A.R. Danziger, Art & Design

I'm doing a little research for a drawing I'd like to make of St. Francis receiving the Stigmata. I'm trying to see if there's a traditionally accepted iconography...figures, objects, postures, symbols, etc. that help tell the story, teach sound doctrine, and are consistent throughout Catholic art. I came across three examples by three artists that I very much enjoy. Going chronologically we have...  Giotto (c. 1295-1300, Italian) Van Eyck (c. 1430-1432, Netherlands) El Greco (c. 1585-1590) In each, there are definitely similarities. St. Francis wears the Franciscan habit of course, he is generally kneeling, displays Christ's wounds in his own praying hands, and is confronted by a vision of a 6-winged seraph bearing a crucifix. The differences are striking as well.  Giotto is painting during the Gothic era, and his image bears a Byzantine influence common to Italian painting at that time. St. Francis and Christ look almost like icons against a guilded backg...

Sitting in a dentist's office waiting room today, I read a magazine article that referenced an important work that I hadn't heard of before... In 1593, Cesare Ripa (an Italian aesthetician) published Iconologia, a model book of allegorical figures.  There are short descriptions of the symbols and figures, followed by woodcuts of the figures which illustrate concepts such as virtues and vices, arts and sciences.  Some of the baroque masters, Vermeer for instance, referenced Ripa's work.  You can read it online here: http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/Ripa/Images/ripatoc.htm

Panel from Murdock's Girls: Part 1 Some exciting news...I've been working on a graphic novel! I wrote the script and drew the first 25% of the pages.  Now those pages need color so I can pitch the book to publishers.  I'm looking for a digital colorist, or digital artist that wants to break into coloring, who will ideally remain on the project until it's completed (about 85 pages). I'm trying for the traditional print route, but I will self-publish it if that doesn't work out. The graphic novel is a cartoon style period drama about British orphan girls who are being sent to work on a farm in Canada a few years before WWI.  I imagine it will appeal to fans of Anne of Green Gables, The Boxcar Children, and Swallows and Amazons.  It has Catholic themes, including the conversion of the main character over a 2-book story arc, but also contains many other universally relatable themes like identity and belonging, friendship, and grief. Here's what I'm looking f...