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I may get shot for this...

Started by marko10174, 23 April, 2017, 09:52:14 PM

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positronic

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 25 April, 2017, 09:22:50 AM
Funny that the posted Judgment Day pic so frequently comes up, though. I love its attitude and what it represents in the story, but Dredd just looks off, like his right shoulder has dislocated, or his head's been moved too far to the right.

It's the eagle and shoulder pad. The former is resting lower on Dredd's arm while the latter is sitting on top of his shoulder, so you can see much more of the top of Dredd's shoulder on the arm where the eagle is.

I looked at the drawing again closely after you mentioned this, drawing imaginary outlines mentally of Dredd's actual shoulders underneath the eagle and pad, and it works fine anatomically. If it looks lopsided it's a visual illusion created by the mismatched angles of the eagle and shoulder pad.

JayzusB.Christ

A small confession here:  I remember years and years ago, when I was a wee lad, around the time I started noticing that 2000ad stories had different art styles (I started reading wayyy too young to understand the prog properly).  I saw Carlos on Dredd - he drew him much skinnier back then - and thought something like, 'That looks a bit odd.  Johnny Alpha's his character, not Dredd.'

Of course I know better now.  Also I prefer Carlos's modern, older, bulkier Dredd (and I also like the fact that John Wagner has added Dredd's weight-gain to continuity, though I can't quite remember which story it was).

On a side-note, I'd add Jock, despite his sadly short tenure, to the top whatever Dredd artists.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

positronic

Quote from: marko10174 on 24 April, 2017, 09:51:39 PM
Quote from: Goaty on 24 April, 2017, 06:28:14 PM
That why he is the best;



In this picture, what is it that people like about the way Dredd is drawn? I mean, there is very little detail in his face, it looks very easy to replicate for anyone with out any artistic experience. By that, I mean he just looks so basic. I don't get any sense of realism from that image, no personality in Dredd's face, he just looks like a cartoon. I get people might get a bit disgruntled by my choice of words, honestly that's not my intention... to offend. I'm just trying to articulate how I personally feel about this art work.

Cartooning style is a form of shorthand. Carlos has his own unique set of shorthand expressions for indicating things like eyes, noses, mouths... his own signature way of drawing those details. Mouths can often be no more than a small curved line. Noses frequently look squarish, as if carved from a small block of wood. Eyes (Johnny Alpha's in particular) can often be more square than round. It's simply Carlos' cartooning style.

Realism isn't necessarily the most important thing. It's the overall impression that drawing conveys. Many people lean towards favoring a more illustration approach than a cartooning approach, and want a more realistic 'life drawing' feeling conveyed in the artwork.

Don't mistake the number of lines as being the hallmark of a great comic artist, either. Sometimes what's left out is as important to the overall drawing as what's left in. Each artist concentrates on the details that he finds most important.

Carlos is a master at drawing textures and grit, which makes him perfectly suited for war stories and spaghetti westerns. He's a bit atypical by comparison to the type of artist usually chosen for science fiction subjects, but in a way that's one of his strengths as well, that he brings a different sensibility to the art than might be expected from most artists. His work remains interesting because he brings a fusion of genres to it.

JayzusB.Christ

i kind of miss his painted work. 
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

positronic

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 25 April, 2017, 03:15:13 PM
i kind of miss his painted work.

Any examples you can post? I'm trying to think if I've seen this, or merely color painted over his penciled-and-inked pages. I'm sure it does exist, I'm just trying to remember where I've seen it.

IndigoPrime

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 25 April, 2017, 03:05:48 PMOn a side-note, I'd add Jock, despite his sadly short tenure, to the top whatever Dredd artists.
I'm not sure about that. I think the only way Jock could prove that is by illustrating a Wagner-penned 12-parter.

...

...

(Worth a try.)

JudgeJudi

Quote from: PsychoGoatee on 24 April, 2017, 09:39:23 PM


For example, I don't like Ron Smith's style, the way he draws faces etc, just to me looks uncool. I still respect his work though, Graveyard Shift is a classic etc, and he's really good, I'm just not into Ron's art style.


Smith I've liked more as I've got older - he's another artist (I realise in hindsight) who makes Mega-City one looks vast.

Tony Angelino

Quote from: JamesC on 25 April, 2017, 01:33:06 PM
Quote from: Dark Jimbo on 25 April, 2017, 12:44:03 PM
Quote from: Rogue Judge on 25 April, 2017, 01:40:08 AM
Quote from: Andy B on 25 April, 2017, 01:27:39 AM
1. Ezquerra
2. McMahon
3. Henry Flint
4. Ron Smith
5. Cam Kennedy

Excellent list! This sums it up for me as well, but not necessarily in that order...

Add a place for Colin Macneil and I think that would be just about anybody's top 6 of Dredd artists!

I'd move Kennedy up a bit and replace Flint with Dillon.
If it were a cover artists only list I'd make it Ezquerra, McMahon, Bolland, Robinson.

The big four will always be Ron Smith, Brian Bolland, Mick McMahon and Carlos Ezquerra.  Not necessarily in that order. They defined Dredd. I'd give the next place to Ian Gibson, especially his work in the early progs.

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: positronic on 25 April, 2017, 03:27:37 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 25 April, 2017, 03:15:13 PM
i kind of miss his painted work.

Any examples you can post? I'm trying to think if I've seen this, or merely color painted over his penciled-and-inked pages. I'm sure it does exist, I'm just trying to remember where I've seen it.

Well, I was referring to the painted ink drawings.  You can't have missed them.


"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

sheridan

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 25 April, 2017, 09:22:50 AM
It's rather telling to read the letters pages recently in Mighty World of Marvel. Pretty much everyone is ripping into Bachalo's art, which is expressive, interesting, and gets across the weirdness of the magical layer hiding behind our own reality.

I don't particularly think of the Marvel house style as being 'realistic'.  I've also not seen any of Bachalo's artwork for quite some time (think Steampunk was the last thing I saw) so it's really about time I had a look next time I'm down the comic shop.

JamesC

Marvel artwork always looked dated to me when I was younger.
In 80s Spider-Man comics the pedestrians all look like they're from the 70s (or even 60s) and then when you get to the 90s, they look like they're from the 80s!

JudgeJudi

Quote from: Smith on 25 April, 2017, 06:14:04 AM
For me,Ron Smith is the second definitive artist.He strikes a very good balance between realistic and cartoonish.


Rogue Judge

 :lol: JudgeJudi

Even Smiths Dredd agrees Carlos is King

Sorry for the comic sans...

Magnetica

Quote from: Tony Angelino on 25 April, 2017, 04:57:05 PM
The big four will always be Ron Smith, Brian Bolland, Mick McMahon and Carlos Ezquerra.  Not necessarily in that order. They defined Dredd.

I agree with that. My order would be Bolland first...then dunno lets call it a draw.

Quote from: Tony Angelino on 25 April, 2017, 04:57:05 PM
I'd give the next place to Ian Gibson, especially his work in the early progs.

I would put Gibson in a group with Brett Ewins*, Brendan McCarthy, Cam Kennedy, Steve Dillon, Cliff Robinson and John Higgins as "classic " Dredd artists after the big 4.

And I view that there is a modern "holy trinity" of Henry Flint, Colin MacNeil** and Ben Wilsher.

And of course, sitting proudly along side the modern holy trinity, as a guiding father figure if you like, we have....yeah you guessed it ....Carlos Ezquerra.

*And yes Brett actually drew very few episodes of Dredd and is probably better know for Anderson, but the stuff he did on the Day the Law Died with Brendan is just awesome (even though I can't tell which bits were Brett and which were Brendan :lol:)

**And yes #2 MacNeil has been around since the late 80's but he seems to draw loads of Dredd episodes these days


Andy B

Quote from: Tony Angelino on 25 April, 2017, 04:57:05 PM
The big four will always be Ron Smith, Brian Bolland, Mick McMahon and Carlos Ezquerra.  Not necessarily in that order. They defined Dredd. I'd give the next place to Ian Gibson, especially his work in the early progs.

The thing keeping Bolland out of the top 5 for me is, he wasn't that good at drawing the City. Too often his Blocks just look like shoeboxes with windows drawn on. Obviously the guy's a genius and I'm sure he could do it... but he didn't. Maybe just not interested in drawing architecture, maybe didn't have time. (Or maybe I'm just wrong.)

As a cover artist, though, he's number 1. Those Eagle reprint covers...