Over the ages there have been countless artists who have left indelible marks on the pages of comic books forever. Legends like Kirby, Eisner, and Finger just to name a few, but a salute needs to be made to those shaping the industry for the present and future today. Here are the top movers and shakers animating the world’s funny books.
Frank Quitely is a great artist. He’s done top shelf projects for countless heroes from every angle of the industry. His art is oriented more toward realism, and my only real problem with his art is how he draws faces. He often includes too many lines making characters look much more old and withered than I think he intends. He’s otherwise stellar, though.
Best known for drawing Robert Kirkman’s Invincible, he has been thus far sectioned away to indie books, but his art is definitely mainstream worthy. His art is a perfect mesh of realism and cartoon. His characters are well defined, but still able to retain the look of a far out super hero story.
When I was younger I wasn’t the biggest Romita Jr. fan, but I have to say that over the years this guy ahs really grown on me. His art fairly cartoony, but still great nonetheless. He’s the best when drawing heroes like Spiderman and Kick-Ass who tend to live in a more far out zany world.
These pages are works of art unto themselves. His manner of flowing pages that intertwines into one large totally organized mash of pictures. I know that doesn’t seem to make sense, but you have to see it to believe it. His style is paintings that are tend to be more realistic, but it’s the layout and interesting nature with which he composes his pieces.
Tim Sale’s art is very cartoony, and he’s the absolute best at that. He leaves a lot of open space creating a level of contrast that while seeming very minimalistic turns out to be very detailed once you take a closer look. He’s great at setting up the whole old school noir atmosphere within his art.
Alex Ross is absolutely the greatest painter working in comics today. His art is super realistic, almost to the point that you guess if it’s a photo or piece of art until you take a closer look. He is obviously influenced by the Golden Age of comics as his heroes are more barrel chested men in spandex, as opposed to sleek armor wearing muscle men, but it never comes off as cheesy. He’s the type of artist that, even if the story is bad, the art is still beautiful enough to make you read the book.
Jim Lee is a comic book god. He’s like the Tiger Woods of drawing super heroes. No one can touch this guy. His art is very realistic and some of the most detailed out there, yet he is able to achieve this without tons and tons of lines like so many other artists. He is a master of shading, and no one, and I mean NO ONE, draws Batman quite like this guy. I can look at his art forever without even reading the story. Jim Lee’s art is the definition of eye candy; he’s just that good.
You may not know a whole lot about the comic book world, but these guys are definitely sitting on top of it. Any book drawn by these can go ahead and be called gold standard. Any of you want to add a name to this list?
Top Photo Credit: supesfanforever