American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein was best known for his colorful, large scale representations of comic book panels.  

The style he sensationalized used “Benday Dots” a process which

is similar to Pointillism. Depending on the effect, color and optical illusion needed, small colored dots are closely-spaced, widely-spaced or overlapping. Magenta dots, for example, are widely-spaced to create pink. 1950s and 1960s pulp comic books used Benday dots in the four process colors (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) to inexpensively create shading and secondary colors such as green, purple, orange and flesh tones.

Benday dots were considered the hallmark of American artist Roy Lichtenstein, who enlarged and exaggerated them in many of his paintings and sculptures

Hardly an overnight success, Lichtenstein toiled in a variety of jobs from window decorator to art instructor for well over a decade after graduating from Ohio State University.  In his own words, he sought to create art that was as ‘artificial as possible.’

It wasn’t until 1961, when he adopted his now trademark style that his work actually began to sell.  Prior to this time, he experimented with cubism and Abstract Expressionism, with very little success.

In 1962, six works about to be featured in a prominent New York gallery were sold to collectors before the exhibition even opened.

Perhaps Lichtenstein’s most famous work, “Whaam!” (1963) was also one of his largest, measuring 5′7″ x 13′4″.  At the time, the vivid cartoon imagry of a fighter jet sparked critiques for being unimaginative by critics worldwide.  It is now displayed at the Tate Gallery in London.

In 1989, another of his paintings “Torpedo…Los!” sold at Christies for (at the time a record) $5.5 million, making it one of the 3 largest sums ever paid to a living artist.

Roy Lichenstein’s final work was the logo for Dream Works records, which he completed before dying of pneumonia in 1997.

[via Wikipedia]