Character Study

Clair Gordon-- story-boarding student's process sketches

A sampler platter of sketching approaches.
Animals?
More good stuff?

Ghosts

In the spirit of the season, check out these woodblock prints of ghosts by Ukiyo-e master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, circa 1890. More here.

A Good Woman's Spirit Praying in a Waterfall 1892

The Prince Raigo of Miideira Transformed by Evil Thoughts into a Rat 1891

Jean Jullien's Childline Illustrations

(Found on "It's Nice That")

Maisie Skidmore:

Of all the ways illustration is utilised in modern media, its ability to make charitable organisations more accessible to children and vulnerable people is still the one I find the most effective. Something about those pencil lines and roughly drawn faces is humanising and honest in a way that flashy, cutting edge graphic design doesn’t always manage to be. 

Childline’s new campaign which seeks to pull down the barriers that might prevent children from getting in touch with them for a chat whether that be out of fear, pride or embarrassment, is a prime example of this. To help this process along they’ve asked Jean Jullien [...] to create a series of ads about some of the things which are scarier than calling. Characteristically cheeky and undeniably powerful, we think he’s done a cracking job.

Caricature

Steve Brodner writes:

Caricature is…
Caricature, which is a subcategory of illustration, is about finding the narrative elements within a portrait and making them clear as tools in making literal and figurative points. When done for publication, it is not merely about making big things bigger and small things smaller. It is storytelling. This involves knowledge about what is under the surface of a face and teasing it to the top. Caricature is not the destination. It is the journey. It's the bike you ride.

Steve Brodner

Caricaturama
John Kachik

Jason Freeny

Another take on the anatomy of fictional characters:

Pre-photographic captures of facial expressions

Leonardo da Vinci:

Albrecht Durer:

The skeleton of a Power Puff Girl

Michael Paulus' anatomy studies of fictional characters.

Michael Paulus

Amnesty International: It's not happening here, but it is happening now

A profound version of urban interruption (thanks Miguel).

Contour line illustrators

Dave Reinbold

Josh Cochran

Patricia Polacco

Also: Link to Left/Right post

down on the corner, out in the street

 Blu (Spain)

Read Jeffrey Deitch on The Brooklyn Rail talk about his involvement with street-based artists.

An excerpt:

I’ve spent so many years in friendship and conversations with Basquiat, Rammellzee, Keith Haring, and more recently Barry McGee, Shepard Fairey, and Swoon. These are people who have every bit as much intellectual interest and cultural sophistication as artists who are academically pretentious. In fact, part of the reason to organize and curate Art in the Streets at MOCA in L.A. was to focus on a more serious context and demonstrate that these are artists, not uneducated outsiders. Swoon went to Pratt, Shepard Fairey went to RISD, Barry McGee went to the San Francisco Art Institute. They are very aware of the current dialogue and they chose this direction as something they thought was the most artistically viable, and they chose this medium because it was a way to communicate very directly with a much wider audience. I have always been very inspired by artists who address an audience beyond a small sphere of a few prestigious galleries, and museums, and one or two art publications. 

You don't necessarily need to go out under cover of night with spray paint to interrupt the present status quo. For other urban art and design interventions, see The New Museum's StreetFest page, which was a festival held in May of 2013.

Blu in Madrid

in one page

Drew Miller from "Poor Thing"

Public Domain Images

Here
Here
Here

Arnulf Rainer

Shepard Fairey and Swoon in two worlds

Part 2 here.

Ileana Surducan's Silent Comics

More here.