The Ross Campbell appreciation thread (IDW, WE WANT HIM BACK!)
 

So, the very talented Ross Campbell gave us a beautiful Leonardo book today! Here is a thread for everyone to comment on what they thought about the ARTWORK in the book. Ross did a few covers back in the day for Mirage, but sadly no interiors. But now, we actually have a full issue of Ross/TMNT badassery, and it didn't let me down!

I love how his turtles actually look like turtles. They are sorta short, stubby. Very similar to the orignal designs Peter and Kevin came up with back in 1983. The way he can convey emotion is ridiculous, there were moments when reading this book where I got a little emotional.:lol: All in all, he is definitely my favorite artist to ever draw a turtle hands down.

Bobby, if you read this thread (And I know you will) WE NEED HIM BACK FOR ANOTHER ISSUE! MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!:tgrin:

Yeah I definitely like his turtles.

One problem for me was some of the action/fighting seemed a bit off. Like the very first panel after Leo drew his swords and the Foot ninja attacks him, both Leo and the Foot soldier look really awkward.

I'd like to see more of his work but I really wouldn't want him replacing Duncan.

Ross knows the door is open to more Turtles. He does have an ongoing book at Image, you know!

Princess, you crazy! (just kidding, everyone is entitled to their own opinion)

Overall, I liked him!

His character design is great.

Especially his foot soldiers. I thought they were pretty much perfect.

Now that's great to hear!!!:D

On top of that, bring back the artist who did the Don micro. I just LOVED his cartoony art style and it would work well with future lighthearted adventures.

Hell yes. Ross Campbell should be doing the main series. Duncan is great and all but Ross was born to draw turtles! Bring him back!!!!!

You'll see a variant cover from Valerio for #13, but I've got him busy on Battle Beasts (written by me!), first issue out in July. /shamelesspromotion.

110% agree with the OP. Ross is tremendously talented and if I had my way, he'd have a gig drawing the main ongoing series!

Really?! :ohwell: Wow, I do not understand all the love he is getting. I must be missing something or not able to see something that everyone else apparently can? I'd take Franco Urru or even Valerio Schiti over Ross Campbell. I don't get it.....just like I believed that most X-Men fans had completely lost their minds in the late 1990's when they thought Joe Madureira was even a worthy comparison to far more talented X-Men artists like Jim Lee or Andy Kubert. As far as Dan Duncan goes, I really enjoy his art except for how he draws the lower plastrons on the turtles and how they seem too long and look more like aprons. Apart from that, I'd still take him over Ross also.

I'll sign on this. I wish they would do a new Tales of the TMNT. Something that could maybe tie into the main books some way or just tell untold stories. Ross should do some more of the Micro Series. I'm gonna be sad when they run out of Micros and were down to just one TMNT comic a month... :ohwell:

Oh god, you again. I know what you're missing. Your eyeballs. Because you have got to be visually impaired to deny Mr. Campbell's talents.

I think it might have been the coloring. When we saw those pieces of art in black and white before it was colored, it actually looked better.

I would like to request a Ross Campbell full-color poster. :tcool:

Yes Yes Yes!:D

Was anyone else just fully amazed by the very last panel? The close up shot of Leonardo? I was pretty impressed

I loved his art in this issue. I hope that he comes back for more.

Yes, the last panel was crazy good. All the battle wear on Leo looked great. I'm a fan of different, and enjoyed Ross' art for the most part. Throughout the whole fight sequence, it didn't seem like they were fighting AT ALL. Looked like they were just standing there.

The only fight that looked like fighting, was the one with Shredder (we're all assuming anyway). For me, it looked like he was trying to draw the entire issue in the style of the new cartoon. Not a bad thing, but like I said, different. And different is welcome.

I missed you Samhain! Would you consider the "art" in your signature as good? Because in today's backwards society, people now try to forcefeed to kids that what was once ugly is now beautiful. Just look at the cartoons today, everything is distorted, ugly and a complete and total perversion of what was once considered real art. Dumb down the kids and make them desensitized to what used to be true quality and to expect less and less.

That's one of the best things about IDW's TMNT books; when it comes to the art, we are really spoiled for choice.

When the Raphael micro came out, I was like, "IDW! Gimme more of this guy!"

Then when the Donatello micro came out, I was like, "This dude! More of him!"

And now that the Leonardo micro is out, I'm like, "No wait! I want more of THIS guy!"


So many good artists and not enough ongoing titles to see em all on a regular basis.

