Like its predecessor, The Zoomquilt I, which I wrote about in 2006, The Zoomquilt II is a collaborative art project by 34 different artists.

Basically an amusement, this is an animated sequence of scenes, each one of which is related to the others by a transitional area within the image that allows for a continuous zoom, one scene leading into the next, leading into the next and so on.

The effect is nicely hypnotic, and the images are fun pseudo-Surrealism, full of monsters and trippy landscapes. You can control the speed and direction of the zoom with a slider on a pop-out panel at the left, that also contains the credits.

The Flash based animation is set to render to the size of the browser window, so maximize your browser for best effect.

In what may turn out to be an unfortunate choice, one of the participants used Disney characters in one of the scenes, so if the web site is hosted anywhere that has a copyright treaty with the U.S. this version may not be available for long. Enjoy it while you can.

[Via BoingBoing]

Peter de Sève, a terrific illustrator, New Yorker cover artist and character designer for animated feature films, who I wrote about back in 2006, has a new children’s book (Hooray!), a new blog (double Hooray!) and is the subject of a new monograph (triple Hooray!).

The children’s book is The Duchess of Whimsey, written by his wife, Randall de Sève, the blog is called A Sketchy Past, the Art of Peter de Sève, and the monograph is titled the same, A Sketchy Past, the Art of Peter de Sève (look for the link to download a beautiful PDF preview of the book under the images in the right hand column; Amazon link here).

More Hoorays: there is an audio interview with De Sève on Sidebar (look for “Click Here” link at bottom of post), a video interview (conducted by Bobby Chiu) on Imaginism Studios; and word has it that there is a tutorial DVD in the works at Massive Black (no direct info yet).

There is also a nice selection of original art for sale on the Arludik Gallery. The site is unfortunately in frames so I can give you a direct link. Click on his image at top left an follow through the work, drawings first, then color works.

De Sève has a sharp, lively style, springy with confident draftsmanship and sparkling with whimsey. He wields it with aplomb across the range of his endeavors. He deftly captures light, movement, expression and energy in his pen and watercolor pieces, and somehow makes it look easy. His solid background in traditional drawing technique serves him well in his imaginative expressions of wild characters and delightfully loopy animals.

The new book, which I haven’t had the chance to pick up yet, has over 200 pages of full color art, and promises to be a first class treat.

Hooray!

Addendum: Parka, of the always enlightening blog Parka Blogs, was kind enough to point out in this post’s comments the that new monograph is currently available from the publisher, Stuart Ng and Amazon France, and will soon be available from Amazon Canada, but is listed on the U.S. Amazon site with a release date of May, 1010 (go figure).

Butch Belair is a photographer and digital artist based in Brooklyn, NY.

He indicates that he drew extensively as a child, but lost interest in drawing for a time and only returned to the practice a few years ago. He began to carry a pen and sketchbook and draw his surroundings, and has since added watercolor to his sketching materials.

Belair says he considers drawing his form of meditation, an escape from the stresses of working, and devotes time to it whenever he can.

His watercolor sketches of city scenes, particularly those of row homes or industrial and commercial structures, are wonderful in their contrasts of texture light and shadow.

He takes on complex scenes as a challenge, working immediately in ink and watercolor, without preliminary pencil sketches, on subjects like metal bridgework and elevated train structures.

He now frequently works in 5×8 watercolor sketchbooks and has posted a Flicker stream of his sketches.

Belair also contributes to Urban Sketchers, which is where I encountered his work.

Don Ivan Punchatz was one of the outstanding talents in late 20th Century illustration. It’s unlikely that you have not seen his illustrations somewhere, whether on book covers or in magazines like Time, Newsweek, Playboy, Esquire, Rolling Stone, National Geographic or National Lampoon.

Personally, I remember being struck by his cover illustrations for the Avon editions of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy.

Punchatz had a versatile range, a solid command of painting technique, and a wild imagination. He particularly excelled at conceptual metaphor, carrying complex ideas through in images that had more than one layer of meaning.

Ray Bradbury said of him: “His ability to touch men with acrylic and melt them into beasts, or touch beasts with oil and ink – and: voila! they are senators or brokers – is endlessly stunning. Metaphor, after all, is the universal language. He could teach at Berlitz!”

In addition to his work as an illustrator, Punchatz was influential on other illustrators in a more direct way. He was one of the few to move away from the New York publishing center, and established a studio in Texas that became the model for several others.

Due to the detailed nature of his style, and the difficulty of creating images on deadline, he hired several assistants, and, according to illustrator and comics artist Gary Panter, who was one of them, ran his studio like a Renaissance workshop. As was also the case with Renaissance workshops, many of his assistants went on to become accomplished artists in their own right.

Punchatz taught illustration and graphic design at Texas Christian University and was a guest instructor at Syracuse University. He was also recognized outside of the illustration field, and his work in in the collections of the Dallas Art Museum and the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery.

Don Ivan Punchatz died of cardiac arrest on October 22nd. Unfortunately, I can’t find a major collection of his work online, but I’ve gathered a few sites below that either have bios or examples of his work.

Many are familiar with Punchatz primarily for his famous cover for the hugely popular game Doom, for which he unfortunately turned down royalties, opting instead for a flat fee. Like many freelance artists, Punchatz was not as strong at business as he might have been.

Also like many freelance illustrators and artists, Punchatz was without medical insurance, and his widow is now facing a mountain of medical bills from his hospitalization. Donations can be made to Sandra Punchatz, c/o Lewis Glaser, TCU School of Art, TCU, Box 298000, Fort Worth TX 76129.

[Suggestion and donation address courtesy of Larry Roibal]

(Any of you Republicans out there want to tell me again why you’re conducting this embarrassingly shameful fight to prevent health care reform in the U.S.?)

Addendum: Despite my comment above, I have suspended comments on this post. I simply don’t have time to admin a continuing political debate, as valuable as lively discussion may be. The original post is about Don Ivan Punchatz, and I have let his son Greg close out the discussion in the comments section. -Charley