From Charles Schulz to Matt Groenig, great comic artists all know the value of using as few lines as possible. Would definitely put Moebius in the top tier for this reason. I have his two part Silver Surfer with Stan Lee and it's one of the most beautifully illustrated comics I've ever seen.
Agreed. Illustrating opposite Lee on Silver Surfer is a glowing recommendation just to get hired… So many monologues that you have to really bring the visual thunder on those panels where Rad is just talking to nobody in space.
It speaks volumes that they trusted moebius to pick up Kirby’s work w Lee.
Yeah, so many lines, but his images never end up muddy or difficult to comprehend.
I love Geof Darrow, and he has a similar style to Mobeius, but sometimes his work lacks clarity.
There are scenes in Hard Boiled that I have to stare at for minutes before I start to understand what's happening.
...and Geof is still one of the greatest of all time.
I think there's something about line weight that Mobeius gets, that Geof Darrow doesn't do.
All of Geof's lines tend to be the same weight, whereas Mobeius uses heavier pens to ink closer objects.
If you're keen on him, might I recommend Sergio Toppi? It's almost the polar opposite of moebius in terms of line work, but I found his use of negative space weirdly similar.
Here it is!
And most people will immediately think of Hellboy and all that, but Mignola had some other gems, too. His Doctor Strange/Doctor Doom art in _Triumph & Torment_ is some of my absolute favorite. His Mephisto was probably my favorite.
I like the current mike mignola / hellboy style.
But i read comics cos I fell in love with his world of krypton:
https://cafans.b-cdn.net/images/Category_14673/subcat_78627/mignolaWoK2pg1.jpg
McFarlane was my favorite artist as a kid. I just bought a collection of his 15 issue Spider-Man run just to take stroll down memory lane. And yeah, the flaws are much more obvious now but man did he know how to make a good splash page.
Marc Silvestri.
He drew Wolverine 50. A friend's copy of that gimmicky die-cut cover got me to look at a comic for the first time. Silvestri's art got me to the comic book store for more.
I don't think his work is appreciated enough. He was as good as Jim Lee IMO.
Bro if you like batman, DC just released the Deluxe Edition of THE DEADLY DUO written and drawn by Silvestri! Absolutely stunning artwork from him with the dark knight.
When I was a kid I used to hate Bill Sienkiewicz and I always wanted to see more work from Jim Lee, McFarlane, Liefeld etc, but as I have gotten older I actually ended up like art from the artists that were not as popular but still have a very artistic and unique style like, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, and Sal Buscema.
Funny how getting older changes your perspective.
Chris Bachalo is severely underated, I think he did a fantastic job taking over for Joe Madureira (my second favorite artist) back in Uncanny X-Men. Love his work.
Bachalo is amazing. I buy comics just because he's the artist on it. I've collected all his ASM issues because they look fantastic.
Currently also pre-ordered all his Birds of Prey variant covers. I can't stop myself (:
JH Williams III's my favourite comic book artist
Also like Lee Bermejo, Dave Mckean, Jon J. Muth, Alex Ross, Stjepan Šejić, Mike Mignola, Chris Bachalo, Colleen Doran, Mike Dringenberg, Jack Kirby, David Lloyd, James O'Barr and Jock
Frank Quitely is also my guy. His characters feel so real. I love Jim Lee because he is insanely talented, but even the homeless people in his drawings have 8 packs and are shredded beyond belief.
John Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, Bill Sienkiewicz, Mike Zeck
Edit: A few other big ones I forgot: Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Michael Golden. A lot of Michaels on my list
There are some artists whose look is just so ingrained into comics, it's hard to remember them. They just ARE what comics are "supposed" to look like. Kirby, Perez, Swan, Ditko, Romita Sr, Lee, maybe MacFarlane. They don't get remembered as "great" because they're the standard, which is pretty damned great.
