The Art of Andrew Loomis
About ten years ago I came across a hardcover version of Andrew Loomis’ Creative Illustration. It remains today as one of my favorite in my art library of books. Although Norman Rockwell held the spotlight as America’’s most revered illustrator in the 40’s & 50’s, Andrew Loomis kept quite busy producing magazine covers, billboards, calendars, and just about any print product imaginable.
Although Loomis was a successful and prolific commercial illustrator, it was his educational books that have had the biggest impact. These books are priceless in terms of the valuable information and instruction in drawing and painting, and thanks to the internet they are literally priceless, or without price! There are quite a few sites that have PDF files of his books free of charge. The site owners claim the books are public domain, so while they’re still available I highly recommend you dowload them ASAP. You can find them at: http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/ There is a nice bio of Andrew Loomis at: http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/loomis.htm
Some of the titles available:
Fun with a pencil
Figure Drawing for all it’s worth
Drawing the head and hands
Successful Drawing
Creative Illustration
The eye of the painter
An Andrew Loomis cover from June 1935
Saturday Evening Post,1935
