Arthur Rackham
Since I’m focussing on visual storytelling – I thought it was important to look at one of the early master illustrators of stories. I’ve found that I really like the work of Arthur Rackham.
Many people recognise the work of Arthur Rackham - he illustrated Alice in Wonderland and Gulliver’s Travels amongst other pivotal works between the 1800s and early 1900s.
His style is magical, whimsical, dreamlike and fantastic. It’s perhaps the movement in the inking and the delicacy in the colouring that creates this ethereal quality.
His signature technique was to ink, paint all over with a wash of sepia watercolour, then gradually intensify the colours with thin layers of other watercolours. If any lines were washed out in this process he would trace over them in ink again to keep them crisp in reproductions.
I can see how his style has influenced many concept and comic artists. The watercolour wash influence can be seen in Takeda's Monstress and Langley's Books of invasions.
I also see his influence clearly in other artists I've loved for a long time - such as Stephanie Pui Mun Law and Alan Lee. Similarly, the magical dreamlike quality of their work is created so beautifully with inking and a muted palette of watercolours - a perfect medium for fantasy illustration.
Alan Lee's work on Lord of the Rings and Y Mabinogion is breathtaking, and his vision of Middle Earth compliments Tolkiens work so well. His vision has become intrinsically linked with the high fantasy genre - and has guided the artistic direction for the Lord of the Rings films, as well as many others. Arthur Rackham's influence and legacy, therefore, has remained strong in artists (like Lee) for over a century and can be seen everywhere in the high fantasy art sphere.
https://www.iamag.co/the-art-of-alan-lee/
