ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive: Life Drawing: Willy Pogany’s Drawing Lessons

Willy Pogany was one of the most important book illustrators and designers of the first half of the 20th century. His Rime of the Ancient Mariner and books based on Wagnerian opera are masterpieces, to say nothing of his editions of Mother Goose, Alice in Wonderland and Faust. While other illustrators were confining themselves to an occasional tipped in plate buried among page after page of identical text blocks, Pogany broke the mold, designing elaborate pen and ink illustrations that surrounded the text, ornate capitals for the beginning of each page and calligraphy that turned the words into art. He is probably the artist most responsible for establishing what we think of as modern children’s book illustration.

He was also an author and teacher, with three books covering drawing, oil painting and watercolor. Today, I am presenting a section from his book Willy Pogany’s Drawing Lessons titled…

FIGURE SKETCHING