Drawn

Pretty sure that’s Payne on drums.

Pretty sure that’s Payne on drums.

Great stuff!!! He is the modern day Rockwell!

Great stuff!!! He is the modern day Rockwell!

I had that very same thought, and at some instances there’s a direct dialog with Rockwell (like ‘Thanksgiving’ )…

I had that very same thought, and at some instances there’s a direct dialog with Rockwell (like ‘Thanksgiving’ )…

My wife used to be a big RD reader and is a big Rockwell fan. She does not like Payne’s stuff at all. The slightly oversized heads bug her and the subject matter does nothing for her.

In that last statement I have to agree. Outside of a couple Illos that I have seen such as the one in this post, they don’t do much for me eitherr. This one was one of his better ones.

My wife used to be a big RD reader and is a big Rockwell fan. She does not like Payne’s stuff at all. The slightly oversized heads bug her and the subject matter does nothing for her.

In that last statement I have to agree. Outside of a couple Illos that I have seen such as the one in this post, they don’t do much for me eitherr. This one was one of his better ones.

Payne does a lot of work for Time also, and illustrated a John Lithgow children’s book. He’s the Dean of Illustration at Columbus College of Art & Design, though he just tought a seminar class while I was there. The school is full of budding Chris Payne wannabes, churning out big-headed drawings like nobody’s business.

The most interesting part about his work is the painstaking process involved. He does multiple oil washes, using a variety of thinners and mediums, then uses pencil and goauche, and then more oil washes. It’s really impressive to see in progress.

Payne does a lot of work for Time also, and illustrated a John Lithgow children’s book. He’s the Dean of Illustration at Columbus College of Art & Design, though he just tought a seminar class while I was there. The school is full of budding Chris Payne wannabes, churning out big-headed drawings like nobody’s business.

The most interesting part about his work is the painstaking process involved. He does multiple oil washes, using a variety of thinners and mediums, then uses pencil and goauche, and then more oil washes. It’s really impressive to see in progress.

I really like some of Payne’s caricature work, mostly when he does personalities. He’s an amazing draftsman, and I love all the little details he puts in the images, but the Reader’s Digest stuff is schmaltzy in a way that Rockwell’s stuff wasn’t. Rockwell had his share of Schmaltz, but in Payne’s stuff, the addition of caricature takes it right over the edge–these grossly grinning faces in these sit-com wholesome situations make my teeth hurt. This isn’t Payne at his best, but I don’t want to under rate Payne as an illustrator in general because of them. He’s probably one of the best caricaturist’s we’ve got here in the States this side of Steve Brodner.

This said, I heard him speak once, and I can see where this aggressively wholesome stuff is coming from. He’s a very meat and potatoes family man in the most conservative sense, and seems to want to let you know it in that I’m-an-American-and-I’m-entitled-to-my-Humvee-and-my-gas-grill-and-what-of-it, way. But there seems to be something else going on in his work, a satirical edge that you see in his caricature work that comes more naturally to him than this stuff. I think he WANTS to be the new Norman Rockwell, but that’s not who he is or what he does that’s interesting.

Full disclosure: I have a gas grill too.

I really like some of Payne’s caricature work, mostly when he does personalities. He’s an amazing draftsman, and I love all the little details he puts in the images, but the Reader’s Digest stuff is schmaltzy in a way that Rockwell’s stuff wasn’t. Rockwell had his share of Schmaltz, but in Payne’s stuff, the addition of caricature takes it right over the edge–these grossly grinning faces in these sit-com wholesome situations make my teeth hurt. This isn’t Payne at his best, but I don’t want to under rate Payne as an illustrator in general because of them. He’s probably one of the best caricaturist’s we’ve got here in the States this side of Steve Brodner.

