Art

It's Mary Blair's birthday and if Google can celebrate her, so can we. And so should we all. As an animator and designer, Blair is among the most influential artistic figures of the mid-century era, an icon and the creator of some of the loveliest art you'll ever see.

You had us at dinosaur, Dustin Harbin. And with "colored by Sam Bosma and Kali Ciesemier" you chained us up and threw away the key.

Let me translate that headline: POOD #4, the latest issue of the indie comics anthology is on sale this week, with a cover by Jim Rugg. Also inside: work by Eisner-winner Nick Abadzis, 2011 “Best American Comics” pick Kevin Mutch, “Dick Tracy” icon Joe Staton, and many more.

An iconic — and, they say, ironic — Roy Lichetnstein painting based on a drawing by William Overgard is expected to sell for $35-45 million at a Christie's auction. In 1988 the painting sold for $2.1 million, but a recent Lichtenstein sale for $42.6 million suggest the market for his work has expanded a bit more. The painting has been shown at the Guggenheim Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Alas -- already sold out! Larger version and close-ups in link.

Continuing his A-to-Z (one hopes!) series of prints, man of letters Todd Klein has released the latest, a collaboration with Shawn McManus which is actually a board game called "Go Freelance" which sells for a mere $20.

A whole bunch of new art from the loincloth king from a HEAVY METAL magazine profile has been posted at this blog. Gorgeous in its simplicity.

The PHONOGRAM artist has a new print for sale, about US$55.

Today's image is pretty strong stuff so to see the whole thing, you'll have have to click on the thumbnail. It comes to us from Sam Costello, who writes:

This image is from our latest story, A Mother's Love, for Split Lip Comics. I wrote it and David Hitchcock (Whitechapel Freak, Springheeled Jack, etc.) drew it. The story is about a monster plaguing a small town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

You can read the whole story here.

Dynamite has just announced an art book covering their popular cover artist Alex Ross, and although they didn't include the entire interior of the book in their PR mailing, they did include a healthy chunk.

Artist Rafael Kayanan (and one-time Beat UFC color commentator) is probably best known for his work on Conan, but in recent years he's also drawn the Punisher and Spider-Man. He's a busy guy outside of strictly comics though-- he also produces concept art for movies, and stages fights for stage and screen. Hurricane Irene found him inside and tweeting some drawings to stay busy like this Thark from the John Carter books. Check out his Twitter stream for more sketches.

There's art in them thar comics! Dana Jennings surveys the current boom in comics-related art books, with an essay: