Drawings from the Andrew Loomis Self-Didactic School of Cartooning

3513A.

One of the glories of Andrew Loomis's drawing books is they have cute little caricature heads that you can just sit down and draw in a few minutes, which is ideal if you want to just draw something today and don't have either the time, patience, or discipline to do it (or some proportional combination of the three factors).

I've demonstrated this in another post. But in order to actually just open a sketchbook and make marks, which is the habit I'm trying to instil right now, I'm choosing a little sketchy cartoon head and drawing it down.

The above is the second one I did. Below is the first. Drawings in graphite on shattered and deferred dreams.

I have a little bit of drawing aptitude, but, seriously, Loomis asks the aspiring artist to draw a rough circle, smoosh some lumps on it, embolden the lines that matter, et voila!, you really do have a cartoon head.

Right now, it's just old bald white guys with mustaches and smoking cigars and pipes, but I'm looking to expand from there.

But it's really not difficult. If you have no experience or developed aptitude, it just takes me a little shorter than it'd take you. The one thing one really has to get over is the feeling that if you aren't following exact instructions, it's not valid, also, the misguided idea that you have to finish with an accomplished drawing. Those aren't finished, polished, or particularly accomplished, but the are drawings and they do communicate. And they're in my sketchbook, which is where I get to make mistakes.

My wife already knows this lesson. She's working on developing a little character for single-panel gags she'd like to do. She's got sheets covered with this little guy and the more she does, the more she does more. And she's having kick-ass fun with it, and, of the two of us, I'm the one who's acknowledged as the aspiring artist. She just kicks out the jams and does it.

If there's not a lesson to be had in there, I don't know where us dithering artists-in-process can find one that's worth anything.

We are our own worst enemies, sometimes.

[art] I'd Love To Draw: The Lost Andrew Loomis Treasure

3364.

First, a bit of a mea culpa, in the last missive about Loomis I said the next time we talked about him, we'd do a little more delving into the book Fun With A Pencil. We will, but this got under my skin, so we'll be going there first.

Of the number of art instruction books Andrew Loomis produced in his lifetime, there was still one out there that never made it, at least, not until the aegis of Titan Books arrived on the scene. This book, I'd Love To Draw, has been called a lost masterpiece and now it's here in all its rough beauty.

Just because it's unfinished does not mean it's undone, however. Titan and its collaborator, the award-winning illustrator Alex Ross, have taking the unfinished work and knitted it into a coherent and highly informative whole. The approach is different and rather refreshing; the rough drawings left behind by Loomis take on an illuminative quality that the best work-in-progress sorts of illustrations do.

I always love works-in-progress. Finished art is magnificent, and rightly so, but as someone with a technical eye it's a little like dissecting a specimen in biology. WIPs are the bone, sinew, and organic mattter of the work, and they have a rawness and vitality that sometimes teaches without words. I'd Love To Draw is full of this vim and vigor.

The book traces a familiar trajectory from the beginning building blocks to more advanced areas. Part one familiarizes you with basic forms. Part unleashes the learner to start trying different things and branch into cartoon-people drawing. Part three brings the aspiring artist to the level of artist who sketches for fun, and from there, as many artists know, all things are probable, or at least possible.

The drawings, as I mentioned, are rough and ready, but still communicate in the inimitable Loomis style, as does this spread that has to do with that essential artistic concept, perspective:

The spreads are bursting with the enthusiasm of a teacher who knows that if you pick up what they are putting down, you'll open yourself up to a world of wonder and fun, which is typical of the motivated art teachers I've met in my time.

If you work at it, you might do art with the perspicacity of this fellow here:

In the text next to the drawing of Einstein above you can see the insight which, at least partially, led to the gelling of the 'ball and clay' idea that informs the beginning of Fun With A Pencil.

The marginal notes, found through out the illustrations to plan the finished product, bring a definite sense of charm and unmistakable authenticity.

