This is obviously a little bit
odd-looking... maybe more than a little bit.
I love when someone takes a convention
and just turns it. This is genuinely a
page where it doesn't matter at all what
order you read it in. - But I've never seen
something like this before where someone
makes the eyes bigger and it makes the
characters so... *shudders*. Been a while since I
did a flat out illustrator reacts a good
and bad comic book art episode.
Partially because it's kind of hard to
find good examples of bad comic book art
that I can talk about in a constructive
way, but I think I found a decent balance
in this episode. Also for anyone who's
never seen the series before, in the
pinned comment on this video I'm going
to put a list of every artist I've
talked about in the series before and
the episode it talked about them in
because I've covered lots of artists. So
if you're looking for someone
specifically that I don't talk about in
this episode, I might have talked about
them before so check there. Without
further ado, let's get into some comic
art starting with a pretty famously
goofy looking Batman.
Yeah, so... this is obviously a little bit
odd-looking. Maybe more than a little bit.
This is art from Injustice, the comic
based off of the video game and I
remember seeing this art firsthand when
I was reading this comic years and years
ago. And it is genuinely one of the best
comic runs I've ever read. I really loved
it. The story is fantastic and there is a
lot of genuinely great art in it. One of
my personal favorite Catwoman drawings
ever is in this exact issue that this
Batman art is from. The reason that there
is some goofy look and art in this
series is because the artists were under
an intense rush. Like when I was talking
about Yoshihiro Togashi's art a couple
weeks ago on HunterxHunter, the artists
for this comic were under a pretty
intense deadline. This comic was coming
out weekly instead of monthly like most
DC comics would, and also take into
account the fact that there isn't just
one person doing the art. There's David
Yardin doing the pencils, then three
different people were doing the inking
for this comic, and then there was a
colorist as well So with that many
people involved in doing the art under
such an intense deadline, something is
pretty much guaranteed to get lost in
translation at some point in some of the
panels. Just imagine for this art if the
pencils were even a little bit vague in
terms of the face structure of the
character. When the inker, or potentially
multiple inkers, get this they have to
then interpret what the penciler was
trying to get across, which could have
resulted in some kind of goofy-looking
inks. But if you're under an intense
deadline sometimes you just gotta go
'well I've got dozens of other drawings
to do today so we're just gonna have to
deal with this.' And maybe they're hoping
that the colorist would fix things up a
little bit, but then the colorist gets
this and goes 'well I guess this is the
inks that I'm coloring.' So they both have
to try and stay in the lines that were
provided in the inks as well as try and
get across the original idea of David
Yardin's art that he drew in the first
place. So with so many people involved
and all of them having to draw multiple
images and odds are not having much time
to communicate with each other, it's
pretty easy to see how he could get some
goofy looking art that looks like buck
teeth Batman here. And to David Yardin's
credit, this was all the art that was
coming out for the digital release of
the comic, which was the initial release.
Once again like with Yoshihiro Togashi
Yardin was pretty
unhappy with the final result so before
the print issues were coming out he went
back in Inked and colored over a bunch
of the artwork that had been done and
fix it up a whole lot. You can see in
this comparison, with his fixed version
for the print not only did he do the
obvious fix on the eyes and the mouth
making it a lot more normal human
looking, he also added some more sheen
and contrast to Batman's cowl and to
Catwoman's body and added more form to
Catwoman's face he added a bit more
blood on to Batman's hands and overall
just really improved the image and made
it look... you know more like normal comic
art. But even looking at that old one if
you kind of stick your thumb over
Batman's face the art is still pretty
good looking it's just unfortunate that
the part that got most messed up was the
focal point of the image. And there are
plenty of other examples, I'll put a few
of them up, of other spots where Yardin
was fixing the artwork. He did a great
job fixing things up and as someone who
read the Injustice comic, I can say that
even though there was some goofy art and
I did notice that at the time, it didn't
interrupt my enjoyment of what is a
genuinely fantastic comic. And if you
want to see a bunch of awesome examples
of David Yardin's work I'll put some of
that up now he really is a great artist.
He's done lots of awesome stuff, don't
let this one goofy image cloud your
judgment of him or any of the other
artists that we're working on this
series. There are very very few places
where you'll be able to find better
examples of using a really simple color
palette than in some of Moebius work. And
he doesn't exclusively use simple color
palettes, but personally I find his best
work is when he does. If you look at this
image specifically; there's only three
colors in this whole piece there's
shades of orange, purple, and yellow. And
he's using those colors to do a couple
different effects. One is create depth.
