Illustration Station

On Hiatus

2008-07-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

For the time being Illustration Station is on hiatus due to technical reasons.

I hope to have it back online in the near future. Thanks for your support!

Mel Crawford

2008-06-21T00:02:00.000-07:00

Mel Crawford
Born Canada 1925
Illustrator/teacher/fine artist

Of all the artists' work I've shown samples of I don't think I've shown anyone as versatile as Mel Crawford, an illustrator with superior skills.

These are two examples of his work in wildly divergent styles. Fury, a Little Golden Book from 1958, is done in a straight illustrative style. The figure drawing, and especially the horse, are superb.

Yogi Bear and The Cranky Magician is from the Top Top Tales series published by Whitman, copyright 1963 by Hanna-Barbera productions. It's done in a wonderful H-B animation style. It seems Crawford could draw anything. Most artists would be lucky to be so skilled in one style or the other, much less both.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Fury Takes The Jump
©1958 Television Programs of America, Inc.

2008-06-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

Yogi Bear and The Cranky Magician
©1963 Hanna-Barbera Productions

Lynd Ward

2008-06-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

Lynd Ward

Born 1905 - Died 1985
American illustrator

Ward, who has a previous entry here, was a prolific illustrator using several different mediums and techniques for his artwork. These attractive duotone illustrations were done for the book The Treasure of Topo-El-Bampo by Scott O'Dell, and ©1972 by Houghton Mifflin.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Arthur Shilstone

2008-06-07T05:15:00.000-07:00

Arthur Shilstone
Born 1922
American Watercolorist/Illustrator

Arthur Shilstone is a well respected watercolor artist who has work in many galleries, and has done illustrations for many magazines and books. This particular series of illustrations is from The Boys' Life Book of Mystery Stories. I showed the cover to this book in my last posting of book covers featuring skeletons in caves. These are the black and white interior illustrations, done in wash, ink, watercolor and pencil. For this book Shilstone's illustration are perfectly matched to the material, showing his ability to evoke mood and mystery.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Various Artists

2008-06-03T04:53:00.000-07:00

Various Artists
Skeletons in caves

Departing from my usual format featuring a single artist, this Illustration Station entry is about something I noticed a few years ago: several covers of children's books featured kids in caves with skeletons.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

The earliest I have is Mystery of the Haunted Mine, a Scholastic Book from 1962, painted by Dom Lupo.

The Boys Life Book of Mystery Stories is from 1963, painted by Arthur Shilstone.

Artist Harry Kane (1912-1988) drew Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators The Mystery Of The Moaning Cave, published in 1968.

Kane did two versions of this cover, the original and the paperback version which came out a few years later. Kane redid the background color scheme from a hot red to a cool blue-green, and he changed the Three Investigators' hairstyles to the early-to-mid 1970s look.

Artist Roger Hall did this other Three Investigators cover for The Secret Of Skeleton Island in 1972.Cave of the Living Skeletons is by Richard Kriegler, and came out in 1989.

Garin Baker did Ghost Cave, which came out in 1993.

This entry in the Fright Time series from Playmore is uncredited, and was published in 1995.

Robin Jacques

2008-05-25T05:18:00.000-07:00

Robin Jacques

British Art Director/Educator/Illustrator
born 1920 - died 1995

Jacques (rhymes with Jakes) was orphaned at an early age, and taught himself to draw. He illustrated over 100 children's books in his career. These fantastic and detailed pen-and-ink drawings are from Steel Magic by Andre Norton, ©1965.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Gordon Laite

2008-05-21T03:23:00.000-07:00

Gordon Laite
American Illustrator
b. 1925 - d. ?

Our previous posting on Gordon Laite is here.

Laite illustrated this anthology of spooky tales, More Tales To Tremble By in 1968, published by Whitman Publishing for young readers. It includes such classic spooky stories as "Sredni Vashtar" by Saki, "God Grante That She Lye Stille" by Cynthia Asquith, "The Voice In the, Night" by William Hope Hodgson, "The Extra Passenger" by August Derleth, and "Casting the Runes" by M. R. James. As with many of the Whitman books, they were printed cheaply with board covers. The paper has tanned, and many fine details of Laite's outstanding illustrative and contemporary style dropped out in reproduction. Still, I think you'll agree that his illustrations match the creepy stories in this book.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Anton Loeb

2008-05-11T04:48:00.000-07:00

Anton Loeb
? - ?
Animator/illustrator

I'm unable to find out much about Anton Loeb, except that he worked as an animator for various studios, including the Fleischer Brothers, who produced the Popeye cartoons. If you know anything about Loeb, please share the information.

