Madman and the The Atomics
One of my favorite artist of all-time is Mike Allred. I was thrilled many years ago when Dark Horse and DC put out the Superman/Madman Hullabaloo. I had been a fan of his art, but really enjoyed his fun, free-wheeling storytelling. It reminded me of older 70's and early 80's fun comic books. A true emphasis on the term "comic" book. This DC/Dark Horse venture ensured that I would be an Allred fan for life. If anything came out with the name Allred attached to it, I was buying it.
With my new rule of buying everything Allred I picked up the Atomics published by AAA Pop Comics. The Atomics were Mike's finest work. They featured great character designs, very clean lines, little shadow, and the great color of Laura Allred (Mike's wife). In fact all of these things mentioned have been great staples of Mike's work. It has followed him everywhere he has gone. Including his long run on X-Factor which later became X-Statix. In my eyes he is the single best independent comic artist of this generation. He does what he wants in his style and changes for no one. The fact that he was able to turn his independent clean style into a very succesful commerical run at Marvel is amazing.
As I mentioned in my last comic post, my favorite book of the summer has been Madman Adventures published by Image Comics. Absolutely great story, art, and color... all in all a typical Mike Allred book. The genius of that book led me to want to draw Madman and the Atomics. Its a very different style for me. Little lines, very minor shadows, natural musculature. Very different than the style I typically draw in.
It was a challenging piece for me because of all the reasons mentioned above. I did though have a blast drawing this. It Girl and Madman are both beauitully designed. This page with Madman's strong figure work as the focal point in the middle and It Girl in the foreground was beautifully designed. The pencils took me a little less than two hours. The inks took a little over two hours. Then I went in and used the pencil to add some more gray tones to the piece. That took about another 30 minutes. It's a different piece for me, but a piece I really enjoy. Mike is a complete genius, and if one day I am half the artist and creator he is I'd be an incredibly happy artist.
As an aside, take a look at the below pic. When my love was shooting this page for me this morning, the nosey little kitties came in for a closer look. They are supercute... I love these little guys. I'm looking forward to not having to wipe their butts so much, but I love having them at home.
With my new rule of buying everything Allred I picked up the Atomics published by AAA Pop Comics. The Atomics were Mike's finest work. They featured great character designs, very clean lines, little shadow, and the great color of Laura Allred (Mike's wife). In fact all of these things mentioned have been great staples of Mike's work. It has followed him everywhere he has gone. Including his long run on X-Factor which later became X-Statix. In my eyes he is the single best independent comic artist of this generation. He does what he wants in his style and changes for no one. The fact that he was able to turn his independent clean style into a very succesful commerical run at Marvel is amazing.
As I mentioned in my last comic post, my favorite book of the summer has been Madman Adventures published by Image Comics. Absolutely great story, art, and color... all in all a typical Mike Allred book. The genius of that book led me to want to draw Madman and the Atomics. Its a very different style for me. Little lines, very minor shadows, natural musculature. Very different than the style I typically draw in.
It was a challenging piece for me because of all the reasons mentioned above. I did though have a blast drawing this. It Girl and Madman are both beauitully designed. This page with Madman's strong figure work as the focal point in the middle and It Girl in the foreground was beautifully designed. The pencils took me a little less than two hours. The inks took a little over two hours. Then I went in and used the pencil to add some more gray tones to the piece. That took about another 30 minutes. It's a different piece for me, but a piece I really enjoy. Mike is a complete genius, and if one day I am half the artist and creator he is I'd be an incredibly happy artist.
As an aside, take a look at the below pic. When my love was shooting this page for me this morning, the nosey little kitties came in for a closer look. They are supercute... I love these little guys. I'm looking forward to not having to wipe their butts so much, but I love having them at home.
posted by LEV at
8:31 AM
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