gift for anthropomorphising animals. His talent, beyond his incredibly deft hand with the watercolor brush, was his ability to preserve the essence of the animal while still imbuing it with a truly human personality. It's one thing to draw funny animals, but something else entirely to really understand the creature you are exaggerating. Rountree was a naturalist with a sense of humor.


Heinrich Kley. There are very few illustrators I know who don't own the two Dover paperback collections of his work. They are like bibles to me and are so dogeared and tattered, I've had to buy backups. I became aware of Kley's work when some overzealous fan in my high school print shop (I know, what the hell is a print shop?) printed up a huge montage of his drawings on one big yellow sheet. I had the thing hanging over my headboard until I left home to go to college. I've often wondered if that poster functioned in the same way people used to think that if going to bed while listening to a recording of French lessons one could learn fluency in his sleep. All I know is that to this day, I will find myself drawing a familiar figure and flash back to one of the vignettes on that poster.
The drawing above was one of them.



Here is another Kley I picked up a few years ago. My favorite section is the women waving their sashes,
a gem in itself.



And then there is the genius, Winsor McCay. Not the inventor of animation per se, but the guy that showed us what was in store. I see him as one of those freakily gifted humans who pop up every now and then, like Einstein or DaVinci, to give us an evolutionary kick in our pants. This little ink drawing, done on a small yellowed piece of paper, is of Gertie the Dinosaur, and is one of four thousand that McCay drew to create the film. Gertie the Dinosaur represents a major milestone in the history of animation.

29 comments:

  1. I like the expression of the pinguin!

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  2. Thank-you for sharing all this great work with us, and beautiful drawing as always!

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  3. Hello Peter.
    As I do not speak English I will resort to google.
    Thank you for your dedication and the drawings you did in the books bought by Stuart NG books, his work is simply spectacular and now with a dedication just got better.
    I will continue to admiration for the blog.
    Hugs.

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  4. great post! thanks for your generosity, inspiring and teaching us


    hhhmmm...is there really a DVD from Concept Arts coming out on your workflow or...was that a very, very, very good joke? : )

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  5. Like you, I love original art and also collect. Nothing is better at providing inspiration. (your talk and exhibit of originals at the Rockwell Museum gave me a great dose of inspirado, by the way)

    My wishlist for original art, in no particular order: Rackham, Frazetta, Leyendecker, Nast, Foster, McCay, Herriman, Rountree. The list goes on.

    Here's a link to my small, but growing collection.

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=166229&id=710774049&l=b3bb1d4727

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  6. Don't wish to sound too fawning, but YOUR "A Sketchy Past" opened up a new door for me.

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  7. Rountree is amazing! Great inspirational stuff on yer wall my friend!

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  8. Cool post! Thanks for putting a spotlight on these artists. Cant wait to hear what you are working on. Sidenote: O'Toole and Hepburn were fantastic in the 60s The Lion in Winter. Great soundtrack!

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  9. I can not get enough Kley! A huge influence on me, I learn something new each time I look.

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  10. Very cool sketch as usual and thanks for sharing those artists' works, Peter :D!

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  11. Thanks for this post! It was really interesting=)

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  12. I like the first one most.the expression on it is great.

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  13. Your blog is amazing!!
    Thanks very much for sharing. I am a huge
    Heinrich kley fan myself!

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  14. c'est toujours un énorme plaisir de découvrir une nouvelle illustration de Peter de Sève. Comme beaucoup je suis un véritable admirateur de votre fantastique talent, admiration que j'ai involontairement transmise aussi à mon fils. Avec tout mon respect pour le bonheur que vous nous offrez à chaque coup de crayon…

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  15. That lion sketch really should get framed. It's awesome.

    Mo

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  16. Je suis entièrement d'accord avec Achdé. Je vous ai découvert complètement par hasard, grâce à votre livre "The arts of Peter de Sève", et je suis tombée sous le charme de vos dessins. Vous avez un talent incroyable.
    Bonne continuation, et dans l'attente d'un nouveau dessin ;)

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  17. I discover your blog just by now. What a surprise!
    I was sure you were inspired by these artists: I love them as well as I love your work! I follow you since years, and you always inspire me. I am an illustrator too and also a teacher, and your work has often been the theme of my lessons.
    Thanks for sharing it all!

    Antonella

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  19. The Roundtree piece is amazing! Thank you for sharing them, Peter.

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  20. I'm re-blogging your blurb about Roundtree. So great!

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  21. Wow. I never saw a Kley in color. Not surprising that he used color well, too, I guess.

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  22. نقل العفش بالطائف
    اهم شركات نقل العفش والاثاث بالدمام والخبر والجبيل اولقطيف والاحساء والرياض وجدة ومكة المدينة المنورة والخرج والطائف وخميس مشيط وبجدة افضل شركة نقل عفش بجدة نعرضها مجموعة شركات نقل العفش بمكة والخرج والقصيم والطائف وتبوك وخميس مشيط ونجران وجيزان وبريدة والمدينة المنورة وينبع افضل شركات نقل الاثاث بالجبيل والطائف وخميس مشيط وبريدة وعنيزو وابها ونجران المدينة وينبع تبوك والقصيم الخرج حفر الباطن والظهران
    نقل العفش بمكة
    نقل العفش بالرياض
    نقل العفش بالدمام
    نقل العفش بتبوك
    نقل العفش بالقصيم
    نقل العفش بينبع

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