^#smrgSAHAF Commercial Art Techniques : A Practical Self-instruction Course and Reference Handbook over 500 Illustrations of Methods and Procedures - 1952

"COMMERCIAL ART," to the student or layman, generally sig- nifies one thing... illustration; but actually, illustration is only one phase of the commercial art field. Other rather comprehensive and important divisions are layout and let- tering, design and production. Each of these in turn can be broken down into numerous components. To mention but a few: Illustration may be applied to advertising, film ani- mation, and many other fields in addition to the familiar one of books and magazine stories. Layout may be the selec- tion and arrangement of material for a magazine page, a catalogue, or just a business card. Design may run the gamut from a window display to a package or a label. It is usually to one of these fields that the commercial artist limits his labour, or love, depending on the job at hand.

Thus, we see that the profession has so many ramifica- tions, each with its own requirements, that the beginner finds it necessary, first of all, to become acquainted with these different fields, then to specialize in a particular field, and even in a particular medium such as pen and ink, or airbrush. This book was planned to present under one cover the functions of these various fields, as well as the tools, available services and working methods of the commercial artist.

For the art instructor, art buyer, practicing artist and student, I hope this will serve as a blueprint to the profes- sion, and as a handbook to be studied and used for many years.

S. RALPH MAURELLO New York, 1952