Figure Drawing, 20th C (the "pin-up" phenomena start)

Figure Drawing, a book intended for beginning commercial artists, was in every way more ambitious than Fun with a Pencil. Loomis’ approach to geometry, proportion and perspective as well as balance, rhythm and movement was as lucid and essential as anything ever published on the subject. It was is a classic of illustration. The American Academy of Art even called it “one of the most brilliant contributions that figure drawing has ever received”

WWII pin-up adaptation to increase soldiers moral in 1943 (not A. Loomis original)

William Andrew Loomis was born in 1892 in Syracuse, New York. At age nine he moved to Zanseville, Ohio and decided to become an artist after visiting the nearby studio of Howard Chandler Christy. After high school he (along with fellow student Norman Rockwell) studied at the Art Students League under George Bridgeman and Frank Vincent du Mond.

In 1915 he moved to Chicago to work at the pioneering advertising studio of Charles Daniel Frey and continued his studies under Leopold Seifert at the Chicago Art Institute. After service in WWI he returned to Chicago and worked in several studios before establishing his own in 1922.

For the next 20 years he would be one of the most successful commercial artists in America. He did editorial illustration for Ladies Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post, Redbook and Life, as well as commercial illustration for Coca-Cola, General Electric, Maxwell House, etc.

Bibliography (from wikipedia A. Loomis BIO)

·         Fun with a Pencil (1939). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on April 5, 2013 from Titan Books.

·         Figure Drawing for All It's Worth (1943). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on May 27, 2011 from Titan Books.

·         Creative Illustration (1947). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on October 12, 2012 from Titan Books.

·         Successful Drawing (1951). Republished in a revised edition as Three Dimensional Drawing (16 new pages with technical material on perspective replacing the pictorial gallery sections) and reissued as a full facsimile of the original on May 4, 2012 from Titan Books.

·         Drawing the Head and Hands (1956). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on October 21, 2011 from Titan Books.

·         The Eye of the Painter (1961).

For an excellent review of Loomis' life and work see: Harris, Jack. “William Andrew Loomis. A Legacy in Words and Pictures.” Illustration. Fall 1997 Vol. 5, No. 20; 8-47, which is online at Issuu.