Artist research: N.C Wyeth

Brett Helquist once wrote that his main influences were N.C Wyeth, who was a pupil under Howard Pyle. Wyeth was an American artist and illustrator. He drew more than three thousand paintings during his lifetime, and illustrated for many books. I decided to look into samples of his works.

 

There is a firm resemblance between Wyeth and Helquist's styles. Both are mostly action-based (there is often a clear sense of movement within the subjects in action) and also the use of rich, bold colours.

Comparison:

Their techniques in conveying motion is intriguing. The compositions of the subjects and the direction they face play an important role to make the sense of movement look convincing. Wyeth and Helquist are particularly skilled at capturing moving subjects in a still.

A drawing by N.C Wyeth, portrays a man riding a horse

Illustrated by Brett Helquist, an extract from a children's book titled "Hook"