Going to orange with Andrew Loomis (26th of July 2013)

cover page, Andrew Loomis
Warm greeting to you all!

I watered the two poor plants in my room. The institute can go on without me now.
I am going somewhere where I will sail to nirvana with sunset. Ooouuummmmmmm.
Stay healthy and sane.

Siberetto

This is my today's greeting to my colleagues, in a mail entitled "Disappeared in orange". And this year, I take with me to orange two wonderful books which arrived today: Creative illustration (below) and Figure drawing for all it's worth (above) by >> Andrew Loomis.

cover page, Andrew Loomis

I've been reading Andrew Loomis "secretly" for at least three years now, so I had to buy my own physical copy. Loomis was a master of illustration, and he managed to sort and describe some of his techniques in some kind of a "system". He could draw a female face or figure in an arbitrary pose in a couple of minutes. And how he could draw it ... (below).

illustration, Andrew Loomis

Figure drawing for all it's worth was first published in 1943, and Creative illustration in 1947.

E-versions of his books can be downloaded at >> Archive.org.

painting of a female, Andrew Loomis
As a student I thought that there was a formula of some kind that I would get hold of somewhere, and thereby become an artist. There is a formula, but it has not been in the books. It is really plain old courage, standing on one's own feet, and forever seeking enlightenment; courage to develop your way, but learning from the other fellow; experimentation with your own ideas, observing for yourself, a rigid discipline of doing over that which you can improve. I have never found a book that stressed the importance of myself as the caretaker of my ability, of staying healthy mentally and physically, or that gave me an inkling that my courage might be strained to the utmost. Perhaps that is not the way to write books, but I can see no harm in the author realizing that he is dealing with personalities, and that there is something more important than technique. In art we are dealing with something far removed from cold science, where the human element is everything.

From introduction to Figure drawing for all it's worth.

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Last updated on 26th of July 2013.