Redartz: Comics, obviously, are a visual medium. Composed of images, in combination with text; both elements working together to produce that unique art form we all know and love. And many of us have, on our bookshelves, collected volumes of comic stories: whether a gigantic Omnibus, or a small digest format. Graphic novels, Masterworks, TPB's, there are many formats and many names. All of these showcase the complete union of word and picture that is the comics medium.
For consideration today, however, I'm concentrating only on the artistic side of comics. "Just the pictures", if you will. In the space of a couple months, I've added two such books to my humble library.
First off, "The DC Comics Art of Brian Bolland".
This gorgeous volume came courtesy of a huge discount sale at a local outlet store. The book is brimming full of rich reproductions of Bolland's fine penwork, represented mainly by the covers for which he is best known. The breadth of his career is covered, from the early 80's to the 2000's. What I found particularly interesting are his discussions about the technical aspects of drawing, and his 'behind the scenes' tales involving his DC comics work. Here are a couple examples of what lie within the pages...
A wonderful collection of Bolland's artwork, and a great book I'd recommend to any art aficionado.
My second book was acquired most recently: "DC Comics' Comic Art Colouring".
As opposed to the Brian Bolland volume, this book is 'just for fun'. You probably are familiar with the current popularity of 'adult coloring books'. Even my mother loves to exercise her creative side with them. Well, once I saw this at a Half Price Books store, I couldn't resist it. The whole book is comprised of black-and-white reproductions of various DC comic covers, panels, pages, and even some actual page swipes from vintage childrens' coloring books. Some great covers are featured, and also some rather pedestrian ones. My only minor gripe with this book is the overwhelming focus on Superman and Batman. Probably 90 percent of the book depicts one or both of them. There are, though, JLA appearances, Green Lantern, Atom, and others. I'd have thought they'd give Wonder Woman more print here, she doesn't get a single page to herself.
Anyway, what could be a better relaxation pastime (and, for an artist, a good skills sharpener) than doing a bit of coloring? With that said, here are a couple shots from the book, including my first attempt at a page. Incidentally, I changed the color scheme on that Justice League cover; the original purple robot and dark green background didn't work for me...
So there you have two different examples of art in comics, have you more? Again, there are many great books out there on the subject; here's a few more to kindle your thoughts.
