Artists.

There are many GREAT artists that have provided to this medium, who do you like?

John Buscema:







Boris Vallejo:







Frank Frazetta:










Can you tell I love Frazetta's work?

There's more artists. BTW guys, let's keep it clean.

intrepid,

That last Frazetta link reminds me an awful lot of an old Molly Hachett album cover.

Flirtin' With Disaster era, I believe...

Haven't gandered at the rest , yet....

Frazetta is a god.

The Death Dealeris such an aewsome image that it has been burned onto my brain forever.
Here is a recent homage to it on a Hulk cover.

I have many "favorite" comic book artists. Narrowing it down to one would be as difficult as trying to name my "favorite song". It's simply impossible to do.

My list of favorite comic book artists begins with the King, Jack Kirby.
What list would be complete without Steve Ditko? Certainly not this one.
Naturally, a good list would also include John Buscema, Barry Smith, Rich Buckler and Mike Nasser (aka Netzer) and such is the case with my own.
Of course, my list also includes Frank Frazetta, even though he really never came into prominence for his comic book work but rather for his cover art for the Conan the Barbarian series of paperback books for Lancer Publications.
Wally Wood also deserves a notable place on my list as does Will Eisner.
While many people who aren't comic book fans might not know many of the artists mentioned, I am certain that there are many who would recognize the name,
Frank Miller. Frank's work on Daredevil comics is when I first noticed his work but the general public probably recognize the name from the recent film, Sin City.
ouAny Fan of war comics would recognize another one of my favorite artists, Joe Kubert. Joe created one of the most interesting characters in the this sub genre, that of "Enemy Ace".
To touch on underground comics for a moment, I must mention the late, great Vaughn Bode. Vaughn's work was the inspiration for many present day grafitti artists. I must add, as an aside, that I had the priveledge of actually working with Vaughn briefly. Unfortunately, his sudden, untimely death cut short our all-too-brief association. In this same genre, I must also mention
Jeff Jones (aka, Jeffrey Jones), one of the finest illustrator/painters to have been known within the comic book world. Again, unfortunately, Jeffrey has faced some very difficult times as of late.
Another artist that is a favorite of mine is Jim Steranko. Although Steranko did not produce as much comic book art as I would have liked, Jim's work on "Nick Fury, Agent of Shield" certainly earned him a niche in the Comic Book Hall of Fame (if there was one).
But if I had to pick and name one artist who has influenced the world of comics in the past twenty-five years, it would have to be Neal Adams. Neal's work and love of the comic book genre is legendary. A successful advertising artist, Neal would still take time out from his much more lucrative advertising business to produce some of the most memorable artwork that has ever graced a comic book; most notably, X-Men, Green Arrow and, of course Batman. Incidentally, Neal is credited with re-inventing the Batman character into the Dark Knight personna. Another aspect of Neal's that is worth every ATS members interest is Neal's foray into Earth Science. Neal has been expounding his Growing Earth Theory through interviews in Wired Magazine as well as his work on an illustrated "treatise" on this alternative theory of science Neal Adams

Jim Steranko
www.hmss.com...

Will Eisner; Neal Adams; Barry Windsor-Smith; Joe Kubert; Jack Davis; Mike Kaluta; Robert Crumb; Gene Colan.

Frank Frazetta is a god, but I think of him more as the book illustrator rather then the comic book artist. Sorry, but Boris Valejo was always merely low-rent Frazetta, and his habit of putting his face on his male figures... eeew!

Here's a bit of heresy -- personally, I never liked Jack Kirby's work. Great at machines and guns, but his faces always turned me off, even when I was very young. Just my opinion, based on personal taste.

Baack

Originally posted by Baack
J
Frank Frazetta is a god, but I think of him more as the book illustrator rather then the comic book artist. Sorry, but Boris Valejo was always merely low-rent Frazetta, and his habit of putting his face on his male figures... eeew!

I have to agree with you about Boris Valejo. Yes, Boris is a fine artist but, in my opinion, he lacks the creativity and, to a great extent, the ability to compete with Frank on a fine art level. As for Boris' disconcerting habit of using his own face on the male figures in his paintings, well consider that a form of flattery. Many have called Boris a "Frazetta clone" or, in the very least a wannabe and his practice of imposing his own face is a further reflection of Boris' homage to Frazetta.

Frank frequently used not only his own face and form in his work but he would also use his wife as a model in his work -- primarily his illustrations and comic work.

Originally posted by benevolent tyrant

I have to agree with you about Boris Valejo. Yes, Boris is a fine artist but, in my opinion, he lacks the creativity and, to a great extent, the ability to compete with Frank on a fine art level. As for Boris' disconcerting habit of using his own face on the male figures in his paintings, well consider that a form of flattery. Many have called Boris a "Frazetta clone" or, in the very least a wannabe and his practice of imposing his own face is a further reflection of Boris' homage to Frazetta.

I was thinking about my post over the weekend, and came to the conclusion that I was harder on Boris that I meant to be.

I agree, he is a fine artist. I have no issues with the quality of his rendering or painting. He is a perfectly capable "pulp" paperback illustrator. I do think his pictures have a certain static quality; lacking the dynamism and the kinetic energy that Frank Frazetta's paintings fairly POP with.

I think Boris's problem, or perhaps my problem with him, is that he chose to emulate Frazetta's style, when a real Frank Frazetta comes around only once-in-a-lifetime. Boris just naturally winds up being unfavorably compared to the master.

Two artists that more successfully emulated Frazetta, at least in black-and-white illustration, were Bernie Wrightson and Esteban Maroto. Maybe they're just better artists than Boris, or maybe they were wise enough to limit their pastiche to pen-and-ink, but they're certainly more universally admired, and they've become iconic in their own way.

Frank frequently used not only his own face and form in his work but he would also use his wife as a model in his work -- primarily his illustrations and comic work.

I knew Frazetta used his wife as a model, but I didn't know he also used his face and form. The form I can understand -- Frazetta was an athlete his whole life, and was possessed of a powerful physique. As regards his face, honestly, I don't see it in his paintings (except for maybe the movie poster artwork for Clint Eastwood's "The Gauntlet," which would be a terrific inside joke! ) So thanks for clueing me in, I learned something from you.

Baack

PS: if you've not yet seen it, there's a fascinating documentary film about our boy called "Frazetta: Painting with Fire." IMDB information at
www.imdb.com...
You can rent it from Netflix, and it also shows up on cable TV's Independent Film Channel (IFC) quite often. It's a terrific movie, and relatively recent, so it catches you up on his post stroke-health and his recovery efforts. (He's relearning to draw with his left hand. Un-freaking-believable!)

I cannot believe that I forgot to mention Berni Wrightson! In 1975, I published the Berni Wrightson Treasury (co-edited with Greg Theakston). This was my first real venture in publishing and I am proud to see that this book has become a "collectors item" of sorts. Nevertheless, I can't believe that I had omitted Berni. This omission makes me realize that I've probably left out a dozen or more "favorite" artists from my list.

Wow, way to many american artists are being mentioned so I'll break the chain.Here's a somewhat good list of non american comic artists:
Francios Schuiten- Cities of the Fantastic series
Katsuhiro Otomo- Domu, Akira
Hayao Miyazaki- Nausicaä of the valley of wind, The age of the flying boat
Milo Manara- Click!
Mobius- Griffes D'Ange

And there are some americans I didn't see mentioned:
Winsor McCay- Little Nemo
Jim Lee- X-men, Batman
Seth Fisher- Green latern:Willworld, Fanastic Four&Iron Man:Big in Japan