Noticing a trend in mainstream comics lately, very photo realistic and or dynamic cover art. Thought I would take a break from showing my own work for a bit and look at some truly gifted art talent doing covers and working in comics today. Who would you have draw your cover, if money was no object? Many of the artist I've listed are doing a popular trend in comics, the heavily photo referenced artwork. Some reference more than others.
It's something that a lot of artist are doing, love it or hate it it's here, and below are some of the best at it. Other on this list are truly gifted in their abilities to conjure these fantastic and realistic images with little or no photo references. These artist in my opinion are the cream of the crop.
Let me know what you think of the subject of photo referenced work. Lets take a look now.
I will be giving my own editorial to these artist, not all of them are artist I love, but they are still some of the most popular and talented around.
lets start with Alex Ross
Ross is a fantastic realistic artist, but his referencing is a definite crutch and keeps him from really conveying any really dramatic energy in his work. If you just wanting heroic figures in a majestic pose, he's your man.
Next is Adam Hughes,
Some say one of the best artist you can have drawing your covers if your comic has hot looking women gracing it's pages. I've heard he is another heavy reference guy, but I've sat right next to him at cons and seen him freehand stuff that's twice a good as I could trace. He's good, not one of my personal favorites, but very talented indeed.
Josh Middleton,
This guy is good. One of my favorite artist working today, and has a very cool, unique style that's not over referenced (if at all) he has great movement in his figures and great entail feel to his pieces. Great a drawing the "teen" look.
Bryan Hitch,
Here is another guy that I'm not sure how much photo reference he depends on, but has great energy in his drawing and is one of, if not the best realistic style action artist out there today.
JG Jones.
Cover are great and some of the best action sequetails,(only one better than Hitch in mainstream comics) I can only guess, but it looks like he uses photos as a reference for the features of the characters, but not for the actual poses. He has a definite style that explodes off the page. His stuff is too good, and Wanted is one of my all time favorite books.
Joe Quesada
Editor in Chief at Marvel, but still a fantastic artist. Every so offen he'll offer up his talents for a cover or two. Classic great artist that just draws his ass off. I love his stuff, not a marvel fan, but Joe. Q is one of the best today. To bad his art has taken a back seat to his position at Marvel.
Tim Bradstreet
Bradstreet is also one of elite breeds of artist/painters that use aggressive photo referencing techniques by utilizing great photography and professional models. Tim is an awesome artist because his stuff is so detailed and is fantastic mood. Love all his stuff.
Frank Frazetta.
What can one say except one of the best painters classically trained fine artists in the world that happens to work in the comic industry from time to time. He has brought to life so many great creatures and characters that now one can really hold a candle to his work. My bud Jeremy Mohlor turned me on to his work years ago and I have yet to find a piece that he has done that doesn't jump off the canvas/page, and you can tell right away who painted or drew it. I would guess his art is more recognized world wide than any other fantasy artist. If you have a fantasy book, he's your man.( good luck).
Travis Charest.
He is my personal favorite artist working today with this kind of style. His layouts are amazing, his figures are perfect in everyway, he conveys dynamics in poses and movement and makes every character pop off the page. His color work is very impressive and has trained under legends like Moebius. Travis is a classic old school artist that has dedicated his life to mastering his craft. He don't churn out a lot of stuff, but what he does produce has the mark of artistic brilliance!
All this with NO help from live models or photo referencing, a true phenom. The best, hands down.
These are the type of artist that I look at and have much admiration for, and envy slightly...Ok, I'm fickin' jealous! Seriously I look up to talent at this level and keeps me working. I know it might take me a lifetime of practice and study, but to think I could produce something like this someday keep me going.
I'm out.
2 comments:
Reference or no reference it takes talent and genious to produce amazing work like the artists you spoke of in your blog. I don't think there is anything wrong with reference. It is all about style. Yes sometimes reference can take away from an image by limiting how dynamic it could be, but some times not having reference limits an image by keeping it from being accuate and believable.
By the way last month I got to go to the frazzeta museum and see some of his painting up close. That man is a genious. His wife mentioned that he had a stroke and his right hand was rendered useless. So to show his true genious, they displayed some of the paintings he did with his left hand.
That's amazing Arie, I'm very jealous of you!!
I totally agree with you on the referencing issue
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