Commercial art and illustration should be as artistic as easel art. There is no reason why a clinch for a magazine should not be as full of painting quality and emotion as any easel painting.
The fault, I'm sorry to say, usually lies with the artist who simply does not have the ability to make a really good picture - or has developed an intellectual snobbery toward what is really an honest and objective art form.
Please don't get me wrong - I have the most profound respect and admiration for those artists whose work in that field does not provide for compromise with their sincere convictions. But it is just as much a challenge to be a fine illustrator as to be a good easel painter.
In fact the requirements of the art of illustration with their due dates, editorial restrictions and reproduction frustrations are infinitely more exacting than fine art.
Much is printed and said about the role that the fine arts is supposed to play in the cultural education of the public - and it most certainly does.
Still, it always surprises me that illustrators so often lose sight of the enormous audience which they enjoy compared to the fine artist. Every time an illustrator does a picture for a magazine or an advertiser, literally millions of people see his effort.
Therefore, it behooves all of us to do our part in this cultural education of the public by raising the quality of our pictures - this in spite of our restrictions, both fancied and real.
* My Albert Dorne Flickr set.
Note: I've included extra large scans of the smaller panel pages today - be sure to click on the images in this post so you can get a really good look at Dorne's wonderful artwork!
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