- Aruthur Rackham, was an English book illustrator. He lived from September 19, 1867-September 6, 1939, and was one of twelve children.
- He didn’t do art as a child and actually originally worked as an office clerk for a fire office, he first got an interest in art when he was about 18 and he didn’t publish anything till 10 years after he started having an interest in art.
- In 1900, Rackham married Edith Starkie who helped him further his art by developing his watercolor skills, which he came to use quite often in his pieces.
- One of the main publishers to work with Rackham was William Heinemann, the works that they created together (Heinemann writing and Rackham illustrating) went on to sell fantastically.
- Rackham mainly used pen, ink, and watercolor (if color was involved in the piece). I find that Rackham’s drawing fall to be all over the value scale, howver within one drawing the value scale is skewed heavily to one side or the other.
- His mark making looks very deliberate, and he is able to mix surreal factors with realistic backgrounds and other subjects. Even though limited his use of color impacts the viewer, he uses color in a smart way when it is present. His pieces feel balanced and the flow through the piece feels natural.
- He created whimsical pieces and more horror-themed pieces.
- In his whimsical pieces he keeps the line weights are lighter and the colors more evenly balanced throughout the page. In his more horror-like pieces he uses a heavier line weights with scratchier feelings to stress and help balance the darker parts of the scenes. This difference in lighter versus heavier line weights helps to set the tones in the drawings, with heavier line weights there is a sort of visual stress on the drawing, a larger section of a solid black color. While with lighter line weighted there is a sense of transparency, an overall “light” feeling of the object, it is not weighted down into the page but “lifts off” the page rather than sinking into it.
Arthur Rackham was an English book illustrator, he lived from September 19, 1867- September 6, 1939. He was one of twelve children, and originally worked as a n office clerk for a fire office. In about 1885 is when Rackham actually started making art as he actually didn’t pursue art/drawing as a child, and his first publication is dated about ten years after the start of his art journey. He developed watercolor skills with the help of his wife Edith Starkie who he married in 1900. William Heinemann was the publisher who worked with Rackham, with Heinemann to write the tales and Rackham to draw the illustrations their works sold well. Rackham also work with other publishers to illustrate their stories and help them come to life.
Rackham mainly used pen and ink, and with some drawings he used watercolors. Many of Rackham’s drawings overall end up at one end of the value scale, either very light or very dark overall. His mark making looks very deliberate, and he is able to mix surreal factors with realistic backgrounds and other subjects. While his use of color is limited it is striking when he does use color. Rackham is able to balance his drawings nicely and keep the flow of the piece natural. Arthur Rackham has a style that beautifully mixes realism with surrealism. He has created many different whimsical pieces of artwork as well as some more horror-like pieces.
Overall, I think that Rackham uses a heavier line weight specifically to distinguish his characters from the backgrounds and/or each other. In his whimsical pieces he keeps the overall line weight lighter and the colors more evenly balanced throughout the page, while in his more horror-like pieces he uses a heavier line weights with scratchier feelings to stress and help balance the darker parts of the scenes. This difference in lighter versus heavier line weights helps to set the tones in the drawings, with heavier line weights there is a sort of visual stress on the drawing, a larger section of a solid black color. While with lighter line weighted there is a sense of transparency, an overall “light” feeling of the object, it is not weighted down into the page but “lifts off” the page rather than sinking into it.
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