The art of illustration has always been fine art in my opinion.  The great painters of the past:  the Renaissance period, the Dutch Masters, the French Impressionists and the Western artists of the mid to late 1800's and others were, in fact, the illustrators of their day and now that art is considered fine art.  In my particular art, which is very realistic in style, I incorporate basic good and accurate drawing, a dramatic theme and a portrayal of a particular person, incident or situation of our times or the historic past.  People, personalities and events in history, culture and the arts are my favorite illustration subject matters.  First and foremost,  I consider good drawing  to be the most important aspect of a good painting because it is, so to speak, the road map.  Good composition is next and color or paint is merely the frosting on the cake.

Dick Bobnick is one of America's finest traditional illustrators and portrait artists. Dick's impeccable draftsmanship, attention to detail, his uncanny ability to capture the "look" of celebrities, his relentless research of subjects and his versatility in creating dramatic montages, glamourous figures, action and adventure illustrations keeps his work in demand by regional and national corporations, advertising agencies, public realtions firms and publishers. Dick has been the recipient of numerous local and national illustration awards including the prestigious Illustration West Exhibit and its' subsequent Annual, the first Aphrodesia 2005 Competition and the International Artrom Gallery Competition.

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Dick Bobnick was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and began drawing at the age of four.  He had his first "show" at the St. Paul Public Library at age ten exhibiting a series of celebrity drawings.  After completing an art correspondence course at fifteen he went on to cartoon and art edit his high school newspaper and yearbook.  

Dick earned his Bachelor Of Fine Arts degree from the University Of Minnesota and  immediately began his illustration career.  He has produced numerous illustrations for national clientele including General Mills, the U.S. Army, Rosemount Aerospace Corporation, Sony Corporation, Elvis Presley Enterprises, The Franklin Mint, The Hamilton Collection and many national advertising agencies, public relations firms and publishers.  

In 1985 Dick was selected  by the National Republican Inaugural Committee to create the presidential portrait illustrations for U.S.A. TODAY, heralding President Reagan's second inaugural.  In 1994 he created a 50th Anniversary print commemorating the Normandy Invasion for the U.S. Historical Society.  

Dick has also designed numerous commemorative stamp cache paintings for federal stamps honoring such noted American celebrities as Louis Armstrong, Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Reggie Jackson and Pete Fountain.  Later, in 2001, Dick was commissioned by the Franklin Mint to create the Marilyn Monroe portrait for a special leather bound limited ediltion of Joyce Carole Oates' novel, BLONDE, which you see in this Artrom Gallery.  More detailed information can be found on Dick's website:  www.dickbobnick.com .

My current art activities include portraiture for book covers and a just completed series of glamour girls for Camel cigarettes promotions for the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.