Art Evolution

Topic

There’s been a huge debate on social media in the last few weeks about Frank Miller doing his Marvel variants.

Many artists change their style over the years. Some don’t. Rob Liefeld in 1989 looks pretty much the same as in 2023. Someone like Mike Mignola took a while to hit on his signature style but has been pretty consistent in that for 30+ years. Jim Lee can do a wide variety of styles (you can see in stuff like some of his Vertigo covers/posters) but mostly doesn’t as his signature one sells like gangbusters. Art Adams and John Romita Jr have shifted to a more cartoony style but Bryan Hitch and Travis Charest went the other way and went for more realism.

What are the artists you have seen make radical shifts and which did you like or hate or just enjoyed the journey?

Mick McMahon is one I’ll use as a starting example. The first published Dredd artist with work like this:

On Slaine he had this scratchy kind of ‘woodcut’ style.

That evolved into this on Epic’s Last American:

Now his work almost has a Picasso style to it, a rounder cubism:

 

 

 

Replies

The Miller variant I’ve seen wasn’t really my cup of tea, but by no means horrible.

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lorcan_nagle

I saw people losing their shit over it and yeah, it’s not Miller’s best but it’s a hell of a lot better than some of the other stylised stuff I’ve seen from him in recent years.

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Sean Robinson

The thing that interested me is many went to the original CC and FM Wolverine series. While it is decent is far from a career high for either of them.

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lorcan_nagle

Miller was the first to start drawing Wolverine’s claws like blades, and artists have been fucking them up ever since.

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Todd

Luke Ross

1990s

Now

One example that springs to mind for me as being quite similar to the Miller example is JR Jr.

When he started out he was very much in the traditional Marvel House style, not that distinguishable from many people who followed the Romita Sr. model for Spidey especially. Then as the years have gone on you’ve seen him adopt a more distinctive, ‘boxy’ style that for me is more Kirby-influenced in terms of heft and power (and also in terms of many fans describing it as ugly! Not me though.)

I think those recent Miller covers are very Kirby-influenced too and it’s been slightly baffling for me to see so many comics fans (particularly Marvel comics fans) missing that.

Another obvious example is Bill Sienkiewicz, who also famously went from a more traditional ‘realistic’ generic superhero style to something far more unique, experimental and sophisticated.

Although even early on in his Moon Knight run he’s doing thoughtful, clever pages like this.

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Todd

The one that always come to mind for me is “Gabe”, the artist on Penny Arcade. Initially (1998), his work is quite naive.

It quickly evolves into something with an actual style (1999).

Then something that actually looks nice (2002).

Peaks around 2005/6

And then just went off the deep end into whatever the hell this is

It’s been like that far longer than it was good now and it’s just disappointing.

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lorcan_nagle