The Weekly Panel #3

For this weekly panel, I give you the Cardinal. He is our mastermind type villain in The Pirate Musketeers, but he does underestimate his young king, who may prove to be more devious than himself.

I feel like this panel has a lot of Al Williamson and Wally Wood influences. Am I wrong or do you see any others?

- Anthony Summey

What I learned form Alex Raymond

I was born to late to have enjoyed Alex Raymond's strips in the newspapers, but came across him as a major influence to the artists that I aspire to be like (namely Al Williamson). Once I discovered his work I would search high and low for books about the master sequential artist, who inspired so many who followed. I studied the reproductions I could find and the images on the Internet trying to unlock the secrets that they held. What I discovered (to paraphrase Idol's Randy Jackson) if you can draw you can draw anything. Alex Raymond could. It did not matter if it was a space faring adventure, a super spy, big game hunter, or detective. Raymond could draw them all with equal elegance. It was the Rip Kirby strips that I felt was the pinnacle of his work, and that is where I focused my study. From these strips I learned the importance of well placed black areas, know what to draw and what to imply, and what you do draw, draw it well.





Raymond liked to refer to his spotting of blacks has pools of quiet, because they gave areas for your eyes to rest while taking in the story. If you compare his Rip Kirby strip to his earlier Flash Gordon work you can see a shift in how he utilizes his black area. The Flash Gordon strips were busy with hatching, while the Rip Kirby strips were a more refine work where there was hardly a wasted line. Each line served a purpose and each area of black helped balance the strip has a whole. It is this idea that I have tried to incorporate into my work as a sequential artist. Always mindful of choices of spotting my blacks and trying to not over render my work.



Raymond's seemingly innate ability to know just how much was needed to depict a scene, still astounds me. He knew how to make a panel have a sense of place by just drawing a few lines and a few background props like a simple light shade. Raymond knew how to cartoon with out it looking cartoony. In other words, he knew how to simplify without abstracting his figures to the point that they no longer looked like real people but animation characters (we can debate the merits of both in a later post). This is an area that I am continually trying to find that perfect balance of what to show and what to leave out, but somehow Raymond just understood that balance.



Even though he simplified what he drew, he always drew it well. This is probably one of the biggest lessons I have learned from his work. Make sure what you draw you draw it well. If you have to go find a reference to draw it correctly. Go and find it. It will make all of the difference. If you try and fake it it will look fake, and distract the reader from the story you are trying to tell. Raymond often used models and it shows in his work. Most of us can not afford models, but the Internet is a rich resource and easily accessible to us, so there is no excuse not to find some sort of reference (I'll try and do a post about how to properly use reference in your sequential work soon).

Alex Raymond was a master to masters. His work has inspired generations and shaped the world of sequential art. His work is a high water mark for the art form, and holds countless lessons for the aspiring sequential artist. Alex, you died too soon.



-Anthony Summey

Anthony Summey's Artist Statement

What is my work about? Seems like a simple enough question, but it is hard and somewhat limiting for me to define myself and my work. I know what I want my work to be, but often times finding it lacking. I know the artist who I would like to be like, but when comparing my work to theirs I tend to see my shortcomings in the light of their brilliance. Upon countless heart wrenching hours of self analysis I know what my strengths are and where my weaknesses lie.





I want my work to be part of the illustrative tradition in sequential art ( I'll explain the the two categories, the cartooning and the illustrative tradition, as I see them in a future post). I would like my work to be more realistic than abstract in terms of how I represent my characters and the world they live in. Simply put I would like my work to look more like Prince Valiant than Peanuts or Garfield. The preference is not merely aesthetic, but I believe that this more illustrative style lends itself better to the stories I wish to tell. That is not to say that an artist like Bruce Timm could not tell the same story in his style, and it be a good story. The difference in art styles would effect how the story is perceived by the reader and make it a different type of story. I want to tell adventure stories interwoven with elements from the horror and fantasy genres (i.e. zombies, vampires, mythical beast, monsters, etc.). I feel that the more illustrative tradition in comics offers a better platform for me to build these stories.





I would like my work to be like Mark Schultz, Al Williamson, and Alex Raymond. I find a grace and confidence in their work that I'd love to see in my own. I instead find a rough dark quality to my work which I am sure can be attributed to my study of horror comics. I see elements of Bernie Wrightson, Gene Colan, Graham Ingels and Tom Mandrake competing with the Schultz, Williamson, and Raymond aspirations. I have even had someone at a portfolio review compare my work to Wally Wood (which is one of the highest praises I have ever received). I find when I am able to reconcile these two aspects that my work becomes something of its own. It is no longer trying to be like someone else's work, but becomes its own unique thing.





I find that my strengths as a storyteller are in blending the genres of fantasy adventure and horror. My work is at its best when there are dominate shadows and my lines have enough character and weight to them. I find my work does not hold together as well with thin dainty lines with little contrast in them. I believe my work is more effective when I keep a high level of contrast between the black and white areas. It becomes weaker when I try and to do too much hatching to denote values. My feathering and brush stokes create a dark dreamy world where it is possible for pirates and musketeers to meet dinosaurs and zombies.





My work is about merging fantasy adventures with horror. I achieve this by combining the illustrative influences of Schultz, Williamson, and Raymond with the masters of the macabre (Wrightson, Colan, Ingels, and Mandrake) that have shaped my way of rendering shadow and light. My goal is to have my work be an effective partner to the stories they depict, and hopefully to be enjoyed by others.





-Anthony Summey