30 Days Of DC Meme: Day Eight

[gwenfrankenstien]

Day Eight: Favourite Artist


You would think that, given that I draw, I would care about art more in comics. But you'd be wrong. Really, if a book is well-written and decently-drawn, I barely notice the art at all. I notice bad art, of course, and my definition of "bad" art is not always the same as the average person's-- women without spines are a huge pet peeve, and characters who all have the same face, both of which seem to be seen by the average comics fan as acceptable stylistic choices.

But then there are the artists who go beyond "decently-drawn" and make me really believe that that particular artist is doing something with this story that only they could do, in a way that only they would think of doing. I can't list one person here, possibly because I'm an artist and I try to take influence from all of these people, but here's a short list of who I (currently) love and why:

- Tim Sale's use of contrast
- Amanda Conner's self-aware sexiness
- Kevin Maguire's facial expressions
- Nicola Scott's visual storytelling
- J. H. Williams III's unique panel constructions and page layouts
- Cliff Chiang's crisp, smooth linework
- Damion Scott's energy
- Jill Thompson's everything
- Honourable mention to Colleen Coover, who I don't think has drawn any DC stuff so she's probably ineligible here.

Okay, maybe not so short a list.