Incomplet Design History

Brummett Echohawk was a war hero, an artist, a writer, and a public speaker, and he was also a member of the Pawnee tribe, born in Oklahoma in 1922. Though he is well known for his contributions to the art world, he is less known for his contributions to the history of illustration and commercial art, he turned to these outlets throughout his life to successfully augment his income. Brummett Echohawk considered himself a historical...

REFERENCES

White, R. (2003). Prehistoric Art: The Symbolic Journey of Humankind. Harry N. Abrams Inc. 

Clottes, J. (2008). Cave Art. Phaidon Press Limited. 9780714845920

Neumayer, E. (1983). Prehistoric Indian Rock Paintings. Oxford University Press. 9780195613872

Ruspoli, M. (1987). The Cave of Lascaux: The Final Photographs. Harry N. Abrams Inc. 0810912678

Myron, R. (1964). Prehistoric Art. Pitman Publishing Corporation. 0273438611

Sto...

Art Nouveau was a stylistic movement in the late nineteenth century characterized by highly ornate and decorated designs. Inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, Celtic manuscripts, The Arts and Crafts Movement, and the development of the lithograph, Art Nouveau, or New Art, was applied to everything from architecture to biscuit tins.

Though widely applied, posters that make up a great part of Art Nouveau history.The development of l...

Capcom, a Japan-based maker of successful game properties, made a tremendous impact on the business of video games world wide, and helped usher in the current boom in Japanese-based visual media like manga and anime as much as fellow cultural exports like Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Speed Racer, and the Dragon Ball series. 

The art team behind the bulk of Capcom’s fighting game imagery began in the late 80s and lasted until the early 2000...

TIMELINE

* A broad timeline spanning centuries is used to account for imprecise dates in the Ottoman Empire from multiple sources.

• 14th Century (1300s): The beginning of the Ottoman Empire. This period marks the initial blending of Islamic art with Byzantine and Persian styles, forming the basis for the unique Ottoman artistic and traditional geometric elements appearing as a symbol of Islamic art.
• 15th Century (1400s): Further de...

REFERENCES

Witwer, M. & Newman, K., Peterson, J., Witwer, S. (2018). Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana, A Visual History. Ten Speed Press.

Seeley, S. & Seeley, T. (2015). The Art of He-Man and The Masters of The Universe. Dark Horse Books.

Forster, B. & Sorenson, J. (2019). Transformers Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging. IDW Publishing.

Farago, A. (2014). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History. Insight edition...

Bio/ Background (intro)

• Directors: Ron Clements and John Musker 
• Intro (below)

Topic 1 Introduction

To my surprise, a number of people have never seen or heard of the movie “Treasure Planet.” In this  classic retelling of “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson,  the narrative was turned into an intergalactic adventure complete with cyborgs, space travel, and, of course, treasure. Disney’s “Treasure Planet” was one of two ...

Lynd Ward hits all my favorite aspects of the mercurial world of art and design. Here is the son of a leader of the Methodist Church whose work unabashedly depicts the underside of the Depression Era city and the undead creatures of gothic horror (often in the buff). His work embodies the height of graphic narrative and the depth of pulp chunkiness. The elite halls of the gallery and chummy confines of the childrens’ library nook. ...

José Guadalupe Posada was a Mexican illustrator who worked in lithography and engraving, he was a very prolific image maker who completed an estimated 20,000 illustrations in his lifetime, with themes ranging from Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead illustrations, political cartoons, popular illustrations, and daily life, as well as illustrations for “shocking” crime stories. He was also known to have created illustrations for a ...

From its origins in the 1950s from the pages of books to software like MacDraw in the 1980s to CD Roms, and finally moving online in the 1990s, Clip Art’s evolution took place along with that of graphic design. Even though clip art was mostly created by unnamed designers and illustrators and sold in packages or libraries, there are many important figures we know of whose clip art contributed to the history of graphic design. Joan S...

Most books, not all, but most, follow conventions of book design that have been in place for literally hundreds of years. With very few exceptions, it wasn’t until the 1960s when authors began to play around with story structure that there were any books that also played with the structure of the book itself. And it was later still that graphic design started adding another layer to the storytelling in popular literature. The color...

The History of Tarot decks intersects with symbology, or the study of symbols as well as their history, mass production of text and images, and popular culture, all of which are fields of study in the history of graphic design, and yet this subject has not been included in mainstream histories of design. Is this a reflection of the mystical, romanticized history of the cards, and one that implies a connection to divination or fortu...

The history of graphic design has traditionally skewed toward designers from white hegemony. Where white men (and some women) tend to fill the pages, webpages, and galleries that celebrate design. As humanity evolves, we must realize the value of making space for more diverse voices in the design world. This episode elevates Black designers who have successfully fought against the forces of white supremacy and oppression to take ba...

George Herriman was a cartoonist, illustrator, and pioneer of the cartoon comics genre, and is perhaps most known for his long-running and wildly popular comic strip Krazy Kat. Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, and  John Jacob Astor, a wealthy business tycoon, were some of the famous fans of Herriman’s comics. Astor went so far as to name his dog Ignatz for the mouse that was Krazy Kat’s constant companion. H...

An indigenous cowboy-artist from small-town Oklahoma, Tommy Wayne Cannon was born to Caddo and Kiowa parents in the Fall of 1946. Growing up he attended school in Gracemont and took an interest in the arts. As an adolescent, Cannon was self-taught in the arts and entered his works in regional art competitions through the Southern Plains Indian Museum. His success in these competitions, as well as his proficiency in multiple mediums...

Women have long been a part of bookmaking, design, and publishing, dating as far back as handmade illuminated manuscripts, created before the printing press. In the 18th and 19th centuries, women were known to run some very successful book binderies, including Jane Steel, Katherine Waghorn, Jane Aitken, and Lorina Watkins. Most often women took over when their husbands or fathers died. Other women supported their husbands' work by ...

If it seems like the underground comix scene was a raucous and raunchy boys club, that’s fairly accurate. However, there were plenty of women artists who reacted against the sexist depictions of women in comix, of which there was plenty. Their complaints about how women were being portrayed was seen to be just more censorship heaped on the male comix artists. Rather than just be quiet and go away, women like Trina Robbins, Willy Me...

Comix, spelled with an x at the end instead of c, is a uniquely American movement and brings to mind eccentric, explicit, and subversive comics aimed at an adult audience. Having roots in the explicit Tijuana Bibles of the 1920, the lurid horror comics produced by EC, and the later wackiness of MAD Magazine, Comix creators defied censorship laws and American moral standards to create their unique artistic visions and thrived as a p...

During the 1960s, the Chicano Movement or "El Movimiento" gave way for Chicano artists, designers, and printmakers to emerge. The Chicano Movement united Chicanos, Americans of Mexican heritage who chose that label, in a new shared identity to fight for social and political empowerment. One of the creatives that made their mark in support of this movement was Yolanda Margarita López, a feminist painter, printmaker, educator, and fi...