HAROLD GRAY: AN APPRECIATION

No one bothers to think too much about Little Orphan Annie anymore. Decades ago, Harold Gray's classic comic strip was analyzed, categorized and handed over to the domain of the archivists and historians.

Yet, judged by today's artistic standards, LOA is fresher, more powerful, and visually stronger than many current graphic novels and underground comix. Gray's epic saga of America during the Depression, World War II and the cold war is downright fashionable:

1. Today, slick artistic skill isn't valued as much as a distinctive personal voice. Gray's art was about as distinctive and personal as you can get. He drew human beings that looked like tree trunks (and what's with those eyeballs??) His art appeared freakish compared with other strips of his day, yet today it seems perfectly at home next to the art of R. Crumb or even Gary Larson's Far Side:



2. Today's readers adore Frank Miller's noir style, with his dark view of human nature and his anti-establishment rhetoric. Gray used similar ingredients (minus the garter belts) to make equally gritty, noir pictures. Note how beautifully Gray depicts Death at the door:



I love the hoodlums in this depression-era train yard:



And here is Gray's equivalent of Sin City, circa 1944:



3. Today's readers favor stories by opinionated writer/artists who spin out personally meaningful sagas. Gray probably invested more of his personal philosophy in his strip than any other comic artist of the 20th century. An endearing combination of Ayn Rand, John Bunyan and Charles Dickens, Gray hardly let a week go by without sermonizing about the virtues of self-reliance or the hypocrisy of society.

He also never stopped banging the drum for his own crackpot version of anti-communism:



Some readers complained bitterly about his politics but Gray would not be deterred. Al Capp, creator of Li'l Abner, recalls that Gray took him aside when Capp was just getting started:

I know your stuff, Capp. You're going to be around a long time. Take my advice and buy a house in the country. Build a wall around it. And get ready to protect yourself. The way things are going, people who earn their living someday are going to have to fight off the bums.

No matter where he is categorized, I will always view Gray as an extremely talented and insightful artist. In the following panel, I love how the word balloons curl around the corner, how the cluster of eavesdropping hoodlums form a parabola, and how two random alley cats occupy center stage:



Another typical Gray panel: a surrealistic discussion between an eight foot mystic and a war profiteer, while (a rather freakish looking) Annie listens:



Gray's work may seem crude at first, but it has many nice and subtle touches. Note how Gray conveys the spinelessness of the two lackeys in the following panel:



Little Orphan Annie is an epic American achievement by a vivid storyteller and a genuine eccentric. It might be a good choice for a modern reader of graphic novels looking to upgrade to something better.



After Gray died in 1968, the strip was continued (sometimes under the name Annie ) by a series of different artists (including the great Leonard Starr) but talent can only go so far to compensate for natural born weirdness.

Adobe Illustrator Pen Tool Tips

Digital Illustration beginners usually find it hard to get used to the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator. Here is a small list of key tips that will help you master it.

If somebody wants to add something please post your suggestion in the comment field below.

1) Select the direct selection tool before you choose the pen tool. By holding the command (mac) ctrl (pc) you will have temporary access to the last tool used (Direct Selection) so you can make adjustmens on your anchor points and handles without deactivating the path.

2) Use the spacebar. While holding the space bar you access the hand to navigate your your around your document, again without deactivating the path.

3) Use less anchor points as possible.

4) Click and drag to make a point into a bezier curve

5) (While mouse button is still pressed) Press and hold the option key (mac) or the alt key (windows) to split the bezier curve.

6) It's much easier to draw a curved line if you drag your handle and make its lenght around 1/3 of the lenght of the segment.

7) (While mouse button is still depressed) Press and hold down the space bar to move the point.

Retro Flowers

A set of retro vector style flower bruses for Adobe Photoshop by gvalkyrie. Tip: Add play with the shape dynamics and scattering in the brush settings get random effects. Download

Vector Illustration Dos and Don'ts

This is called the "Subpar" rejection. Perhaps you're familiar with it. It means there's a certain something lacking from your illustration that is holding it back from the collection. But what does that mean, "not suitable"? What isn't suitable about it? What the h*ck is subpar around these parts? To help demonstrate some of the common causes for subpar rejections we sent our vector inspectors away with some homework. Each inspector created 2 illustrations of the same subject, one demonstrating common subpar issues. There’s just something about a subpar vector that’s easier to show than to explain. The second illustration then corrects the problems of the subpar version, making it suitable not just for stock, but for iStock.

Most of the time, subpar has nothing to do with your concept or subject matter: it has to do with how well you pull it off. Every little decision, even the ones no one notices, will impact your final illustration. So kick back and relax, and see if you can spot what makes the “good” vectors better than their subpar counterparts. Full article

Vector Conference Miami 2008

The Illustrator and Flash training and networking event for designers.Most designers who use Illustrator and Flash only scratch the surface of what's possible. At the Vector™ conference, you'll go deep, learning the ins and outs of creating high-quality artwork efficiently.

