On this day, November 9, 1911, illustrator and author Howard Pyle died in Florence, Italy while studying to better his mural art. Pyle studied art in Philadelphia with the Belgian artist Van der Weilen and later learned about illustration on the job in New York. In the midst of his own successful career, Pyle began teaching illustration
On this day, November 8, 1985, illustrator and woodcut artist Jacques Hnizdovsky died in New York City. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and Zagreb. After he moved to the United States, Hnizdovsky modelled from plants and animals since it cost nothing to use them. In addition to book illustration Hnizodovsky designed
On this day, November 7, 1893, Samuel John Armstrong was born in Denver, Colorado. He studied at the Philadelphia School of Industrial Art and the Rochester Mechanics’ Art Institute. Armstrong worked for Disney Studios as an animator specializing in watercolor illustrations and backgrounds of animated films including Snow White, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi.
On this day, November 6, 1973, freelance artist/illustrator and musician, Sean A. Hartter was born in Brockton/Fall River, Massachusetts. Hartter produced Alternate Universe Movie Posters and did art work for Entertainment Weekly.
On this day, November 5, 1927, illustrator Howard Terpning was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and at the American Academy of Art. In addition to commercial illustration in Haddon Sundblom’s studio, Terpning illustrated for various popular magazines, and created over 80 movie posters.
On this day, November 4, 1939, writer and illustrator Gail E. Haley was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. The daughter of a newspaper art director, Haley studied at the Richmond Professional Institute and at the University of Virginia. Her first book was My Kingdom for a Dragon.
On this day, November 3, 1908, illustrator and children’s book author Gyo Fujikawa was born in Berkeley, California. She studied at the Chouinard Art Institute and then went to work for Walt Disney Studios. Gyo also wrote and illustrated more than 40 children’s books. Her first book Babies, used multi-racial characters—a feature she continued through-out her
On this day, November 2, 1981, comic book writer/artist Wally (Wallace Allan) Wood died in Los Angeles, California. After serving in WWII, Wood studied at the Minneapolis School of Art and then at the Hogarth School of Art. He worked for Will Eisner as a Spirit background artist. Wood drew for various romance comics, produced
On this day, November 1, 1926, writer and illustrator Hilary Knight was born in Hempstead, Long Island, New York; he was the child of illustrator parents. Knight studied at the Art Students League in New York and served in the navy during WWII. Active in many areas of illustration, Knight was perhaps best known as
On this day, October 31, 1960, illustrator and cartoonist Jim Benton was born in Birmingham, Michigan. After studying art at Western Michigan University, Benton began designing characters for T-shirts. His SpyDogs characters became an animated series. He has created such characters as Franny K. Stein and his Happy Bunny.