Crawford, Will

Will Crawford (1869-1966) was a wonderfully innovative pen man, combining illustration and cartooning tendencies into his work. Crawford's line is a difficult one to describe, as it seemed like he drew more with textures than with line. Incorporating stippling, hatching, cross-hatching, scribbling, and lines of different weights and speed, Crawford conveyed a tapestry-like weight to his figures. Where most artists seemed to want to convey a clarity of weight and line, Crawford apparently reveled in layered textures.

Will Crawford was a very popular illustrator, whose work appeared in The Century, Everybody's, McClure's, Scribner's, Leslie's, Redbook, and many more publications.