Awesome Art / Comic Books

Examples of Awesome Art found in Comic Books.

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• Hellboy. Beautifully stylized characters exploring unbelievably atmospheric settings, with as much attention payed to a flower sprouting out of crumbling stonework as to a nine-foot-tall armored demon with horns for eyes.
• The Goon has some very impressive art by Eric Powell that becomes more and more complex as the title went on, it is incredibly detailed and fits perfectly with Powell's writing.
• Ethan Van Sciver's art is amazingly detailed and kinetic, his creator owned comic ''Cyberfrog shows him at his best.
• The Maxx has weird and wonderful visuals by Sam Keith which compliments the series' strange but enjoyable tone.
• Todd McFarlane has a very cool and gritty looking art style that works well with the dark tone of Spawn.
• Kazu Kibuishi's work is absolutely beautiful. Also the creator of Amulet and Copper.
• Gaspard de la nuit is an incredibly obscure french four-comic-books story. The quality of plot and such is about average, but the art... Oh god, the art.◊
• Geof Darrow. Everything he has ever done. EVER.
• One of several reasons that Watchmen is considered one of the greatest (if not THE single greatest) graphic novels of all time (and one of the reasons why its esteemed creator) considers it impossible to film is because nothing could ever come close to the insane amount of vivid and realistic — but still colorful and vibrant — detail, Easter Eggs, visual symbolism, and important foreshadowing that Dave Gibbons manages to squeeze into every last panel of every last page. See for yourself.◊
• ElfQuest, especially in its earliest 20-part incarnation as drawn by Wendy Pini. It helped that the schedule in those days was one 32-page black and white issue every FOUR months. (The quality does slip a bit in the middle, but picks right back up again by issue #12.)
  • The "remastered" DC Comics compilations of the above, now on the website, constitute awesome digital coloring.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • The UK's Sonic the Comic was full of fantastic artwork from regular series artists Richard Elson, Nigel Dobbyn, as well as a variety of other unique artists who worked on the side strips.
  • Despite becoming infamous for its questionable interior art, Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) had some pretty epic covers more often than not, usually courtesy of Spaziante's detailed art. There is a reason he would often be assigned to the interior art of the milestone issues. Later in the comic run he became so good at mimicking the games' official artwork (both classic and modern) that his art became nigh indistinguishable from it.
  • The current Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW) series' artwork is just as great, if not more so, with several former Archie Sonic artists returning along as some newcomers. The artwork of Adam Bryce Thomas, Promoted Fangirl Evan Stanley, and longtime veteran Tracey Yardley tends to stand out the most, but in general the artwork is spectacular no matter who does it. Among the new additions to the art staff, Aaron Hammerstrom stands out, with his artwork on some issue covers offering fan service galore with throwbacks to earlier Sonic games.
• The Franco-Belgian comic Les Cités obscures drawn by François Schuiten (who did constantly amazing work and not enough of it). Some◊ examples◊.
• Jack Kirby. Probably the most influential comic artist of all time. And for good reason. He could draw exciting action scenes, design incredibly unique characters and machinery, express emotions through body language alone. There's a reason Stan Lee called him "The King".
• Alex Ross, whose photo-realistic painting style gives an extra grandeur to superhero comics, making even the daftest costumes look both realistic and awesome. This is most particularly shown in his probable magnum opus, the suitably epic Kingdom Come.
  • Same goes for Gabriele Dell'Otto, whose drawing style is also that of photorealistic paintings.
• Dave McKean's work in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth is by far the most Creepy Awesome art in Batman.