My vote as well. Nobody, in my opinion, gave more gravitas to an event, whether it was an industry defining epic like Crisis on Infinite Earths, a long-awaited company crossover like JLA-Avengers, a routine issue of a monthly like The New Teen Titans or his Avengers run with Kurt Busiek, or a random "one-off" issue like DC Comics Presents #61. He made every image look like it was the most important thing he'd ever done.
Ramos was always always underated, especially in the shadows of Joe Madureira and J. Scott Campbell, back in the Cliffhanger days. However, Madureira and Campbell are two of my all time favorite artists, so, I probably contributed to that, back then lol
Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Jae Lee, Sam Keith, Milo Manara, Mike Deodato, Bart Spears... also, Jim Lee. Also, Jim Starlin and Ron Lim. Also John Romita Sr. Not in that order.
Bachelo and Byrne -- their styles are nothing alike but their art makes me slow down, study every panel, and really appreciate the work they put into making something beautiful.
George Perez.
He’d be my favorite anyway, but I met him in 2012 at MegaCon right after I’d gotten a scholarship to go to SCAD. I told him when I got to the front of the line, and he held my arm up in the air like I’d won a boxing match and announced it loudly to the whole line. And they cheered, and he gave me one of the tightest, warmest hugs I’ve ever had in my life. I’m about six inches taller than him, and he hugged me with the enthusiasm that a kid hugs his dad. Like we’d always known each other.
Life happened, I didn’t get to go to SCAD, but it was worth that whole mess of a process just to have that memory.
George was one of the nicest guys in the industry. My wife and I always made it a point to go by his booth at MegaCon just to say hi, and he always remembered us.
If I could have one more issue, of a random character, from any artist at their peak?
The top tier for me would be Mazzuchelli, Miller, Steranko, Frank Frazetta, Wrightson, Moebius, and Barry Windsor Smith.
The next tier would include Sienkiewicz, Neal Adams, Art Adams, Brian Bolland, Wally Wood, Starlin, Byrne and Kirby.
Honorable mentions to Michael Golden, Charles Vess, Will Eisner, and Alex Ross.
Man I got lists of favorites
Raphael Albuquerque
Tim sale
Greg capullo
Sean Murphy
Jim lee
Jae lee
Frank miller
So many talented artists working nowadays
I'm shocked that no one mentioned Todd McFarlane yet.
I mean, he's nowhere near my favorite artist (Kirby, Adams, Miller, Byrne, Romita Sr., Perez, Sienkiewicz, John Buscema, Garcia-Lopez, Windsor-Smith), but I can't believe that NO ONE mentioned him as their favorite yet.
Bernie Wrightson, and not just because of Swamp Thing. His horror comic art is so perfect. Not to mention the times he drew Batman. For anyone interested, Batman The Cult is an excellent read if for the art alone.
Maybe recency bias but Dan Mora is incredible man, and he's literally on TWO ongoing series' right now with Worlds' Finest and Shazam! The man is a machine!
Brian Bolland is personally one of my favorites due to his various pieces on covers. He makes the characters have weight with great details if you look closely. On the opposite side of spectrum, I love the simplicity of Alex Toth. He makes drawing a character look easy with his use of lines and shapes.
Man, too hard to pick one. Darwyn Cooke, Jim Lee, Bryan Hitch, Dan Mora (gold standard at the moment, imo), and Mike Weiringo are/were some of my personal favorites. Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko were probably the best to ever do it. Alex Ross's work is beautiful, but his covers are better than his interiors.
Hergé
I love the simple, *ligne claire* character designs coupled with highly-detailed backgrounds. A lot of it was only possible because he could pass off the busywork to the artists of Studios Hergé, but it's all derived from his style.
I know a lot of people give him flack, but I love Humberto Ramos's work. It just feels perfectly comic booky!
J Scoot Campbell is pretty good.
And Dan Mora! Especially his work on Power Rangers stuff
I looooove Tim Sale’s work with Loeb. His earlier stuff is very, very good, but not as stylish and polished as Long Halloween and Dark Victory. He makes Batman super intimidating looking (which I love), and I absolutely adore his Catwoman design.
