My favorite artists all have unique individual styles

 Most of the artists I post about in here—maybe all of them—are what I would call stylists. By which I mean they rock the boat. They don't try to draw like anyone else, or in a house style, they all developed their own very unique styles and it really stands out from the crowd. And when it comes to the comic book artists, I believe all of them ink their own work. Not always, but you can really tell when somebody else inks it, and it's a loss in quality usually. I take that back—when it comes to Marc Silverstri, his best inker is Dan Green. They developed a synergy together that few teams have had. 

Today my Punisher trade paperback came in. If possible,  when it comes to artists I really like such as Tex, I try to get their work in reprint form in something like a trade or a collection or an omnibus. The problem with the omnibuses is the paper is super-thin, seems like it would tear or crease really easily, and the books are unbelievably massive. I like to hold a book in one hand in my lap and page through it with the other, and after a while if it's an omnibus, my wrist gets worn out. I mean these books weigh like ten pounds!! But it's an excellent way to collect an entire run by an artist or a writer, printed on nice slick paper with bright colors (sometimes inappropriately bright for the subject matter). But I didn't have to get an omnibus to cover Tex's entire run on The Punisher. He only drew a few stories in that title, so just a trade paperback covers it easily. 

I plan to shoot pictures from the book and show the work of a variety of Punisher artists who work at different points along the spectrum from pure house style to one-of-a-kind stylist like Texeira at his peak. That'll probably be my next post, in this one I want to cover some different territory.  

All my favorite artists have developed a very individual look and visual language and an unmistakable style of their own. I want to talk a bit about how they've done that while working in an industry like comic book publishing, which for a long time didn't allow much individualism. Or I should say it didn't allow a more modern artistic approach. Individual style was fine as long as it was close to the classic Marvel house style, which in the early days (up until somewhere in the 70's) was the Jack Kirby style. 

There were several artists working in the bullpen who wanted to break loose and do something very different—Frank Miller, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Walter Simonson that I can think of offhand. I know Miller, and I think Sienkiewicz, would continually ask to be allowed to cut loose and try something more experimental, but they weren't allowed to until they had spent a good ten years proving themselves worthy and loyal to the brand by doing good workmanlike work. Often in their early stuff you can see hints and allegations of what was to come here and there—a few more loosely-rendered figures, an interesting compositional choice,  etc. But their editors would reign them in and not let much of that slip through. 

I'm not sure when it was exactly, but I think some time in the 70's they did start allowing it. The first stories I remember seeing in an innovative modernist style were Simonson's Metal Men comics. It was not a highly popular series at the time, probably failing, and I think he was put on it and allowed to do his thing—that modern comic thing he had been wanting to do for a decade or more—in order to field test it and see if it would be accepted by readers. Personally I loved it,  and a lot of other people did as well. It really stood out from all the other titles on the spinner racks in the grocery stores in those days (which is where you would buy them. Comic book shops didn't exist until the 80's). I believe his work propelled Metal Men to a new level of popularity and generated loads of letters from readers asking about him and this exciting drawing style. 

So after some time they let him do short Manhunter stories at the end of one of the many Batman titles. This is how DC would try out new series ideas and artists. Interestingly, like the Punisher, Manhunter used guns and other lethal weapons like knives and throwing stars. Even more interesting, when Batman debuted in the early 30's, he would use a tommygun sometimes, and had no qualms about killing. It was the Comics Code (censorship) that put an end to that, and now most people think Batman was always a paragon of non-lethal morality. Nope. 

Then he went back to Marvel (most artists, writers, editors, colorists, etc would jump between publishers from time to time) and they not only let him take over drawing Thor, which was flagging badly at the time, but they let him completely revamp it. He not only penciled and inked it, he took over the writing too, and had massive ideas about how to reboot it. It became a huge success story. 

Meanwhile Frank Miller had been doing the same thing—cranking out some pretty standard house-style work for a decade or so, when Marvel let him take over writing and drawing on the sagging Daredevil series

Then, when he became a superstar, DC let him do his flagship Dark Knight Returns (basis for the movie The Dark Knight). These artists were largely inspired by some of the European comic work being done in publications like Metal Hurlant (the original French version of what we know as Heavy Metal magazine here in the states). Europe was always way ahead of us in allowing and encouraging strange innovative artistic styles.  

Which brings us to Bill Sienkiewicz (it's pronounced Sin KEV itch). He did the house style as well as he was able until one day they let him start to cut loose while working on an X-Men spinoff called The New Mutants.

And then Elektra: Assassin, which was a Daredevil spinoff, written by Frank Miller. He did much of it in fully-painted panels like the one above, but at times switched to drawing, and often it moved into extreme caricature, something he's known for and really good at. It was all very eclectic and innovative. 

The big lesson I want to get across with this post is that they all put in their time grinding at the basics of drawing effective comic book art for a decade before cutting loose. Some of them may have been ready sooner, but I believe it's necessary to learn the principles (aka the fundamentals, the basics) and then get in those years of good solid work without any attempt to be innovative or develop your own style, before you cut loose. A style develops on its own, it isn't something you force or push. Many students use "It's just my style" as an excuse for not having learned the principles when getting their work critiqued. Style comes in after you've done your ground work and put in that early effort. 

Yes, I've emulated each of these artists at times, some more than others, but it was never with the idea that I'm going to draw much like them. It was always to learn what I can, especially about the way they draw or paint. Emulation is important in the learning process, but hopefully it's only one part of a nutritionally balanced meal.