The Photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson

Hubert de Lartigue: Airbrush Painting

Here's a fascinating 'tutorial' by artist Hubert de Lartigue. You can see the complete walk through here, and more original work on his site.

The Life and Works of Edward Hopper:

Born in upper Nyack, New York to a prosperous dry-goods merchant, Hopper studied illustration and painting in New York City at the New York Institute of Art and Design. One of his teachers, artist Robert Henri, encouraged his students to use their art to "make a stir in the world". Henri, an influence on Hopper, motivated students to render realistic depictions of urban life. Henri's students, many of whom developed into important artists, became known as the Ashcan School of American art. Hopper studied under Henri for ten years.

Upon completing his formal education, Hopper made four trips to Europe to study the emerging art scene there, but unlike many of his contemporaries who imitated the abstract cubist experiments, the idealism and detail of the realist painters resonated with Hopper. His early projects reflect the realist influence with an emphasis on colour and shape. Eschewing the usual New England subjects of seascapes or boats, Hopper was attracted to Victorian architecture, although it was no longer in fashion. According to Boston Museum of Fine Arts curator Carol Troyen, "He really liked the way these houses with their turrets and towers and porches and mansard roofs and ornament cast wonderful shadows. He always said that his favorite thing was painting sunlight on the side of a house."

While he worked for several years as a commercial artist, Hopper continued painting with moderate success yet not as much as he yearned for. He sold a variety of small prints and watercolors to tourists and minor publication yet received only a casual if warm response from curators and gallery owners.

Continue reading the biography at Wikipedia, or visit the Smithsonian's Edward Hopper Scrapbook.

You can also listen to a podcast discussing the art of Edward Hopper on the Diane Rehm Show. A gallery of images is included so you can follow along with the discussion.

Below is a selection of Hopper's paintings:

Patience!

Stipple portraits, by Noli Novak.

See more of her work here.

3D Illustrations by Chris Sickels

Chris Sickels, founder of RedNose Studios, creates sets and puppets "from a combination of wire, fabric, cardboard, wood, miniatures, and found objects". His work is whimsically unique and has been featured in magazines, newspapers, ads and animations.

More about Chris from HOWdesign.com:

"When he first started illustrating for HOW, Sickels had only been out of college for three years and was working part-time doing construction, installing and tearing down shows for museums in Cincinnati, while pursuing a freelance career on the side.

Today, Sickels is worlds away from where he started. "When I was first looking into colleges, I knew I wanted to go to art school, but I didn't know about illustration," he says. "I also didn't know people created things for magazines. I grew up on a farm, and we didn't have subscriptions to magazines. So, when I went to school, I figured I'd have to design shampoo bottles for Procter & Gamble or draw logos."

Also, here's an interesting and personalized profile/survey completed by Chris over at Illustration Friday.

Some of his work:

Artist Spotlight: Naum Gabo.

I'm currently working on a wire sculpture inspired by his work: