Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

Everybody has pretty much summed it up! Bob Peaks work is awesom! There will never be posters like that again and if they try, you will no it.

They have photoshopped Hollywood to death, they should return to the true artists, who gave expression and imagination to the Hollywood product.
Bob Peak was a rare and gifted talent, his work was well appreciated by his peers.
It's a shame he is no longer with us, for his art will sadly be missed.

Bob Peak has been an inspiration to me for the past 40 years, the same time period that Syd Mead has been my best friend and mentor. To call either of these Master's works just "illustration" is a grave loss to the world of art. What Bob Peak has done is nothing short of what true art is all about...imagination and visual excitement which stir the viewers emotions and thoughts. I do hope that everyone does not forget the "old" way of creating a piece of art. Computer graphics are fine but without the imagination, talent, and mastery of art techniques computer art can be nothing more than "new", not necessarily "good". "New" by its very nature is short lived. True quality is timeless as Bob Peak's art has proven.

well thats all great; Ill have to check out the websites; we certainly have Walt Reed to thank for his earlier publications. For that style and time its a real piece of nostalgia during the 60's and all the glamour of Jaqueline Bouvier, like a streamline dress in Goodhousekeeping, very nostalgic and romantic; a very desirable style and would love to have studied with him.

I just ran across this illustration blog. Bob Peak was my uncle. On behalf of of the family I want to thank you all for the praises. It's so nice to hear your kind words. We have so many original pieces of uncle Bob's laying around. Lots of family illustrations from watercolors to sketches on napkins. In fact my dad use to model for him when he was young. So much of Bob's work has not even been seen. His later works are nothing like the movie poster illustrations. I believe there are a couple still in the Smithsonian.
Two of Bob's sons are accomplished artists as well. Their web pages are-
www.mjpeak.com and www.robertosanto.com.

Thank you again.

Why isn't anyone holding a gun? And Audrey Hepburn's breasts should be six times that size!

I have to say that one of the saddest things about the movie industry nowadays (in my opinion) is that they don't do illustrations anymore for movie posters. What a wonderful way to "illustrate" what a movie is about. I was happy that the first Harry Potter movie used Drew Struzan, but bummed that they went with photography for subsequent movies. I guess the Star Wars franchise is all that's left, eh?

Time to go back to the optometrist, "Peter!" Your "corrective lenses" need a lot of adjusting. To say his illustrations are "mightly (sic) accomplished works" and then deride them (with scatological terms, yet!) shows a very schizophrenic point of view.

Make up your mind before posting.

Your services are NOT required...anywhere.

Hey, just visiting...had to visit the Bob Peak site i thought it was super! i love his painting style and as for the "cheesiness", well i don't quite understand. its better than the airbrushed crap we get now, seriously. some movie posters look like the actors heads have just been hastily cropped out of a photo and stuck on a manniquin. i admire the old movie posters, even though i'm not old enough to have lived through that time. "Go the old-school movie poster", i say.

As much as I might miss the glory days of movie posters, I don't miss Bob Peak's illustrations. Though mightly accomplished works that they are, am I the only one that thinks those paintings are as cheesey as velvet Elvis posters or hooked rugs of valiant matadors? C'mon. There's enough 'bird shit' in those works to make a flock of seagulls blush. Sorry for the dissenting voice but I thought some corrective lenses were required in this discussion.

I'm just this evening putting the finishing touches on the new edition of INTERNATIONAL STUDIO, which has a cover and massive art retrospective featuring Bob Peak. Done in collaboration with his son Tom, this issue also contains the official exhibition catalogue for the Society of Illustrators show.

Just FYI -

James

I looooove Robert Peak. There was a great writup and gallery a bit back in Illustration Magazine #6.
http://www.illustration-magazine.com/latest6.html

Wow! Thanks for the hit of inspiration. Bob Peak is one of my heroes, along with James McMullan (http://www.jamesmcmullan.com/), Mark English (http://www.markenglishonline.com/), Bernie Fuchs and Bart Forbes. I can never get enough of the painterly style.

By the way, a contemporary illustrator with a very exciting style is Nigel Evan Dennis (http://www.electricheat.org/)

I saw a restored print of "My Fair Lady" in Los Angeles and, up on the second floor of the theater, they had a bunch of Bob Peak's original artwork and movie posters. Truly beautiful stuff.

Wow! Oh man, I wish this artform would make a comeback already! It's so wonderful!!