This said, I heard him speak once, and I can see where this aggressively wholesome stuff is coming from. He’s a very meat and potatoes family man in the most conservative sense, and seems to want to let you know it in that I’m-an-American-and-I’m-entitled-to-my-Humvee-and-my-gas-grill-and-what-of-it, way. But there seems to be something else going on in his work, a satirical edge that you see in his caricature work that comes more naturally to him than this stuff. I think he WANTS to be the new Norman Rockwell, but that’s not who he is or what he does that’s interesting.

Full disclosure: I have a gas grill too.

I really like some of Payne’s caricature work, mostly when he does personalities. He’s an amazing draftsman, and I love all the little details he puts in the images, but the Reader’s Digest stuff is schmaltzy in a way that Rockwell’s stuff wasn’t. Rockwell had his share of Schmaltz, but in Payne’s stuff, the addition of caricature takes it right over the edge–these grossly grinning faces in these sit-com wholesome situations make my teeth hurt. This isn’t Payne at his best, but I don’t want to under rate Payne as an illustrator in general because of them. He’s probably one of the best caricaturist’s we’ve got here in the States this side of Steve Brodner.

This said, I heard him speak once, and I can see where this aggressively wholesome stuff is coming from. He’s a very meat and potatoes family man in the most conservative sense, and seems to want to let you know it in that I’m-an-American-and-I’m-entitled-to-my-Humvee-and-my-gas-grill-and-what-of-it, way. But there seems to be something else going on in his work, a satirical edge that you see in his caricature work that comes more naturally to him than this stuff. I think he WANTS to be the new Norman Rockwell, but that’s not who he is or what he does that’s interesting.

Full disclosure: I have a gas grill too.

I really like some of Payne’s caricature work, mostly when he does personalities. He’s an amazing draftsman, and I love all the little details he puts in the images, but the Reader’s Digest stuff is schmaltzy in a way that Rockwell’s stuff wasn’t. Rockwell had his share of Schmaltz, but in Payne’s stuff, the addition of caricature takes it right over the edge–these grossly grinning faces in these sit-com wholesome situations make my teeth hurt. This isn’t Payne at his best, but I don’t want to under rate Payne as an illustrator in general because of them. He’s probably one of the best caricaturist’s we’ve got here in the States this side of Steve Brodner.

This said, I heard him speak once, and I can see where this aggressively wholesome stuff is coming from. He’s a very meat and potatoes family man in the most conservative sense, and seems to want to let you know it in that I’m-an-American-and-I’m-entitled-to-my-Humvee-and-my-gas-grill-and-what-of-it, way. But there seems to be something else going on in his work, a satirical edge that you see in his caricature work that comes more naturally to him than this stuff. I think he WANTS to be the new Norman Rockwell, but that’s not who he is or what he does that’s interesting.

Full disclosure: I have a gas grill too.

I think someday this pop-art will be hanging up in prestigious art gallaries…because it just seems so iconic.

–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com

I think someday this pop-art will be hanging up in prestigious art gallaries…because it just seems so iconic.

–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com

I really love the Reader’s Digest work, and must admit that I am not familiar with his other stuff. There is obviously a lot of craft in these pieces.

:)=

I really love the Reader’s Digest work, and must admit that I am not familiar with his other stuff. There is obviously a lot of craft in these pieces.

:)=

my wife has a subscription to RD
C.F.’s art is the ONLY thing that is good about that rag

my wife has a subscription to RD
C.F.’s art is the ONLY thing that is good about that rag

I hope the irony is not lost on you: the same people who shot Rockwell down for being a cheesy low brow illustrator are the ones who got him to the Guggenheim decades later, now Payne is going through that same vicious circle: he’s painting for the public, not the critic. just give it a decade or two.

I hope the irony is not lost on you: the same people who shot Rockwell down for being a cheesy low brow illustrator are the ones who got him to the Guggenheim decades later, now Payne is going through that same vicious circle: he’s painting for the public, not the critic. just give it a decade or two.

I agree with Jed Alexander. Jed’s work is way better than CF Payne’s. Anyone can see that! Jed, thanks for pointing out what a hack he is. You go, Jed!!

