Frederic Rodrigo Gruger

Frederic Gruger attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Thomas Anshutz. In 1898, he began his 45-year career as an illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post, producing over 2,700 illustrations, while working simultaneously as a book illustrator. Gruger developed a distinctive drawing technique known as the Wolff-carbon-pencil technique, which would become quite influential. He sketched his composition, and then applied watercolor washes in order to add tone. He finished by building his forms and details with a Wolff pencil. Using an eraser to rub the drawing, he blended the marks into a rich, velvety texture. He used a relatively inexpensive illustration board that later became a mainstay of illustrators and was named “Gruger Board.”