"Fall in love with Illustrator all over again!"

Adobe Illustrator is like a Swiss Army knife: Everyone uses a few of the tools, but there are many more that go unused. The Vector™ conference is your chance to learn what all the tools do and how best to use them for great effects. The more you learn about Illustrator, the more amazed you will be." Read more about the event here.

Illustrator 1987

ONE LOVELY DRAWING, part 17

I love Alexander Calder's depiction of Charles Lindbergh flying solo over the Atlantic Ocean.

Calder made pictures with wire. His lines hovered in mid-air, set free from paper.

Our last lovely drawing was a major construction project, planned and executed by Orson Lowell with all the craftsmanship of a master bricklayer. For contrast, I thought it would be fun to visit the opposite extreme: Calder's simple, joyful line.

You'll find no dense cross hatching or shading here. No buttons, shoe laces or fingernails. But what Calder loses in detail, he gains in universality. This image is truly Homeric; it could symbolize any human being tempting the gods by braving the unknown.

It is often difficult for artists to remember that there is no connection between seriousness and profundity, just as there is no connection between the number of lines in a drawing and the importance of its message. This lovely little image from Calder is a good reminder.

Vector Hairbrush Kit for Adobe Illustrator

Hair brush kit for Adobe Illustrator from NameSpace. If you are really into vector portrait or fashion illustration, this is must-have resource that is an irreplaceable time saver when it comes to vector hair illustration...

The pack contains seven brushes that will turn your strokes into realistic vector hair in seconds. To explore different hair colors, you can browse through Illustrator's color book swatches. Download

Exporting From Illustrator to Flash

You’ve no doubt been in this situation before: you build a beautiful Web layout comp in Illustrator for a tough client who seems to have an axe to grind. The sign-off comes, and you’re ready to pull the layout over into Flash, set a few items, animate a few others, and the job’s done right?

Wrong! In previous versions, getting content from Illustrator into Flash – well, getting it imported decently at least – was a lot tougher than it should have seemed.

Thankfully, CS3 makes this entire process a breeze. From being able to set symbols and tag text in Illustrator to getting Flash to control layer imports and recognize Illustrator objects correctly, it’s all in there. Go to full tutorial

www.digitalartsonline.co.uk

Your Mixtape

by yetanotherday

Speed Vector Art

Enjoy :)

Blue Sea Elegance Pattern

Pretty fresh looking pattern for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I found it in a great color design community website www.colourlovers.com that you should definitely check out ! Helpful for web, graphic designers and illustrator as well. Download pattern file for Photoshop or Illustrator

Floral And Veins Brush Set For Illustrator

Great vector brush resource for Adobe Illustrator by xentric. Excellent for detailed floral compositions. Click on the image below for zoomed preview. Download

Scrapbooking Patterns For Adobe Illustrator

Below you see a preview of the Seamless Vector Patterns for Adobe Photoshop available for download here. Found in a great website for vector resources createsk8.com

Last Kiss

Embankment, London

VALENTINE

.

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Line Art And Hair Brush For Illustrator

"This brush is for use with Adobe Illustrator Download link. To install it on older version of Adobe Illustrator like CS... close AI, and put this file in your Illustrator System Folder \Presets\Brushes\ , Reopen AI and it should be in your brush library now to use. This brush is good for using for hair (and eyebrows) as well as line art." Author's Profile

THOMAS FLUHARTY

One of my favorite contemporary illustrators is Thomas Fluharty, whose excellent work has appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, The Weekly Standard, U.S. News & World Report and the Village Voice.

Don't get too distracted by the technical virtuosity of his finished paintings-- that's not the real measure of his talent. To see what Fluharty is made of, look at these wonderful studies:









Fluharty draws with strength and conviction. He injects personality, character and insight into his images. And despite the fact that he is truly a nice guy with a gentle spirit, he creates the most scalding caricatures I've ever seen.

These studies should not be viewed as incomplete fragments. Each is a finished and excellent work on its own. This is true of every really good artist I know: the preliminary sketches or underpaintings may indicate just the beginning of a nose or a hand, but they can still stand alone as well designed, coherent images. Check out the studies of Rembrandt or John Singer Sargent or Leyendecker. Their drafts are obviously incomplete in one sense, yet they contain a full microcosm of a finished artistic statement. Beware of artists who strive only for accuracy at the early stages and leave the "design" part for the end.

This is one more way in which the creative process in art seems to mimic the creative process in nature. As the science writer Arthur Koestler said about the rules governing organic life:

"Parts" and "wholes" in an absolute sense do not exist anywhere in the domain of living organisms.... [P]arts... at the same time... function as quasi-autonomous wholes.

In other words, nature organizes the world so that each part of an organism contains the independent properties of a coherent whole. Despite its limitations, a component is endowed with all the properties necessary to be complete and consistent with regard to its own parts. Art that is built from components this way is more likely to end up with the balance and harmony and other aesthetic attributes we find and respect in nature.

