Man, I really dislike Greg Land's work, and this is one of the reasons why.

I think most of his stuff looks glassy eyed and immobile, and that was enough for me to base a dislike on. The raving I've read (I have no idea how widespread it is) about his work made it more annoying, and each example of cribbing (it's not reference, not when things line up *that* perfectly -- it's more like tracing) such obvious shots makes it worse.

I think it'd be different if he were actually working in some more obvious photo-manip medium rather than passing off the "drawings" as original work.

Serenity update

Can't tell you anything about the film, but at GenCon, the Serenity the RPG based on the movie is selling beaucoup numbers. They sold out yesterday and were going to airship more for today. Passed along to me from a colleague at the show.

Rob Liefeld makes my eyeballs bleed.

That is all.

Updates as the situation warrants.

They couldn't have hired a fucking INKER???

Also (I'm read-and-posting for TT #27, obviously) -- Father's Day ??? Just how fucked up IS the timeline?

And when the hell did Raven's hair get so long all of a sudden?

I just read Klaus Janson bitching about the lack of respect for inkers. I did agree with him at the time, but this month's TT is like an object lesson.

And when the hell did Raven's hair get so long all of a sudden?

Considering the character has grown a second set of eyes on her forehead in the past and it took her teammates weeks to notice, I'd not be too surprised by minor changes to her appearance that don't seem to make sense .

One thing that bugs me about that Klaus Janson interview is that he's as dismissive of photography as an art form as he complains others are about inking:

It really doesn't take that much talent to have your friends pose for pictures and then trace them off. That lacks a point of view, the artists' point of view, and that's what I want to see.

I think a fair bit of Alex Poss' artistry, for example, is in the composition of the photos he poses as the first step of his work. I'll admit it's a valid point regarding artists such as Greg Rucka who choose stilted photos by other people to trace from. But I think Ross and Bradstreet have artistic vision every bit as strong as Terry Austin or Paul Neary.

But Klaus says he uses photoreference as well -- so I don't think it's comparably harsh.

And I do think that what Neary does lacks a PoV, and what Ross does doesn't.

I'm not sure why I don't consider Ross photorealistic (since that's Janson's main beef), but Neary's work is, IMO.

Maybe Ross's photos are better? No, that's not it, either. The use (and I don't get the trace impression as strongly either) is a small part of what he does.

Ross' style overwhelms the photo-trace aspect. I don't blame any comic artist for photo-tracing (short deadlines, not paid enough to create original art for every frame on every page), but Rucka seems to try to stick close to the look of the source, mildly adapting for the context of the comic. Ross not only sets up his composition from the get-go, he works to make the art look Rossian. He adds dynamism, feeling, emotion, etc.

I'm about Rucka's level as an artist, and I know how far away from me Ross is.

(backing out of thread now since I had to give up comics last year)