art
The Mighty Tharg is running a 2000AD art challenge on Twitter
On Twitter, 2000AD is running a fan-art competition (#thargsartchallenge) that has produced the expected mix of submissions, with an occasional gem outshining the rest: For example, take this Mike Donachie/Baz Renshaw reimagining of Judge Dredd in the style of classic DC Thomson kids comics such as The Dandy and The Beano.
Ron English celebrates the inauguration with ‘Incredible Barack’
Incredible Barack
As an Irishman, I must confess I don’t know much about American politics, and the only U.S. news channel my TV picks up is Fox News — but apparently you’ve just sworn in an Islamist Communist as President for his third term. Congratulations! This has also inspired street-art legend Ron English to release a commemorative limited-edition print called “Incredible Barack.” This isn’t the first time English has invoked Marvel’s Hulk in his work; in fact, it’s something of a recurring theme for the man.
Evan Ohl’s vintage superhero bottle caps
I would try each and every flavor, but I’d most look forward to Uncle Ben’s Cola and whatever that Batman drink is.
Which is your favorite?
Marie Severin versus the Marvel Universe
The Giant-Size Marvel blog found this awesome print from 1996, drawn and hand-colored by Marvel artist Marie Severin and featuring herself taking on the publisher’s toughest heroes and villains. The color version was limited to 50 copies, but there were also 400 black-and-white prints, which you can see in the link.
I’m guessing Severin sold these at conventions, and I love that she included herself in the drawing.
Miguel Lokia plays a Game of Superheroes
Brazilian artist Miguel Lokia has created a series of Game of Thrones-inspired house banners for several pop-culture characters, including a few superheroes. That’s only one of the House Wayne banners above; continue below to see Houses Banner, Kent, Parker, Rogers, and a non-comics one I threw in just because it made me laugh. There are even more on Lokia’s deviantART page.
Jeff Victor teaches evolution (of Batman)
The Evolution of Batman
Illustrator/character designer Jeff Victor has gotten some attention lately for his Evolution of Tom Hanks T.Hanksgiving piece, but it’s just one in a series of “evolution” images he’s created, a few of them comics-related. In addition to Batman above, Victor has chronicled Jack Nicholson, Uma Thurman, and Natalie Portman, all of whom have starred in comics adaptations. Hit the break to see those three and Victor’s site for many others.
Decorate your fridge with art by Francis Tsai’s big toe
Illustrator Francis Tsai was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) a couple of years ago, but that hasn’t stopped him from creating art. He explains how he does it in an amazingly upbeat letter he recently sent to friends and fans:
Isabel Samaras makes yesterday better with characters of today
“Pop surrealist” painter Isabel Samaras‘ solo exhibit “Making a Better Yesterday Today” opened Saturday at San Francisco’s Varnish Fine Art. The show features her interpretations of classic art with pop culture characters like Batman, Wonder Woman and the Planet of the Apes. She talks about it a bit on her blog where she describes how the exhibit uses QR technology to offer guests an artist’s commentary on the show:
If you have a smartphone with a QR (Quick Response) Reader App, you can listen to me yap a bit about each of the new paintings. Just scan the code on the wall by each piece and you’ll hear real actual thoughts that came out of my real actual head via my mouth.
Hit the jump to see a few samples of the paintings, then visit Varnish Fine Art’s site to see even more before joining me in lamenting that you don’t live in San Francisco. Unless of course you do live in San Francisco, in which case – by all means – rub it in.
Comics artists love Frankenstein’s Bride
Arthur Adams
Saturday was the birthday of actress Elsa Lanchester, so to celebrate, John Rozum posted an amazing gallery of art inspired by her most famous role, the Bride of Frankenstein. A ton of comics artists are included and you can see many of them below the break. Be sure to visit Rozum’s site for even more, including additional pieces by Mike Mignola, Kevin Nowlan and Bruce Timm, as well as art by Basil Gogos, William Stout, and Mike McKone. Continue Reading »
Japanese sculptor makes nerd art from empties
I’ve seen people make little statues out of empty aluminum cans, but Makaon takes it to a whole other level. Her Batman is probably my favorite, but hit the jump to see a Smurf, Pikachu, Ultraman, and an Imperial Stormtrooper. And of course, there’s lots more at her website.
