Hey, there sports fans, Al here with the latest:
Over the last couple of weeks, there has been a deep dive into the inner workings of artwork and artistry. It has for the most part been very introspective. Far more than I had anticipated and definitely far more in-depth than I have ever talked about in years past on blogger or any Facebook posting. So with the last weeks of posting about style and inspiration, I thought it would be interesting to cover the topics of both illustrators that have inspired me as well as those whose style has impressed me.
And better yet, inspired.
This is the first in a series (I hope) of exploring those artists who have over the years and I think the one that really "hit" me over the head and left me in a daze. I have been compiling two lists for illustrators that have left a mark on me. I will set up the illustrators that have influenced me. Picture if you will, a kid of 13 hanging out with your older sister and younger brother and suddenly you spy upon a magazine which was not Heavy Metal but it sports a Frank Frazetta cover. Pretty cool, man. My summer trip was not going to be wasted by running through a water sprinkler on a hot summer day. That is what was to be had with issue number 1 of Epic Illustrated. Made me a fan. Previously, I had been looking at P. Craig Russell from his work on Amazing Adventures and John Buscema with his work in reprints of Silver Surfer and Conan the Barbarian. John Byrne bounces back and forth between inspiring and style. All will be talked about in the future. But my mind was blasted for me with a requiem in Epic Illustrated in 1981 of Wally Wood.
Archie Goodwin laid down a great (but rather small in my opinion) written eulogy for Wally Wood. In those words, Mr. Goodwin wrote a great treatise of the small amount of what made Woody fantastic. I found these images absolutely mesmerizing by the huge amount of detail in the backgrounds that he had rendered. I could not even wrap my head around even how to imagine how he could do this or even make it look realistically possible. It dawned on me that some of the work looked like so many 1950's sci-fi movies that I had been watching and re-watching at the time. Now most people that are older than I ( meaning nerds and comic book collectors) know who Wally Wood is. It's based upon his work in MAD magazine and E.C. Comics like Weird Science and Weird Fantasy.
Let's just say that there are several different sources to draw upon about the man himself by several different artists who were Wood's assistants and writers who worked with Wood in some capacity. I could go on and on but it's the work itself that stands out. As I have said before the artist is the artwork. The first thing is the detail. My God, just look at it. The phrase from Dave Bowan's lips "My God, it's full of stars!" 2001: A Space Odyssey would be an understatement to Wood's ability to visualize a spacescape or the inner workings of a single-stage rocketship. I think Woody would be impressed by Elon Musk and SpaceX.
I found myself constantly going back to his work in Epic Illustrated. I was so bad in fact that I would bring that magazine to school in my PeeChee (this is a term for those paper organizers used as a written PDA for those who are 50 and over). I would time to time to look at it. Sometimes I would get it out while I was in class while my teachers would turn away or better yet when I was in art class and try to copy some idea that I saw there. I never quite succeeded with that endeavor but I kept looking to find more of his work in any place possible and within my budget. Nowadays with a better job and a small amount of disposable income I have collected more of his work that continues to grow and grow.
So his space ships show a flair of the old sci-fi of the mid-'50s in look. The balance of black and white on a panel and page. The look of women and men awesome. There was never any doubt of what you were looking at in that arena. ALSO, he added something for the number of work assistants over the years "The 22 Panels that Always Work".
As an illustrator this alone with getting the proper sizes of comic pages to work on as well as the tools that were needed to make pages. All of this is why I find the work of Wally Wood one of those who inspire me to be a better illustrator and attention to background detail but ALSO knowing when to pull back and focus on the characters as mapped out in his “22 Panels”.