Project: New Man 4 Pg 12 Pencils
More pencils for you to see. I started knocking off some of the rust with page 12 and started picking up some speed to boot.
I could have just penciled these last chapters of The Haunted Man in my current style of drawing but I wanted to have as much consistency as possible in that issue. Freazie and I tried to do that in each issue but often fell below expectations.
The original Image Comics style which actually started at Marvel with Art Adams, Jim Lee and Rob Liefield was a hot prospect in the early 90′s. They were actually better when they started, unfortunately as time went on the artists overdid the trend they had begun. As on friend of mine said, who had been an art instructor, “there is only so much detail the human eye can pick up”. His point was they were over working the art, which to some extent I believe was true.
Something for artists to keep in mind where comic books and comic strips are concerned is the focus should be on the story telling more so than the art. Sure we want good looking art but not to the point it distracts from the story. All the pros I ever had access to prior to the 1990′s would tell me to strive to achieve a balance. The late, great Alex Toth said over and over, “It’s not what you draw, but what you don’t draw.” I may be paraphrasing slightly but the essence is there. An artist must make use of everything at his disposal including negative space to keep a reader interested. One of the complaints I heard about the Image Style was it would not hold the readers interest. Still, they sold a lot of books, at least early on. But as I eluded to earlier I think they did it better when they started before they got so involved with the detail. Some of their early art was simpler but still rich in detail and easier to follow. One of the best examples of this and most consistent of the Image artists was Eric Larson.
Well, I’m out of time for rambling today. More tomorrow. See ya!
Any questions of comments? All are welcome.
) Your Reply...