Week 12: Pretty in Ink (5 pts)

 I've always had an interest in books like these, even when I was a kid. There's something about reading up on the history of artists that makes me feel like it'll help me figure something out about my own artistic journey. When I first chose this book I wan't sure what I'd find but when the first few pages was about Rose O'Neill and her Kewpies I found myself very interested as I remembered learning about her in History of Illustration freshman year. Learning about how these women were almost celebrities in their time for being such well known artists is really very cool. One thing I didn't really like was how their relationships with men were always mentioned as if that is a very important aspect that we must know about. It just feels like when we read the history of men, the women they entangled themselves with were not given as much attention in the story of their lives as was the case in this book. Even though I would say this book did a very good job of giving very useful information it was just that one thing that I noticed and kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Then again, I know I have some bias when it comes to these things, I could be completely off for feeling this way. I very much enjoyed reading about Nell Brinkley and her rise to fame. I thought it was really cool that she was so bold to draw women who had hair just like hers especially because it wasn't the norm. She saw a lack of representation of people that looked like her and she made a decision to change that. And not only did she change it but she, along with Charles Dana Gibson, created the era of "The Brinkley Girl," and that's quite an accomplishment. I also very much enjoyed that there were so many comics included along with the history of these artists to really help give us a better understanding of what was going on during these periods of time. I will say though that the layout of this book was at times confusing. The way the pages were laid out and how paragraphs would be interrupted with pictures at times made it hard to follow. Overall though it was a quite informative and enjoyable read.