I'd Love To Draw was created some time in the late 1930s, so if it seems familiar, it's probably because it helped define much of the paradigm of the modern art instruction volume, in its simple-to-complex, friendly encouraging style. The idea of creating things out of blocks seems to anticipate works like De Rayna's How To Draw What You See, for instance.

If you go no further than getting this Loomis volume, then you'll be equipping yourself well for any sort of artistic path you want, be it for pleasure or for future profession. This be your gun and camera.

Publisher: Titan Books (October 14, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1781169209
ISBN-13: 978-1781169209
Retail: $39.95

[drawing liff] Figure Drawing For All It's Worth At A Price. Just One Condition …

3361.

Now, amongst all my interests I do flash searches for when on the premises at Powell's City o' Books, is Andrew Loomis. In one of my recent missives I did note that you can find some of his earlier works there in vintage collectible volumes, and a particular Walter Foster release of his, originally priced at $1.00, was on sale for $45.00.

I don't criticize here. I handled it most thoughtfully. Its condition was immaculate.

So, when I did a customer lookup for Loomis and found that Figure Drawing For All It's Worth was on sale for the unexpectedly delightful bargain price of $14.95, you know I had to look that stuff up! I noticed, though, it was trade paperback, in the Red Room, Japanese language-generic.

Hmm. The hunt, however, was on. It was more difficult than anticipated, or maybe as difficult as anticipated, because its size and cover design made it blend in with the rest of the Japanese books, which all share a similar design and color grammar. But I did find it. And here it is:

And it would have gone home with me, at that price, but the value of Loomis' texts is that there's a wealth of warmth, humor, and knowledge in the words, and with me being absolutely illiterate in Japanese, it would never be more than an interesting bagatelle around here.

If you read Nihongo, and love drawing, though, there's a treat for you waiting at Powell's right now. They have just the one copy.

[art] Demo: Funny Faces The Andrew Loomis Way

3359.

The Loomis method of art auto-didactitude is so attractively simple I had to give it a shot. Herewith my result.

The Loomis method expects you to be crap at drawing your circles, straight lines, et. al., in other words, it accepts you as it finds you and builds on whatever aptitude … or lack of such … that you have. It starts at the top with the head, and treats the head as a ball that you stick lumps of other clay on to approximate the other shapes that make up the head … jowls, bulby noses, ears, what ever you need. Looking at the photo below you can see where Loomis is going with this; kooky cartoony faces.

The first part of the book, then deals with the head and face. Let's take a look.

For simplicity's sake, I'll try the very first one there on the left. It looks very simple and doable just for the perusal. And, if you look at the examples on the right, it becomes fairly clear that the method adapts to just about any shape you want to employ, even if your sphere looks more like a lima bean. No worries, and no pressure, just have fun with it. But I get ahead of things here. In this view, you can see I've sketched out a circle and divided it down the more-or-less center; a circle in the center will serve as the basis of our nose. Short dashes equidistant above the center circle will locate the face's mouth and eyes.

Now for some more facial features:

Sticking a couple of blobs either side of nose provides us with the basis for the wings over the nostrils, a couple of quick curves on either side of the head base the floppy ears. Two big ovals on either side of the mouth are the foundations of the jowls, and a couple of blobs on the nadir of the circle for the cleft chin.

A few minutes of erasing and darkening in of the lines after the example illustration and we've arrived rather quickly at our destination.

It only took me abut 15 minutes to do this drawing, but if I hadn't stopped to compose and take the shots, it would have only taken about 5. If you're new to drawing, it would probably only take you 15. And that's the genius of this method; take simple shapes that anybody can draw and put them together until you get the foundation you need, then lay in the hard lines. The Loomis method, in the beginning, is particularly suited to cartoony, funny faces (recall the countenance of Professor Blook?) and logically might inspire someone to create their own cartoony characters.

Loomis doesn't stop there, though. The next time we meet here about Andy Loomis, I'll take a look at where he takes us.