You can see that the only thing that's
really a big orange wash is our main
character here looking down over the
city and the building that he's on and
that building he's on is the only orange
building in the whole piece which really
brings it forward and makes it stand out
as the main focus. All the buildings in
the back are mainly a wash of purple and
then there's flecks of yellow splashed
all over in the windows
and on some of these flying machines. And
this image could work without the yellow,
but, that would mean that our only focus
in the image would be that main
character and clearly with an
interesting environment like this he
wants us to look through and explore all
of the background stuff after we've
looked at our main focal point. So having
the purple and yellow be together in the
background, being complementary colors or
contrasting colors (Some people call them
complementary some people call them
contrasting, basically two colors on
opposite sides of the color wheel) and
having those two colors in the back
really makes us want to look through and
explore all of this interesting stuff
happening in the background.
It's a really great example of a
reserved color palette. And he's done
something kind of like that in this next
image. If we take a look at this, you can
see this image is even more stripped
back there's pretty much only two colors
we've got blue and orange and then a bit
of purple on that character on the left.
And in this one we're encouraged less to
explore the background because the focus
is supposed to be more on just these two
characters interacting; the face and the
rocks and this little guy standing on
the rock. And the way that we're drawn to
that face in the rocks is partially just
because people are inherently drawn to
looking at faces and even finding faces
in places where there aren't any
sometimes but also by the fact that this
orange rock in the bottom left is almost
like an arrow pointing us straight
towards that guy and the little
character on this rock is looking at the
face in the rocks. And we're also drawn
to that face a little bit more because
of the contrast on it. It's kind of a
lighter blue while all the rocks
surrounding it are a bit of a darker
blue. And there are so many great
examples of Moebius using reserved color
palettes two really really nice effect.
And if you're not familiar with Moebius
he's a very famous french comic book
artist who has influenced so many people
in the artistic realm. He's encouraged
the looks of different movies, video
games and so many popular artists. One
specific one that I really like,
Hayao Miyazaki, who's my personal
favorite storyteller probably in
existence, he's the director of movies
like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke
and a bunch of other Studio Ghibli films
and he specifically cited Moebius as
being an influence for Nausicaa of the
Valley of
Wind which Miyazaki did as a manga and
does a movie. Oh
also if you didn't recognize that the
face in that second image we were
looking at was Jimi Hendrix. So that
wasn't exactly comic book art but I
really liked that piece so I wanted to
talk about it.
But yeah, his work is all super impressive I
highly recommend you go take a look at
more of it cuz it's all really gorgeous
especially if you want to study color.
Now in this series I've talked a lot
about how different artists get people
to look through individual images in the
way they want but I haven't actually
talked a lot about how different artists
get people to look from one panel to the
next in the order that they want and
that's a big part of making comics.
Readers have to be able to read the
comic in the intended order without
thinking about it so I decided to go
looking for some examples of good and
not-so-good page layout. And these pages
here from a Dark Avengers comic were
framed by a lot of people online as
being a good example of bad page layout
and admittedly I don't mind it as much
as some other people seem to but I do
get the complaints this is art done by
Mike Deodato jr. I'm 99% sure the
credits for this comic are all out of
whack. On Marvel Unlimited it says that
Terry Dodson was the penciler for this
issue and some of the art in it does
look like it was done by him but the
pages were looking at definitely do not
look like Terry Dodson's art style. They
look a lot more like Mike Deodato jr.
who is credited as an Inker. So I think
the crediting is just off and they were
both doing pencils for different pages.
For the colorist and inkers I have no
idea who is doing what pages so I
apologize that I can't credit them
properly. But anyway, if we look at the
art on these two pages specifically
first of all the art itself, not trying
to read it as a story, is just really
awesome looking. I specifically love this
Colossus vs Venom image because it
really feels like Colossus is trying to
push a Venom away and it's just a really
uncomfortable cool dynamic fight image.
