January Update!

My sincere apologies for the long break since the last post. (This has been due in part to illness). We're still in January so I suppose I can still get away with wishing everyone "Happy New Year!" I am slowly beginning to reply to all your emails and comments, so thanks in advance for your patience. Work is continuing on the 'New Tribes Mission' pictures - the latest set to be completed depicts the Tabernacle furniture. I found this a difficult set to illustrate - especially the Ark of the Covenant, as there are a number of theories as to how it may have looked! (I'm hoping to blog about the AoC soon). My thanks again to John Cross of Goodseed for the excellent Tabernacle Furniture Set - this was incredibly helpful!

There are a number of items that I've been wanting to mention, so I'm going to pack them all into this post!

International Children's Bible Art Competition
The International Children's Bible Art Competition is still being planned. I have been having discussions with Look and Learn who are happy to host the competition. If all goes well, 10,000 schools in the UK will receive an A4 flyer with the competition details. We already have an international panel of Bible artists in place, including Annie Vallotton, to judge the competition and I'm in the process of finding sponsors.

One of the currently running art competitions organized by Look & Learn is the..
EiiR Children's Art Competition.
In celebration of Her Majesty The Queen’s 85th birthday, Look and Learn is holding an international children’s competition to paint her portrait. All entries will be included on a digital photo frame to be presented to The Queen, as well as appearing in Look and Learn’s online children’s art gallery.The competition is open to all children (maximum age 18) and entries will be judged in three age categories. The 24 winners will receive cash prizes totalling over £1,000 (approx. US$1,500), commemorative mugs, printed certificates, and individual press releases announcing their success.
More details here. Schools worldwide are invited to take part but hurry as the competition closes on March 14th!

Holocaust Memorial Day
Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. Please spare a minute to visit the HMD website and light the virtual candle on the home page to show your support. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who suffered so much both during and after the holocaust, and for the nation of Israel who continues to face opposition on many sides.

From the Attic of Civilization: Rembrandt and His Biblical Art
I received an email last week from Dr Leonard Girsh who is the author of a new book focusing on the Biblical Art of Rembrandt. One reviewer comments "Dr. Girsh has a wonderful grasp of the complex nuances of Rembrandt's works, tying together Biblical references to other important figures in history. He shines light on hidden concepts that eludes even the most analytical of readers. A strong theme of "the origin of thought" branching into many subjects: languages, human thinking and behavior. Truly a masterpiece!"
From the Attic of Civilization is available from Amazon

Classic Bible Stories

When I first wrote about the Bible art of Frank Hampson I received emails from a number of people all asking if I knew where they could obtain a copy of 'Jesus: The Road of Courage' from. My answer was always the same, "Sorry, copies are very hard to find." That was the case up until now!
A few weeks ago, John Freeman, who works for Titan books, left a blog comment on the Frank Hampson post informing readers that, at the end of this month (March), Titan books will be releasing 'Classic Bible Stories' which combines both 'Jesus: The Road of Courage' and 'Mark: The youngest Disciple'. John says that "Both strips have been scanned from good quality issues of Eagle.......the collection will also include Hampson's beautiful Nativity illustration from the 1957 Eagle Annual".

(Before you rush to order a copy, you might want to read the Update/Review below). I haven't seen any of the artwork from 'Mark: The youngest Disciple' as yet, or Hampson's Nativity art, so I'm really looking forward to seeing this new book.
For me, the visual interpretation of Jesus, (see cover) is my only complaint. Some of Hampson's character designs look very 'British' and his interpretation of Jesus would perhaps fit better in a 'Robin Hood' graphic novel than in one based on the New Testament. Having said that, most of his other character designs are superb!
if it's dynamic, lavishly illustrated Bible artwork you're looking for, it doesn't get better than this! Does anyone know if Hampson illustrated any of the Old Testament stories for Eagle comic?

Update/Review:12 March 2010
Just received my copy of 'Classic Bible stories' and I have to say I'm disappointed. I need to quickly clear up a couple of misleading comments in the post above. Firstly, I was led to believe, by John Freemans's post comment, that there was additional Frank Hampson artwork, based on the Nativity, that had been included in this book. There isn't! The 'Road of courage' already includes the Nativity story, which I should have realized!
Secondly, you will notice on the book cover above, which appears on Amazon, the name 'Frank Hampson'. Well, that name doesn't appear on the cover of the actual book, and there's a good reason why it doesn't. The story of 'Mark: The youngest disciple' isn't illustrated by Hampson! It's illustrated by Giorgio Bellavitis. While Bellavitis' work is pleasant, it's not in the same league as Hampson's. So, if you're a Hampson fan, and you already own a copy of 'The Road of Courage' and you were hoping to find some new Hampson Bible Art in this book, (as I was), you will be disappointed.

That wasn't what disappointed me most about the book though. The worst thing about this book is the print quality. My copy of 'The Road of Courage' published by 'Dragon's Dream' was printed 29 years ago in the Netherlands and it's superb! All Hampson's fine line work and his subtle color work is all there to be admired. In this new version however, the fine black line work has filled in to a solid black and the subtle colors are harsh or bleached out! I'm not sure if it's the scanning or the printing, or both, that's at fault, but whoever O.K.'d the printing proofs was not a Hampson fan! I would certainly not have passed them!
The question remains, "If you don't already own a copy of 'The Road of Courage', should you buy this one?" I hate to say no but, If you really want to appreciate Hampson's Bible art, then you need to see an earlier version! If this book was produced for fans of Hampson's art, or the Eagle comic, no expense should have been spared when reproducing the original art.

New Bible Picture website Launched!

Our brand new website is finally live! Click here to visit the new 'Bible Picture website'. You can now view every picture in each picture set, in large format!
We are asking all of our previous 'Visual Impact Resources' customers, (and all new customers), to register on the new 'Foundation Matters' website. Registration only takes a minute to complete, and we can then keep you up-to-date with news of each new picture set as it becomes available.

All of our new picture sets which have been completed over the last two years are now ready to view. We've had one or two teething problems where the thumbnail pictures have jumped out of sequence but don't worry, when you receive each powerpoint all the pictures will be in the correct order!

Those of you who are familiar with the old 'Visual Impact Resources' website will be wondering where all the older picture sets have gone. (We had over 100 Bible stories already illustrated but in a less detailed, or cartoon, style). All these picture sets are still available and will be slowly added back onto the new site under the heading 'Previous Series'. So, if you can't find the story you're looking for, drop a quick email to Jem Hudson.
We wanted to concentrate first of all in getting all the recent pictures, (done over the last two years), onto the web for the first time!

The picture above is from our recently finished picture set which tells the story of 'Abraham and Isaac'.
There are six pictures in this set which brings our total Bible picture count to 827. Don't forget to check out the new website here!

Children's International Bible Art Competition

I've been in discussion with Randolph Capp from the United Bible Societies about the possibility of jointly running an 'International Bible Art Competition' for children. The idea is to encourage the Bible artists of the future!

The competition would be open to children of all ages and from all countries, and would be judged by an international panel of Bible artists. We have not as yet discussed this in detail so I don't know what the prizes might include, or how many age groups the competition could be divided into. The brief would probably be:
"Draw a Bible picture based on any story in the Bible, and include a brief description".

I would also like any Bible Artists who would be willing to be on the international panel of judges to contact me. This is in the very early stages and so it may or may not materialize. If you have any ideas or suggestions about how the competition might work, or what the prizes could be, let me know, and I will forward your emails on to Randolph.
Many thanks.

Picture © Natalie Thrall 2009