Vol 1 artists and their renditions of the turtles over the years

[Plasticplayhouse]

Art is a funny thing. It flows like water, constantly adapting and changing shape, living almost. here's a list of some vol 1 artists and how (I feel) about their modern/most recent style of turtle looks compared to how they started out.

now a "declined" does not mean that i don't like their modern rendition or that i think its poor quality. it simply means that i PREFER the earlier rendition.

eastman- declined
laird- improved
dooney- improved
berger- improved
lawson- declined
talbot- improved
farley- consistent

i believe eastman's and lawson's work is still very relevant and i believe they are extremely talented artists. I just personally prefer their older renditions to their newer stuff.

The thing I preferred with Kevin's older rendition (issue 1-4 or unmentionable's, both different renditions), was the shading/toning aspect compared to the new stuff. While his most recent work is very similar to that in the unmentionables, the newer stuff doesn’t seem as smooth as the earlier examples.

Older 1
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/FUGAYZIE/eastman1.gif
Older 2
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/FUGAYZIE/eastman2.jpg
Newer
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/FUGAYZIE/eastman3.jpg

i enjoy lawason's modern style, but still prefer his older rendition (son's of the silent age). the newer stuff is a little blocky for me, but i have to give him props on his shading/toning, it's great. some of the stuff people criticize him for isn't even his fault. look at the Raphael: Bad moon rising issues. penciled by jim and inked by eric talbot. both tmnt legends in their own right, so you would think it would make for an amazing issue. not the case. i disliked virtually everything about that series minus the awesome covers by ross campbell. eric's inking/toning did nothing to embellish jim's style, which I found unusual compared to what they did together in return to NY part 2.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Older
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/FUGAYZIE/lawson1.jpg
Newer
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/FUGAYZIE/lawson2.gif

bad moon rising
http://www.miragelicensing.com/comics/mirage/raphael-bad-moon/01/01.html

return to ny part 2
http://www.miragelicensing.com/comics/mirage/volume01/20/20.html

NOTE: the images I've posted do not belong to me, they obviously belong to the respective artists, IDW, Mirage, Viacom, etc. I'm merely posting them as references.

[Venom]

I agree with a lot of what you present.

Of some note, though, and this could just be how I read your post, but issues 1-4 of Volume 1 had a blending of Kevin and Peter's styles, so those initial isues will always have a separate, distinct, art style versus each man's individual iteration of the Turtles.

Regarding Jim's style, he has mentioned that in those days he tried to emulate the styles of Dooney and the others then when Volume 4 began he stuck with his personally distinct style. He actually used the sharp, stylized artwor quite a bit back in those days too, but it was limited to other comics like the TMNT Magazine and other things of the ilk.

I truly do love the look of the Turtles in those days, they probably had the most consistent look back in the early 90's. Talbot's Future Raph holding the spear is still one of my all-time favorite images from that era.

[Metropoliskid41]

I agree with a lot of what you present.

Of some note, though, and this could just be how I read your post, but issues 1-4 of Volume 1 had a blending of Kevin and Peter's styles, so those initial isues will always have a separate, distinct, art style versus each man's individual iteration of the Turtles.

Regarding Jim's style, he has mentioned that in those days he tried to emulate the styles of Dooney and the others then when Volume 4 began he stuck with his personally distinct style. He actually used the sharp, stylized artwor quite a bit back in those days too, but it was limited to other comics like the TMNT Magazine and other things of the ilk.

I truly do love the look of the Turtles in those days, they probably had the most consistent look back in the early 90's. Talbot's Future Raph holding the spear is still one of my all-time favorite images from that era.

Agreed, the first issues definitely do have a very blended feel to them, almost like they both did pencils on each turtle in every panel. I really dug that look, now I really like seeing Kevin's "Smiley Turtles" and would love some figures based on those designs, as I feel that the NECA turtles we got, which are great, are based more on Peter's design, and I'd love to have a set of Eastman's design of the turtles to be side by side with them on the shelf.

[Samhain]

I personally love how Eastman and Laird were drawing the Turtles in the late eighties. IMO, they were at their top of their game at this time and if I could ever pic a ''definitive'' look for the turtles, that would be it. Here are some examples of that:

http://i43.tinypic.com/24b20dw.png

But it is interesting to think of exactly WHY artists change their styles of drawing certain characters. Is it because they get bored and want to change the look? Or do they think they are ''upgrading'' in a sense?