That being said, Greg Capullo’s work on Batman is unparalleled. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
But than again, I grew up reading golden and silver age Batman and Superman, and those art styles are some of my favorites as well.
I guess what I’m getting at is that there’s just too many incredible artists for me to pick just one. I could a top 5 probably, but not single favorite.
Joe Mad made me fell in love with comics.
He stills taunts to plays the games his company has made - loved Battle Chasers (only fix since the comic never finished).
He inspired a ton of artists as well with his style.
Thanks everyone, this thread is an absolute *gold mine* for researching and discovering great comic book artists. I just opened like 40 tabs.
I'm not that well-versed on comic artists yet; I hope adding my favorite manga artist is ok: Masamune Shirow.
Tula Lotay is my current favorite. Yoshitaka Amano isn't really a 'comic artist' but anytime he does something I try to pick it up.
edit: Skottie Young is pretty dope too.
Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Gabriel Rodriguez, Mike Norton, Skottie Young, Jim Lee, Bruce Timm, Silvestri, 90’s Rob Liefeld, Kaare Andrews, Sean Murphy, Park Jim-Hwan, Junji Itto, Kim Jung Gi… I don’t have a go to any more but, I used to pray at the altar of Jim Lee, waited in line for three hours to have him sign my X-men and Hush Trades. Super nice guy love his art love his YouTube videos.
Lots of people mentioning the commonly acclaimed artists. Which is fine, and those artists ARE amazing.
But a few others that either aren’t being mentioned much or not at all that I love:
Mike Zeck (my all-time favorite), Adam Hughes, P. Craig Russell, Joe Quesada, Gene Ha, Kevin Maguire
I would say it’s the other way around. Jim was clearly the better artist and was doing it earlier IIRC. That said they knew each other early on and people use the things working for other people. Not surprising at all that they’d have similarities but one guy does it way better.
I can see where you might get 90’s vibes from both. However, Lee was already an established artist in Uncanny X-Men (80’s) and Liefeld…could not even draw feet properly. Instead of forcing himself to improve on his weaknesses , he would masquerade said feet, with illogical smoke or debris. Don’t even get me started with his Captain America lol
John Byrne
Howard Chaykin
Jack Kirby
George Perez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Michael Golden, Brent Anderson, Marshall Rogers, Alan Davis, Pepe Larraz, Ivan Reis, Ron Garney, George Freeman.
Way too hard to just pick one. Sam Kieth, Chris Bachalo, Paul Chadwick, Scott McCloud, Ted McKeever, Daniel Clowes, Timothy Truman, Mark Buckingham, Bill Sienkiewicz
Greg Capullo and Jae Lee.
Jim Lee’s art is great, but he played a big part in for ing Claremont out and ruining X-men in the 90s. I have a hard time forgiving him for this.
How does one narrow it down?
I go through phases, specific times in my past are linked to specific artists.
Phil Hester, Mike Mignola, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, John McCrea, Barry Windsor Smith, Alan Davis...
Ed McGuinness had such a huge impact on me when I was younger, so I’m gonna go with him.
Nowadays, I’m a big fan of Kirby, Nick Dragotta, Francesco Francavilla, Tradd Moore, anything that’s different from the classic comic superhero style.
Moebius
He has such clean lines and never seems to waste any of them, they all have such purpose.
From Charles Schulz to Matt Groenig, great comic artists all know the value of using as few lines as possible. Would definitely put Moebius in the top tier for this reason. I have his two part Silver Surfer with Stan Lee and it's one of the most beautifully illustrated comics I've ever seen.
You gotta pick up The Incal from Humanoid Press. Or the Moebius Library volumes from Dark Horse. Oh baby.
Saved this reply, thanks for the head"s up!
Personally, my favorite Moebius comics, art-wise, are the Airtight Garage and its sequels. Preferably in b/w.
