Dynamic Black and White Illustrations

by Leslie Cabarga

Dynamic Black and White Illustration is a collection of illustration art by over 150 of the world's greatest illustrators--in black and white. All methods of black and white or "line art" illustration are covered including woodcut, scratchboard, pen, brush, dry brush, litho crayon, and computer art. The criteria for selection of art was that it be black and white--no halftone dots allowed--and that the work was bold. Tenniel, for example, with his scratchy though wonderful pen style, didn t make the cut. The work of this century s finest illustrators and cartoonists is used to demonstrate each technique. Franklin Booth, Rockwell Kent, John Held, Jr., Edward Penfield, Lester Beall, Lynd Ward, Lucien Bernhard, Virgil Finlay, Eric Gill, Albert Dorne, Roy Krenkel, Boris Artzbasheff, Herbert Stoops, Charles Dana Gibson, Will Bradley, Will Eisner, Daniel Pelavin, Elwood Smith, Art Spiegelman, and Steve Leialoha, are just a few of the artists whose work is shown in the book. Of course, I threw in my own stuff a few times but not so much as to make me seem too conceited. There is some great, rarely-seen and some never-seen art from private collections in this book. All of it is terrifically inspiring. It s also practically a How-To book of illustration styles perfect for the young cartoonist or art student.

192 pages, Paperback

Published June 8, 2001

About the author

Zavier Leslie Cabarga, popularly known as Leslie Cabarga, is an American author, illustrator, cartoonist, animator, font designer, and publication designer. A participant in the underground comix movement in the early 1970s, he has since gone on to write and/or edit over 40 books. His art style evokes images from the 1920s and 1930s, and over the years Cabarga has created many products associated with Betty Boop. His book The Fleischer Story in the Golden Age of Animation, originally published in 1976, has become the authoritative history of the Fleischer Studios.

Reviews

[Bill Lancaster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Organized not chronologically, but rather by art technique. this book by Leslie Cabarga is filled with amazing black and white illustrations. They range from very primitive to the highly polished over a hundred year period.

The commentary is rather minimal, but the illustrations stand on their own. With chapters such as "pen and ink", "brush", "woodcut", etc., this is a striking selection of beautiful illustrations created with different techniques. However, with a publishing date of 1993, there is only a cursory nod to digital illustration.

Still, for anyone interested in illustration, the history of illustration, or even those who can appreciate the beauty of pure black and white drawings, this is a terrific collection.