Andrew Loomis was a highly regarded commercial illustrator who was prominent in the 40′s and 50′s. He was a superb draughtsman and the author of several how-to books on drawing that are classics in their genre, particularly Figure Drawing for All it’s Worth and Drawing the Head and Hands. Anyone interested in drawing people can benefit from studying Loomis, particularly illustrators and comic book artists.

The bad news is that his books are out of print and collectors want upwards of $70 for them. There are a couple of recent books that are extracted from the originals, Drawing: Figures in Action and Drawing the Head. They’re worthwhile (and inexpensive), but incomplete compared to the originals.

The good news is that there are archives of the original books online. The link below is to a terrific site at saveloomis.org that has an archive of most of his books. There is also a less-well organized archive at fineart.sk. Bud Plant Illustrated Books has a Loomis bio and is a place other than eBay to buy Loomis books. There is an archive of some of his finished illustration here.

New England artist William B. Hoyt does landscapes and still life paintings in a detailed style that approaches photo-realism. I prefer the looser, more painterly work found in the “Italian Sketchbook” section of the site. Most of the images have a link to a “high-res version” if you look for it.

Donato Giancola is one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy artists. His respect for the old masters shows in his excellent draughtsmanship and superb command of painting technique. The site includes several galleries of illustration as well as life drawing, traditional portraiture and concept art. The illustrations are sometimes accompanied by preliminary sketches and the site includes an illustrated section on technique.

His work is imaginative, colorful, subtle and always beautifully executed. If you like science fiction and fantasy illustration, Giancola is not to be missed.

French comics artist Bengal has a fresh, open style influenced by both traditional French comics and Japanese manga. The gallery features color images, sketches and a few comic panels. Bengal is also a designer and the drawings have a terrific design sense and use of color. The linework is vigorous and varied and the images are imaginative.

The site contains nudity and sexually suggestive images. Avoid it if you’re likely to be offended.

In addition to being the Visual Effects Art Director for films like Forrest Gump, Back to the Future II, The Mask and Terminator 2, Doug Chiang was head of the Art Department and Design Director for Star Wars Episodes I and II. His terrific production design art is featured prominently in the Art of Star Wars books for those movies.

The Doug Chiang Studio site is devoted largely to his own book and film project, Robota, and the galleries feature art from that project. You can order the book from Amazon and see teaser trailers here.

Kind of hidden in the current navigation is a section of Studio Tips, that step through the process of creating a concept design marker sketch and painting.

There is also a more general Doug Chang gallery on the Ice Blink Studios site.

A subtle, emotional web comic about a young woman coming to grips with her situation, choices and sexuality. Solid drawing, subtle colors and good storytelling make this an effective slice-of-life comic story. Author/artist Justine Shaw has an eye for real-world details that give her drawings a tactile realism and sense of atmosphere. Her compositions are cinematic, nicely varied and and effectively fitted to the story.

Unlike many “web comics” that are basically wannabe comic books that can’t make it to print, Nowhere Girl has a true web comic format. It’s made to be read on a horizontal computer screen.

The first story is dark, literally and figuratively, as is the main character’s state of mind. If your tolerance for teenage angst is low this week, you may want to start with part two, in which the protagonist is in a more positive phase of her life.

As Shaw seems to be involved in other projects, the strip hasn’t been updated recently. I’m one of many hoping that she will continue it soon.

Bill Ellsworth is one of my favorite “non-representational” digital artists. His images look like some kind of 3-dimensional digital decoupage, suggesting what Max Ernst might have done with Photoshop, Bryce and Kai’s Power Tools. Unfortunately, his old site has been replaced with what is essentially a product showcase on Zazzle, but it still functions as a gallery. The site also includes some of his drawings and paintings in traditional media. His other site contains some of his CD covers.

In my development as an artist, it’s taken me a long time to get over being intimidated by the great masters. Over the years, I’ve caught Raphael and Michelangelo making mistakes in proportion, Prud’hon cheating to fit a figure on a sheet of paper, even Rembrandt missing the mark. I eventually realized that the masters may have been great, but they were still only human.

I’m not so sure about Vermeer.

There is something extraordinary about Vermeer’s work that lifts his skills out of the realm of even great art into some weird kind of other-worldly ability to capture and crystalize a moment in time. Like a human holography camera, he seems to grab a sheet of the light coming from his subjects, filter it through his remarkable eye, hold it still for a few hundred years and then release it again when you’re standing in front of his paintings.

It’s only fitting that there be an extraordinary web site devoted to this extraordinary artist and Essential Vermeer is just that. The site is sweepingly comprehensive, exhaustively researched and endlessly fascinating. It covers the artist’s life, work, technique, clients, subjects, influences and much more. I don’t have room here to describe all of the nifty features of this 400 page(!) site. I wish there was a site like this for all the great masters.

The paintings are arranged in a number of ways, the most straightforward is the Complete Catalog.

Just remember that, as amazing as they can look in reproductions, you haven’t seen a Vermeer until you stand in front of the real thing. If you have a chance, try to see some of them in person. There are 12 in the US, mostly in New York and DC. The site includes a terrific feature on the geographical distribution of Vermeer’s paintings.