I agree with Jed Alexander. Jed’s work is way better than CF Payne’s. Anyone can see that! Jed, thanks for pointing out what a hack he is. You go, Jed!!

Jed, Tomer Hanuka just called. He wants his style back :-)

Jed, Tomer Hanuka just called. He wants his style back :-)

Interesting comments on this. It’s worth remembering that it’s not his personal work they’re printing; he’s dancing to the beat of someone else’s drum. It’s a gig; he’s commissioned to do these in accordance to the RD’s brief.

Interesting comments on this. It’s worth remembering that it’s not his personal work they’re printing; he’s dancing to the beat of someone else’s drum. It’s a gig; he’s commissioned to do these in accordance to the RD’s brief.

I am surprised that there is critisism of C.F Paynes work. He is a great American illustrator. You may or may not like his style, but admitedly he is a great artist and one that has achieved more professionally than most artists.

He has helped form and create the current illustration trends you see and love today!

I am surprised that there is critisism of C.F Paynes work. He is a great American illustrator. You may or may not like his style, but admitedly he is a great artist and one that has achieved more professionally than most artists.

He has helped form and create the current illustration trends you see and love today!

You’re welcome to leave comments about my work on my blog—that’s what it’s for—but I don’t see that they have a place here. I certainly can’t stop you, but I just don’t see the point in my defending my work on the Chris Payne thread, or see the relevance of comparisons between my work and Payne’s.

I will defend the suggestion that I’ve appropriated Hanuka’s style, only because it has been brought up on this forum before–Hanuka is an acquantance of mine and if he felt that I was ripping him off I’m sure he’d let me know. We can talk about the subject at length on my blog, or via e-mail, if you care to.

Ok, I feel stupid quoting myself, but, this, is in fact, what I actually said about Payne: “He’s probably one of the best caricaturist’s we’ve got here in the States this side of Steve Brodner.”

That sounds like pretty high praise to me, or at least it was meant to be.

All I did was express my distaste for the Reader’s Digest stuff, and I feel my comments were fair. Besides, of all the fantastic work that Payne has done, this represents a very small fraction of it.

Jay: your comments are noted, but all we can do is evaluate the work on it’s own merits. This is what we’re looking at right now, and having had the advantage of seeing his other work, I find this a little forced, but maybe that’s, as you say, a result of the dictates of the assignment.

As for the Rockwell comparisons: I just don’t think this work has or can have anywhere near the same kind of relevance as Rockwells did, even if it WERE comparable to Rockwell. The best I think that can be said about it is that it’s “in the manner of”—that he seems to be attempting something similar, and the degree to which he’s achieving this is arguable. But again, this is a very small corner of the Payne Oeuvre.

You’re welcome to leave comments about my work on my blog—that’s what it’s for—but I don’t see that they have a place here. I certainly can’t stop you, but I just don’t see the point in my defending my work on the Chris Payne thread, or see the relevance of comparisons between my work and Payne’s.

I will defend the suggestion that I’ve appropriated Hanuka’s style, only because it has been brought up on this forum before–Hanuka is an acquantance of mine and if he felt that I was ripping him off I’m sure he’d let me know. We can talk about the subject at length on my blog, or via e-mail, if you care to.

Ok, I feel stupid quoting myself, but, this, is in fact, what I actually said about Payne: “He’s probably one of the best caricaturist’s we’ve got here in the States this side of Steve Brodner.”

That sounds like pretty high praise to me, or at least it was meant to be.

All I did was express my distaste for the Reader’s Digest stuff, and I feel my comments were fair. Besides, of all the fantastic work that Payne has done, this represents a very small fraction of it.

Jay: your comments are noted, but all we can do is evaluate the work on it’s own merits. This is what we’re looking at right now, and having had the advantage of seeing his other work, I find this a little forced, but maybe that’s, as you say, a result of the dictates of the assignment.

