Life & Career Of Joseph Christian Leyendecker, A German-Born American Illustrator
Joseph Christian Leyendecker was a German-born American illustrator alive from 1874-1951. In 1882, when he was eight years old, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he studied under John H. Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute. He became internationally known for his magazine covers and advertisements.
J.C. was a natural artist from a young age. He would draw and paint on anything and everything he could. His brother was also an illustrator, although not as famous. His family saved money so that he could attend formal art school, but it wasn't enough. At 16 years old, J.C. got a job as an apprentice at J. Manz and Co., a printing/engraving house in Chicago. Soon he was taking night classes at The Chicago Art Institute under John H. Vanderpoel, who was known for his anatomy book illustrations. This definitely seemed to help him as he was soon promoted to staff illustrator at J. Manz and Co. At 19, he was asked to illustrate 60 images for a personal Bible for one of the company’s clients. At 22, he won a magazine cover award for one of his most known clients, Century Magazine.
In 1896, he and his brother enrolled at the Academie Julien in Paris, France. While studying in Europe he became famous and participated in the Salon Champs de Mars, which took place in 1897. Once he and his brother returned to Chicago, they opened a studio in Chicago's Fine Arts Building at 410 South Michigan Ave. In May of 1899, J.C. received his first commission for The Saturday Evening Post, which was that most popular magazine in the country. He continued to make covers for them for 44 years. He made 322 covers for them.
In 1900 their sister moved to NYC, this is where J.C.’s most popular work was made. Some say he even invented branding in advertisement. He started doing commissions for fashion brands advertisements. Through his work with the Arrow Collar Man ads, he single-handedly created the fashionable, American, male aesthetic for the early 20th century. He also met his long term partner, Charles Beach. In the early 20th century he also met Norman Rockwell, who he mentored. Rockwell went on to be even more famous than Leyendecker, but many knew that Rockwell learned his style from Leyendecker.
According to the Gurney Journal, an online blog, in December of 1950, J.C. Leyendecker outlined his process in a letter to a student. Below is his letter: “My first step is to fill a sketch pad with a number of small rough sketches about two by three inches, keeping them on one sheet so you can compare them at a glance. Select the one that seems to tell the story most clearly and has an interesting design. Enlarge this by square to the size of the magazine cover, adding more detail and color as needed. You are now ready for the model. First, make a number of pencil or charcoal studies. Select the most promising and on a sketch canvas do these in full color, oil or water with plenty of detail. Keep an open mind and be alert to capture any movement or pose that may improve your original idea. You may now dismiss your model, but be sure you have all the material needed with separate studies of parts to choose from, for you are now on your own and must work entirely from your studies. This canvas will somewhat resemble a picture puzzle, and it is up to you to assemble it and fit it into your design at the same time simplify wherever possible by eliminating all unessentials. All this is done on tracing paper and retraced on the final canvas. Your finished painting may be any size to suit you, but is usually about twice the size of the reproduction.
As a rule, I start work with a round or flat sable using a thin wash, with turps as a medium. Keep shadows very transparent, and as the work progresses, apply the paint more thickly on lighted areas, adding some poppy oil or linseed oil if necessary, and using a larger flat bristle brush for the heavier paint, but still keeping the shadows thin and vibrant. “When the work is dry, apply a quick drying retouching varnish either with a brush or an atomizer. Sometimes because of prohibitive model rates or other reasons, one is forced to use photography, but try and avoid it if possible.” I thought this was so cool to understand his process from his perspective. Overall I really liked Leyendecker’s work. He was a fantastic artist that made a huge impact on the illustration scene, specifically in magazine covers. He is the american dream, growing up with little money, working hard, even from a young age, and growing up to be internationally known for his work.
In 1951, Layendecker died of a heart attack in his home. He lived a life full of experiences and many fantastic works of art. Aaron Blaise is an American illustrator and animator born in Burlington, Vermont in 1968. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Naples, FL. He loved Naples because the wildlife there was incredible. He says that he spent most of his time outside, barefoot, shirtless, maybe picking ticks off his body, with his sketchbook and paints at hand. Nature was his subject always. He recalls hanging out with his dad in a field at a young age, his dad whittling duck decoys and him sketching the ducks waddling around near them.
Once he grew up, he attended Ringling School of Art and Design. His hope was to work for either Disney Studios or Hallmark to make cards. He was fortunate enough to get an internship with Disney Studios right out of school. Once the internship was over, Disney offered him a full time position as an animator. In 1990, he was the assistant animator for both Roller Coaster Rabbit and Rescuers Down Under. In 1991, he was the main character animator for Beauty and the Beast. I thought this was so cool because I picked him thinking he was really cool but had no idea he was the main animator of my all time favorite movie!
