Author: Mark Mitchell

Of sea, sky and human spirit

Posted by Mark Mitchell | Jul 24, 2012 | Illustration course, Painting instruction |

So here it is: Alluded to in the videos in the previous post, the first animated film done for the IMAX format and camera. Alex Petrov’s The Old Man and the Sea also happens to be a marvel of illustration and painting....

A finger-painted, animated "expression of dabs"

Posted by Mark Mitchell | Jul 6, 2012 | Illustration course, Painting instruction |

Russian animator Alexander Petrov works a lot like a children’s book illustrator to make his...

Moving pictures on glass

Posted by Mark Mitchell | Jun 25, 2012 | Painting instruction |

Alexander Petrov creates his animations the home-made way, scribbling on layered panes of glass with oil pastels. He paints with his fingers, small brushes, rags — anything handy to help him push and smear his pigments...

Disney's last cartoon

Posted by Mark Mitchell | Jun 18, 2012 | Children's book fine art, Painting instruction |

A children’s book artist and really any illustrator is taught to think of the human or animal figure’s action in the moments before and after the pose. Animators don’t merely think about the action, they...

De-foresting Kipling's dark jungle

Posted by Mark Mitchell | Jun 4, 2012 | Illustration course, Painting instruction |

Rudyard Kipling, who had been born in Bombay and was happier in the Punjab and India than he ever was in England, actually wrote most of The Jungle Book stories in Vermont. He, his wife Carrie and their new baby daughter...