Favorite X-artists?

[Nick Miller]

When your example is a picture of all the X-Men in their bathing suits I think you've already proven yourself wrong.

oThere's more artistry in a poorly photoshopped Cosmo spread.

My choices:
Chris Bachal
Bill Sienkiewicz
Mike del Mundo
Jerome Opena
Marc Silvestri

I agree.
There's too much fun going on in that spread.
Look at the contemplation of the central figure.
Don't you feel foolish?

What do you have against swimming pools and short jean shorts?

[sungila]

It wasn't really my era, so I never "got" the appeal of Jim Lee-- although I'll take him over lesser imitators, anyday. My list pretty much begins and ends with Alan Davis, as much as I love Cockrum, Byrne, and JRJ. Some of his Rachel-Phoenix stuff just takes my breath away... and little character moments like Kurt's tail curling around his leg in a full-body cringe... perfection.

all true, so wonderfully perfectly true...your avatar brings such deep warm and welcoming feelings. Excalibur was when I really fell forever into comics.

[SkaraBrae]

all true, so wonderfully perfectly true...your avatar brings such deep warm and welcoming feelings. Excalibur was when I really fell forever into comics.

I first discovered a page from Excalibur on a Nightcrawler fansite when I was twelve-- when I realized there was a whole title focused on Kurt and Kitty on a team in England my jaw just about unhinged.

Still, IMO, when I'm engaged in a comic...reading it issue to issue...I don't really want to think about the art. No more than I'd want to 'think' about my car while I'm driving. Ed McGuinness, Todd Nauck, Chris Bachalo, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stuart Immonen all make distinctive, yet equally smooth rides - I'm grateful for their collective genius in keeping x-comics relevant and the hand-held pages undeniably more intimate and immediate than any other adapted format.

a very special thanks to Dave Cockrum for the spirit he infused into his creations

Nauck and Immonen make their respective books worth it. Agreed-- art is like prose, in that sense. I stumble over bad anatomy like it's bad grammar. With great art, occasionally I'll hit a "wow" moment and pause, but, for me, "great" is defined by lively readability.

(bless Cockrum, too, for all the fantastic Nightcrawler moments... and for the character!)

[Arfguy]

Remember when the X-Men were like the WWE World Title in that it was the main goal of any artist / wrestler, to one day work on the X-Men, like it meant you finally made it? I miss those days of the X-Men.

*sigh*

Yeah, I miss those days. The days when being put on an X-Men book meant you're a superstar. Not that there's been absolutely atrocious artists (seriously? Immonen, Coipel, Quitely, Cassaday...all amazing artists), but it seems like other titles seem to be the "it" titles these days.

Plus, I don't feel the writers who take on the X-Men these days are really passionate about the characters. Maybe they feel like they can do something special and want to do ok, but I think it's more about them wanting to do something cool starring the X-Men, rather than something cool with the X-Men.

I don't know if I'm really saying it correctly.

[Emerald_616]

^I get what you mean. A good example is the large volume of present-day writers and/or artists want to do THEIR version of Sentinels. Sometimes I feel the creators on the books love the giant robots more than the readership.

[Mr. Brightside]

^I get what you mean. A good example is the large volume of present-day writers and/or artists want to do THEIR version of Sentinels. Sometimes I feel the creators on the books love the giant robots more than the readership.

Bachalo Sentinels are the grossest things I've ever attempted to see. I say "attempted to see" because most of the time they have no shape.

I agree.
There's too much fun going on in that spread.
Look at the contemplation of the central figure.
Don't you feel foolish?

What do you have against swimming pools and short jean shorts?

In their defense, it's Marvel law for Cyclops NEVER to be happy. That pic is a blasphemy

[Wolverine12]

Yu/Ribic tied for #1
Kuberts
Mann
Cassady
Copiel
Bachalo
Opena

[Ricochet Rita]

For me, the best art in x-books is the kind that doesn't make itself known. It's so readily permeable that it's hardly apparent. When I'm 'aware of the art' usually it's because it's distracting - when I'm 'unaware of the art' it's because it's inseparable from the story sequence in which I'm engaged.

That said, I think Alan Davis and John Romita Jr. were the two most responsible for providing the matrix for the feel of the x-language and the image of the x-cast that serve as my standards.

These days the age of the stand-alone art via Deviantart and other personal websites has dramatically broadened the form to include artists of all mediums and degrees of professionalism.

No longer are we just getting the panels, sketches and covers - now we get everything from classically inspired portraits to modern mixed media to performance.

It's difficult to compare the comics from different decades without recognizing the advancements in technology that have served the 'art' in comics extremely well. The fact that now the movies can do what in the past only the comics could do has also challenged comic art to be something different, an experience that transcends the CGI-enhanced moving pictures and in turn accomplishes what the movies can't.

