Narrative Illustration Artist research. Charley Harper

As part of my research I wanted to look at some examples of mid-century illustration. Charley Harper was a natural history Illustrator working in a very distinct mid-century printing style. His work often depicted animals in their natural habitats but with a visual twist when compared to the traditional styles of illustrating animals. Even though his work seems graphic or digital in today's out look, this work was created by hand, using mediums such as gouache.

The first illustrations are a set of three spider depictions by Charley Harper. The colours used in this piece are not typical of most mid-century art, these examples seem quite reserved and naturalistic. Most examples of work from this period were brightly coloured often with a emphasis on yellow or pink. This piece however uses greens, blues and browns which strengthen the natural tone. The compensation is interesting as the illustrations are set up in a way which is reminiscent to comic panels. 

 

Illustration number two shows a selection of creatures and plant life in a large interlocking print. This in an interesting illustration as it shows a multitude of textures and colour chose. The animals and plants are kept to a graphic and simplistic style. Even though the colours are a bit more vivid in this illustration, compared to the last they still seem to stick to a natural theme in this illustration. There is a use of tones including red and lime green but there are also a lot of blacks and browns, this seems to tone down the overall look of the piece.

Piece three shows the evolution of a horse through cave drawings. This piece highlights another trait of the mid-century style. Images were often simple as a product of the style, but had a lot of underling thought in their compositions and structure. This illustration seems quite intelligent and well thought through, the image still clearly depicts what it set out to do. This illustration also has some wonderful rock textures and a clever use of brush strokes for the clouds.

All of These images were taken from the book “Charley Harper an illustrated life”