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William Andrew Loomis (June 15, 1892 – May 25, 1959) was an American
illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...
, writer, and art instructor. His commercial work was featured prominently in advertising and magazines; however, Loomis is best known as the writer of a series of instructional art books printed throughout the 20th century. Long after his death, Loomis's realistic style has continued to influence popular artists.


Early life

Loomis was born on June 15, 1892, in
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
. Loomis grew up in
Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capita ...
, and spent much of his working life in
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
. He studied at the
Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...
under
George Bridgman George Brant Bridgman (November 5, 1864 – December 16, 1943) was a Canadian-American painter, writer, and teacher in the fields of anatomy and figure drawing. Bridgman taught anatomy for artists at the Art Students League of New York for some ...
and
Frank DuMond Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teac ...
when he was 19. Loomis then went back to Chicago to work at an art studio and study at the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
.


Career

After military service in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Loomis worked for a couple of advertising agencies before opening his own studio in downtown Chicago in 1922. From that time until the late 1930s Loomis produced advertising paintings for many large companies such as
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...
, Palmolive,
Quaker Oats The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Precursor miller companies In the 1850s, Ferdinand Schumacher and Robert Stuart founded oat mills. S ...
, Munsingwear and
Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toaste ...
. He was the official portrait painter of the
Dionne quintuplets The Dionne quintuplets (; born May 28, 1934) are the first quintuplets known to have survived their infancy. The identical girls were born just outside Callander, Ontario, near the village of Corbeil. All five survived to adulthood. The Dionn ...
, and he created Jack and Bingo for the cover of the
Cracker Jack Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack food that consists of molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn, and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of trivial value inside. The Cracker Jack name and slogan, "The More You Eat The ...
box. In 1932, Loomis created paintings for the advertisements that would introduce 3 Musketeers. One of those paintings was a portrait of a
Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
chemist, Frances Herdlinger. Herdlinger was one of three women chemists working regularly with
Forrest Mars Sr Forrest Edward Mars Sr. (March 21, 1904 – July 1, 1999) was an American billionaire businessman and the driving force of the Mars candy empire. He is best known for introducing Milky Way (1924) and Mars (1932) chocolate candy bars, and M&M's ...
. on the development of the new candy bar. In the 1930s, he taught at the
American Academy of Art The American Academy of Art College is a private art school in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1923 for the education of fine and commercial arts students. The school's Bill L. Parks Gallery is open to the public and features exhibitions ...
. It was during this time that his teaching techniques were compiled for his first book, ''Fun With a Pencil'' (1939). Loomis would go on to release several more books in the coming decades, including one of his most popular, ''Figure Drawing for All It's Worth'' (1943). Many of the books exhibit his own personally crafted techniques – such as the "ball and plane" method of head drawing – guided by Loomis's humorous dialogue. Many of the titles gained strong appeal for their academic value and went through several printings during the 20th century. Loomis died in 1959, but his final book, ''The Eye of the Painter and the Elements of Beauty'' (1961), was printed posthumously.


Influence and legacy

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...
reissued the Andrew Loomis titles in
facsimile edition A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...
s between 2011 and 2013. Prior to that, the books had been out of print for decades, available only as excerpts by
Walter Foster Publishing Walter Thomas Foster (1891–1981) was an American entrepreneur, artist, art instructor, writer, editor and publisher. The Walter Foster Publishing Company's line of low-cost art manuals were widely distributed to art stores, often displayed in a m ...
. Some of Loomis's books are currently being published in Japanese via Maar Sha Co., Ltd. Early prints have become highly collectible, sought by art enthusiasts and practitioners. File:Andrew Loomis, Drawing the Head and Hands.pdf, page=41, From ''Drawing the Head and Hands'' File:Andrew Loomis, Drawing the Head and Hands.pdf, page=125, From ''Drawing the Head and Hands'' File:Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing for All It's Worth.pdf, page=32, From ''Figure Drawing for All It's Worth'' File:Andrew Loomis, Creative Illustration.pdf, page=51, From ''Creative Illustration'' File:Andrew Loomis, Successful Drawing.pdf, page=28, From ''Successful Drawing''


Bibliography

* ''Fun With a Pencil'' (1939). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on April 5, 2013 from Titan Books. * ''Figure Drawing for All It's Worth'' (1943). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on May 27, 2011 from Titan Books. * ''Creative Illustration'' (1947). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on October 12, 2012 from Titan Books. * ''Successful Drawing'' (1951). Republished in a revised edition as ''Three Dimensional Drawing'' (16 new pages with technical material on perspective replacing the pictorial gallery sections) and reissued as a full facsimile of the original on May 4, 2012 from Titan Books. * ''Drawing the Head and Hands'' (1956). Reissued as a full facsimile of the original on October 21, 2011 from Titan Books. * ''The Eye of the Painter and the Elements of Beauty'' (1961). * ''I'd Love to Draw!'' (2014). Published posthumously by Titan Books, with some of the text written by
Alex Ross Nelson Alexander Ross (born January 22, 1970) is an American comic book writer and artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries ''Marvels'', on which he collaborated wi ...
.


References


External links


Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loomis, Andrew 1892 births 1959 deaths 20th-century American male artists 20th-century American painters American art educators American illustrators American instructional writers American male painters American military personnel of World War I Art Students League of New York alumni Artists from Illinois School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni