Favourite Art Droid - Tourney's Round 1

[Greg M.]

I didn't really think Jim McCarthy would get through - his solo work is just too divisive - but as half of the art team on the greatest comic ever published I would have liked to see him make it at least a bit further.

[broodblik]

I am also missing Jose Ortiz and Eric Bradbury on the list but I think it is more to do with the work The Eagle rather than AD. This is about AD not other publications. Still Ortiz did a good Rogue

[Colin YNWA]

Art Droids Current - here are the 32 who have made it to round 1.

Steve Yeowell
Henry Flint
Simon Davis
Colin MacNeil
Clint Langley
John Burns
D'Israeli
Paul Marshall
Richard Elson
Mark Harrison
Cliff Robinson
Simon Fraser
Patrick Goddard
John Higgins
Brendan McCarthy
Boo Cook
INJ Culbard
PJ Holden
Chris Weston
Jake Lynch
Phil Winslade
Nick Percival
Dom Reardon
Staz Johnson
Tiernan Trevallion
David Taylor
David Roach
Rufus Dayglo
Lee Carter
Neil Googe
Simon Coleby
Leigh Gallagher

Again I call on all folks to celebrate those that didn’t make it. For me the big misses here are Dan Cornwell, I adore the way his work has developed in the Prog, Warren Pleece and Nick Dyer. But there are more. Who do you lament not making it?

[broodblik]

Dan Cornwell' art is definitely growing in stature every time he does work in either the prog or meg.

[Magnetica]

For me the big miss here is Ben Willsher.

As far as I am concerned he is one of the very top Dredd artists.

It’s a pity we don’t see more of his work in the Prog.

[broodblik]

I agree he is great artist, we will see his work in the xmas prog but not on Dredd but Durham Red

[Colin YNWA]

Speaking of Current Arty Droids, I have a post ready for later today about what comes next and a cheeky little mini tourney I have an idea for at the end of this one based on a very bold statement I'd like to make.

ANYWAY I've just done the draw for the Current Art Droids and its eye watering. I mean honesty at the start I was thinking 'Bugger all the big hitters are coming out together at the beginning' but hey kept coming... and they kept coming... and coming and coming... and the third to last draw (oh what a tease, that's almost three weeks away!) - just made my brain explode!

We are currently blessed with possibly the best artist line up the Prog has ever known. Discuss!

[broodblik]

We are currently blessed with possibly the best artist line up the Prog has ever known. Discuss!

I am 100% agreement we are certainly have the privileged to witness some of the best art ever produced in comics.

[Greg M.]

I am less than 100% in agreement. There are some great artists currently working for 2000AD - I would broadly rate the art over the writing in the prog in general, with the vast majority of artists in the good-to-great-to-Colin-MacNeil-at-the-top category. But best ever? No, that's pushing it.

[broodblik]

ah. I'd like to have an argument, please. But I was thinking of taking the course.

Let's start and see how it goes.

Yes, it is....

[Colin YNWA]

I have a plan to do a very unscientific test of this premise... I'll poster it a bit...

... before I do another copy and paste reminder... to return to the idea of What makes your favourite artist?

Well that’s up to you isn’t it. For all I’ll know it's who has the the tightest jeans. Or who makes the best curry. I won’t know. However I once again turn to the wondrous AlexF this time not just for his diligent counting of appearances by creators. He summed this up really well, when we discussed how to handle the changing art styles of creators:

“Changing styles is part of the fun! But since we're purely talking about 'favourites' here I guess it's up to you to vote for an artist based on a style that they, perhaps, no longer use. Which is different from posing that question, 'if artist x was announced to be on a new series in the next Prog, how excited would I be?' which I often use when trying to decide who I actually like best.”

BUT if you want to go with whose work you’d be most excited to learn was going to be in the Prog next week then you go for it. Who am I to tell you how to choose your favourite. All I ask is:

 - Only work for Tharg (as detailed a bit more above)
 - Quality should be the primary factor, rather quantity. Which isn’t to say you can’t consider quantity, as it allows consideration of consistent greatness, but that it should be secondary.

[Andy B]

But best ever? No, that's pushing it.

Agreed. The consistently great art in 2000ad is truly staggering, but...

The first Prog I ever read (160) had art by Gibson, Ezquerra, McMahon, Belardinelli, and Cam Kennedy. That’s not just rose-tinted spectacles: look at it today, and that stuff is still f****** awesome!

[Magnetica]

We are currently blessed with possibly the best artist line up the Prog has ever known. Discuss!

I think the quality of the art over the last few years has been amazing and we are very luck to have artists of such a high standard consistently turning out work for Tharg.

And when I say the last few years I really mean the last two decades.

But is the current line up the best ever? It’s certain very, very good, but no it’s not the best ever. As good as the current crop are, for me the era when you had Bolland, peak McMahon and Ron Smith on Dredd, Carlos on Stront, Ian Gibson on Robo-Hunter, Belardinelli on Ace Trucking and O’Neill on Nemesis was the best. Depending on how you define the era, you can add Carlos on Dredd, Belardinelli, McMahon and Fabry on Slaine, and Talbot on Nemesis to that best ever era.

[Colin YNWA]

I;m not convinced myself yet but how about Flint on... anything, INJ on Brink, Winslade on Lawless, Colin MacNeil on Dredd, D'Israeli on Stickleback, Simon Davis on Slaine...

[Colin YNWA]

Finally we are almost done and I’ll start the votes tomorrow morning. But before I stop flinging things at this thread a little look ahead and a controversial proposal.

Round 1 will continue throughout most of November. I’ll continue to take weekends off to allow the General Topics section time to breathe and then with 32 votes that will run pretty much to the end of the month.

Then we’ll break during December, as I have a little X-Mas tourney in mind that I’ll not mention further in case Pete ‘The Lovely’ Wells still has the energy to do another magnificent advent calendar.

Then we’ll pick up for the final rounds in January, probably running through into February.

This is where I get run out of town. What I intended at first was to have a mini tourney after this one combining say all the semi-finalists from all the Tourneys - and I might still do that. BUT looking at the list of contenders I’m going to make a very bold (and very possible not even true) statement as mentioned already.

THE ART IN 2000ad IS AS GOOD NOW AS IT'S EVER BEEN.

Well rather than discuss it I now have an idea for another mini tourney which we’ll get to after all that. We'll play Art Droid Ryder Cup. Pitting the 32 Art Droids in the Classic tourney, against the 32 Art Droids in the Current and seeing which pool scores the most wins. Or possibly more realistically how well the Current crop hold up despite defeat. We’ll see.

Anyway see you tomorrow for Round 1.