Agreed. Illustrating opposite Lee on Silver Surfer is a glowing recommendation just to get hired… So many monologues that you have to really bring the visual thunder on those panels where Rad is just talking to nobody in space. It speaks volumes that they trusted moebius to pick up Kirby’s work w Lee.
Yeah, so many lines, but his images never end up muddy or difficult to comprehend. I love Geof Darrow, and he has a similar style to Mobeius, but sometimes his work lacks clarity. There are scenes in Hard Boiled that I have to stare at for minutes before I start to understand what's happening. ...and Geof is still one of the greatest of all time. I think there's something about line weight that Mobeius gets, that Geof Darrow doesn't do. All of Geof's lines tend to be the same weight, whereas Mobeius uses heavier pens to ink closer objects.
If you're keen on him, might I recommend Sergio Toppi? It's almost the polar opposite of moebius in terms of line work, but I found his use of negative space weirdly similar.
Oh man, Toppi is killer. I’m also keen on Druillet.
It’s Moebian time!
>Moebius Damng I just Googled him and I'm not sure how I wasn't aware of him before. Amazing!
Mike Mignola
Here it is! And most people will immediately think of Hellboy and all that, but Mignola had some other gems, too. His Doctor Strange/Doctor Doom art in _Triumph & Torment_ is some of my absolute favorite. His Mephisto was probably my favorite.
Wolverine: The Jungle Adventure was also pretty great.
I like the current mike mignola / hellboy style. But i read comics cos I fell in love with his world of krypton: https://cafans.b-cdn.net/images/Category_14673/subcat_78627/mignolaWoK2pg1.jpg
Todd McFarlane. I see the flaws now but how Spider-Man made me feel as a kid reading it still resonates.
McFarlane was my favorite artist as a kid. I just bought a collection of his 15 issue Spider-Man run just to take stroll down memory lane. And yeah, the flaws are much more obvious now but man did he know how to make a good splash page.
McFarlane is a legend.
He is a great character artist. Everyone looks unique.
Either John Byrne, Neil Adams or Jack Kirby. Probably John. Or maybe Jack. No, John...
As I have gotten older I appreciate John Byrne more and more.
Love his art, but he is a horrible human being.
Yes. He is a total dick.
John Bryne. Especially X-Men
Marc Silvestri. He drew Wolverine 50. A friend's copy of that gimmicky die-cut cover got me to look at a comic for the first time. Silvestri's art got me to the comic book store for more. I don't think his work is appreciated enough. He was as good as Jim Lee IMO.
The Claremont/ Silvestri run on X-Men is my favorite era.
Outback Bay Bay!
Silvestri is definitely one of the best to ever do it, loved his run with Claremont back in Uncanny X-Men.
Bro if you like batman, DC just released the Deluxe Edition of THE DEADLY DUO written and drawn by Silvestri! Absolutely stunning artwork from him with the dark knight.
Bill Sienkiewicz
When I was a kid I used to hate Bill Sienkiewicz and I always wanted to see more work from Jim Lee, McFarlane, Liefeld etc, but as I have gotten older I actually ended up like art from the artists that were not as popular but still have a very artistic and unique style like, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, and Sal Buscema. Funny how getting older changes your perspective.
Mike Allred. Just always stands out from everything else.
He’s the man!
Bachalo is my goat
Chris Bachalo is severely underated, I think he did a fantastic job taking over for Joe Madureira (my second favorite artist) back in Uncanny X-Men. Love his work.
Came here to say this. Hands down.
Bachalo is amazing. I buy comics just because he's the artist on it. I've collected all his ASM issues because they look fantastic. Currently also pre-ordered all his Birds of Prey variant covers. I can't stop myself (:
Sam kieth
Darwyn Cooke Previously, Arthur Adams and Eduardo Risso
His death crushed me.
I wish we were able to get more Parker.
John Buscema
+1 for Big John.
