Life, 1928-12-14 · page 10 of 48
Life — December 14, 1928 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page showcases **Russell Patterson**, a commercial artist born in Omaha and educated in Montreal. Patterson designed covers for jazz songs and created portraits for department store advertisements. The sketches demonstrate his particular talent for fashion illustration and figure drawing. The left panel contains fashion and figure studies—women in various poses wearing 1920s-style clothing, and men in suits and top hats. The right panel shows anatomical construction drawings and proportion studies, including geometric frameworks used to plan figure poses. The handwritten note at bottom ("I think my lettering is much better than my drawings—oh hell") appears self-deprecating. This page documents Patterson's professional technique rather than containing political satire—it's essentially a portfolio showcase of his commercial art methods.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
LIFE Russett. Patterson Janes hourcommy q \ 9) Le Born in Omaha and educated (academically) in Montreal, Russell Patte-:on started the practice of art in Chicago. He designed covers for jazz songs and drew portraits of pots and pans for department store advertisements. Then he came to Lire, bringing with him a remarkable combination of conscientious craftsmanship and easy grace, evidences of which are to be found in these two pages from his private sketchbook, {THINK MY LETTERING 1S MUCH «= BETTER THAN MY DRAWINGS — On- wpe § comicbooks.com