Drawing soundcheck for the Piano Recital at Carnegie Hall. Photo by Vince Brazen.
Michael Arthur specializes in both drawing the intimate moments of theater, dance and music as well as performing "live drawings", visually accompanying music and performers with projected, real time illustrations. He draws mostly in ink without any pencils or rough drafts: each drawing is a live reaction to the moment. Michael's drawings have appeared at Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Departures Magazine, NPR, The Huffington Post and many other places. He has performed live drawings at Joe’s Pub, City Winery, Lincoln Center, The Indianapolis Symphony, La Jolla Playhouse and many other venues around the country.
It was an honor to make this animated video for The Speakers’ Corner, the lead off single from Suzanne Vega’s first new album in eleven years.
Amy Helm and the Ramble Band, drawn live during a recent Midnight Ramble. Click here for prints of drawings from my continuing residency at Levon Helm Studios.
A new video, made with my buddy Peter Salett for his Blue Palace project. Love this song and had a great time making the video with Peter. Hope you like it!
I made this video to accompany the It’s No Secret podcast, available wherever fine podcasts are found. It tells the tale of the epic (failed) audition that Twang Twang Shockaboom did for Tommy Mottola and the heads of CBS Records a long, long time ago. Come for the showbiz story; stay for Mariah.