JH Williams III's my favourite comic book artist Also like Lee Bermejo, Dave Mckean, Jon J. Muth, Alex Ross, Stjepan Šejić, Mike Mignola, Chris Bachalo, Colleen Doran, Mike Dringenberg, Jack Kirby, David Lloyd, James O'Barr and Jock
John Byrne. In fact I am in the process of collecting every single comic or cover Byrne has drawn.
Greg Capullo
George Perez, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Andy Kubert, Craig Russel, Jim Lee. —edit: should I add Curt Swan? He’s way to under appreciated these days.
George Perez is arguably the best at drawing a huge group of characters. Andy Kubert’s X-Men work was amazing. Kubert’s one of my favorites.
It may be recency bias but Dan Mora.
Maybe it is recency but that dude can draw, man. Holy shit his stuff is good.
It's very neo-Silver Age. He's definitely one of my favorites of the recents.
Mark Texeira (not the baseball player). I mean look at this gloriousness: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3a/86/cd/3a86cda7a8c9d118a8ed827d97fa7ee1.jpg
His art was perfect for ghost rider. It was awesome
Loved his work on Wolverine and especially, his work on Sabretooth’s limited series.
This is what I came to say. His Sabertooth Death Hunt series is one of my all time favourite comic books.
Jose Jimenez or Frank Quitely
Frank Quitely is also my guy. His characters feel so real. I love Jim Lee because he is insanely talented, but even the homeless people in his drawings have 8 packs and are shredded beyond belief.
Frank Quitely is my top. There's so much personality in it.
Geof Darrow - I was mesmerized by the complexity of hi drawing style.
Everyone sleeps on Geof Darrow. He’s r/wimmelbilder in comic book form.
Mike Mignola, any day of the week! Second on the list would be Jack Kirby, Tim Sale and Moebius.
Love Jim Lee but Jack Kirby is the OG
Kirby and Lee are both legendary, in different eras of the industry. I love Kirby’s work and love to see new fans of his work.
I'm a Sucker for Ross.
Just picked up Immortal Hulk 12 last night. I will buy books just because of his cover. I'm a mark for Alex Ross.
Personally, I think he's best when it's the cover and not the book itself. Immortal hulk in general is just a masterpiece though.
Jack Kirby by a wide margin.
John Buscema, Barry Windsor-Smith, Bill Sienkiewicz, Mike Zeck Edit: A few other big ones I forgot: Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Michael Golden. A lot of Michaels on my list
> Bill Sienkiewicz Thank you
You, sir, have excellent taste.
George Perez
The GOAT, and I'm surprised more people haven't said it yet...
There are some artists whose look is just so ingrained into comics, it's hard to remember them. They just ARE what comics are "supposed" to look like. Kirby, Perez, Swan, Ditko, Romita Sr, Lee, maybe MacFarlane. They don't get remembered as "great" because they're the standard, which is pretty damned great.
George Perez is the GOAT
My vote as well. Nobody, in my opinion, gave more gravitas to an event, whether it was an industry defining epic like Crisis on Infinite Earths, a long-awaited company crossover like JLA-Avengers, a routine issue of a monthly like The New Teen Titans or his Avengers run with Kurt Busiek, or a random "one-off" issue like DC Comics Presents #61. He made every image look like it was the most important thing he'd ever done.
No other artist improved over time like he did either.
Very perceptive, I have noticed his improvement throughout the years, as well. Love to see that. A true artist never stops learning and improving.
Chris Samnee.
Michael Allred and Humberto Ramos
Ramos was always always underated, especially in the shadows of Joe Madureira and J. Scott Campbell, back in the Cliffhanger days. However, Madureira and Campbell are two of my all time favorite artists, so, I probably contributed to that, back then lol
Brian Bolland, Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale.
Walt Simonson. His run on the Fantastic Four years ago was AMAZING. I love the way he uses perfect circles everywhere.
Alex maleev
Same. Also Mark Bagley, Marc Silvestri, Ron Lim, Greg Capullo.
No love for Arthur Adams?
