Once again I’ve been looking at Mort Drucker’s work for inspiration, and once again I get that combination of excitement, admiration and ego-flattening humility in the presence of his genius. Check out this blog post of some of his originals (you can see his pencil lines and washes really well on close inspection). Truly awe-inspiring.

Here’s a wonderful collection of 20th century American illustrators — every name is worth clicking on. It’s wonderful to see how much advertising used to be illustrated by hand, in oils, watercolor, pencil, pen and ink, as opposed to the absolute totalitarian hegemony of photography in advertising these days.

Here’s a wonderful collection of story illustrations done for Reader’s Digest about 50 years ago. Most are beautifully rendered and composed without being overworked.

Lastly, a friend sent me a link to I’m Learning To Share — a blog about music, illustration and culture that’s a lot of fun to nose around in.