Still, IMO, when I'm engaged in a comic...reading it issue to issue...I don't really want to think about the art. No more than I'd want to 'think' about my car while I'm driving. Ed McGuinness, Todd Nauck, Chris Bachalo, Giuseppe Camuncoli and Stuart Immonen all make distinctive, yet equally smooth rides - I'm grateful for their collective genius in keeping x-comics relevant and the hand-held pages undeniably more intimate and immediate than any other adapted format.

Agreed-- art is like prose, in that sense. I stumble over bad anatomy like it's bad grammar. With great art, occasionally I'll hit a "wow" moment and pause, but, for me, "great" is defined by lively readability.

Great thoughts, Sungila and SkaraBrae. I totally agree: the word is 'readability', and the point is empathizing with the characters, not using them as an excuse for showing off.

a very special thanks to Dave Cockrum for the spirit he infused into his creations
Attachment 6493

Maybe I'll be struck dead for saying this, but I don't think Cockrum was a great draftsman --he was slightly rude, and not a very good narrator. Nevertheless, he was an EXTRAORDINARY designer: Second Genesis X-Men, Starjammers, Mystique...he conceived a lot of characters and costumes that have been proved unbeatables. Through the years, a million artists have done their best to change them, but they always come back. Nightcrawler's costume is so simply perfect as that designed by Ditko for Spidey.

back when real men had hair on their chests

Pardon?

[fod_xp]

Phil Jimenez
Kaare Andrews
Simone Bianchi
Frank Quitely
Steven Sanders
Juan Jose Ryp
John Cassaday
Igor Kordey
Scott Eaton
John Paul Leon

[fod_xp]

I never knew that Claremont quit because of Lee, is there really something behind it?

Yes, it is confirmed by Claremont himself in interviews. In the 90s comics shifted gear from story, nuance, and continuity to financial investments. The 90s Marvel Comic management staff and editors hired artists and gave more control over the comics to them in hopes of increasing the monetary value of certain issues for speculators and short lived economic booms. This practice eventually caused Marvel comics to become bankrupt by the late 90s. That is why Marvel Comics sold the rights of the X-Men and Fantastic Four to Twentieth Century Fox. Same for Spider-Man to Sony Entertainment.

Claremont was booted for "fresh new talent."

[Panic]

Byrne is, for me, the classic (New) X-Men artist, being the artist on the strip when I first became a fan.

John Romita jr I love, the period of his art being the apex of my X-Men fanaticism.

Paul Smith, again a great period of the X-Men that I loved.

Bill Sienkiewicz, who's New Mutants work I still find exciting and inspiring today.

Alan Davis, without whom Excalibur was an empty shell.

Neal Adams did some fantastic work on the original X-Men, the man is a legend.

Art Adams X annuals were breathtaking.

I loved Bachalo's Gen-X, and I even still like his work today.

Immonen is also very cool, though I don't associate him with the X-titles in particular.

[JackalsIII]

Nick Bradshaw, that's who I kept forgetting!

[cwatz]

I have a big soft spot for Land mainly due to Endsong. I wouldn't necessarily say hes my favorite, but it always stands out to me.

[Park Slope Pixie]

Paul smith.

Paul smith

paul smith

[genki_desu]

Paul Smith

Alan Davis (Let's be honest, pretty much everything about the first however many issues of Excalibur was awesome)

Whilce Portacio (I thought his run on X-Men was pretty damn good)

Marc Silvestri (More for his run on Wolverine)

Bill Sienkiewicz (Unlike most people, I preferred him when he was a slightly surrealist version of Neal Adams, as opposed to when his figures started
to get really angular and distorted).

Tony Daniel (Loved his kinetic, sketchy, over-the-top style on X-Force)

Jim Lee (If you don't like Jim Lee's work on X-Men, I find it hard to believe that you like comic book art)

Chris Bachalo (circa Generation X #1-5 and Generation Next #1-4 - once he changed from being Bill Sienkiewicz influenced to being Joe Madureira influenced, I completely lost interest)

Jackson Guice (Very underappreciated photorealist style - just a top notch artist)

Andy Kubert (Very distinctive, slightly odd style [everyone has angular cheekbones and slightly Asian looking eyes] but Kubert does cinematic camera angles and poses better than most artists and with Matt Ryan's fine-lined, detailed inks to add some realism, his issues of X-Men were great)

Ian Churchill (Did some good issues of Deadpool and of Cable in the 1990s. Good solid, detailed linework and design).

Olivier Coipel (Quirky style, but once you get used to the way he draws faces [nose optional], probably the strongest artist to have worked on the X-Men in years. His three issues of X-Men were stunning - but three issues!!! Come on Marvel!)

Jerome Opena (His issues of X-Force were just plain gorgeous)

Stuart Imonen (His work on Superman: Secret Identity shows that he's capable of better than the work he's done in All New X-Men, but his work on ANXM was still streets ahead of most of his competitors. A real draughtsman with real talent, not just a cartoonist.)