NYC: Day 5: Peter de Seve and Burt Silverman... two Giants

Each of the final day's illustrators has a story and philosophy unique and personal. Burt Silverman, an intellectual and searching artist ferreting out the soul of the sitter, trying to capture the core essence of his subject, and Peter de Seve, equally serious, but relying on gut intuition to dictate his lyrical line. Peter started us off with his early influences; Frazetta, like me. He showed his brilliant New Yorker covers, and finished off with his characters from Finding Nemo, Robots, Ice Age and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Burt settled upon drawing as the basis for painting and the spirit of the illustration. He focused on capturing the moment with the model and a subject as being the most important. I was enamored with his brilliance and depth. He draws like an angel, but seems to never show how thoughtful his line is... It reminds me of listening to a musical master... the instrument subsides, but the music evokes something other than a song. Burt has all of that in his work. I feel honored to have met him.... well EVERYONE at the Society of Illustrator's Week!

Dave Labrozzi and I spent the afternoon, post dispersal in the SoHo area... Chinatown was a pile of confusion, fish markets and auspicious figurines. Little Italy was neon, waiters and Espresso on the street. We hit Evolution for the best in new and old bones, fossils and odd items, then gallery after gallery of wonderful art. I'm very sorry to have miss Chad's group, but Dave had a number of posters to send to print and was waiting for confirmation before hitting the subway downtown. Next time, I need to be sure Q and Chad are able to pencil me in for dinner or bowling.