In researching this week’s featured artist, I noticed that we share a birthday. Valentine’s Day falls this week so the colours picked from the artwork are juicy pinks, orange and yellow.
John Alcorn (1935-1992) was an American graphic designer and illustrator of the Groovy Set. Born in New York, he studied graphic arts at The Cooper Union with subjects including drawing, calligraphy, architecture, typography and dimensional design. His final year covered illustration, graphics and advertising design providing him with a solid understanding of design principles and techniques.
Alcorn joined the renowned Push Pin Studios aged just twenty one. Founded by Milton Glase and Seymour Chwast, Push Pin dominated editorial and advertising illustration at the time.
Alcorn quickly gained recognition for his distinctive style, seamlessly blending elements of modernist design characterised by bold colours, intricate patterns, and whimsical imagery with influences such as "Cubism, surrealism, Russian constructivism, Italian metaphysical painting, pop art, dada, folk art and 1960s psychedelia".
A campaign designed by Alcorn for 7up in 1969 was credited with saving the brand from bankruptcy. It had trendy, psychedelic billboards and a cheeky slogan that acknowledged it’s rivals pitting it as the Un-Cola.
After visiting the Italian village where his grandparents were born, Alcorn and his family moved to Florence where he painted in his studio before working with the publishing house Rizzoli and creating title sequences for Federico Fellini's films.
Alcorn returned to America in 1977 where he continued to design and illustrate for various publishing houses. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age fifty seven.
John Alcorn's legacy continues to resonate in the world of design and illustration, inspiring artists with his creativity, passion, and pioneering spirit. The Archivio Alcorn was founded in 2011 at the University of Milan and the book John Alcorn: Evolution By Design was published by Moleskine in 2014.
Read more about Alcorn here and here and have a look at Evolution By Design here.
Illustration from the book “Writing!”, John Alcorn, ~ 1964
Colour Combination
The colours for this weeks prompt are Bubblegum, Burnt Orange, Egg Yolk & Warm Pink. Use the #coloricombo colours along with any neutral light and dark colour to create an artwork in any medium and style.
Coloricombo prompts are released once a week on a Monday, and this year I also link each month with a theme. February's theme is "Heart". If you like you can use this as topic, or create in any way as you wish, using the colours in any medium and style.
I'd love to see what you do with the coloricombo colours. If you'd like to share your work, please tag #coloricombo and #estemacleod on social media. You're also welcome to post in the private Facebook group Creative Prompts
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Colour Mixing Demo
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