[Aptorian]

So, we usually have a lot of fun discussing the covers of US Malazan and the Wheel of time, so I thought we could have a wider discussion on artists and their work.

It's also an oppertunity for us comic nerds to talk comic book artists.

I find it amazing looking back through old runs of X-men, Spiderman, Fantastic 4, etc. how much the quality of the art work can warry.

It's more or less a universal rule that of the comic is older than the 70s the art work sucks and its unimaginative. But what's weird is that after a good run, for example John Burns stint on X-men in the 70s and early 80s, the companies would just settle with going back to a mediochre artist again. It's down right depressing.

Guys like John Romita Jr. and Erik Larsen have had me grinding my teeth at their terrible, terrible art work, yet they continue to get one gig after another. I wonder if the publisher even do surveys on the publics reaction to the artists work.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

Atm I love Darick Robertson, especially his Nightcrawler stuff. He gives it a slightly dark feel which I like. Plus he draws the best Wolverine.

[Aptorian]

Hmm. Maybe it would be an Idea to post examples of the art work we like and dislike.

I'll get on that tomorrow.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

Cor, get you madam. You ask a question, we answer, and it's not enough for little Miss FussyApt!

[Aptorian]

Shush you, go use google search.

[mxlm]

Least favorite cover artist would probably be Greg Horn. I can't be seen in public carrying stuff like this

[amphibian]

I'm not big into comic books, but I bought the Daredevil Fall from Grace series solely because of the first issue's cover. This short run of comics has some of the best covers I've ever seen for comics in my limited experience.







The 100 Bullets run was pretty good too.

I'm not a big fan of the Sandman covers, but the various artists who did the story itself created astoundingly good art. Lucifer was pretty good too in that respect.

That's about it as far as I know good comic cover art.

[stone monkey]

For superheroics I rather like John Cassaday, Stuart Immonen, Chris Sprouse and Salvador Larocca. I find Greg Land's work to be a bit of a guilty pleasure (his stuff on UFF is great); the shame of it is is that, as seen in his earlier work for Crossgen, he can draw really well without tracing, so I do wonder why he does it so much.
Geof Darrow, Juan Jose Ryp and Gena Ha for the insane detail.
Bill Sienkewicz, John Bolton and Juan Gimenez for their painted stuff.

As for covers, I adore Adam Hughes portrayal of women. He manages to make his subjects look strong and sassy and sexy, without completely pandering to the T&A demographic. His version of Wonder Woman is the best I've seen.

I grew up reading 2000AD, so mention has to be made of Dave Gibbons, Mike McMahon, Brian Talbot, Brian Bolland, Carlos Ezquerra, Alan Davis etc...

I also love the work of the French bande dessinee guys from the 70s: Phillipe Druillet, Enki Bilal and, of course, Jean Giraud "Moebius".

There are a bunch of computer assisted artists working whom I like: Adi Granov's work on the "Extremis" storyline for Iron Man is stellar, as is Mark Harrison's work on the Durham Red stories.

I'll disagree with Apt's interpretation of pre-70s artwork. There were a number of great artists out there doing stellar work: Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko for starters. Alex Raymond's photorealism is a big favourite of mine too.

That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure I've missed several important names, at least. There are also a number of manga artists who I like but whom I'd have to go and check my collection for their names..

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 27 June 2009 - 04:01 PM