Are there any true comic book *artists*?

The Amstor Computer · 19 May, 2002, 01:50:15 AM

...or are they all just skilled illustrators?

Discuss :-)

paulvonscott · 19 May, 2002, 01:59:57 AM

Oh I'd say there was loads of comic book artists about. The only artist on AD who ever strikes me as anything other is Arthur Ransome (didn't he write swallows and amazons) who seems to be an illustrator doing comic book work.

That's not to say they don't do work on the side.

paulvonscott · 19 May, 2002, 02:04:02 AM

Or did you mean aristic as opposed to pedestrian, ooh don't get me started...

The Amstor Computer · 19 May, 2002, 02:14:55 AM

The *only* artist? Would you describe the illustration for the current Sin/Dex art? What about Kev Walker's work on Sin City?

Offhand, there are only a few artists who've worked for 2000AD over the years who I think of as anything more than superb illustrators - Mike McMahon, for example.

This isn't to denigrate the work of guys like Kevin Walker or Glenn Fabry - I have nothing but respect for their output, current & past - but I just don't get the spark from them that makes me think of their renderings of Dredd or Slaine as anything but superlative comic illustration.

To be honest, I don't understand the distinction I make myself, so this topic is as much me trying to figure it out as anything else.

paulvonscott · 19 May, 2002, 02:21:10 AM

Yeah it is open to interpretation. As usual I have no real idea of what I'm talking about. Yeah Glenn fabry's stuff could be seen as illustration, it worked pretty well on Slaine, the last great artistic episode on the strip.

Kev Walkers stuff looks like comic book to me.

2000AD Online · 19 May, 2002, 07:16:04 AM

So how does a chancer like Roy Lichtenstein fit into the equation?

The Amstor Computer · 19 May, 2002, 07:44:13 AM

Dunno - to be honest, I loathe his work, along with most of the Pop Art movement. I certainly wouldn't describe him as a comic artist, despite his appropriation of comic images.
Though borrowing riffs from other artists is a fairly common - and often healthy - occurence, I'm still uncomfortable with people who simply lift wholesale. Sticking an "ironic" caption on might be amusing, but I can't see it as much more.

O Lucky Stevie! · 19 May, 2002, 01:07:38 PM

>So how does a chancer like Roy Lichtenstein fit into the equation?

with the profound influence that he has exerted upon brett ewin's work post 1990.

i've wet my knickers!
steven l'enfant terrible

malkymac · 19 May, 2002, 05:01:48 PM

I thinnk his art on Sin City is poor compared to his usual standard (compared to his "fast food" JD tale). It looks like it has been done in a hurry.

I thought the fully painted stuff he did on the ABC Warriors was some of the best that I've seen.

malkymac · 19 May, 2002, 05:01:51 PM

I thinnk his art on Sin City is poor compared to his usual standard (compared to his "fast food" JD tale). It looks like it has been done in a hurry.

I thought the fully painted stuff he did on the ABC Warriors was some of the best that I've seen.

Jayzus B. Christ · 19 May, 2002, 08:22:41 PM

I love Roy Lichtenstein's stuff, me.
But how the hell do you distinguish between an artist in 2000ad and an illustrator? Do you mean by an artist someone who works in a more abstract way? Believe me, this arguement may run and run but will never yield satisfactory results.

JamieB · 20 May, 2002, 02:47:57 PM

Moebius, for one.

*J*

O Lucky Stevie! · 20 May, 2002, 06:11:41 PM

>Offhand, there are only a few artists who've worked for 2000AD over the years who I think of as anything more than superb illustrators - Mike McMahon, for example.

yep, mike mcmahon & definitely brendan mccarthy too.

turning the question upside down then veering off at a slight tangent, does anyone else feel that alex ross is an extremely gifted portrait artist (very much the normal rockwell of comics) but not quite as successful as a comics storyteller.

his covers & his work for those annual treasury sized dc books written by paul dini (single page illustrations & double page splashes with dini text printed prose style on the page) are superlative, but to me his sequential work (or what i've seen of it) lacks a certain spark; the individual panels are beautifully rendered but there's no actual flow between them.

i've wet my knickers!
steven l'enfant terrible

johnnystress · 22 May, 2002, 07:43:04 PM

Dave MacKean and Bill Skien@#"wicks(you know who i mean) immediately spring to mind, but like Moebious(arrgh spelling!) there are a lot of european artists who work outside comics as well,
who could be classified as 'proper' artists
Brendan Mac Carthy too, Rian Hughes, theres a video director too(Chris Halls?)

frazer · 22 May, 2002, 11:51:52 PM

OI! just cos we draw in comics doesn't mean the term "artist" can't apply to us.
i mean, shit, if to be classed as an Artist i have to work outside comics then i'll paint a few bleedin portraits and cut a few bugs in half and nail em to the houses of parliament. but it'll be a pale shadow of the comics stuff.
comics are art, we are artists. even Paul j Holden, tho we are stretching it a bit there.

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