As for the Rockwell comparisons: I just don’t think this work has or can have anywhere near the same kind of relevance as Rockwells did, even if it WERE comparable to Rockwell. The best I think that can be said about it is that it’s “in the manner of”—that he seems to be attempting something similar, and the degree to which he’s achieving this is arguable. But again, this is a very small corner of the Payne Oeuvre.

And Eric: no artist—not Picasso, not Rembrandt—is above all criticism. You don’t have to be in the class of those artists to recognize that maybe they did a bad drawing every once in a while. Criticism is healthy and good and for everybody! Yay criticism! Lets hope that we’re all wrong more than once in a while, too.

And Eric: no artist—not Picasso, not Rembrandt—is above all criticism. You don’t have to be in the class of those artists to recognize that maybe they did a bad drawing every once in a while. Criticism is healthy and good and for everybody! Yay criticism! Lets hope that we’re all wrong more than once in a while, too.

Jed,

No offense but many people find it ironic that you are criticizing Payne’s work. Your work is not developed (kind of student-ish) so that renders your comments on Payne and others meaningless at best. My suggestion is to use your spare time honing your art skilss and not dissing established professional illustrators on the internet. Take my advice as a friend.

Jed,

No offense but many people find it ironic that you are criticizing Payne’s work. Your work is not developed (kind of student-ish) so that renders your comments on Payne and others meaningless at best. My suggestion is to use your spare time honing your art skilss and not dissing established professional illustrators on the internet. Take my advice as a friend.

Well, this is obviously insulting and unnecessary to defend.

I will only say that If any criticism that anyone offered at any time was rendered moot because in your opinion they’re work didn’t measure up, then I guess we’ll all have to pass your special test before we decide to speak up.

Declaring yourself the “illustration police” and deciding that you have the final word on the value of other people’s work and opinions is more arrogant than anything I’ve ever said on this forum. Again: if you have any specific or remotely constructive criticism that you would like to level at my work, please e-mail me, or take it to my blog and stop derailing the thread in order to insult me. I’m sure “many people” would appreciate it.

I wasn’t the first on this forum to offer criticism of this work, and considering the immediately aggressive tenor of your posts, and the very personal way in which you’ve chosen to address me, my guess is that your feelings about me go beyond anything I’ve said on this particular subject.

From this, I’ve been able to devine your true motivation. I know these crushes can be difficult, and I know it’s hard to come forward and express what you really feel, but I encourage you to come clean—we all have to face rejection at one point or another.

So now that THAT’S resolved, let’s get back to the subject at hand…

Well, this is obviously insulting and unnecessary to defend.

I will only say that If any criticism that anyone offered at any time was rendered moot because in your opinion they’re work didn’t measure up, then I guess we’ll all have to pass your special test before we decide to speak up.

Declaring yourself the “illustration police” and deciding that you have the final word on the value of other people’s work and opinions is more arrogant than anything I’ve ever said on this forum. Again: if you have any specific or remotely constructive criticism that you would like to level at my work, please e-mail me, or take it to my blog and stop derailing the thread in order to insult me. I’m sure “many people” would appreciate it.

I wasn’t the first on this forum to offer criticism of this work, and considering the immediately aggressive tenor of your posts, and the very personal way in which you’ve chosen to address me, my guess is that your feelings about me go beyond anything I’ve said on this particular subject.

From this, I’ve been able to devine your true motivation. I know these crushes can be difficult, and I know it’s hard to come forward and express what you really feel, but I encourage you to come clean—we all have to face rejection at one point or another.

So now that THAT’S resolved, let’s get back to the subject at hand…

There’s nothing going on here that’s that much different than what happens in classrooms every day where people discuss the work of artists well known and otherwise whom, it’s true, aren’t there to defend their work. The fact that this kind of discussion has extended to the web seems only natural, but there is the added potential for the person whose work is being criticized to have access to these kinds of comments. I would suggest that this is also true when people put their portfolio’s online, or display their work on a blog. It’s the nature of the medium.

