Golden-Age illustrators, such as Robert Fawcett below, often planned their compositions in black and white, throwing big areas into inky black shadows.
That was so inspiring ! You make me want to get into my car, drive up to Petaluma, and to try and draw and paint their lovely Public library ( All old Stone and masonry; rare for California), in your high contrast technique ! If not tomorrow, - very soon !
Part of the charm of vintage pulp magazines is precisely this type of illustration. It really does add a lot to the atmosphere of the story when you're looking at those high contrast, black and white illsutrations.
I love this exercise. I go back to periodically. I guess that because I loved the old black and white illustrations of my childhood, I need to practice their techniques to improve my facilities for design. The fun is that the mid tone you see in your model you can choose to be either black OR white depending on how it affects the final design. ☮️💙🙏
While I do some painting, I am primarily a cartoonist, and this really connected with me. We get used to working with (and thinking in terms of) black ink on white paper, especially when the work is set to be printed without color (still happens sometimes). Some comic artists are known for this deep-shadow, lost-edges approach, and the naturalism that it lends to their work.
One thing I have enjoyed along these lines is to play an old film noir and pause at some particularly striking scenes and sketch them. It's a nice way to ease into noticing how to "see" the shapes that are stark black and where the edges get lost.
That was so inspiring ! You make me want to get into my car, drive up to Petaluma, and to try and draw and paint their lovely Public library ( All old Stone and masonry; rare for California), in your high contrast technique ! If not tomorrow, - very soon !
Part of the charm of vintage pulp magazines is precisely this type of illustration. It really does add a lot to the atmosphere of the story when you're looking at those high contrast, black and white illsutrations.
I love this exercise. I go back to periodically. I guess that because I loved the old black and white illustrations of my childhood, I need to practice their techniques to improve my facilities for design. The fun is that the mid tone you see in your model you can choose to be either black OR white depending on how it affects the final design. ☮️💙🙏
While I do some painting, I am primarily a cartoonist, and this really connected with me. We get used to working with (and thinking in terms of) black ink on white paper, especially when the work is set to be printed without color (still happens sometimes). Some comic artists are known for this deep-shadow, lost-edges approach, and the naturalism that it lends to their work.
I gonna try this! It’s so brave and effective
Great article. I use this method quite a bit when I draw for block prints.
One thing I have enjoyed along these lines is to play an old film noir and pause at some particularly striking scenes and sketch them. It's a nice way to ease into noticing how to "see" the shapes that are stark black and where the edges get lost.
This sounds like a great exercise to try. Thank you!
I’ve tried a few times but have really fell into the habit of the midtones too. I’ve got to try getting back to it!
I think high contrast elements are viewed more effectively as silhouettes first in a good composition where details then may disappear.