• The Invisibles couldn't have been an easy comic to draw, considering it's full of symbolism, hidden meanings, obscure references and intricate layout in almost every page, but the multiple artists succeeded in creating one of the most visually striking comics ever made. Special mention goes to "Bloody Hell in America", one of the best arcs in the series.
• Steve Ditko. From the gritty streets of Spider-Man's New York to the trippy landscapes of Doctor Strange... the man could draw.
• And over at DC in the Silver and Bronze Ages we have Curt Swan, Gil Kane, and Joe Kubert.
• Yuko Shimizu's covert art for The Unwritten is consistently the most beautiful thing on the stands. The most amazing part is that she manages adapt to a large variety of different styles to reflect the type of story the book is telling.
• Disney's counterpart to Alex Ross might well be Carl Barks, although in his case the "photorealistic painting" style only applies to his... well, actual paintings (the regular panels he did for comics are usually pretty standard).
  • His successor Don Rosa is also considered to be one of the best Donald Duck comics drawers. With good reason.◊
  • And before the Italian Topolino (Mickey Mouse) weekly comic established an internal, unified standard for digital coloring, the go-to artist used to be Giulio Chierchini. For the sake of comparison, here's a digitally-colored 2012 story and here's his actual signature style from 1990. Also, see some artwork of his. Notice any difference?
• James Jean's cover art for Fables was striking, emotive and haunting, that series artist Mark Buckingham would incorporate some images into the interiors. He also won 6 consecutive Eisner Awards for Best Cover Artist, the most of any artist so far.
• Requiem Vampire Knight: While the writing of the comic is of varying quality, the artwork is stunningly beautiful. Every page and panel is drawn with love and care and is ridiculously detailed, and while the first issue had very good artwork by itself, it has gotten better and more intricate with every subsequent issue.
• Red Hood and the Outlaws: Say what you will about the story, you'll keep coming back for the pretty pictures. And while Rocafort eventually left the book for Superman, new artist Timothy Green II is no slouch himself.
• 2000 AD has had some pretty impressive artists:
  • Brian Bolland's work from the early-mid 1980s could be mistaken for something that was drawn today.
  • Colin Macniel, especially when he paints: His art for◊ America'' is just one example.
  • Greg Staples' album Dark Justice was painted entirely by hand, a process which took two years to complete. The result is essentially a photo-realistic◊ action thriller, probably the closest to seeing the Dark Judges on the big screen.
  • Frazer Irving is a master at using black/white only art, expertly using light, darkness, and shadows for contrast.
• Juango Guarnido's Blacksad. For example◊
• Jim Lee. His work on the New 52 is truly a sight to behold, especially in Justice League and Superman Unchained.
• David Finch is not to be underestimated in the art department; just look at his work in Batman: The Dark Knight and Wonder Woman.
• Mitch Gerads' tense, paranoid, and unsettling work on Mister Miracle (2017) is chillingly gorgeous: colorful but not cheery, realistic but not distracting, strained but somehow effortless, faithful to Jack Kirby's work but still totally distinct.
• Amoras also qualifies for this list. To give an example◊.
• Hergé's art is both dynamic, colorful and clear to read.
• Uderzo's work in the Asterix books, very detailed and colorful (in spite of him being colorblind!), even in scenes with lots of characters or big environments.
• Franquin's artwork, despite being fairly cartoonish in style, is always dynamic, detailed to the nth degree and vibrant.
• J.H. Williams III's art for things like The Sandman: Overture, Batwoman, and Promethea is the modern incarnation of someone like William Blake. No one else in the business can do art so simultaneously realistic, bizarre, and beautiful.
• Obscure Russian comic Skunk and Ocelot deserves some mention.
• The Ultimates: Bryan Hitch's knack for realism and talent for "widescreen" panels make the reader feel like he/she is watching a big budget action movie on in a comic book. Coupled with Mark Millar's gritty and cynical deconstruction style of writing, is it any wonder the first two volumes are so fondly remembered?
• While the quality of Sin City's art itself is pretty contentious, it's a fairly unanimous agreement that Frank Miller's work with negative space is at its peak strength, creating a memorable visual style that shows why, for all his faults, Miller is considered the pro he is in the medium.
• Grzegorz Rosiński's art for Thorgal is widely praised for its detail and aesthetic. The covers of some albums like "Beyond The Shadows◊" and "Louve◊" deserve special mentions.

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