Austin Briggs was a cartoonist and illustrator. Born in Humboldt, Minnesota he grew up in Detroit, Michigan before moving to New York City. After working for a while at an advertising agency, he began providing illustrations for the "upmarket" pulp magazine Blue Book. Briggs later became an assistant to the cartoonist Alex Raymond on
Flash Gordon and succeeded him on Secret Agent Corrigan. In 1940 he drew a Flash Gordon Daily strip which he stayed on until about 1944; he moved onto creating illustrations for
books and magazines such as Readers Digest and The Saturday Evening Post. He was one of the founding faculty for the Famous Artists School.
An excellent painter, Briggs was especially known for the great subtlety and sensitivity of his drawing with a
lithography crayon, charcoal or similar tools. Despite the free and spontaneous look to his drawings, Briggs' sketches and preliminary drawings show that he was a disciplined and skilled draftsman. He drew numerous preparatory sketches.
Briggs was at the forefront of artists introducing a more realistic informality into illustration. Previous illustrators focused on the one key moment or reaction shot, where the subject's eyes were widest or their expression was the broadest or their leap was at its height.
work
0 Comments