More Loomis

Andrew Loomis' 1947 instruction book Creative Illustration has been reprinted.  One in a series of instruction books by Loomis, a Chicago-based commercial illustrator of the 20th century, this book might be described as his magnum opus.  It's the first of his books to deal with colour and composition.

Sections include line, tone, colour, and creating ideas.  It is by far the thickest of Loomis's books and before this reprinting, copies sold for over $100.

Titan Books will reprint Fun With a Pencil next April, Loomis's most basic how to draw book.  All that will remain, should Titan continue, will be Three Dimensional Drawing, an expanded version of Successful Drawing which they have already reprinted, and The Eye of the Painter and the Elements of Beauty, a book published after Loomis's death.  Used copies of that start at $141.

Another Loomis Reprint

The second volume of the reprinting Andew Loomis's art instruction books is now available. I've seen copies in stores, though Amazon won't release it until Oct. 25.

Loomis was a commercial illustrator in the days when mass circulation magazines were full of painted illustrations accompanying fiction. He also authored a series of art instruction books that are still much sought after, even 6 decades after first being published. The books were out of print for years and copies commanded over $100 apiece on used book sites. Titan Books (who are also publishing The Simon and Kirby Library; the next volume is of their crime comics and due out momentarily) have undertaken to reprint Loomis. This volume follows Figure Drawing for All It's Worth. While art styles have changed since Loomis's day, the fundamentals don't change. Anyone interested in learning to draw will benefit from Loomis's books.

Andrew Loomis Back in Print

Here's one that snuck up on me, but one I'm grateful for. Titan Books has brought Andrew Loomis's excellent book Figure Drawing For All It's Worth back into print and at a reasonable price. It's $23.49 at Amazon.com and $28.84 at Amazon.ca.

Andrew Loomis was a commercial illustrator working out of Chicago, a contemporary of Chicago artists Haddon Sundblom and Gil Elvgren. In addition to his illustration work for what used to be called slick magazines (on slick paper as opposed to the pulp magazines), he also wrote several great books on drawing and painting. The out-of-print books are hard to find and usually very pricey.

Titan will be reprinting Drawing the Head and Hands by Loomis in October. They also plan to reprint his Creative Illustration and Fun with a Pencil. I hope they get around to Three Dimensional Drawing, and The Eye of the Painter and the Elements of Beauty.

(link via BoingBoing)

Creative Illustration To Be Reprinted

Thanks to an anonymous commenter in the previous posting here, I learned that Andrew Loomis's landmark art instruction book Creative Illustration is going to be reprinted this coming September in paperback. On Amazon.com, the price is an amazingly low $13.57. I'm curious to see if the reprint will include the colour pages, but even if the book is not complete (and at 300 pages I'm guessing that it is), this is a major bargain as well as a major event. If you draw or are interested in drawing, this is easily one of the best art instruction books ever published.

Update: Lars asked in the comments what it was about Loomis that made him so great. I find his art very appealing. In addition, he is excellent at communicating artistic principles through his diagrams, drawings and text.

Creative Illustration is broken into the following sections: Line, Tone, Color, Telling the Story, Creating Ideas, Fields of Illustration and Experiment and Study. Below are some pages from the book that I hope will give you a taste of Loomis's skill and approach.

Andrew Loomis

Issue twenty of Illustration magazine has a lengthy article by Jack Harris on Andrew Loomis, the magazine illustrator and author of several highly influential books on drawing. The article contains many full color images of Loomis's work and Harris has spoken to members of the Loomis family to get biographical information. Thumbnails of the issue can be seen here.

The next issue will feature an article on Gustaf Tenggren, an artist who spent time at the Disney studio and was a major influence on the look of Pinocchio. You can see thumbnail previews of that article here.

Andrew Loomis in German

Andrew Loomis was a commercial artist who worked in the 1920's to the 1950's. In addition, he was a teacher and the author of a much sought-after series of art instruction books such as Fun With a Pencil, Figure Drawing For All It's Worth, Creative Illustration, Three Dimensional Drawing and Drawing the Head and Hands. The books are all out of print and command high prices on the used book market. There are two Walter Foster editions that are highly abridged versions of the books, but they are disappointing to anyone who has seen the originals.

It turns out that Figure Drawing For All Its Worth is still in print in Germany and can be ordered from Bud Plant for $29.95 U.S. Definitely worth owning and a bargain to boot.