Drawing soundcheck for the Piano Recital at Carnegie Hall. Photo by Vince Brazen.
Michael Arthur is an artist and animator who specializes in both capturing the intimate moments of music, theater, and dance 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. Michael’s animations and videos for Suzanne Vega, Nada Surf, The New Pornographers, Josh Ritter and many others can be seen in the Animations gallery. Michael is currently the resident artist at the legendary Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, NY.
New video for the New Pornographers great new song, Ballad of the Last Payphone. I also did the cover for the limited edition single which is available at A.C. Newman’s substack. Click here for more info.
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!