He did the illustrations for this version of The Wizard Of Oz, adapted by Allan Chaffee from L. Frank Baum's 1900 classic original. This abridged version was published and ©1950 by Random House.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Maud and Miska Petersham

2008-05-02T01:12:00.000-07:00

Maud and Miska Petersham
Miska Petersham born in Hungary 1888 - died in U.S. 1960
Maud Fuller Petersham born 1890 - died 1971

The husband and wife art team of Maud and Miska Petersham won a Caldecott Medal in 1946 for The Rooster Crows. They illustrated nearly 100 books, both for other authors and written by themselves.

The Billy Bang Book by Mabel Gunnip La Rue was published in 1929 by MacMillan as a school reader. The two-color illustrations of anthropomorphic animals and their friendship with a little boy are done in a beautiful 1920s style.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Fred Banbery

2008-04-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Fred Banbery
Illustrator
Born 1913 - Died 1999

I'm unable to find out much information on Banbery except that he drew Paddington Bear illustrations at some point. If anyone knows anything more about Banbery please let me know. His excellent drawings for three of the Alfred Hitchcock books for young readers show him to be a mature illustrator with a contemporary style. These pencil drawings are from Alfred Hitchcock Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries, published in 1963, and are the most spontaneous of the Banbery-illustrated books I own. Banbery had fun with drawings featuring Hitchcock himself, and the last illustration is the dust jacket for a 1959 compilation of mystery and suspense stories under Hitchcock's name. I will be showing illustrations by Banbery from other Hitchcock anthologies in the future.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Gustaf Tenggren

2008-04-19T04:32:00.000-07:00

Gustaf Tenggren
Illustrator
Born 1896 - Died 1970

We have posted one entry on Tenggren already. You can access it here.

This version of the Grimm Brothers tale, The Golden Goose, was published as a Little Golden Book, ©1954 Simon and Schuster. It was written amd illustrated by Tenggren. As one of three sons of a woodchopper, Dummling is the only one to share his meal with a little old man. Dummling is given a golden goose as a reward. Three innkeeper's daughters try to each take a feather, but find themselves stuck to one another. Very soon there is a procession of people stuck to each other. A princess who has not laughed or smiled in three years sees the procession and it sends her into a spell of laughter. Her father, the king, had promised her hand in marriage and half the kingdom to anyone who could make her smile or laugh. Dummling gets the princess and half of the kingdom.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

J. P. Miller

2008-04-13T05:56:00.001-07:00

John Parr Miller
American Illustrator
Born 1913 - Died 2004

J. P. Miller was an illustrator whose work lives on in the memories of generations of Americans who read and loved Little Golden Books. This particular book with its wonderful and funny pictures, Little Peewee or, Now Open The Box was written by Dorothy Kunhardt in 1934, but illustrated by Miller as a Little Golden Book in 1948.

Click on the pictures for full-size images.

George Carlson

2008-04-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

George Carlson
American illustrator/cartoonist
Born 1887 - Died 1962

George Carlson is the first of the artists covered by this blog. You can find his original entry here. These pen and ink illustrations, showing Carlson's solid drawing and inking techniques, picturing a variety of subjects and stories, are from the Fact and Story Readers Book Five, ©1931 by American Book Company.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Tibor Gergely

2008-03-29T04:09:00.000-07:00

Tibor Gergely
Fine artist/illustrator
Born Hungary 1900 - Died United States 1978

Gergely (pronounced Gare-gay) is one of the most popular artists from the Little Golden Books series; Tootle, Scuffy the Tugboat, Five Little Firemen… the list goes on. He was a fine artist who also had a perfect style for childrens' book illustration. These colorful pictures are from The Golden Story Treasury by various authors, ©Golden Press 1951.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Florence and Margaret Hoopes

2008-03-22T04:23:00.000-07:00

Florence and Margaret Hoopes
Illustrators
Born ? - Died ?

I'm unable to find out anything about the two artists, Florence and Margaret Hoopes, who did such wonderful illustrations for the Alice and Jerry series of early readers. These watercolor illustrations, done for the book The New Through The Green Gate by Mabel O'Donnell, are from the chapter about a young boy and his family visiting the circus. The pictures were done in the late 1930s for the original 1939 edition. This is a later printing, ©1952 by Row, Peterson and Company.

Lois Lenski

2008-03-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

Lois Lenski
American illustrator
Born 1893 - died 1974

Lois Lenski has many books to her credit, both written and drawn by herself, and illustrated for other authors. Her charming style was well-loved by children and adult connoisseurs of children's art. The illustrations here are from her books, including I Like Winter, Now It Is Fall, and El Auto Pequeño (The Little Car).