[Donnie]

The Turtles to me are the Turtles of the first 7 or so issues. The original gritty, small & scrawny type. I was never too big of a Lawson fan but recently that has changed incredibly, I like him, although I do favor his earlier work to his later work. I actually really like Rick McCollum, who isn't mentioned here but I think deserves a shout out when talking about V.1. Dooney's cool.

[Metropoliskid41]

I think why Laird & Eastman's each individual take on the turtles changed is somewhat reflected by who they were working with. They used to both put their mark on each page and it was a truly collaborative effort of passing back in forth. If that same or similar act of sharing in creative effort went on with a different partner it would naturally have a different look. To me you can still see similarities in most of their work over the years, from start to finish it may look like a total character evolution or makeover but if you look at the phases I think they look close to each other with the slight differences in each era amplifying to 2 distinctive looks between the far past and most recent stuff if that makes sense. Dooney on the other hand has really had is Turtles looks really evolve each era to give them a pretty recognizeable and distinguished look for each era. I think it may just be artists preference and like you said to challenge themselves, or just so each time frame can be more easily distinguished. I think the different styles really makes TMNT comics unique, and if nothing else, made the Turtle Multiverse scene in Turtles Forever look pretty damn awesome :tgrin:

[Matches Malone]

Interesting thread and indeed, drawing style seems to inevitably evolve over time. I'm no artist, but I'm sure much of it is simply instinct and whatever comes natural, like a person's handwriting. Strangely enough, if you look really close, you can spot some Lawsonisms in all of his work from early Tales Volume 1 to Tales Volume 2, and see it evolve over time through everything in between. Lawson is an interesting case since his early turtles work were really stubby and short and gradually adapted Laird/Eastman's style really well, peaking at Return To New York.

Regarding Eastman, I feel the same way, but I'm not sure it's the best comparison since it also seems like Eastman is not devoting as much time to his drawings of the turtles lately. They seem pretty sketchy and unrefined (though perhaps this is his style now), not too unlike his layouts we've seen so far. After all, the only time he actually spends on the turtles is those occasional meetings with IDW for general plot direction, and layouts/covers, so it seem he's not entirely focused on the turtles at this point. This is not to question his devotion, but merely an observation...

[CyberCubed]

You know I was just thinking about how Eastman's IDW covers aren't really as amazing as I thought they would be.

[Plasticplayhouse]

I actually really like Rick McCollum, who isn't mentioned here but I think deserves a shout out when talking about V.1.

i love MccCollum's rendition of the turtles. i didnt mention him because his style has been consistant for both of his v1 issues and turtle soup.

[Matches Malone]

You know I was just thinking about how Eastman's IDW covers aren't really as amazing as I thought they would be.

Yup, even the Ultimate Collection cover. It was cool, but still has that "thrown together" look. That one gets a pass from me though, since it kind of works for the "compilation" theme of the book. His #2-5 covers have been kind of so-so, although I really like #1 and #6.

[Metropoliskid41]

His covers have been my favorite for each issue, but maybe thats just the nostalgia in me talking :trazz:

[Powder]

Farley & Mitcheroney's styles have both changed since they worked on the turtles back in the day.
Fosco is as good as ever, retaining the same style.

[Samhain]

Yup, even the Ultimate Collection cover. It was cool, but still has that "thrown together" look. That one gets a pass from me though, since it kind of works for the "compilation" theme of the book. His #2-5 covers have been kind of so-so, although I really like #1 and #6.

The thing about some of Eastman's art is sometimes it looks like he spent alot of time tweaking and sometimes it looks unfinished and a bit ''lazy''. I love his art but sometimes I feel like people use the ''style'' excuse for being shotty art.

[Matches Malone]

The thing about some of Eastman's art is sometimes it looks like he spent alot of time tweaking and sometimes it looks unfinished and a bit ''lazy''. I love his art but sometimes I feel like people use the ''style'' excuse for being shotty art.

Agreed! Let's hope he doesn't go down the Frank Miller route, the epitome of that sentiment!