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Background painting for Sinbad, Legend of the Seven Seas. Photoshop. Copyright DreamWorks Animation.
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ERICH SOKOL'S PRELIMINARY SKETCHES

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I have previously written about my admiration for illustrator / cartoonist Erich Sokol , whose brilliant work appeared in Playboy Magazine.  A collection of his work recently published by Residenzverlag includes some of his preliminary studies. Napoleon (preliminary study) Napoleon  (finished version) Sokol does not wait until the final image to worry about good design and composition.  They are present in the very first small fragments. Note how strongly Sokol locates this sketch on the page...  ...or how he starts out early identifying and then emphasizing the rhythm and harmony of the human forms: Like many other  artists, Sokol's building blocks contain the DNA of a finished artistic statement. No matter how small or incomplete, details and fragments such as these can encompass the artist's  genetic code and are well worth our attention.
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ERICH SOKOL

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John Ciardi once said, “Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves they have a better idea.” Since we've been rambling for the last few weeks about modern art trends, I thinks it makes sense to heed Ciardi's advice and spend a moment visiting the paintings of Erich Sokol, the gifted illustrator / cartoonist for Playboy magazine. Sokol had a splendid sense of light, color and atmosphere. He was far more talented than traditional pin up artists such as Vargas, whose uninspired paintings now sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Note the confidence with which Sokol handles the stripes of light on the beach in the following painting, or his treatment of the foliage in the background. Nothing is labored, and no unnecessary details. Although the beautiful girl was always the centerpiece of the cartoon, if you look closely you will see that Sokol had more fun painting the male counterpart-- the fat doctor, the grizzled farmer, the blusterin...
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Happy Halloween!

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. I've had a blast working on Dreamworks Halloween specials, these are from Shrek's Thriller Night on the Scared Shrekless DVD. Other projects that were a hoot are "The Pig Who Cried Werewolf" and "Night of the Living Carrots"! They premiered on Nintendo 3DS and will likely have a wide release in the future so I'll have plenty to post for upcoming Halloweens.
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