A very strange cover indeed! For me, when I commence a search on the web for Fred's art, I never type in his name. I just proceed to sites where I hope to find a sizable number of old paperback book covers displayed, and then one by one I look over the thumbnail images for a sign of Fred's style.
THIS is one of the covers I remember clicking on in one such search, all because of what I call the "dropstroke" painting effect often seen in the backgrounds of Fred's paintings...and the monotone color scheme.
I remember when questioning Fred about his working techniques, I inquired about his habit of often painting his subjects in a single color tone, remarking to him at the same time about how I thought it really added to the overall picture's appeal. He laughed and told me that it was simply a time-saving device used by many illustrators to meet deadlines. He said he learned early on in his professional career to use all the shortcuts available to a commercial artist. And, using as few colors as possible in a design is one of the most effective ways of speeding the process along. He said he averaged about one cover or art assignment per week. That was his working speed.
3 comments:
A very strange cover indeed! For me, when I commence a search on the web for Fred's art, I never type in his name. I just proceed to sites where I hope to find a sizable number of old paperback book covers displayed, and then one by one I look over the thumbnail images for a sign of Fred's style.
THIS is one of the covers I remember clicking on in one such search, all because of what I call the "dropstroke" painting effect often seen in the backgrounds of Fred's paintings...and the monotone color scheme.
I remember when questioning Fred about his working techniques, I inquired about his habit of often painting his subjects in a single color tone, remarking to him at the same time about how I thought it really added to the overall picture's appeal. He laughed and told me that it was simply a time-saving device used by many illustrators to meet deadlines. He said he learned early on in his professional career to use all the shortcuts available to a commercial artist. And, using as few colors as possible in a design is one of the most effective ways of speeding the process along. He said he averaged about one cover or art assignment per week. That was his working speed.
Besides being very dark, that young nubile body with an old lady's head on it is just jarring.
There is a nice Pfeiffer signature on this one at the lower right.
Rob, that's a great little story about Fred's working method. I hope you have some more of those.
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