I think, “throwing darts” isn’t really a fair assessment of the intention behind my comments or the comments of many others here. As for our being “nobodies”, I would focus less on who’s making the comments than on the quality of the comments themselves. You’re welcome to respond in any way you like, or ignore this site all together, but the whole nature of community involves lots and lots nobodies some of whom, you’re inevitably going to disagree with.

There’s nothing going on here that’s that much different than what happens in classrooms every day where people discuss the work of artists well known and otherwise whom, it’s true, aren’t there to defend their work. The fact that this kind of discussion has extended to the web seems only natural, but there is the added potential for the person whose work is being criticized to have access to these kinds of comments. I would suggest that this is also true when people put their portfolio’s online, or display their work on a blog. It’s the nature of the medium.

I think, “throwing darts” isn’t really a fair assessment of the intention behind my comments or the comments of many others here. As for our being “nobodies”, I would focus less on who’s making the comments than on the quality of the comments themselves. You’re welcome to respond in any way you like, or ignore this site all together, but the whole nature of community involves lots and lots nobodies some of whom, you’re inevitably going to disagree with.

Great to see CF Payne on here. One of the best, for sure. Kudos to Drawn for posting those kick ass RD illustrations! And Jed, go bark somewhere else, you sound like a real ass.

Great to see CF Payne on here. One of the best, for sure. Kudos to Drawn for posting those kick ass RD illustrations! And Jed, go bark somewhere else, you sound like a real ass.

There was a post inbetween those last two that I was responding to that was deleted. It was disaparaging of this blog, and the comments on this forum, and so that’s what I was responding to—I wasn’t just pontificating.

That’s it. That’s all I have to say.

There was a post inbetween those last two that I was responding to that was deleted. It was disaparaging of this blog, and the comments on this forum, and so that’s what I was responding to—I wasn’t just pontificating.

That’s it. That’s all I have to say.

Holy cow! Okay, I’ll touch on everything here to keep somewhat on topic-
C.F. Payne- Let’s not mix up “artist” and “illustrator”. It’s not like he did these paintings while trapped in a tempest of soul-searching expression, Reader’s Digest, a saccharin and schmaltzy publication, commisioned these images.
Guess what the readership wants?
I’m sure it’s a tastebud thing, but most would agree Payne has done much finer work than these. Hell, just google him and on the first page you will find images many times cooler than the Reader’s stuff.
That’s not to say this wasn’t a good Drawn link, it’s a great clickable gallery that I’m sure will be an introduction to Payne for many readers, and one that might compel them to seek more of his varied and huge body of work.
As for The Illustration Police, Lionel Fenwick, and Darryl Washington, I think that tearing eachother down and making catty comments works against the great thing we have going here. Must I be a master illustrator to critique a master illustrator? Must you be a master chef to have an opinion on one’s soup?
Finally, in responce to Clara/Eric – I view Norman Rockwell a near peerless illustrator, and C.F. Payne as one of the top 10 we have today, but regard neither as great american artists. Illustration is a service industry, McDonalds, do you want frys with that? It can be great, it can be awesome, it can be staggering, but I think it’s unfair to both artist and illustrator to lump commisioned editorial together with work designed for gallery expression.

