Okay, this picture gives me the perfect opportunity to tell you about one of the ways Fred approached his work on an assignment, because you can see the technique he frequently used much more easily here than in any of the other cover art previously posted.
Many illustrators used this technique, it's nothing new. First, Fred always kept a huge supply of single-edged razor blades on hand, not to paint with, but to carefully cut profiles of various images out of magazine photos...human figures, buildings, animals, assorted objects, etc. He actually kept a collection of these cut-outs for the obvious reason of re-using them whenever a project called for such elements. How did he use them?
Fred would select the cut-out photographic elements he wanted for a design and assemble them together loosely on a table...in a variety of combinations UNTIL he happened upon the combination that looked most appealing. He would gently lay a pane of glass over the desired combination to keep the elements from shifting apart due to disturbance from accidental bumps against the table or small air currents generated by the opening and closing of doors, etc.
He would then proceed to create a preliminary drawing or sketch based on this assembled combination of photographic elements...adding, subtracting or altering each one to suit the project at hand. In Fred's own words, this was "a tremendous time-saving technique" and extremely beneficial in the sense that it allowed him to get a highly accurate idea of how the finished cover would look BEFORE he had even started painting.
It was Fred who got me started long ago on the habit of ALWAYS doing...FIRST...a "thumbnail" drawing of the picture I was contemplating, and then to work upward in size, a practice I still follow whenever I attempt a work of art.
That's interesting, Fred was using this technique just like Photoshop is used today. You can do everything you just described in the program and print it up a few seconds later.
3 comments:
The image of the back-packer is identical to the one on the cover of a 1979 Ace paperback called Borderline.
The Pfeiffer signature is below the naked girl in the water.
Okay, this picture gives me the perfect opportunity to tell you about one of the ways Fred approached his work on an assignment, because you can see the technique he frequently used much more easily here than in any of the other cover art previously posted.
Many illustrators used this technique, it's nothing new. First, Fred always kept a huge supply of single-edged razor blades on hand, not to paint with, but to carefully cut profiles of various images out of magazine photos...human figures, buildings, animals, assorted objects, etc. He actually kept a collection of these cut-outs for the obvious reason of re-using them whenever a project called for such elements. How did he use them?
Fred would select the cut-out photographic elements he wanted for a design and assemble them together loosely on a table...in a variety of combinations UNTIL he happened upon the combination that looked most appealing. He would gently lay a pane of glass over the desired combination to keep the elements from shifting apart due to disturbance from accidental bumps against the table or small air currents generated by the opening and closing of doors, etc.
He would then proceed to create a preliminary drawing or sketch based on this assembled combination of photographic elements...adding, subtracting or altering each one to suit the project at hand. In Fred's own words, this was "a tremendous time-saving technique" and extremely beneficial in the sense that it allowed him to get a highly accurate idea of how the finished cover would look BEFORE he had even started painting.
It was Fred who got me started long ago on the habit of ALWAYS doing...FIRST...a "thumbnail" drawing of the picture I was contemplating, and then to work upward in size, a practice I still follow whenever I attempt a work of art.
That's interesting, Fred was using this technique just like Photoshop is used today. You can do everything you just described in the program and print it up a few seconds later.
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