Which do you prefer?

[Magnetica]

I am assuming the style he has adopted for Joe Pineapples is so that it is in keeping with the first two Bisley episodes. If he had used the photo style it would have been really jarring - unless he had done all the episodes. But this was always meant to be abled to be positioned as new Bisley art in the Prog.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I'd forgotten about Dinosty.  It was all over the shop.  I didn't mind the artwork but his pen and ink stuff is way better.

[Richard]

Well I like Langley's photo art! I'd love to see him do Dredd like that.

[AlexF]

I prefer Langley's pens to his computers, for sure. I think the current Storm Warning run might be the best thing he's ever done, to be honest. But I really did love his Computer style on the first 2 or 3 ABC Warriors Volgan Wars, something about a photographic-seeming version of something that couldn't possibly exist in real life to be photographed was proper breathtaking.

Obvs this logic applies to a bunch of Slaine stuff, except I'm guessing many of the human faces WERE based partly on photos, and it took Langley a few books' worth to get good at this part of the job (for my money everything he did on Slaine post Books of Invasions, was great).

[JayzusB.Christ]

Obvs this logic applies to a bunch of Slaine stuff, except I'm guessing many of the human faces WERE based partly on photos, and it took Langley a few books' worth to get good at this part of the job (for my money everything he did on Slaine post Books of Invasions, was great).

That's a fair point - he'd stopped doing the scrambled-egg backgrounds at that stage and it looked really good.  From Carnival onwards his work looked far better.

I'm pretty sure that the human faces were, by and large, slightly altered photos.  He pulled it off way better than the Nemesis photo strip.

[13school]

To once again wave the flag for American Reaper, conceptually the idea of a strip all about people stealing other people's identities (as far as what we see on the page goes, their faces) created using photo-realistic art is a pretty good one (as an approach to action scenes, not so much).

The stiffness of the images actually underlines the point of the series - that often the faces we see are just a mask - while preventing what must be the obvious temptation for an artist to draw the character post-brain swap just that little bit different. The fumetti approach means a character's face looks exactly the same no matter who's "soul" is inhabiting their body, which is what the story is built around.

[JohnW]

Which do you prefer?
If I may elbow in here, JayzusB, and tread on your toes, and generally act like I own the joint: how about Kev Walker's fully painted Khronicles of Khaos versus his pen and inks on something like Mandroid?
Walker's early contributions to the prog were nothing special at all, and then he's given The ABC Warriors and – oh wow. I used to smoke weed and go over those early episodes with a magnifying glass. Astonishing stuff.
Cut to the new century and it's minimalist as hell, shadowy as Mignola, utterly different, and still brilliant.
Which do I prefer? I'd have to say the newer style, because it's more confident and because sometimes less really is more.
(Maybe I'd think differently if I started smoking weed again, but I'm just too damned old.)

[Jim_Campbell]

Walker's early contributions to the prog were nothing special at all

Interestingly, Steve MacManus identified Kev as a droid with a lot of potential, but not sufficiently grounded in the nuts-and-bolts of comic story-telling... so Steve got him inking Steve Dillon's pencils for a couple of years (Cinnabar, and a big chunk of the Harlem Heroes reboot), to which Kev directly attributes the improvement in his sequential work prior to flying solo again.

[broodblik]

I like both styles Kev used on Khoas and Mandroid. I wish we can have him back in the prog

[JayzusB.Christ]

Which do you prefer?
If I may elbow in here, JayzusB, and tread on your toes, and generally act like I own the joint: how about Kev Walker's fully painted Khronicles of Khaos versus his pen and inks on something like Mandroid?
Walker's early contributions to the prog were nothing special at all, and then he's given The ABC Warriors and – oh wow. I used to smoke weed and go over those early episodes with a magnifying glass. Astonishing stuff.
Cut to the new century and it's minimalist as hell, shadowy as Mignola, utterly different, and still brilliant.
Which do I prefer? I'd have to say the newer style, because it's more confident and because sometimes less really is more.
(Maybe I'd think differently if I started smoking weed again, but I'm just too damned old.)

No problem, was going to switch to another artist but couldn't decide which one.  Great choice though.

I think if you'd asked the younger me (who, along with a lot of creators and other fans, was still living in Bisley's airbrushed shadow) I would have gone for the flashy full-colour stuff.  But my current self would definitely go for the brooding planes of muted colour and shadow used for Mandroid, and especially Sin City.

EDIT - It's not really an option, I know, but I might possible take his inking on Dillon's stuff on Cinnabar over both of these.  It was just what was needed for the filth, smut and blood that made up Cinnabar's streets and Nu Earth's swampier, uglier zones.  I know he did the same for Harlem's Heroes but I mean, Harlem Heroes, for Jesus' sake.

[JohnW]

was going to switch to another artist but couldn't decide which one. 

The late-80s change in paper stock and the transition to full colour would provide plenty of material for this thread. A lot of before-and-after comparisons to be made.

[JohnW]

I might possible take his inking on Dillon's stuff on Cinnabar over both of these.  It was just what was needed for the filth, smut and blood that made up Cinnabar's streets and Nu Earth's swampier, uglier zones.  I know he did the same for Harlem's Heroes but I mean, Harlem Heroes, for Jesus' sake.

I'm not usually a fan of separate penciller and inker, but Walker's inking really added to Dillon's work, and made Harlem Heroes look very promising indeed. Shame they didn't deliver another Cinnabar to us.

[Funt Solo]

I bet Kev prefers the latter style, as it probably takes about a tenth of the time to achieve.

And, on that note, but tangentially, this is interesting: How to Replace the Sky

[Jim_Campbell]

I bet Kev prefers the latter style, as it probably takes about a tenth of the time to achieve.

He was interviewed in the Meg a few years back, and he said that was his reason for trying the new style... but it really doesn't save much time because the time you save in the inks you spend getting right in the pencils, because there's no fudging stuff with fancy cross-hatching.

That's the thing that annoys me about the whole "more lines = better" segment of comic fandom — when you simplify your ink style, there's no way to hide bad drawing. What you're seeing in a less fancy ink style is more confidence and better drawing.

[Colin YNWA]

Yeah much prefer Kev Walker's pen and ink work as exemplified by Mandroid. Its so clean and the use of blacks to create atomsphere and tone is wonderful, even when coloured (the colours normally feed off this and work so well too).

I find his painted work to be a little forced and doesn't convery mood as well. Its clearly technically very good but its just not as effective for me as his later work.