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Which do you prefer?

Started by JayzusB.Christ, 22 January, 2023, 04:53:22 PM

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AlexF

Another tough call! Instinctively I'd say Walker's later style is my preference; for me his work on the Origins prologue was just superb (basically his Mandroid style but tkane to even greater heights).
But, If I'm honest, I can still call to mind the thrill of seeing those previews for Khronikles of Khaos, and can absilutely remember the emotion of that bit in Childhood's End where Orlok and Anderson are moved to tears.

So I guess what I'm saying is that his painted stuff was more impactufl/impressive, but I relish the idea of reading his pen n' ink work more. I don't have much love for Hellbringer so it might be that the painted sutff gets old, fast, while the ink work is timeless?

JayzusB.Christ

So... just wondering, do get more pay for fully painted artwork than linework you've coloured yourself?

Also, Kev Walker made me think of Carl Critchlow.  In his case, I'm not mad about his later linework and prefer the fully painted stuff he did on Flesh and Tales of Telguuth.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Funt Solo

I could go out on a limb and say I prefer Carl's work on Thrud - but what I really mean is that I read it first and have fond memories.

I liked his work on Langosta al Azar (but didn't appreciate the story much).
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

JohnW

Thrud for me too, but later Thrud and Lobster Random-era.
Critchlow's painted work in Flesh was excellent, but the story stank out loud, so he's tarnished by association (similar to what AlexF was saying about Walker on Hellbringer).
I wasn't dazzled by Lobster Random, but it had wit, and much of that was down to the art. Given he's the creator of Thrud, maybe Critchlow has a natural feel for comedy that manifests in all his work.
Why can't everybody just, y'know, be friends and everything? ... and uh ... And love each other!

JayzusB.Christ

That particular run of Flesh wasn't a great story by any means but Critchlow's artwork elevated it considerably and I still have fond memories of it. (Also, I thought Pat Mills had made up feathered tyrannosaurus for that story, before learning that they might well all have been feathered.

The most recent Flesh, though - just no. The script wasn't terrible but the artwork really let it down.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

JohnW

I'm probably being unfair to that run of Flesh, but I couldn't be bothered being fair to anything from that era, narrow-minded old git that I've become.
Why can't everybody just, y'know, be friends and everything? ... and uh ... And love each other!

Colin YNWA

Funnily enough I've just this week finished reading a lovely hardback collection of Carl Critchlows most recent (as far as I know) Thrud run and the art is just wonderful. You can tell he's having a ball.

For me his linework is streets ahead of his painted (I'm wondering if this will become a repeated theme for me here as most artists I can immediately think of that's the case!). While modern Thrud is wonderful - there are a few of the old White Dwarf Thruds in there and there his art is... well... developing shall we say) for me Lobster Random was his absolute best work. The story allowing his anarchic imagination run riot.

AlexF

Oh, on Critchlow it's his line work by a mile - Lobster Random but also a bunch of Dredds around that time - he did a great Werewolf story, yes?

Funnily enough as far as Flesh: Legend of Shamanna goes, I actually like the story more than the art. It's not a great plot, but it does have some ludicrous and wonderful 'deveryone is a total dickbag' characters in it, including the dinosaur gang of 'heroes'. And while Critchlow was defintiely good enough to get that across, he didn't quite have the verve to make it sing.

(For what it's worth, I've written a bun ch of kids books on dinosaurs in my time, and Mills is as throuogh with his research on that as everything else. He does take the most niche bits and run with them, of course, but I do appreicate his commitment to the ideal that to get kids engaged in e.g. natural history, it's best to show lots of people getting eaten.)

Barrington Boots

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 27 January, 2023, 09:36:17 AM
Funnily enough I've just this week finished reading a lovely hardback collection of Carl Critchlows most recent (as far as I know) Thrud run and the art is just wonderful. You can tell he's having a ball.

That collection is great if it's the one I'm thinking of. I love Thrud. There's a sweet spot in the later Thruds where I think his art is absolutely wicked - I prefer it to his later stuff tbh, but I have a feeling that could be nostalgia talking.

I'm on the side of linework over painted for Carl Critchlow and Kev Walker, but hard to fault either.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

JayzusB.Christ

Looks like I'm in a minority with Critchlow.  Must get round to reading Thrud, judging by your reviews here.

Now.... Colin McNeil?

His linework stuff is amazing- that Surfer story was just a masterpiece- but when I think of America and Song of the Surfer I think I'll have to give it to his fully-painted art.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Trooper McFad

Always liked everything he's done but for some reason I really like his Insurrection work the best
Citizens are Perps who haven't been caught ... yet!

AlexF

Gotta agree - those first two books of Insurrection are INSANE to look at. The fact he wasn't able to complete the run in that style is both sad, and slightly makes me resent McNeil's more trad. comics style, excellent though it is.

JohnW

Painted art was the salvation of MacNeil in Song of the Surfer. His figure drawing was still stiff and unconvincing in places and then, halfway through, KABOOM!
Napalm airbursts, fully painted.
Big wow.
Also, the print quality served him well, with (to my eyes at least) the slight muddying of everything suggesting LA smog.

Much as I like his linework these days, my heart votes for the napalm airbursts and the richness of America.

To throw another ha'penny onto my tuppence worth: the metallic monochrome on Insurrection works really well for bleak outer-spacey goings-on, and it should have been sustained through the last book (like what AlexF just said).
Why can't everybody just, y'know, be friends and everything? ... and uh ... And love each other!

Barrington Boots

Honestly it's very hard to choose with Colin MacNeil because it's all so good.

JWare is right about the painted art in SotS being it's trump because the early episodes aren't anything great but when the bloodshed kicks in and it's fully painted... oh my god. As a kid that absolutely seared itself into my mind and I still get the same feelings reading it back now. America is the same, it's just really lush. The colours seem so alive I sometimes feel I can feel the heat of the surfaces in the sun or the gunshots.

Then Insurrection is also incredible, in a different way, cold and bleak and unfeeling but still full of depth. And his current stuff is also magnificent, although I think it's even better in black and white.
You're a dark horse, Boots.

JayzusB.Christ

#44
It was like that fully-painted style came out of nowhere at the time in his case. I remember him as an obvious quick replacement for Carlos on an SD story, and what his attempts to emulate the style (he even did those Ezquerra chainsaw outlines).  He found his feet more with his first Chopper story, then WHAM! Suddenly there's an incredibly atmospheric painter carving out iconic chunks of 2000ad history.

So, while it's an incredible achievement to make his pen-amd-ink work so brilliant too, I'll stick.  Fully-painted it is.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"