Between 1992-1998, he was the character animator for Aladdin, Lion King, and Mulan. After this he really wanted to do an animated film with a bear. He talked to his department supervisor who then made him a director. They hired people to do the script and storyline and he became director of Brother Bear. While creating Brother Bear, the team traveled up north to Alaska's Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and Kodiak Island, detouring through Yellowstone National Park, The Grand Tetons and California's Sequoia National Park as part of their research.
Blaise ended up working for Disney for 21 years. He left to help start up a new animation studio. He started the process of going through different ideas before coming up with the ultimate feature film idea. He says it started off great and that the characters and plot were great but then the studio ran out of money and he had no job. After losing his job, he has been able to illustrate much more. He currently lives in Stuart, FL on the beach. He is still inspired by nature and wildlife. In his new found free time- he still works on animation and now has launched a website. His website is awesome, it has video tutorials, photoshop brushes, animation tutorials, and more. He says the goal of his website is to provide affordable art and art education. Aside form his website, he is currently working on a movie called Art Story.
In an interview with LifeHacker.com, he says the story is, “about a boy and his grandfather that have the ability to step through the frame and into the painted world. The two go on a fantastic journey taking them through paintings by Monet, Dali, Van Gogh, Picasso and so on. The fun part of the visuals in this film is that the characters take on the look of each world they venture into. For instance, when they enter the world of Van Gogh they will be made up of heavy, vibrant brush strokes, or when the enter Picasso's world, they'll have their eyes on the side of their faces.” He also has done freelance work here and there. One of the biggest things he has done recently was character development of some of the live-action Jungle Book characters.
In the interview, lifehacker.com asked him for his best time-saving short cut or life hack. This was his response My best time saving shortcut really is my process. I approach all of my work the same way. When I'm designing I specify a certain amount of time to research and information gathering. I'm a huge advocate of research. When it comes time to actually start creating images, I do that the same way every time as well. Through this repetition of my process I've been able to really get to where I can crank out a lot of images fast but still keep them fresh and unique. When I'm writing there is no shortcut. I lock myself away in my office and let the story kind take hold of me. However, I always remain conscious of theme and structure in my storytelling, so in a way that helps keep things moving and developing quickly. I find that if you don't keep those notions in mind, your story will wander and you'll end up with a lot of unusable stuff that doesn't really amount to anything.”
As a student, we get drilled in the head that process is everything and I feel like we do believe it but it loses its meaning after a while. After hearing this, from a famous professional, its like a spark to the fire that process really does make it everything. Blaise also talks about how he cant work without his Cintiq or Photoshop. Online, he has some really cool photoshop painting tutorials made with the Cintiq. I think that Aaron Blaise was a successful component to Disney Studios the time he was there. Knowing his story and process really makes his work stand out more. His mission to teach other people to do what he knows is great. I wish more artists would do that.
Bibliography:
- “Aaron Blaise.” The Art of Aaron Blaise, creatureartteacher.com/author/ablaise/.
- “Aaron Blaise Biography and Filmography | Aaron Blaise Movies.” Tribute.ca, www.tribute.ca/people/aaron-blaise/11092/.
- “AMERICAN ILLUSTRATORS GALLERY.” American Illustrators Gallery, www.americanillustrators.com/travel/norman-rockwell-and-his-mentor-j-c-leyendecker/.
- Ankele, Daniel, Denise. Joseph Christian Leyendecker: 225 Golden Age Illustrations. Ankele Publishing, LLC, 2014.
- Blaise, Aaron. “Art of Aaron Blaise - Animation Lessons, Tutorials & Digital Painting Courses.” The Art of Aaron Blaise, creatureartteacher.com/Douglas, Ava. “Joseph C. Leyendecker.” History of Graphic Design, www.historygraphicdesign.com/index.php/the-modernist-era/the-modern-movement-in-america/450-alexander-liberman.
- Gurney, James, and Joseph Leyendecker. “Leyendecker's Method.” Gurney Journal, 9 Sept. 2010, gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/09/leyendeckers-method.html.
- “J.C. Leyendecker Biography.” Publishing, www.bpib.com/illustrat/leyendec.htm.
- Orin, Andy. “I'm Aaron Blaise, Animator and Illustrator, and This Is How I Work.” Lifehacker, Lifehacker.com, 17 Dec. 2014, lifehacker.com/im-aaron-blaise-animator-and-illustrator-and-this-is-1671950347.
- Society, The Saturday Evening Post. “Biography: Joseph Christian ‘J.C." Leyendecker.” The Saturday Evening Post, www.saturdayeveningpost.com/post-artists/biography-joseph-christian-leyendecker.