Holy cow! Okay, I’ll touch on everything here to keep somewhat on topic-
C.F. Payne- Let’s not mix up “artist” and “illustrator”. It’s not like he did these paintings while trapped in a tempest of soul-searching expression, Reader’s Digest, a saccharin and schmaltzy publication, commisioned these images.
Guess what the readership wants?
I’m sure it’s a tastebud thing, but most would agree Payne has done much finer work than these. Hell, just google him and on the first page you will find images many times cooler than the Reader’s stuff.
That’s not to say this wasn’t a good Drawn link, it’s a great clickable gallery that I’m sure will be an introduction to Payne for many readers, and one that might compel them to seek more of his varied and huge body of work.
As for The Illustration Police, Lionel Fenwick, and Darryl Washington, I think that tearing eachother down and making catty comments works against the great thing we have going here. Must I be a master illustrator to critique a master illustrator? Must you be a master chef to have an opinion on one’s soup?
Finally, in responce to Clara/Eric – I view Norman Rockwell a near peerless illustrator, and C.F. Payne as one of the top 10 we have today, but regard neither as great american artists. Illustration is a service industry, McDonalds, do you want frys with that? It can be great, it can be awesome, it can be staggering, but I think it’s unfair to both artist and illustrator to lump commisioned editorial together with work designed for gallery expression.

“…but I think it’s unfair to both artist and illustrator to lump commisioned editorial together with work designed for gallery expression.”
Renaissance painters did commissioned work. Are they any lesser because of that? IMHO, great work is great work, no matter who the end user is. A bunch of the illustrators I admire do gallery work, pieces that end up in magazines, and stuff that’s just for fun. Whom the work is for does not cheapen it in any way, to me.
And for the record, I think Mr. Payne is fantastic. I look at his work with both whimsy and awe.

“…but I think it’s unfair to both artist and illustrator to lump commisioned editorial together with work designed for gallery expression.”
Renaissance painters did commissioned work. Are they any lesser because of that? IMHO, great work is great work, no matter who the end user is. A bunch of the illustrators I admire do gallery work, pieces that end up in magazines, and stuff that’s just for fun. Whom the work is for does not cheapen it in any way, to me.
And for the record, I think Mr. Payne is fantastic. I look at his work with both whimsy and awe.

Word is…Reader’s Digest will be selling prints/posters of some of these Payne covers. No word yet on price or selection but I can think of a few that will sell very well. I would especially like it if Payne would offer limited edition prints of some of his other work. I would guess those would fetch a decnt price and make some of his admirers very happy. Anyone else agree?

Word is…Reader’s Digest will be selling prints/posters of some of these Payne covers. No word yet on price or selection but I can think of a few that will sell very well. I would especially like it if Payne would offer limited edition prints of some of his other work. I would guess those would fetch a decnt price and make some of his admirers very happy. Anyone else agree?

That sounds delicious, I want some of that!

That sounds delicious, I want some of that!

MAESTRO!!! Fortunately I saw his original work at the Society of Illustrators in NY, then I loved it more…

MAESTRO!!! Fortunately I saw his original work at the Society of Illustrators in NY, then I loved it more…

I was looking for some of his work for my class in a couple of days and found this lively discussion.
Chris is a friend of mine, full disclosure.
Chris is a Hall of Fame illustrator. His work connects to more people than most any other illustrator. This is where the Rockwell link is.

I’m all for illustrators leaving comments and offering detailed critiques, but at the same time one has to check themselves first.
I would never crit another artist’s work online, but that’s me. I do think a dialog is interesting though and read this thread with amazement.

Finally, these things are true:
Chris can draw with the best of them
Chris can do what he does in HOURS not DAYS
Chris is one of the most generous illustrators with young artists.

I was looking for some of his work for my class in a couple of days and found this lively discussion.
Chris is a friend of mine, full disclosure.
Chris is a Hall of Fame illustrator. His work connects to more people than most any other illustrator. This is where the Rockwell link is.

I’m all for illustrators leaving comments and offering detailed critiques, but at the same time one has to check themselves first.
I would never crit another artist’s work online, but that’s me. I do think a dialog is interesting though and read this thread with amazement.

Finally, these things are true:
Chris can draw with the best of them
Chris can do what he does in HOURS not DAYS
Chris is one of the most generous illustrators with young artists.

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[...] C.F. Payne ?« Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog Aug 1, 2006 … C.F. Payne. Reader's Digest has a wonderful gallery of their back-page … He's an amazing draftsman, and I love all the little details he puts in the images, but the Reader's … [...]