For example, if we deconstruct this lovely painting of a gangster, you will find that each stepping stone on the way to the final painting is a true and clear statement.

See how Fluharty uses rapid strokes and a few colors to rough in the shadows and highlights on the knife and fork below. A lot of this vigor will be lost in the final painting, but in the interim version it has a beauty all its own.

This ability to infuse design in the picture from the beginning stages is one of the most reliable tests I know for a picture of quality.

Retro Love

by prettymonkey26

Free GoMedia Stock Vectors

This is a free sample of some of the stuff you can get in from gomedia vector packs, download link.Gomedia makes stock art and sells it for cheap. Useful stuff that is very customizable and designer friendly. Check out more of their vector resources here.

Live Pen Calligraphy Plugin for Adobe Illustrator

"Considering the popularity of Adobe Illustrator, it's surprising how few plugins are available to extend its capabilities. Now Zero-One has brought some fresh thinking to the creation of non-uniform vector shapes with its Live Pen plugin, which should prove of interest not just to type creators but a broad spectrum of illustrators and designers.At the heart of its functionality lies the ability to let users control the width of a path at any point. Pen anchors can be added, deleted and moved as required, along with the ability to create new pens and mix different pen types.

Live Pen for Windows Illustrator CS2 can be purchased for $99 on the Zero-One site. CS and CS3 versions are expected in spring, 2008, with a Mac version to follow in the summer. A trial version is available for download." www.designertoday.com

"It is very handy tool. You just draw a path and easy set the width you need at the required place." Dimitry Belyaev, Art Director

Core features:
-Digital Natural Drawing
-Moving Pen Anchor
-Simple Adding Or Deleting Pen Anchor
-Pens Library
-Minimal Anchors After Expanding
-Smooth Integration

Vector Silhouettes Tutorial

Nice and simple tutorial for Adobe Illustrator. Find out how to make vector silhouettes from photos pretty fast. Tutorial Link

Consumer Tech Brushes

The pack contains 10 vector styled brushes for Photoshop CS, CS2 and CS3 by paulw. Download

Creative Zombies

By aninjaintheshadows

CULTURE COMES TO COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA

Nearly 100 years ago, a farm boy stole a nude picture from this issue of International Studio Magazine in the public library of Council Bluffs, Iowa.



He left only the foot behind.



Council Bluffs was a small, old fashioned town where farmers stored grain on its way to market. They observed strict social and religious rules. The librarian must have hoped that a subscription to International Studio would add some much needed culture.



There weren't many places in town where a young man could see what a naked lady looked like. Some farm boys would soon march off to die in World War I without ever experiencing the sight or touch of a female body.



I had to smile when I discovered the missing picture. The boy's heart must have pounded as he tore it out and smuggled it past the stern librarian. When he got home to his tiny unheated bedroom in a sparse Iowa farmhouse, the secret picture must have given him precious clues to a whole new world.

I love the smell of old magazines. New magazines are the braying of capitalism-- the latest fashions and trends scream for reader attention in order to sell merchandise. But once the pageant of capitalism has moved on -- once a periodical has outlived its period-- it takes on an entirely different tone. Outdated advertisements and faded styles seem humbled and mortal. Even the silliest magazine becomes worthy of profound reflection after 20 years.

Most of all, the aroma of old magazines reminds me that regardless of the timeless truths that might be printed on them, magazine pages are inescapably returning to wood pulp on the forest floor. The farm boy who was so consumed by nature's heat that he risked everything to steal that picture is surely wood pulp too, or well on his way to becoming so.

Pictures enlighten us in many different ways. It's easy to revere large gilded paintings on ornate Renaissance altars, but the revelations that come from baser forms of art are sometimes harder to recognize.

The cold farmhouse bed where that boy speculated about the mysteries of nature is an altar no less sacred and no more profane than the gilded church altar. In fact, if you measure art by its impact on life, there's a good argument that the crumpled picture torn from the magazine had the greater impact.

Free Detailed World Vector Map

Pretty detailed political vector map with most world countries each selectable. Ai file format. Download

Scroll Below For Preview.

225 Illustrator Tutorials

"Designer Today" just published an extensive list of excellent Adobe Illustrator various tutorials, tips, tricks, techniques and effects...

The tutorials are covering Illustrator 8, Illustrator 9, Illustrator 10, Illustrator CS, Illustrator CS2 and Illustrator CS3. Take your time to check them out.

Proceed to tutorials list.

Vector Grunge Brush Set

Another brush set for Photoshop from kshinn "This brush set was made in Photoshop CS3 so it will not work in lower versions BUT don't worry since I have added an ImagePack for all the brushes so that you can convert the images to brushes. I have also provided an instructions on how you can convert the images to brushes in other lower versions of Photoshop. Enjoy and have fun with my brushes if you use it for your design!" Download