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 complicated concepts or objects that are difficult to describe textually, which is the reason illustrations are often found in children's books.
John Rea Neill was a magazine and children's book illustrator primarily known for illustrating more than forty stories set in the Land of Oz, including L. Frank Baum's, Ruth Plumly Thompson's, and three of his own. His pen-and-ink drawings have become identified almost exclusively with the Oz series. He did a great deal of magazine and newspaper illustration work which is not as well known today.
Frank Leslie was an English-born American engraver, illustrator, and publisher of family periodicals.
Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and prints using relatively low pressure. By contrast, ordinary engraving, like etching, uses a metal plate for the matrix, and is printed by the intaglio method, where the ink fills the valleys, the removed areas. As a result, the blocks for wood engravings deteriorate less quickly than the copper plates of engravings, and have a distinctive white-on-black character.
The Illustrated London News, founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less frequent publication schedule in 1971, and eventually ceased publication in 2003. The company continues today as Illustrated London News Ltd, a publishing, content, and digital agency in London, which holds the publication and business archives of the magazine.
Benson John Lossing was an American historian, known best for his illustrated books on the American Revolution and American Civil War and features in Harper's Magazine. He was a charter trustee of Vassar College.
Joseph Christian Leyendecker was one of the most prominent and financially successful freelance commercial artists in the U.S. He was active between 1895 and 1951 producing drawings and paintings for hundreds of posters, books, advertisements, and magazine covers and stories. He is best known for his 80 covers for Collier's Weekly, 322 covers for The Saturday Evening Post, and advertising illustrations for B. Kuppenheimer men's clothing and Arrow brand shirts and detachable collars. He was one of the few known gay artists working in the early-twentieth century U.S.
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latter in 1872 "as one of the founders of this newspaper, [and who] took an active interest in its management" left a marked gap in the early history of the publication. It was set up as a rival to the popular Illustrated London News.
Franklin Booth was an American artist known for his detailed pen-and-ink illustrations. He had a unique illustration style based upon his early recreation of wood engraving illustrations with pen and ink. His skill as a draftsman and style made him a popular magazine illustrator in the early 20th-century. He was one of the first modern ex libris designers in the United States.
Alfred Rudolph Waud was an American artist and illustrator, born and raised in London, England. He is most notable for the sketches he made as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War.
Frederick Stuart Church (1842–1924) was an American artist, working mainly as an illustrator and especially known for his depiction of animals.
William Waud (wɔ:d) was an English-born architect and illustrator, notable for the sketches he made as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War.
Albert Berghaus was an important American illustrator from the period immediately prior to the Civil War up to about the 1880s/1890s. He worked for Frank Leslie's Weekly, also known as Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, producing sketches and wood engravings of important events in contemporary American history. After the Civil War, he traveled in the west, and in the late 1870s he collaborated with Frederic Remington to illustrate "Tenting on the Plains," an account, possibly a magazine article, by Mrs. George Custer.
Frederick Gleason was a publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-nineteenth century. He is best known for establishing the popular illustrated weekly Gleason's Pictorial, at the time an innovation in American publishing. He has been called "the father of illustrated journalism."
Thure de Thulstrup, born Bror Thure Thulstrup in Sweden, was a leading American illustrator with contributions for numerous magazines, including three decades of work for Harper's Weekly. Thulstrup primarily illustrated historical military scenes.
Henry (Harry) Alexander Ogden, also known as H. A. Ogden, (1856–1936) was an American illustrator particularly of historical and military subjects.
William Croome (1790–1860) was an American illustrator and wood engraver in the 19th century. He trained with Abel Bowen in Boston, Massachusetts. Croome's work appeared in the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge (1830s), Lady's Annual (1830s), Crockett Almanac (ca.1840s), and in numerous children's books.
James R. O'Neill was a war artist and correspondent for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper during the American Civil War. He covered the Battle of Honey Springs in July 1863, and his sketch of the action was published to a nationwide audience. Less than three months later, however, O'Neill was killed in the Battle of Baxter Springs. He is believed to be the only newsman to be killed in action during the American Civil War.
Shurey's Illustrated was a one penny weekly illustrated newspaper launched during the Second Anglo-Boer War. While other illustrated papers launched at the time, such as The Illustrated War News, focused on the war, Shurey's Illustrated also covered other topics, including sports and social events. It was one of a stable of one-penny weekly illustrated papers managed by Charles and Henry Shurey.
Georgina A. Davis was an American illustrator, painter, and engraver. She was a staff artist for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, which featured hundreds of her illustrations. At the time, she was the only female staff artist working for a major American newspaper. Little is known of Davis' life despite the prominence of her work.
