My, How You've Grown!
It is always fun to look at how artists improve their craft over the years, so I wish to point out five artists (I would pick more, but, well, that would take too much time) that I think have really improved since they first broke into comics....
1. Bryan Hitch - Hitch was never a BAD artist. From the get go, he was a very capable artist, getting fill-in work from DC and Marvel all over the place. He was definitely entrenched in the comic business, but when it was announced that he was taking over for Oscar Jiminez on Warren Ellis' Stormwatch Volume 2, it was met with little fanfare. In fact, it was more an example of "artist who can meet deadlines replacing artist who cannot."
And then Hitch just decided to become a super-detailed artist on Stormwatch, continued it into Authority, and then on to Ultimates.
A great improvement, taking him from a good artist to one of the biggest artists in the business.
2. Jesus Saiz - Saiz is fun to watch, because we get to see it unfold right in front of us. Every month, he just gets a little better.
Remember him on 21 Down from Wildstorm?
Good artist, but then you look at him on the beginning of Manhunter.
BIG improvement.
And then look at him NOW...he's going to be BIG for DC.
This Wednesday he gets his first BIG project - the OMAC Project with Greg Rucka. I do not like the idea of the OMAC Project, but I am pleased to see Saiz get a big stage.
3. Joe Bennett - Joe Bennett is a funny case, as I really do not know where his sudden surge in coolness came from.
He was always a decent artist, solid, dependable.
But suddenly, he is doing really, really great work on books like Captain America and the Falcon, Hawkman, and soon he is joining Gail Simone on Birds of Prey.
Improvement is cool, but reinventing yourself like Bennett has done is even cooler.
4. Scott Kolins - Like Bennett, was around for awhile. A decent, solid, dependable artist.
However, upon becoming the regular artist on Geoff Johns' Flash, Kolins tried out a dramatically new style of art...much looser than his older style, and it worked really well.
Now, Kolins is the same dependable artist he always was, but now he has a distinct, interesting stylized approach to his pencils that I think looks really good.
5. Travis Charest - The difference between Charest and the others is that Charest was a superstar artist to BEGIN with.
He was one of the hotter artists in the business ALREADY with his old style. A lot of artists would be satisfied with that, and not try to improve - but not Charest.
And now he has only gotten better as time goes on.
It's truly remarkable.
He can't do a monthly (or bi-monthly even), but his art is still amazing.
Any artists that you can think of that have dramatically improved?
1. Bryan Hitch - Hitch was never a BAD artist. From the get go, he was a very capable artist, getting fill-in work from DC and Marvel all over the place. He was definitely entrenched in the comic business, but when it was announced that he was taking over for Oscar Jiminez on Warren Ellis' Stormwatch Volume 2, it was met with little fanfare. In fact, it was more an example of "artist who can meet deadlines replacing artist who cannot."
And then Hitch just decided to become a super-detailed artist on Stormwatch, continued it into Authority, and then on to Ultimates.
A great improvement, taking him from a good artist to one of the biggest artists in the business.
2. Jesus Saiz - Saiz is fun to watch, because we get to see it unfold right in front of us. Every month, he just gets a little better.
Remember him on 21 Down from Wildstorm?
Good artist, but then you look at him on the beginning of Manhunter.
BIG improvement.
And then look at him NOW...he's going to be BIG for DC.
This Wednesday he gets his first BIG project - the OMAC Project with Greg Rucka. I do not like the idea of the OMAC Project, but I am pleased to see Saiz get a big stage.
3. Joe Bennett - Joe Bennett is a funny case, as I really do not know where his sudden surge in coolness came from.
He was always a decent artist, solid, dependable.
But suddenly, he is doing really, really great work on books like Captain America and the Falcon, Hawkman, and soon he is joining Gail Simone on Birds of Prey.
Improvement is cool, but reinventing yourself like Bennett has done is even cooler.
4. Scott Kolins - Like Bennett, was around for awhile. A decent, solid, dependable artist.
However, upon becoming the regular artist on Geoff Johns' Flash, Kolins tried out a dramatically new style of art...much looser than his older style, and it worked really well.
Now, Kolins is the same dependable artist he always was, but now he has a distinct, interesting stylized approach to his pencils that I think looks really good.
5. Travis Charest - The difference between Charest and the others is that Charest was a superstar artist to BEGIN with.
He was one of the hotter artists in the business ALREADY with his old style. A lot of artists would be satisfied with that, and not try to improve - but not Charest.
And now he has only gotten better as time goes on.
It's truly remarkable.
He can't do a monthly (or bi-monthly even), but his art is still amazing.
Any artists that you can think of that have dramatically improved?
posted by Brian Cronin at 6:13 PM
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