Just imagine...

blue crane

Mongoose
Hi there!

It is time for a light-hearted - and alternate - look at the art of the '2000AD' comics that we have come to love over the decades.

Imagine, for a moment, what it would have been like to have had other artists illustrate out favourite '2000AD' comics. For example, what if Simon Bisley had illustrated 'DragonLance' instead and Larry Elmore had been commissioned to illustrate 'Slaine'? Just think about it! Yes, I know that many factors, amongst them artistic style and conveyance of mood, go into the consideration of potential artists - but just imagine?

What would 'Judge Dredd' have been like if it were illustrated by, for example, our much-beloved TSR artists such as Jeff Easley, Fred Fields or even Clive Caldwell? Great artists - all of them - but would it have been the same? Think about it....

Kind regards,
Blue Crane
 
Both what has been chosen for Dragonlance as drawn by Caldwell, Elmore, Eisley and the 2000AD Slaine art as drawn Bisely, Staples & Lanely ( I'm not sure if they did their own colour as I think that's what your referring to when you talking about the quality of the work.) have in there own time frame been admired as art that would inspire a person to buy the product it represents.

If things had been reversed, I'm not sure it would have made much diffrence to me as it was the artwork of Dragonlance that attracted me to reading the novels and it was the sketchings of G.Fabry that got me interested in Slaine and the rest of 2000AD. When S.Bisley came along, I saw that his work on 'The Horned God' as bonus if not a improvement.
His use of colour and the way it conveys a certain type of mood is more effective that what has been used in Dragonlance art.

I think that if the classic artists of TSR had been asked to do 2000Ad it may look alittle stale, but on the whole it's the type of story that serves this publication the most.
 
It also all depend of the different style. Many former artists who worked or are working for ADD were specialized in high fantasy and politically correct drawings whose purpose was to promote imagination.
Now if Larry Elmore would try to make a picture of Conan, I wonder if it would be as representative as in Howard's story.
The Slaine world is quite violent too and I could imagine Frazetta or even Vallejo working on it and perhaps Jeff Grubb too.
 
Back
Top