And even the earlier one of Colossus
about to take a swing at them is really
cool-looking but I can see a problem
with this page where... going back up to
the top of the page we read through that
first panel and the normal way to read a
comic (specifically Western
comics, if you're reading a manga you're
obviously gonna be reading to page the
opposite direction) but is to read like
you would read anything from left to
right and then move down to the next
part of the page. In this case though
because the next two panels in the page
are angled up like this, which is a cool
idea, it can kind of make you want to
look from that jumping image of Venom
down to the panel just below it where
Colossus is running at Venom's hand in
the foreground. Which, what you're
actually supposed to do is read it like
you would read any comic jump your eye
down to that lower panel and then read
up that slant and then continue. Because
I saw this image specifically being
framed by people as not great layout I
didn't really get to look at it with an
unbiased eye going into it so I don't
know if I personally would have read out
the right way going in. I think there is
a good chance, I don't think it's that
poorly laid out. I think the other page
is probably a better example of bad page
layout because we're obviously supposed
to start on this image of beasts taking
a slash at someone but then I don't know
necessarily which image we're supposed
to look at next. But to be fair I don't
think it necessarily matters that much
for these three images because they're
all focused on different characters that
are spread out over this fight so these
things could all be happening
simultaneously. The problem really
happens if someone looks at this and
feels like they have to think about
where they're supposed to look next. If
someone's thinking 'Oh am I supposed to
go here or here?' then it's taking them
out of the story so that's really the
only problem with this.
There's probably much better examples of
bad page layout; this really isn't that
bad it's just not great. And specifically
when I was flipping through this comic
to see more of the images I really
really love this page in particular and
I think the flow works way better here
personally I start down here on
Archangel... since when can Archangel shoot
lasers from his eyes? that is Archangel
right? I didn't read the Dark
Avengers run, so I'm sorry I might have
somethings wrong. But my eye starts down
there and looks up through the beam and
through Iceman's
ice... surf... whatever you want to call it,
read the texts over to ice man's body
and then down through the other panels
and I love the depth here of the eye
blast bringing us up towards Iceman. It's
really cool, there is some good page
layout in here but I see why people had
problems with some of the other pages.
Now for a really cool example of some
good comic layout and this is someone
taking the classic 9 panel grid which is
one of the most classic common
old-school page layout techniques and
kind of turning it on its head making us
read it in a different direction of how
you normally would. This is art done by
Bill Sienkiewicz
who's probably most famous for his run
on New Mutants? He's done a lot of really
great stuff and a lot of his art is
really bizarre and unusual looking. This
Moon Knight art is a little bit stripped
back from his usual style, but I had to
take a look at this because I love when
someone takes a convention and just
turns it. You can see with this page
you're not reading it going panel, panel,
panel, then down to the left again panel,
panel, panel, like you normally would.
You're reading it around sort of
clockwise. And the way he's managed to
make us do that breaking from how we
would conventionally read a page like
this, is with Moon Knight's body really guiding
us through around the different panels.
And you could see Moon Knight's body- his leg
and his cape are sticking up into the
previous panels making sure that we move
down to that panel next instead of
jumping over to the left of the page. And
then to help emphasize it even more
there's the sort of circle of blams
going around these guys in the middle
that are shooting at Moon Knight. I also
really like that moon night is getting
bigger and bigger subtly as he's moving
around the image. Because he is getting
closer and closer to the... I want to say
camera that's not exactly it but you get
what I mean he's getting closer to us.
There are a few other examples of
artists breaking how we're supposed to
read the 9 panel grid and they're all
really cool but this is one that just
really jumped out at me. Partially
because I was surprised it was Bill
Sienkiewicz cuz it really doesn't look
like what I think of when I think of his
art style.
Now if I hadn't actually planned on
talking about Bryan Lee O'Malley today,
but in looking at the Mike Deodato jr.
