EXTRACTS: Illustrators Issue 6 © 2013 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

90 The Studio: The Illustrators Workshop TOP LEFT: Alan Cober by Mark English. TOP RIGHT: Fred Otnes by Robert Heindel. ABOVE: Robert Heindel by Fred Otnes. In the mid seventies, six of America’s top illustrators got together and formed the Illustrators Workshop, with Mike Smollin as the managing director. Smollin had enjoyed a successful stint in advertising, and before he embarked on a new career as an illustrator, was senior vice president and head of art and television production at Ogilvy &Mather. It was a new concept in post-graduate education, and they planned four weeks of intensive activity, as an introduction to the professional world of illustration. They had a busy schedule of assignments, critiques, discussions, guest lecturers, and field trips to the studios and homes of the instructors, including lunch by the swimming pools of Fred Otnes, and Bernie Fuchs. Dick Gangel, the outstanding art director of Sports Illustrated showed a selection of the originals he had commissioned for the magazine, and the art agent Harvey Kahn explained the function of agents, and how they worked. Inevitably the six super stars finished up portraying each other in a fascinating mixture of styles and techniques. The first of three assignments was to portray a famous American. The instructors took part, and Mark English painted Matthew Brady the celebrated 19th century photographer: Robert Heindel produced an enigmatic portrait of Martha Graham, the modern dancer and