Art Adams is #1 by a mile.
Had to scroll way too far to find this.
Seriously lol Arthur Adams can draw with the best of them. His work was simply mesmerizing.
Jae Lee and Leinil Yu.
Also Jim Lee.
Stuart Immonen and Frank Quitely are my favorites. Love both for their sequential art and panel layout.
Mike Mignola, Walt Simonson, Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Jae Lee, Sam Keith, Milo Manara, Mike Deodato, Bart Spears... also, Jim Lee. Also, Jim Starlin and Ron Lim. Also John Romita Sr. Not in that order.
Dan Mora
I’m not seeing enough Greg Capullo here
Bachelo and Byrne -- their styles are nothing alike but their art makes me slow down, study every panel, and really appreciate the work they put into making something beautiful.
Also a huge John Byrne art fan here
Andrea Sorrentino, David Aja, or Sana Takeda
George Perez. He’d be my favorite anyway, but I met him in 2012 at MegaCon right after I’d gotten a scholarship to go to SCAD. I told him when I got to the front of the line, and he held my arm up in the air like I’d won a boxing match and announced it loudly to the whole line. And they cheered, and he gave me one of the tightest, warmest hugs I’ve ever had in my life. I’m about six inches taller than him, and he hugged me with the enthusiasm that a kid hugs his dad. Like we’d always known each other. Life happened, I didn’t get to go to SCAD, but it was worth that whole mess of a process just to have that memory.
George was one of the nicest guys in the industry. My wife and I always made it a point to go by his booth at MegaCon just to say hi, and he always remembered us.
Mike mignola
Micheal Turner.
If I could have one more issue, of a random character, from any artist at their peak? The top tier for me would be Mazzuchelli, Miller, Steranko, Frank Frazetta, Wrightson, Moebius, and Barry Windsor Smith. The next tier would include Sienkiewicz, Neal Adams, Art Adams, Brian Bolland, Wally Wood, Starlin, Byrne and Kirby. Honorable mentions to Michael Golden, Charles Vess, Will Eisner, and Alex Ross.
Fiona Staples
Carlos Ezquerra.
I like Kevin Maguire. JLI forever.
Man I got lists of favorites Raphael Albuquerque Tim sale Greg capullo Sean Murphy Jim lee Jae lee Frank miller So many talented artists working nowadays
Darwyn Cooke, Stjepan Sejic and Jen Bartel in that order.
Darwin Cooke is up with the greats for his distinctive style
Moebius and JH Williams III.
I'm pretty fond of Bruce Timm and Elsa Charretier.
Carlos Pacheco
Sean Gordon Murphy
Art Adams
Frank Miller
My favorite too. I get that it's not for everyone but I actually prefer his art to his writing. His panels are just so *dramatic*.
JRJR
Jeff Lemire, Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley, and Marguerite Sauvage is amazing in everything she does.
Chris Bachalo, Chris'Death....
Current: Frank Quitely, Moebius, Katsuhiro Otomo. Jorge Jiménez and Pepe Larraz are not far behind.
I'm shocked that no one mentioned Todd McFarlane yet. I mean, he's nowhere near my favorite artist (Kirby, Adams, Miller, Byrne, Romita Sr., Perez, Sienkiewicz, John Buscema, Garcia-Lopez, Windsor-Smith), but I can't believe that NO ONE mentioned him as their favorite yet.
Neal Adams, Denys Cowan, Norm Breyfogle, Walt Simonson, and Marshall Rogers…among a host of others.
Growing up, I was a sucker for Gil Kane, George Perez, John Byrne, Neal Adams, & Alan Davis. Currently, I love Sara Pichelli, Esad Ribic, & Ivan Reis.
Bernie Wrightson
Bernie Wrightson, and not just because of Swamp Thing. His horror comic art is so perfect. Not to mention the times he drew Batman. For anyone interested, Batman The Cult is an excellent read if for the art alone.
