Thursday, July 03, 2008

SAVING PRIVATE HITCH

Many fanboys love BRYAN HITCH'S work, particularily his ULTIMATES stuff, because of his "hyper-real style". Personally, I don't consider tracing a style. I tend to prefer comic artists who have that natural talent to draw from their imagination. I think those days are now a bygone era.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gotta chime in here,
Almost all artists use models/reference,
be they live, photos, other drawings, even those stupid drawing maquettes, etc.

This has been going on throughout the history of art and is not new to current comic book artists.

The only thing that has changed, is communication has gotten faster, so therefore easier to trace sources.

This drawing doesn't bother me that much, if anything i'd cry foul he lifted the cinematographer's composition, but it doesn't have the "traced" feel that Land and that other jackass you post about has. This guy at least adds stuff, changes details, facial expressions, etc.

but the only real difference between this and most of the artists that came before is that you are aware of the source material, but that doesn't mean because you aren't aware of it, it comes out of their "imagination".

Everything's been done somewhere

Jim said...

I hear what you're saying and am not arguing against. But I"d like to add that Jack Kirby's work never looked like he was copying from other people's work (photography, filmmaking, other). His work appeared original and full of his own imagination. I simply prefer those artists who do not pull from other people's work. Personal preference.

Anonymous said...

That foreground soldier still looks like Tom Hanks. And Hitch gave Matt Damon a smile. Looks like tracing to me.

Greg Land is worse because he constantly reuse his own traced work. But Hitch is a slight step down, IMO.

It's a shame the big comic companies are hiring artists who must rely on reference instead of hiring others who can do it all by their lonesome.

This is but one of many reasons why I stopped buying comics years ago.

Anonymous said...

Total trace.

Anonymous said...

Funny you should post about this because back when that issue was released, I had watched Private Ryan and then read the comic immediately after. The panel jumped out at me and kind of ruined the excitement of the comic for me. Ever since then, whenever I see Hitch's artwork, I look to see if I recognize where he copied it from - IF he copied it, that is. I'm more of a Neal Adams, John Byrne fan myself. Let the kids today love the Tracers.

Anonymous said...

yea out of hiding,..I agree with JIM here. yes everyone uses REFERENCE , but that's to understand and LEARN how to draw. those are techniques that you learn in SCHOOL for form , lighting, ect.... By the time your a "profesional" you should be expected to use those techniques to apply and create your own personal style. Kirby, Adams and the other greats were never just tracing, or copying some one elses work. they created their own using dynamic angles, style, and imagination. that's what made them great. They came up with something you had never seen, and pushed the limits of imagination. How would Hitch and Land portray something like the Negetive Zone, or New Gods if it had never been cinceptualized. Out of somthing creative and imaginative?? my guess is they would look for a "trippy" movie/picture reference and just copy it.

this crap should not put one among the "greats',..it should thrown in the pile of "aspiring" It does nothing but stifle and slow down creativity.

Anonymous said...

my respect for Hitch just dropped. he can hang with Liefeld, Land, Mayhew and all the other tracers and fakers.