[art] Fun With A Pencil: Andrew Loomis' Foundational Drawing Text

3358.

Though I prefix-tagged the title with the word art, a modest handful of tags would have done as well: cartooning, art, artist, comic art … Andrew Loomis' book for beginners at both artists both casual and aspiring to serious craft has a great, great deal to offer.

As mentioned in the previous article, up until recently, Andrew Loomis' works were much beloved and, since they had been out of print for a very long time, highly sought after. A quick online search reveals that used vintage copies of his classic works from reliable sellers ask $60-$80 a copy. But it doesn't take much looking thorough Fun With A Pencil, that beginner's book, to convince one that this is something that in a fairer world would be of much benefit if it were more widely available.

Well, my friends, your Loomis famine is pretty much over. Starting in 2013, Titan Books has re-released these classic books for a more accessible price, unleashing them upon the world to inspire the next generation of motivated illustrators. The quarto-sized hardcovers are just as one might have bought them in the 1930s-1950s … not one illustration missing or out of place, in the volumes I've seen, each of a quality befitting the publisher and the legacy of the author. They'd look stunning on any shelf, not only for fans of drawing and learning to draw but anyone who adores and remembers the graphic style of books published during those days.

Titan may have been out to publicize the work of a foundational American illustrator, but they worked it out on one level by just making them lovely productions of book design on its own terms. The design look is very much that of of the 2nd quarter of the 20th Century in American graphic design.

Professor Blook, our
author's alter-ego, is
our companion along
the educational journey

But, of course, it's not just the book and its cover that are so pleasing. The inside is a pure revelation, as Loomis, one of the most popular and in-demand commercial artists of his day, takes the auto-didact though his poetically powerful and accessible drawing technique. The accent is on warmth, friendliness and lightheartedness as he enouragingly beckons the reader forward to learn to create art on what eventually becomes the burgeoning artist's own terms. Taking a the simple idea of a circle we move in one deft idea to the ball and how to take this easy-to-draw (even if your circle is a wobbly oval, he swiftly shows us that that's no problem either) figure to create the heads of cartoon figures. After several pages of practice suggestions, all clearly laid out, we get some technical tips and then its on into bodies. From bodies we move into clothing them, and from there we are encouraged to construct a world for them.

The result after all this is a beginning artist with enough skill to either please themselves and friends by drawing for the sheer pleasure or, if they want, take it farther. The book originally came out in 1939, and Loomis and his contemporaries could scarcely have seen the rise of computers and digital art, but as a foundation, the ideas and techniques presented in this book are timeless and are as fresh and necessary today as they were nearly 80 years ago, when the book was introduced. The illustrator of 2016 might have the most amazing electronic tools to use, but without the building blocks of drawing technique, it's all just a powerful scratch pad.

This is the sort of book were you take your time, have fun with it, and make it yours. Like John Hendrix, Andrew Loomis must have been the kind of teacher who wanted everyone to at least try, and noticed that a lot of people wanted to. That encouragement animates the entire text and causes you to understand, in a gut-level way, why drawing, even casual, can be a lifesaver.

In the next article, I'll take a more critical look at the Loomis method. You'll be pleasantly surprised at how essentially easy and potentially powerful it is.

Publisher: Titan Books, http://www.titanbooks.com
ISBN: 9780857687609
Retail: $39.95/$46.00 CDN/GBP 29.99

[cartoonists] A Couple of Andrew Loomis Links For Your Delectation

3356.

Forgot a couple of sites that I should link you to in the last article, so here's a nifty little list:

1. JVJ Publishing's one-page bio on Loomis. Rich in good illustrations: http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/loomis.htm
2. A single page with several Loomis illos can be found at http://www.oklahoma.net/~silvrdal/loomis2.html
3. Art blogger Armand Cabrera has a short article at his Art and Influence blog here at http://www.artandinfluence.com/2010/08/william-andrew-loomis.html
4. The page Save The Books has links to help you acquire Loomis works: http://www.saveloomis.org/
5. Here's an Ebay page selling Andrew Loomis: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/andrew-loomis
6. And, of course, Titan Books' page where you can get them new and direct: http://titanbooks.com/creators/andrew-loomis/
7. Lastly, a preloaded Google Image search so you can go right to the experiential goods, because I am the nice one. 

