Norman Kent Offers 'True Praise' for West Coast Illustrators

"A successful illustration," writes Norman Kent, art director of True magazine, "is one which leads the reader into the story. To know just what episode to select represents one of the most important skills expected of illustrators."


"The selection of an illustrator depends on the character of the story, on the art editor's appraisal of the artist's past performances and, of course, on the illustrator's availability. Whenever practical, the illustrator is called in to discuss the story based on the art editor's brief digest and his suggestions concerning the action or incident to be illustrated."

"Working long distance is something most art editors like to avoid, but there are notable exceptions. A quartet of illustrators who live and work in California - Stan Galli, Fred Ludekens, Glen Grohe, and Bruce Bomberger - have done illustrations for us for years. Airmail for manuscripts and sketches, air express affording two-day delivery service for final paintings, and occasional long distance phone calls provide the mechanics; fine talent and California climate produce the genius!"


"Bruce Bomberger used flat lighting and a low eye level to dramatize tense action in the story of the unstripping of a giant Resistance leader, during the second World War, a more subtle yet powerful dramatization than a picture of the bloody action which, indeed, was involved in several exciting episodes of this moving story; more powerful because I think one is impelled to read the story to discover why this giant of a man, armed to the teeth, permitted the indignity of being stripped of authority."



"The Galli and Ludekens illustrations reproduced are characteristic of their abilities to think editorially and to compose arresting pictures without extremes of action; It was the 'old pro' Fred Ludekens, who introduced Stan Galli and Bruce Bomberger to the art directors of True about ten years ago and it was for this magazine that Galli and Bomberger began their editorial illustration careers."


"Besides their work inside 'the book' they have painted many covers for True, particularly Ludekens, who usually does a minimum of three each year."


"The standards that these artists have set are stimulated in no small measure by the challenging manuscripts that point up the old saying that fact is often stranger than fiction."

Excerpted from the an article in the September 1954 issue of American Artist magazine.

* My Bruce Bomberger Flickr set
* My Stan Galli Flickr set
* My Fred Ludekens Flickr set