I saw this animated film on an art blog and knew I had to commandeer it for my own blogging purposes.
It’s an older work by Seattle animator Tony White who posted it on youtube a few weeks ago: a life of Katsushika Hokusai – with convincing animations of a few of the great images of this 19th century woodblock print master.
I remember sitting in the Fine Arts Library at the University of Texas years ago, sketching, copying a Hokusai drawing for an assignment in Life Drawing class — and just marvelling and admiring.
White suggests that this always modern-seeming draftsman (who died in 1849) would have been an animator if he were alive today. I look at his work and think “children’s illustration.”
Of course you can’t invoke Hokusai without also mentioning that other print master of Edo (Tokyo) whose name also started with an “H.”
June is so yikes-hot in Austin, Texas. So enjoy this video of the wintery Agano Snow Scene by Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige. He was influenced by Hokusai, who was just a few years ahead of him.
Hiroshige has an out-of-this-world-distinction as a graphic artist. A crater on the planet Mercury is named after him.
BTW, my ASK survey for my upcoming How to illustrate Children’s Books online course is winding down. However you can still get four free months of the class by going to
and answering the question you see on the screen.
The class begins in just a couple of weeks. Your suggestion will be greatly appreciated.
Author-illustrator Mark G. Mitchell hosts “How to be a children’s book illustrator.”