[cartoonists] Andrew Loomis: The Greatest American Artist You Never Heard Of

3355.

We've all heard of practitioners of art called "The (Professional)'s (Professional)". You all know. Everyone has their idea of The Actor's Actor, the Author's Author, the Painter's Painter.

What seems to go with that remit is a degree of elite practice and not more than a little obscurity, sadly. Everyone loves Tom Cruise, for example, but who does he think's better than him? That's a bit more unclear.

Loomis by Loomis
(from the last page
of Fun With A Pencil)

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, one of the most inspirational artists in America was a commercial artist named Andrew Loomis. Chances are, very few people reading this have ever heard of him. But he was major in that 'artist's Artist' way, and inspired a lot of people. The online biographical information on him, given the reputation I've begun to see him have, is almost unforgivably impoverished. And that, to me is a shame.

His thumbnail bio could look something like this: He was born in 1892 and spent his early years as an artist at the Art Students League in NYC and the Art Institute of Chicago under the tutelage and influence of some of the greatest artists of the day. After spending time in the US Army during WWI, he emerged to work in commercial art for a couple of major ad agencies in Chicago contributing to just about every well-known brand name at the time including Kellogg's and Coca-Cola, eventually opening his own studio in Chicago. By 1938, he had found his way to southern California, opening a studio there. It is as an art teacher, though, that he's found his lasting niche in American art history and enduring influence in American artistic culture.

Today he is remembered for authoring a line of beloved how-to illustration self-instruction manuals. Books with names like Fun With a Pencil, Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, and Creative Illustration are cherished memories and sought-after collectors items, since they were largely out of print by the last quarter of the 20th Century. But his influence, though nearly invisible to the modern day artist, informs that school of artistic practice that became comic book illustration; the most famous exponent of that style, Alex Ross, an Eisner and NCS award-winning artist whose work has been described as Norman-Rockwell-meets-George-Perez, even went on to edit I'd Love To Draw, Loomis' 'lost' work. You, the aspiring artist, may have seen his work in old illustrations of those slender, folio-sized Walter Foster how-to books that are also increasingly becoming collectors items (I found a vintage copy of the WF version of Figure Drawing for All It's Worth at Powell's Books recently, originally priced at about $1.00, selling for $45!), or as illustrations in Foster's recompiled lines of recent years, without even knowing it.

Those who've missed his work or remember the books fondly or need to be introduced to his work in such terms have had to go without for a very long time, due to the unavailability of those very works. That drought, happily, has come to an end; between 2010 and 2014, Titan Books have reissued his most famous works, including the aforementioned Fun With a A Pencil, Figure Drawing For All It's Worth, Creative Illustration and even I'd Love To Draw. Over the next two days I plan on publishing reviews of Fun With a Pencil and I'd Love To Draw; as an introduction, they are his texts for those aspriational artists hoping to learn the basics.

I've spent more time than I expected getting to know these works; they are not thick and ponderous but incredibly rich and thorough; imagine stumbling into an orchard where the fruits of all the trees are all so good and easy to reach you can't get started for the embarrassment of choice you have. Both the books are imbued with a warmth and wit and a sense of humor which, though it may approach cornball to the modern wit, is no less memorable for the earnestness and charm it carries.

Andrew Loomis's work is foundational in modern American art. You have the high modern quality of American comic book art, and the inspiration it's provided further artists, as proof of this; his is the giant's shoulders that quite a few modern artists stand upon.

Next up: Loomis' beginner's text, Fun With a Pencil.