Arthur Suydam asks for help in recovering stolen artwork
"Alien Genocide," by Arthur Suydam
Veteran artist Arthur Suydam is seeking help in recovering artwork recently stolen from his New York City studio. Among the pieces are Suydam’s own gouche painting “Alien Genocide” and a “Little Devil” ink drawing by the late Frank Frazetta. Images of both — the latter drawn by Suydam from memory — are shown in this post.
The artist is asking that anyone who might have been approached to buy the stolen works, or know of their whereabouts, to please contact him at suyd@earthlink.net or (212) 475-4840. Tips will be kept confidential. Suydam’s message mentions a reward, but no additional details are offered.
Mattias Adolfsson’s literal figures of literary figures
Cartoonist Mattias Adolfsson’s sketch blog is always amazing, but I was especially tickled by his doodles of literal interpretations of author’s names. In addition the two above, he also drew Oscar Wilde, Günter Grass, Richard Scarry, Norman Mailer and Shakespear (sic). Go, click!
[Update: I don't know how I forgot to mention it earlier, but I've been reminded that Adlofsson's sketchbook, Mattias Unfiltered: The Sketchbook Art of Mattias Adolfsson is available from Boom!. That's very much worth checking out.]
Jian Guo’s Avengers and Hobbits kick glass
Chinese artist Jian Guo makes incredible, digital paintings in the style of stained-glass windows. This Avengers one is amazing, but my favorites are his Lord of the Rings designs, each of which includes multiple, related vignettes from the story. See some of those below, then head to Guo’s deviantART page for more, including ones inspired by World of Warcraft.
(via Who Designed It?)
Reviewing graphic novels | The view from the keyboard
Apparently, I'm the only person on earth who hated this book
Last weekend I was supposed to speak at the Kidlit Blogger conference in New York, but I had to bow out shortly beforehand because of scheduling problems. However, in preparing for the panel, I pulled together some notes on reviewing graphic novels that I thought might be of interest to writers, and maybe to readers as well. And because a good writer wastes nothing, here you go!
Types of reviews: Most of my reviews are written for the mildly interested reader, a group that could include casual readers, fans of any genre and librarians, and the aim of the review is to help that reader determine whether he or she would like that book. That’s different from me liking the book. There’s always a large measure of taste involved in any review, and if a book is solid but somehow done in a style or genre I don’t care for, that doesn’t mean someone else won’t like it. Having had the experience of totally trashing a book that other people love, and loving a book most people hated, I don’t even try to believe that my taste is universal.
So, in this type of review I give an indication of what the story is about, who the characters are, what the art is like, and how the story is told, then discuss what worked particularly well or don’t work at all. If I have a physical copy of the book, I might note the presentation, particularly if the production values are especially good (or especially bad). I seldom do an entirely positive or entirely negative review of a book, because most books have flaws and high points. I generally avoid spoilers in those types of reviews.
Occasionally a book is so bad I just pull out the sledgehammer and trash it. The book has to be spectacularly, offensively bad for me to do that—if it’s merely boring, the muse won’t come. So that doesn’t happen too often. Actually, my favorite kind of review is the one where I think a book is going go to be awful and I am pleasantly surprised when it turns out to be good.
David A. Reeves makes Batman and zombies cut it out
Designer/photographer David A. Reeves has been posting some great paper cutouts on his Tumblr, including a couple of Batman pieces like the one above. You can see his take on The Dark Knight Returns and The Walking Dead below, then head to his blog to see how he made them as well as cutouts featuring samurai, cowboys, and stuff from the video game Limbo.
