2000 AD Online Forum

And so as we rev up for the finals we get a very fitting 3rd place play-off and a final 'Battle of the Simons'. Not much else to say about either of these titans of the comic, except to maybe note how both are so closely associated with strip that helped saved 2000ad in the 90s*. Simon F with Dante and Simon D with Sinister Dexter, the two strip that formed a triumvirate with Wagner's Dredd to help David Bishop rebuild the comic over time. For that we owe them both so much'.

Alas we have to pick our favourite and to do so just pop the name of the art droid you'd most like to grab bronze. It really helps if you use BOLD tags or otherwise make your vote clear.

*Copyright Colin.YNWA's much aired opinion which has no real bearing on reality

Simon Fraser - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=simonf)

OR

Simon Davis - more info (http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=simond)

This one will close and be counted on the morning of Thursday 11th  February

What the hell is all this? Find out more about the Art Droid Tourneys and Quarter Finals[/s] semi finals (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47294.0) - I've not updated this - cos we know what we're doing right. There's a  tiny bit more about the Semi's here (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47318.0) but it's mainly just a post about what's coming after...

Who made the 32 in both tourneys?

Entrants in the Current Art Droids Tourney  (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47044.msg1042917#msg1042917)

Entrants in the Classic Art Droids Tourney (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47044.msg1042893#msg1042893)

Rules for what they are worth (https://forums.2000ad.com/index.php?topic=47294.msg1050982#msg1050982) again not updated as we're getting good at this now aren't we.

Anything else just ask and I'll make something up.

What another Simon vs Simon round? I will go with Simon


Wait which one ? mmmm, lets go for Simon Davis

Dante us in my top ten list of all time faves and Hershey is the best of the current line up.
Fraser romps home here.

An easy choice for me here.  Simon Davis for me is one of the prog's best ever - he's like a man who's never seen comic art before but invented something of his own to do the job, and it's a thing of beauty.

And, at the risk of being chased off this board with flaming torches and pitchforks, I've never been a fan of Simon Fraser.

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 08 February, 2021, 08:06:19 AM
And, at the risk of being chased off this board with flaming torches and pitchforks, I've never been a fan of Simon Fraser.

Do not worry, we evolved it is now bazookas and gunships :)

Simon....Davis.

Simon Fraser

SIMON DAVIS

Simon Fraser, for Dante predominantly but also for his beautiful, clear line work and incredible images of technology and architecture.

SBT

S.B. Davis.

Simon Davis

Fraser for me

Simon Davis

Simon Fraser

Toughest choice yet for me, and it's not like the winner here even gets a big prize!
Fraser has consistenly been delightful and weird in his panle layouts and angles, he never skimps on character design or expressions or setting or mood. I love his work so much. Davis on the other hand has produced more than a bit of work that I didn't really like, although mostly in his early days. But when he's on fire it's just amazing, my favourite fully-painted comics artist by a country mile, I think because he's not afraid to embrace the look of classical canvas-based portraiture that is his day job (or is it his night job?).

They've both produced genuine jaw-dropping pages, even in their earlier days - Fraser on Shimura pulle doff some true grotesquery, rivalled by Davis in his work on Stone Island.

I think in the end I'm voting Davis, in part because he has produced SO MUCH work (by my count, he's well over 400 episodes, Fraser on around 220), and within that there's so much variety, from the contemporary horrors of Thistlebone to the savage beauty of Slaine but perhaps more to the point the fantastic comedy of Sinister Dexter, which is still, in my eyes, Davis's strip more than any other artists. Fraser of course has delivered the gamut of moods across 15 years of Dante, but he hasn't had the chance to show off his range of time periods and genres.

I'm torn...

....Simon....

er....

Davis.

simon fraser

Quote from: broodblik on 08 February, 2021, 08:19:50 AM

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 08 February, 2021, 08:06:19 AM
And, at the risk of being chased off this board with flaming torches and pitchforks, I've never been a fan of Simon Fraser.

Do not worry, we evolved it is now bazookas and gunships :)

Gulp!

Simon Fraser

Why are you doing this!

Aaaaagh.


Davis.

Quote from: BPP on 08 February, 2021, 02:25:41 PM
Why are you doing this!

Because I hate you!

Quote from: BPP on 08 February, 2021, 02:25:41 PM
Aaaaagh.

This particular Battle of the Simons goes to Mr Fraser

Simon Fraser

Comic style art > Photo reference art

Because I'm original and nobody else has thought of it - I vote Simon!

I have to go with the one that I feel has more passion - the one more likely to be found stumbling around a drafty apartment in a velvet dressing gown clutching a bottle of empty absinthe and brushing away imaginary cobwebs ... his cheeks pale from the cold, his nose gone red ...

Very controversial there Funt but Simon says........

Simon Davis

Simon Fraser

simon davis - a joy to look at his art for hours and hours

Fraser.

Quote from: zombemybabynow on 09 February, 2021, 09:09:17 AM
simon davis - a joy to look at his art for hours and hours

Agreed.  And I've just realised that a de-aged Richard E Grant will be playing Ampney Crucis whenever they make the movie.

Davis, for the reasons the people above said*.

* well, the ones who voted Davis anyway....

Ps. Fraser is excellent too of course.

Fraser

Last call for this one as we head towards the final votes. I'll be counting this one up in the morning.

I still can't figure out what Simon Davis is doing to piece together the images he graces us with. The parts don't look like they can possibly add up to the images we see. It is quite wonderful. However, I'm going to vote for Simon Fraser as I really enjoy his storytelling and the emotions he can convey.

I would like to vote for Simon Fraser.

VOTING CLOSED

Arhhh damn ya, damn ya eyes, this one was close, well more than close. Both artists have once again drawn so much well deserved praise. Both have lead strips than really helped redefine 2000ad and steady the ship as the comic was rebuilt in the 90s.

In the end it was a tie with a late surge in votes for Simon Fraser, only the second tie of the whole tournament and this one comes down to me. I'd be very tempted to leave it as a tie on the basis that there is no next round BUT alas there is - kinda and I was just planning a little bonus event yesterday that means I need to place these folks and so on that basis I will. But its as close as the result suggests.

In the end Simon Davis' glorious painted style has the more immediate appeal. If you've every seen him 'sketch' at a con its quite a wonder to behold the way he's mastered the use of paints and brush to define form and character and as I mention earlier we're very lucky to have him in the Prog at all given what a respected portrait artist he is - and sometime it seems like each panel is a perfect portrait.

In the end though I think Simon Fraser has a dynamic punch and an ability to define world and character just as well as Simon Davis. A more 'traditional' style but no less powerful. In the end it simply came down to how much I adore Simon Fraser's ability to do a glorious cityscape as the tiny margin available to call this on. I'm a sucker for a good cityscape and Simon Fraser is an underappreciated master of the very specifc subform of sci-fi future architecture and on that basis I find a way to call

Simon Fraser

the 3rd placed artist.

It almost look like if you want to be a great artist you have to change your name to Simon. This is one of those round where I did not mind whom won both are excellent