Enterprising Artists
While most paintings made in an artist’s studio start with an inspirational idea in the artist’s mind, and end up being enjoyed by a collector hanging on a wall in their home or office, some artists are hired to create paintings to capture a concept or the spirit of an event for use in a book, or magazine, or by a manufacturer for product packaging, or even postage stamps for the Postal Services of the world.
Many of our top artists have produced some fascinating art used for just these purposes over the years. We thought you might enjoy seeing an interesting selection of these paintings. Who knows — you may even own one of these items!
Many marine artists have such an extensive knowledge of their subject matter that they in effect become leading authorities on all aspects of it. Such is the case with Jim Griffiths, who specializes in the study of clipperships and steel naval vessels to such an extent that when the Revell Model Company wanted the most accurate depiction of the famous tea clipper Thermopylae (whose 1872 race from Shanghai all the way to London is still the stuff of legend) to use on the box cover of it's model kit, they chose Jim. While the box top was small just 14" x 24," the actual gouache painting measures an impressive 22"x 40. (as shown above). Jim's other paintings for Revell have included the submarine from the movie The Hunt for Red October, Columbus' Santa Maria, U.S. naval carriers Forrestal, Saratoga, and Enterprise, and the USS Missouri.
Ed Parker's art reveals a whimsical yet sophisticated take on the world, and many companies have used his distinctive artwork in marketing their products, including the National Football League. As Ed relates: "These illustrations represent part of a 10-year chest relationship I had with the NFL. The original illustrations were created for the Super Bowl pregame and postgame parties attended by the team owners, invited guess and celebrities."
Numerous book publishers have asked our artists to create paintings and illustrations for books. Artists including Don Demers, Chris Blossom, Russ Kramer, Geoff Hunt, Geoffrey Huband, Patrick O’Brien, Paul Garnett and Paul Wright have had their paintings featured on and in numerous books and magazines. While often publishers and manufacturers took possession of the artwork as part of the deal, fortunately for us the artists were sometimes able to retain the paintings.
Chris Blossom tells me that he painted his first illustration for a book cover in 1975 at the age of 19 while he was still attending Art School in New York. At the time an artist like Chris would receive about $1,500 for the rights to use his painting on a cover. He went on to create 25 more book covers over his career including a number of World War II stories like the dramatic painting shown here.
Artist Patrick O'Brien was has written and illustrated fourteen children’s books, including The Great Ships and Duel of the Ironclads. Shown here is his cover art for A Pirate's Life for Me, capturing the rugged swashbuckling ease of the men who chose to rove the seas in search of ships and treasure.
One of artist Patrick O'Brien’s illustrated books is his retelling of the the classic true tale of the mutiny on the Her Majesty’s Ship Bounty. His book Duel of the Ironclads tells the tale of the important historic battle between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia. (The Virginia is often called the Merrimack.) His The Great Ships tells the tales of the famous ships of history.
Englishman Geoffrey Huband's artistic skills have led him from an award-winning easel painter to conceptual artist for the film "Harry Potter's The Goblet of Fire" and the 2017 film "The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle." But he is perhaps best known for the many covers of seafaring novels of Alexander Kent and Douglas Reeman. The cover art for the Alexander Kent novel The Inshore Squadron is shown here. Alexander Kent is quoted as saying: "For me it is a great privilege that Geoff Hunt lends his remarkable talent to his jacket paintings of my novels. I feel certain that he will be recognized as one of the greater living marine artists of our time."
While another English artist Geoff Hunt is internationally known as the artist for the covers of the American edition of the popular Patrick O'Brian novels, in fact he has done many other book cover paintings. When I asked him how many book covers he thought he had painted, he told me "I stopped counting at 200!"
With very popular books there are often a number of different editions published over the years. These also usually involve a different look for the books including new cover art. Artist Paul Wright's paintings were used on the covers of the original English editions of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series in the 1960's to 1980's. Paul has also painted covers of many Alexander Kent and Dudley Pope.
Russ Kramer's dramatic side lends itself to the eye-catching story-telling images that book publishers love. You may have seen his paintings on the cover of the 2013 publication Deer Isle's Undefeated America's Cap Crew Humble Heroes from a Downcast Island by Mark Gabridson, the true story of how in 1895, members of the New York Yacht Club recruited their entire crew from fishermen of Deer Isle, Maine. Russ also illustrated the cover art and illustrations for New York Times bestselling Author Ted Bell's novel Nick of Time part of his Alex Hawke young adult adventure sailing series, and a more recent publication by Paul Krantz Riding the Wild Ocean adventure novel as seen below.
Occasionally artists’ work is used for purposes other than books or product packaging. Here Tim Thompson and Paul Garnett's paintings were used for commemorative postage stomps for the British Postal Services.
Here is Don Demers, painting for Rescuers from the Deep; the USS Scamp, illustrating the 1987 Yankee Magazine article written by Evan McLeod Wylie.
"I created this painting in 1987 as an assignment for Yankee magazine.” Demers says. “I read the manuscript and created a composition from images that emerged while reading the story. As an illustrator of adventure stories, I was always in search of a composition that had dynamic tension and a participatory composition that would place the viewer right in the scene.”
