Main Menu

Prog 1999 : Streets of age!

Started by Darren Stephens, 17 September, 2016, 12:47:32 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

IndigoPrime

I'm not fussed about Anderson's haircut, but I think it's important to show her as a relatively mature woman than some 20yo Gibson-drawn cheesecake (which some artists tend towards). As for rejuve, this was explicitly mentioned in an Anderson strip: Psis can't undergo such treatment because it knackers their abilities. So Anderson could presumably have basic cosmetic surgery (although you can't imagine Justice Dept allowing for such things beyond disfiguration – and even then, Judges have been shown to wear 'war scars' with pride), but not get a Dread-Style semi-reboot.

Richard

The problem there might be that artists are given pictures of a character as a reference or guide to how to draw them, and they're probably not updated. So artists draw a 50 year old woman as if she's a 20 year old girl. It's something the editor could sort out fairly easily.

Trout

That fella's nipples are all weird.

Great prog, including weird nipples.

Frank


I think the Anderson problem is more down to the fact that comic art is a process of simplification and abstraction.

It's easy to draw someone at 70 because the signifiers are so obvious and readily understood, whereas trying to communicate that a character is forty or fifty by adding a few lines around the eyes just makes them look a bit rough, like they've been out on the lash.



Proudhuff

Quote from: Frank on 21 September, 2016, 07:26:59 AM

I think the Anderson problem is more down to the fact that comic art is a process of simplification and abstraction.

It's easy to draw someone at 70 because the signifiers are so obvious and readily understood, whereas trying to communicate that a character is forty or fifty by adding a few lines around the eyes just makes them look a bit rough, like they've been out on the lash.

As a fifty-odd year old who goes out on the lash I resent that! ...I think  :D
DDT did a job on me

Proudhuff

I've bored the breeks off everyone with this but I think Anderson as a mature woman is one of the most interesting things that could be in 2000ad, Tharg should give her to Denise Mina to write...
DDT did a job on me

PsychoGoatee

You never know, just wait and see what Bisley does next time he's called upon.  :D

PsychoGoatee

Woops meant to quote a post from the previous page. (about drawing Anderson)

GermanAndy

Cover: Nice one

Dredd: This was a bit underwhelming. It had all the ingredients of a nice one episode story, a crazy new invention, the [spoiler]Wrinkly Pride Parade[/spoiler], and still it all was a bit ho-hum. The ending was weak.

Jaegir: When this began a few years ago, I didn't like it much. But it has grown on me, and I liked Warchild a lot. Just the right length, the art not too dark, so you could follow it,  and very well written.

Scarlett Traces: Edginton tends to loose me in later installments of his series. And frankly I can't remember much about the earlier STs. But this was well done. I liked how he took such a stock character like Iykaris and made him a bit more. Also thought this the best D'Israeli art in some time.

Outlier: I lost the plot somewhere in the second series and had no clue who was who when Survivor Guilt began. Strangely it hooked me and I began to read this with growing interest. There were some very well done sf-ideas (and some which didn't made a lot of sense, like this thing with the Gamma rays) and nice twists. Didn't see this end coming, alsways a plus. Just for once the Aliens win and humanity loses but adapts into something new. The art was consistently good, as much depended on the body-language. And Richardson delivered. Eglington is hit and miss for me, but this was well done.

Anderson: A new artist for the conclusion? Strange.  But I had no problem with it. I really hated the Dyer art. There is nothing wrong with aging Anderson, but does it has to be this extreme Ugly-Anderson? Okay, I am prejudiced. I always loved the clean Ransom version, and in the last years I really liked the Cook version, as he really brought the Mega City to life. I am not a fan of the background-free school of drawing, and combined with the muted colours and this portrait of Anderson I thought this a failure artwise.

Also the story was so-so. Anderson "possessing" Hershey to pull the trigger? Seemed a bit out of character, frankly. Since when can PSI-Judges take over other people so easily? Also seven parts was a bit too long for the plot.

Still, the last weeks for me the Prog was a joy to read. I didn't enjoy it much this year, a lot of series which didn't do anything for me. Too long or downright boring, so-so art. But this was nice.

Frank

Quote from: GermanAndy on 21 September, 2016, 05:27:45 PM
Anderson ... seven parts was a bit too long for the plot

Nick Dyer could have finished the whole series if it had been trimmed. Willsher drew Anderson's parrot with the shield accessory too, so that's not just an individual artist's eccentricity.

Tharg solved Anderson's art problem when he hired Mike Dowling (Dead End, Meg 343-349). His Anderson was the same beautiful woman who went into the Boing® forty years ago but didn't look like she'd been vacuum sealed ever since.

Willsher wouldn't have drawn Anderson any differently had this episode been set thirty years ago, but I haven't really bought the line that Dyer was drawing her older. He just doesn't draw her pretty [1].


[1] Not a criticism; that's a function of his style. Like McMahon, O'Neill, and Flint, Dyer's brand of stylisation involves rendering people as awkward gargoyles.

Trent

Dowling's take on Anderson has been the only one I have liked since Ranson packed it in.

dweezil2

I'm sure David Roach's Penthouse-esque rendition of Anderson will give certain readers cause to complain.

Personally I love his work and can't wait to see him in Prog 2000.
Savalas Seed Bandcamp: https://savalasseed1.bandcamp.com/releases

"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
https://youtu.be/qllbagBOIAo

Frank

Quote from: dweezil2 on 21 September, 2016, 07:53:12 PM
David Roach's Penthouse-esque rendition of Anderson will give certain readers cause to complain

I don't have any strong feelings about cheesecake either way. As long as Tharg doesn't ask Andrew Currie to draw a storyline dealing with Anderson's childhood abuse*, it's not a huge problem.

In a fun action story, for example, Ben Willsher idealising and fetishising a character's anatomy is just as valid an approach as the idealisation and fetishising of a massive bloody tank or high velocity brain splatter.

Matching the artist to the tone of the script is what editorial are for. Speaking of which, how perfectly did D'Israeli balance the fun and the drama of Scarlet Traces? Speaking of porn and fetishes, who would have guessed Matt Brooker was into scat?



* I'm sure Currie could suppress his natural instincts, but why bother asking him not to do something he's very good at and obviously enjoys?

dweezil2

Quote from: Frank on 21 September, 2016, 09:03:02 PM
Quote from: dweezil2 on 21 September, 2016, 07:53:12 PM
David Roach's Penthouse-esque rendition of Anderson will give certain readers cause to complain

Matching the artist to the tone of the script is what editorial are for. Speaking of which, how perfectly did D'Israeli balance the fun and the drama of Scarlet Traces? Speaking of porn and fetishes, who would have guessed Matt Brooker was into scat?


Who doesn't love a bit of Scat!?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y6oXW_YiV6g

Savalas Seed Bandcamp: https://savalasseed1.bandcamp.com/releases

"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
https://youtu.be/qllbagBOIAo

Colin YNWA

Quote from: Frank on 21 September, 2016, 07:26:59 AM

I think the Anderson problem is more down to the fact that comic art is a process of simplification and abstraction.

It's easy to draw someone at 70 because the signifiers are so obvious and readily understood, whereas trying to communicate that a character is forty or fifty by adding a few lines around the eyes just makes them look a bit rough, like they've been out on the lash.

I think there's a great many artists who can make quite clear distinction between people of a rich variety of ages. I'm not sure if I'm missing the gag here, can so often be hard to tell, if I am sorry, but the simplification is certainly in the comment, not in any number of artists ability.