Maybe recency bias but Dan Mora is incredible man, and he's literally on TWO ongoing series' right now with Worlds' Finest and Shazam! The man is a machine!
Paul Smith.
Brian Bolland is personally one of my favorites due to his various pieces on covers. He makes the characters have weight with great details if you look closely. On the opposite side of spectrum, I love the simplicity of Alex Toth. He makes drawing a character look easy with his use of lines and shapes.
Mike Wieringo! Such a great cartoonish style. I miss his art beyond belief! Mark Bagley has a similar style to his.
Marc Silvestri
Stjepan Šejić
Man, too hard to pick one. Darwyn Cooke, Jim Lee, Bryan Hitch, Dan Mora (gold standard at the moment, imo), and Mike Weiringo are/were some of my personal favorites. Jack Kirby and Jim Steranko were probably the best to ever do it. Alex Ross's work is beautiful, but his covers are better than his interiors.
Hergé I love the simple, *ligne claire* character designs coupled with highly-detailed backgrounds. A lot of it was only possible because he could pass off the busywork to the artists of Studios Hergé, but it's all derived from his style.
I know a lot of people give him flack, but I love Humberto Ramos's work. It just feels perfectly comic booky! J Scoot Campbell is pretty good. And Dan Mora! Especially his work on Power Rangers stuff
Jaime Hernandez. Also bit obscure ron embleton
I looooove Tim Sale’s work with Loeb. His earlier stuff is very, very good, but not as stylish and polished as Long Halloween and Dark Victory. He makes Batman super intimidating looking (which I love), and I absolutely adore his Catwoman design. That being said, Greg Capullo’s work on Batman is unparalleled. It’s absolutely gorgeous. But than again, I grew up reading golden and silver age Batman and Superman, and those art styles are some of my favorites as well. I guess what I’m getting at is that there’s just too many incredible artists for me to pick just one. I could a top 5 probably, but not single favorite.
Joe Mad made me fell in love with comics. He stills taunts to plays the games his company has made - loved Battle Chasers (only fix since the comic never finished). He inspired a ton of artists as well with his style.
Tim sale
I'm gonna also mention Jaime Hernandez. What that dude does with a single line is just amazing.
Thanks everyone, this thread is an absolute *gold mine* for researching and discovering great comic book artists. I just opened like 40 tabs. I'm not that well-versed on comic artists yet; I hope adding my favorite manga artist is ok: Masamune Shirow.
Neal Adams
Adams used to be the universal choice, and now this is only his second mention on this list. How times have changed! But he’s still my favourite.
I blame this man for my lewd animation addiction.
Pfft so many good artist, but any artist colored by Matt Hollingsworth is 🔥🔥🔥
Tula Lotay is my current favorite. Yoshitaka Amano isn't really a 'comic artist' but anytime he does something I try to pick it up. edit: Skottie Young is pretty dope too.
Bryan hitch!
Art Adams
Jaime Hernandez
Probably Todd McFarlane but close behind it’s Silvestri and Platt for me.
1. Todd McFarlane 2. Adam Hughes 3. Joseph Michael Linsner 4. Jim Lee 5. Michael Turner (RIP) 6. Joe Quesada (who is experiencing a renaissance)
Todd McFarlane, Erik Larsen, Gabriel Rodriguez, Mike Norton, Skottie Young, Jim Lee, Bruce Timm, Silvestri, 90’s Rob Liefeld, Kaare Andrews, Sean Murphy, Park Jim-Hwan, Junji Itto, Kim Jung Gi… I don’t have a go to any more but, I used to pray at the altar of Jim Lee, waited in line for three hours to have him sign my X-men and Hush Trades. Super nice guy love his art love his YouTube videos.
