tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18907156.post116118186338191245..comments2024-03-19T06:12:18.701-04:00Comments on Today's Inspiration: Valley of the Barbie and Ken Dollsleifpenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18907156.post-1161187365599217272006-10-18T12:02:00.000-04:002006-10-18T12:02:00.000-04:00Thanks for your comment, David - I will be sure to...Thanks for your comment, David - I will be sure to read Parker's essay!<BR/><BR/>I know exactly what you mean about Whitcomb and the dumbing down of America, or more specifically, the dumbing down of illustration. Its the point Noel Sickles and Gil Kane made in that Comic's Journal interview, using Whitcomb as the marker of the demise of "good" illustration.<BR/><BR/>That's why I'm so amused by the Cosmo article where Whitcomb describes the qualities of his various movie star models - by that time, he had evolved his idealization formula to the point where, really, no model was necessary.leifpenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07232334860061949895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18907156.post-1161185387101050982006-10-18T11:29:00.000-04:002006-10-18T11:29:00.000-04:00I am really enjoying your thoughtful commentary on...I am really enjoying your thoughtful commentary on Whitcomb, Leif. I never thought about the connection between Dorne and Whitcomb, but it makes perfect sense and sheds some interesting light on the transition of the times. <BR/><BR/>Personally, I don't care much for Whitcomb's work. There were others, such as Al Parker, who suffered through the "big head" phase of American illustration with far more artistic integrity. (For another fascinating perspective on how the illustration style of the day was affected by the culture following World War II, read Al Parker's superb essay on "The Decade: 1940-1950" in Walt Reed's The Illustrator In America.)<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I had to laugh at your discovery of a "crowd scene" from Whitcomb. For him, a crowd scene means big heads in the foreground and smaller heads in the background-- all surrounded by night shadows which eliminate the challenging problems of perspective, foreshortening, interaction of figures, etc. Compare this "crowd scene" with the complex architecture of the crowd scene from Dorne that you posted last week, and you can see that we were well on our way to the dumbing down of America.David Apatoffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11293486149879229016noreply@blogger.com