art and that one page how I was saying
you could kind of look at it in any
order and it wouldn't matter, that really
got me thinking about some art from
Bryan Lee O'Malley's book 'Seconds' which
I believe was the next comic he made
after Scott Pilgrim which is probably
the thing he's most famous for. I really
really love Scott Pilgrim, but I might
even love Seconds more... I don't know it's
a tough call they're both great. But in
Seconds there's a few pages where it
really doesn't matter what order you
read the page in or even how long you
look at the page and this is one example
of that. You can see this sort of
isometric drawing of us looking down at
the basement of a restaurant and just
seeing what all the different people who
work at the restaurants are doing. And
there's no traditional panels on this
page but there are sort of panels built
up by the walls of the basement. And this
is one of those things where it's kind
of like a world building page that you
can either look at and say okay I get it
it's a bunch of people working in a
kitchen and move on to the next page or
you can stop and let it simmer, look
through all the different rooms, see
what's happening, absorb it. This is
genuinely a page where it doesn't matter
at all what order you read it in and I
think the execution is great and the
idea is great and it just feels so Bryan
Lee O'Malley. His art is all very fun and
cartoony and interesting and really
creative. And there's another page like
this where we've got the main character
Katie going and interacting with her
customers in the restaurant, Seconds. And
while in this one there is dialog that
you can read it still doesn't really
matter what order you're reading it all
in because you get the idea by just
looking at the page. This one there's not
really as much framing built into it but
you can see it's just Katie interacting
with her customers, there's not any
essential plot information coming across
so again you can either look at this
quickly take a look and then move on or
you can really sit in it and absorb
what's going on, see how she's talking to
the different customers. So while guiding
people's eye through an image is really
there, are some times where you don't
necessarily have to do that. And I kind
of just came up with that term world
building pages on the spot, but I I think
I kind of like that as a way to explain
pages like this. It's almost like a
free-roaming page for your eyes. But yeah I
might have to talk about Bryan Lee
O'Malley again because his art is really
fun and really great and Scott Pilgrim
and Seconds are both fantastic comics.
Now Locke-and-Key is a comic series that
I've meant to get to for a long time,
specifically because I've heard the
writing was really good. I hadn't really
heard anything about the art itself. The
book was written by Joe Hill who's
actually the son of Stephen King, but if
he'd kept the last name King then his
name would have been 'Joking' so I get why
you wouldn't want that, but anyway the
art in it actually really jumped out to
me and one specific thing that Gabriel
Rodriguez did was the way he did the
faces. Now when you're doing eyes on a
character a lot of the time if you want
the character to look more tough and
stoic you'll make the eyes smaller and
that makes them more intimidating. If you
want them to look cuter you make the
eyes bigger in this case Gabriel
Rodriguez made all the characters have
really big eyes... but in this case it
makes them so much more uncomfortable
and unsettling looking which is the
intended effect. This is very much a
horror comic and a lot of the stuff in
it is kind of disturbing and creepy and
weird. But I've never seen something like
this before where someone makes the eyes
bigger and it makes the characters so
*shudders* I think part of the way he's done
that is the rendering around the eyes
emphasizing the eyelids a little bit
more and eyelashes and just uh... I don't know
not cute way. Especially considering the
fact that a lot of the time he does
those sort of light glares in the eyes
which usually makes the eyes look even
cuter and it just doesn't in this case
it really kind of baffled me the whole
way through the comic. And the comic is
exactly as great as everyone was telling
me it is. But just those eyes really
really got me the whole way through and
I think they're so effective. They do
still help you connect with the
characters cuz we're drawn to looking at
not just
specifically faces but eyes, but as
you're drawn to them you're also really
unsettled by them. And there's a lot of
other stuff he does really well in this
comic the art in general is just really
solid. His texturings on stuff like wood
are really cool and I think he's done a
really great job with any drawing of the
big mansion that these characters live
in. But yeah those eyes really interesting
decision and really well executed.
Another comic series that I highly
recommend.
Alright everybody that's all for this
episode of illustrator reacts be sure to
check out some of the other kinds of
videos on this channel a bunch of people
have really liked my recent overwatch
characters as Dungeons & Dragons
characters and the much requested sequel
to that is coming up on Monday. I also
did an episode recently where I filled
an entire table with hundreds of
sketches and I do lots and lots of other
fun art challenges and drawings and
weird nerdy mashups. And of course as
always I'd love for people to recommend
more artists for me to talk about. I know
people like when I talk about
quote-unquote bad art if you've got some
good suggestions of bad professional
comic art please leave them in the
comments that's the hardest kind of
stuff to find. And I try to not tear into
the artists ever I try to just look at
it from a constructive lens and talk
about how a good artist might
occasionally make some bad artwork but
also if you've just got some really
great artists that you'd like me to talk
about that's super awesome to all the
suggestions are very much appreciated.
Anyway everybody I'm Christian Pearson
this has been PopCross Studios, home of
the nerdiest art videos on YouTube and I
will see you all on the next one goodbye
everybody!
