Mostly what I share with my subscribers are things I’ve learned about sketching and drawing.
I also want to share a bit of what it’s like to be an illustrator. Not just for myself but for some of the illustrators from the golden age of illustration in the early to mid 1900s.
Arthur Rackham
Arthur Rackham’s birthday was September 19, 1867, so he’s been on my mind lately.
He was one of the most famous illustrators in England in the golden age of illustration.
Arthur was always expressing himself artistically while growing up.
His father was a clerk in the Law Courts and expected Arthur to follow the same.
So for seven years Arthur worked as an insurance clerk while he also attended art school in the evenings.
The printing industry was going through significant changes in technology in the late 1800s.
For example, a little before this if you wanted illustrations in your book you had to have an artist draw the pictures, then those pictures went to an engraver who made woodcut engravings. This could take up to a week per illustration.
Think of the illustrations for Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in 1865. The illustrator John Tenniel made his drawings, then they were engraved on blocks of wood by the Brothers Dalziel.
During this time Arthur sent drawings from his sketchbooks to the Pall Mall Budget and Westminster Budget daily newspapers.
His biographer, Derek Hudson, in Arthur Rackham, His Life and Work, wrote about Arthur’s early work.
“We may follow through his eyes the day-to-day life of London, most diligently recorded.”
By the time Arthur was submitting his work to the newspapers the process of halftones had entered the world of printing. This allowed the reproduction of grayscale tones, not just black and white pen and ink drawings.
You can see how this advance in technology enabled Arthur's illustrations to appear with all their shading.
Sample illustrations submitted to Pall Mall Budget and Westminster Budget newspapers in the late 1800s.
Ability to Draw Everything
Being able to draw from observation was a critical skill, even though his later work was more imaginative.
He spent more than 10 years learning and practicing in this style before breaking off into his later more imaginative work.
At the end of the 1890s his illustrations were appearing in several magazines and newspapers, and he had also illustrated a couple of books.
In the year 1900 The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm was published and this was the real beginning of the style he was most famous for.
Illustrations from The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Arthur’s Unique Style
In the books he illustrated sometimes only one style of illustration was used. For example he only used silhouettes for The Sleeping Beauty.
Illustration from The Sleeping Beauty.
But a lot of his books featured a selection of different styles. In Aesop’s Fables there are not only silhouettes but intricate renderings, loose and scribbly drawings, and full-color detailed renderings.
Different drawing styles used in Aesop's Fables, 1912
Drawing of Frogs
One of the tasks of an illustrator is to breath life into an author’s words. Think of the many ways different illustrators have interpreted the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
Here’s the typical task for an illustrator. At it’s simplest form it feels like this: Read a passage. Draw a picture that captures and brings to life something about that passage.
For example, here is one of the simple stories from Aesop’s Fables:
THE FROGS ASKING FOR A KING
Time was when the Frogs were discontented because they had no one to rule over them: so they sent a deputation to Jupiter to ask him to give them a King. Jupiter, despising the folly of their request, cast a log into the pool where they lived, and said that that should be their King. The Frogs were terrified at first by the splash, and scuttled away into the deepest parts of the pool; but by and by, when they saw that the log remained motionless, one by one they ventured to the surface again, and before long, growing bolder, they began to feel such contempt for it that they even took to sitting upon it...
Sounds simple, right. Draw some frogs sitting on a log. And yet nothing I could ever have thought of could capture this like Arthur Rackham did.
Frogs Asking for a King, Aesop's Fables
Look at the log! And the attitude of the frogs. Most are just sitting, yes, but some are dancing, some are swinging, some are having a conversation. There are 16 frogs! From all different directions!
If I were asked to draw 16 frogs doing different things (mostly sitting, though) on a log, showing reeds on the far bank, a rocky patch in the foreground... it would be nothing like this I’m sure.
Trees, So Many Trees!
If people are familiar with Arthur Rackham it’s most likely that it’s his drawings and paintings of trees that they remember.
As I reviewed his illustrations for this post I noticed though there are a lot that don’t have trees in them. But his paintings of trees are my favorites.
I noticed there were so many with trees they could actually be grouped into separate categories—at least in my mind.
Incidental
I noticed there are many illustrations where the trees are not the central focus. They’re incidental to the scene, used as compositional elements to frame the action.
From left to right: Red Riding Hood in woods–Hansel and Gretel and Other Tales, Bye Baby Bunting–Mother Goose; the Old Nursery Rhymes, Angry when they ran away–Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, In galligaskins–Rip Van Winkle
Setting
Then I noticed a lot of illustrations where the trees are close to the main action. They define the setting of the scene, even though the characters aren’t necessarily involved with them.
From left to right: Magic Cup–Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures, On primrose buds–A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Red-hipped Humblebee–A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Titania lying asleep–A Midsummer-Night's Dream
Involved
In these illustrations the characters and action of the scene are intricately involved together. I mean that the action of the scene is so interwoven with the characters that the scene would not be taking place apart from the massive, elaborate, entwining elements of the trees.
From left to right: No goblin or faery–Comus, Make small elves coats–A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Bottom will sing–A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Quietly filling stocking–Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
Characters
And finally there are many illustrations where the trees actually become characters in the scene.
From left to right: Fir-tree & Bramble–Aesop's Fables, Two Sisters, Tree of Mine–English Faery Tales Retold, London, where King lives–Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, The Little Boy–Snickerty Nick
I hope you’ve enjoyed these illustrations from Arthur Rackham. His work is always such a joy and inspiration to me.
Arthur Rackham’s illustrations are in the public domain. If you’re interested in studying them in more detail, rather than trying to find them all individually here is a link to a book of his illustrations for download:
https://publicdomainimagelibrary.com/collections/arthur-rackham