These scans are from the collection of David Miller and Karen Jambeck, and thanks go out to them for sharing their collection.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Henry C. Pitz

2008-03-08T04:59:00.001-08:00

Henry C. Pitz
Illustrator/writer
Born 1895 - died 1976

Henry C. Pitz was an outstanding illustrator, with much work is still in print. His work with pen and ink is revered by devotees of that art form. These illustrations are from The Citadel of a Hundred Stairways by Alida Sims Malkus, published and ©1941 The John C. Winston Company.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Feodor Rojankovsky

2008-03-01T04:35:00.000-08:00

Feodor Rojankovsky
Artist-illustrator
Born in Russia 1891- Died in America1970

Feodor Rojankovsky was a popular children's book artist. These illustrations are from a school music book, I Like The Country, ©1956 by Silver Burdett.

Like many artists of this era, his work was influenced by the WPA styles of the 1930s, and by artist Thomas Hart Benton. Rojankovsky's attractive watercolors evoke the rural America of a half century ago.

Thanks to Karen Jambeck for furnishing this book.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Robert Lawson

2008-02-23T05:54:00.000-08:00

Robert Lawson
American illustrator
born 1892 - died 1957

Robert Lawson was an illustrator with a beautiful style, especially for animals and for eras gone by. He won the Caldecott Award in 1940 for They Were Strong and Good. These illustrations are from that book and from Country Colic, published in 1940.

Thanks to David Miller who provided these scans from his collection.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Leonard Weisgard

2008-02-16T04:19:00.000-08:00

Leonard Weisgard
American illustrator
born 1916 New Haven, Connecticut; died 2000 Denmark

Leonard Weisgard illustrated more than 200 children's books, and was a Caldecott winner for The Little Island. Several websites are devoted to Weisgard, including this biographical site.

This book, The Big Big Book of Nursery Tales was published by Grosset and Dunlap in 1954. Author of the work, Evelyn Andreas, was credited only on the title page. It was Weisgard's artwork that was the selling point of the book.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Jack Davis

2008-02-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

Jack Davis
American cartoonist and illustrator
b. 1924

Jack Davis has a career unparalleled in American cartooning or illustrating. He started out in the early 1950s scaring kids with covers and stories for Tales From The Crypt, then went into Mad comics and magazine, and from there branched into advertising and every other medium available.

Because of his skill at humor most of his work is funny, but he can also draw serious subjects. He illustrated three books for Random House in the mid-1960s, Meet The North American Indians, Meet Theodore Roosevelt and Meet Abraham Lincoln. With Lincoln's birthday being observed on February 12, it seems appropriate to commemorate it with these wonderful drawings by the master, Jack Davis.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Jerry Robinson

2008-02-02T05:44:00.001-08:00

Jerry Robinson
American cartoonist/illustrator
b.1922

Jerry Robinson was a teenager when he began working for Bob Kane, creator of Batman. He worked in the comic book field for many years, but was also a versatile illustrator. These drawings are from the 1975 Scholastic edition of the 1952 book, The Phantom Brakeman by Freeman Hubbard. Robinson's action-packed illustrative style owes a lot to his work in the comics. In 2007 Robinson was hired by Batman publisher, DC Comics, to be their creative consultant, bringing his career full circle.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Gregory Orloff

2008-01-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

Gregory Orloff
Fine artist-illustrator
Born Kiev, Russia 1890-died U.S. 1981

Internationally known artist Orloff studied and painted in several countries, but the bulk of his career was in the United States. The picture above is from the 1930s, when he was an artist with the Works Progress Administration, a program of the U.S. government. He also did book illustrations, as in this 1957 edition of a 1953 elementary school reader, Finding Favorites, from Lippincott. A sense of fun and whimsy permeate the book. Orloff's distinctive noses, for instance, indicate he may have used himself or family members as his models.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Paul Galdone

2008-01-19T03:45:00.000-08:00

Paul Galdone
Illustrator/Author
Born Budapest 1914? Died America 1986

Discrepancies exist for the birthdate of Galdone; some biographies giving it as early as 1907. He emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary when he was 14, and as an adult began a career in books. His vibrant illustrations, both in books written by others and by himself, have delighted generations of young readers. Many remember the Miss Pickerell books by Ellen McGregor, illustrated by Galdone.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Miss Pickerell Goes To Mars 1951

Miss Pickerell and the Geiger Counter 1953

Miss Pickerell Goes Undersea 1953

Miss Pickerell Goes To The Arctic 1954

Fritz Eichenberg

2008-01-12T05:06:00.000-08:00

Fritz Eichenberg
born Germany 1901-died America 1990
Illustrator/fine artist

Fritz Eichenberg studied art in his native Germany. He brought his family to America in 1933 at the rise of Hitler. He was known for his woodcuts with social and political themes. This particular book, Dancing In The Moon, was done in colored pencil for young children and shows his skill at portraying animals. The book was published in 1955 and is dedicated to fellow expatriate Albert Einstein.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Frank Godwin

2008-01-05T06:21:00.001-08:00

Frank Godwin
American Illustrator/Cartoonist
1889-1959

When Frank Godwin died, he left behind a rich heritage of comic strip work and beautiful book illustrations. The Book Of Courage, by Hermann Hagedorn, published originally in 1929 by the John C. Winston Company, is a series of non-fiction stories about courageous men and women of the past, lushly illustrated, in Godwin's pen-and-ink, gray wash and oil painting styles. These scans are from a 1942 edition of the book.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Lynd Ward

2007-12-29T03:59:00.001-08:00

Lynd Ward
Born Lynd Kendall Ward
American illustrator
1905-1985

Lynd Ward, with his wife May McNeer, published many books, including this beautifully illustrated volume from 1952, The Story Of Mexico. Ward's reputation was made in the 1920s with his book, God's Man, a precursor to the graphic novel, done in pantomime and showing his skill at wood engraving. Ward was at home with many different art styles and media. For the following illustrations he chose to use both graphite and colored pencils, which bring to vivid life his portraits of people notable in Mexican history.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

John Groth

2007-12-22T03:38:00.001-08:00

John Groth
Also signed his work John August Groth
American illustrator, editor, teacher, combat artist and correspondent
1908-1988

The illustrative style Groth uses for this 1963 adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, was developed during his time as a combat artist. The speed line gives it spontaneity, especially when augmented with the watercolor wash. Groth was the art editor for Esquire Magazine in the 1930s, worked for The Chicago Sun as a correspondent during World War II. In all he was an artist in five wars. He was a teacher who advised his students to "carry their sketchbooks everywhere."

These illustrations are from The Macmillan Classics series, and are scanned from the first edition, ©1963.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Johnny Gruelle

2007-12-15T06:10:00.001-08:00

Johnny Gruelle
Born John Barton Gruelle
American illustrator and cartoonist
1880-1938

Johnny Gruelle was a newspaper cartoonist before creating the Raggedy Ann and Andy series of books and dolls. He was an artist of extraordinary ability with pen and ink and watercolor. These beautiful illustrations are from Raggedy Ann In the Deep Deep Woods, published by M. A. Donohue and Company, and copyright 1930.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Gustaf Tenggren

2007-12-08T05:18:00.001-08:00

Gustaf Tenggren
Illustrator
Born in Sweden 1896; died in America 1970

Early in his career Gustaf Tenggren was a popular advertising artist. He worked for Disney designing the look of Snow White and Pinocchio. Later his career was book illustration. His European influences are everywhere in his wonderful artwork. These examples are from The Tenggren Tell-It-Again Book, published by Little, Brown and Company in 1942.

Click on the pictures for full-size images.

Hubert Buel

2007-12-01T04:18:00.000-08:00

Hubert Buel
Watercolorist and Illustrator
1915-1985

Hubert Buel was a California artist of renown who founded the West Coast Watercolor Society. He also did some book illustrations. These are from The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, published in 1955. Details in Buel's brush, pen and ink drawings are kept to a minimum, yet his figures show weight and mass by use of thick and thin lines in his inking.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Harrison Cady

2007-11-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

Walter Harrison Cady
American cartoonist and illustrator
1877-1970

Most closely associated with the books of Thornton W. Burgess, Cady was very prolific in other areas as well. He did newspaper comic strips and editorial cartoons, comic books and other children's books. These illustrations are from Raggedy Animals by Sherman Ripley, 1935 edition of a 1928 book, and Ant Ventures by Blanche Elizabeth Wade, published in 1924.

Thanks to David Miller, who provided these scans from his personal collection.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

Gordon Laite

2007-11-17T05:29:00.000-08:00

Gordon Laite
American Illustrator
b. 1925
pictures from The Blue Book of Fairy Tales
© 1959 Western Publishing Company.

Despite my scans of a book that wasn't printed well--it has some color registration problems--the artwork of Gordon Laite shows through. He was a designer and illustrator of great skill. His girls are beautiful, his monsters grotesque. Many people who remember this 1959 Little Golden Book were impressed by the pipe-smoking hag in Rapunzel.

Click on pictures for full-size images.

George Carlson

2007-11-10T16:58:00.000-08:00

George Carlson

American Illustrator and Cartoonist
1887-1962

In 1939 George Carlson took over illustrating the famous Uncle Wiggily books, written by Howard R. Garis. These illustrations are from Uncle Wiggily and His Friends, ©1939, 1955 Platt and Munk.

Click on pictures for full-size images.
This is dedicated to my friend, Clay Geerdes (1934-1997).