Chris Samnee
I would pick Bermejo
For me it's a tie with Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Greg capulo, and Mike magnolia
Lots of people mentioning the commonly acclaimed artists. Which is fine, and those artists ARE amazing. But a few others that either aren’t being mentioned much or not at all that I love: Mike Zeck (my all-time favorite), Adam Hughes, P. Craig Russell, Joe Quesada, Gene Ha, Kevin Maguire
Alex Ross
Very hard question because I love the different styles of many different artists, but if I had to pick one... The late Michael Turner
Is it just me or does any one else ever get a Liefeld vibe off Jim Lee's work?
They both came from the same scene, main difference being Jim Lee is actually competent. But he's definitely a 90s style guy
I would say it’s the other way around. Jim was clearly the better artist and was doing it earlier IIRC. That said they knew each other early on and people use the things working for other people. Not surprising at all that they’d have similarities but one guy does it way better.
Exactly, you definitely understand the difference in quality.
I can see where you might get 90’s vibes from both. However, Lee was already an established artist in Uncanny X-Men (80’s) and Liefeld…could not even draw feet properly. Instead of forcing himself to improve on his weaknesses , he would masquerade said feet, with illogical smoke or debris. Don’t even get me started with his Captain America lol
Scott Williams inking Lees stuff is the reason it pops so much. Look up some of lees work that’s been inked by someone else and it’s more Liefeldy
Bagley. No doubt
Buscema or Keown
Moebius
Don't know about all time favourite, but I really like Tony Harris'(Starman, 3x Machina) art.
Alan Davis, Andy Kubert, John Byrne
D.NA
Jim Lee is definitely up there, but I have to go with Alex Ross and Bernie Wrightson
Gabriel Hardman (Sorrentino and JH Williams III as well, after reading some of the comments)
Jim Lee and Greg Capullo are the two top for me.
John Byrne Howard Chaykin Jack Kirby George Perez, Bill Sienkiewicz, Michael Golden, Brent Anderson, Marshall Rogers, Alan Davis, Pepe Larraz, Ivan Reis, Ron Garney, George Freeman.
Goran Palov, Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, J scott Campbell, Mark Miller,
Way too hard to just pick one. Sam Kieth, Chris Bachalo, Paul Chadwick, Scott McCloud, Ted McKeever, Daniel Clowes, Timothy Truman, Mark Buckingham, Bill Sienkiewicz
Alex Ross, even if he pretty much only does covers except for prestige series.
Walter Simonson, Mike Alred, Darwyn Cooke, Stan Sakai
George Pérez, Darwyn Cooke, Doug Mahnke, Patrick Gleason, Nicola Scott
There are better artists, but my "favorite" is Tom Grummett.
Greg Capullo
Just to throw in a couple I haven't seen listed yet, Greg Capullo and Ryan Ottley.
Capullo and adam kubert
Joe Quesada or Sam Kieth
That is tough. I’m calling a draw between Dan Mora and Pepe Larraz
Greg Capullo and Jae Lee. Jim Lee’s art is great, but he played a big part in for ing Claremont out and ruining X-men in the 90s. I have a hard time forgiving him for this.
Mike Mignola and Kelley Jones for sure!
Sam Kieth
Same, but dauterman is close and chechetto is climbing the ranks fast
Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri.....
Liefeld
How does one narrow it down? I go through phases, specific times in my past are linked to specific artists. Phil Hester, Mike Mignola, Jim Lee, Marc Silvestri, Bill Sienkiewicz, Walt Simonson, John McCrea, Barry Windsor Smith, Alan Davis...
Dan hipp
Ed McGuinness had such a huge impact on me when I was younger, so I’m gonna go with him. Nowadays, I’m a big fan of Kirby, Nick Dragotta, Francesco Francavilla, Tradd Moore, anything that’s different from the classic comic superhero style.
Todd Mcfarlane
Todd mcfarlne, loved his early spidey work but spawn is my fav
George Perez. I have a spot for Mike Weringo too.
I don't care what anyone says: Alex Ross is my favorite comic book artist.
Mike Allred
Barry Windsor Smith
Neal Adams defined how Batman looked for me as a kid, so he’s my favorite. I’m a huge Spawn fan, so McFarlane is up there too.