I think its telling that you skipped over the Michelangelo micro artist. :lol:

Yea Michelangelo got the shaft for sure when it came to the art. I feel bad for his fans.

I dig the Michelangelo special art, but I felt it was too unpoliced. I'm OK with varying, even eclectic Turtle art styles suiting the different stories and genres and feels... but a Turtle probably shouldn't ever be in-panel crouched next to a human looking like if he stood at full height, he'd be 9 feet tall.

Ross Campbell does some pretty good art. If he was the guy drawing the "definitive" IDW TMNT, I'd be very OK with that... I agree he brings a certain A.C. Farley-like soulfulness (in intent, not actual artwork likeness) to the Turtles, a certain wonder that plays well. Would I take him over guys like, you know, A.C. Farley himself, Kevin, or Peter? Absolutely not, but with just a small amount of material to date he's already carved a place very, very high on my list, and I'd be all for him being given more material to spread his wings.

I'd be very interested to see what would have come of this IDW Leo special had Eastman done layouts for Ross' art. That seems the weak point of the action on the page here... the actual quality of artwork is high, but the action doesn't really ever seem to flow quite as organically as it should. It may be a victim of what Viacom/Nick allowed and what they wouldn't allow, 11th hour changes or something (who knows what goes on behind the curtain, really) but strong, well-choreographed swordfight layouts would have been a huge boon here... I mean, if ever there was a place for Eastman layouts, this would have been the place.

hey man, I may have already expressed my views on the michelangelo micro art-and this is certainly a thread dedicated to ross campbell's turtles-but I fell with the idw turtles editors checkin in on our oppinions here I MUST repeat myself(im summary)...I LOVED the look of the michelangelo micro, I know what pannel you guys are referring to here with michelangelos bulkyness but I eel lke this hype about one lousy(or two if you will) pannel in a book is not worth my time caring about it.it had some extremely well drawn action art in it and I just liked it very mucho...so...that's that...
I haven't received my copy of the book but had to re-gaze at the preview pages many times, because I think they look so beautiful...I kinda agree with andrew here, it reminds me a bit of the deep soul that craig's turtles used to give me...so, bring him on any day I say!;)

Ross Campbell replied to my review at TMNT Entity and provided an interesting view point on the lack of blood and whether or not Leo killed anybody:

^That's pretty cool of him to respond to you.

Like most have said already, I'd be awesome to have Ross back again. Looking at the concept renders really blew me away and it makes me appreciate the issue more.

I like your response to him, too:

How true.

thanks, everyone!!! and thank you in particular, Vader.

i wasn't going to jump into either thread at first, i think people should be able to discuss honestly without the creator being involved at least initially, "death of the author" and all that, but what the hell. i'm not going to get involved in the travesty that is the Leonardo issue thread, though, haha. ;)

anyway, i appreciate everyone's honesty, even the negative stuff! i know my work isn't everyone's cup of tea and that's okay, and i'm the first one to admit that my action skills need work. i don't know if i was the right artist for this Leo issue since it was mostly all action, but i couldn't pass it up.

i grew up on the Mirage comics so i've been itching to do something like this for decades. i did Raphael covers and a couple pin-ups for Mirage years ago but what i really wanted to do were interiors, and i almost had an issue in Tales vol. 2 which didn't happen, then i was going to be the regular artist on a TMNT monthly ongoing for another publisher before IDW got the license so that also fell through, so this Leo issue was like some kind of shining beacon of hope, haha. whatever its technical flaws, the issue was like me opening up the floodgates that had been stopped up over all those years of waiting and pouring it all out on paper. i did my absolute best and then some on the Leo issue, whatever my shortcomings as draftsman, and at the risk of being totally corny, i put all my heart into it.

i'm not gonna lie, and i'm not trying to make anyone feel bad for their opinions here, but i was pretty upset by some of the response but this appreciation thread truly means a lot to me!! this isn't my first rodeo, i've been working in comics professionally since 2003, i've had a big range of response to my work over the years, it comes with the job, but it never gets any easier dealing with it, especially for this Leo issue which i feel like i'd been waiting to do since i was 10 years old (i'm 32 now). that said, though, i wouldn't trade all this for 100% positivity, it's like two sides of the same coin, so thank you to those of you who spoke their minds and offered criticism as well as praise. i wouldn't have it any other way.

i don't know if i'll ever do more TMNT interiors or not, as much as i'd love to it's very emotionally-draining for me because i get too invested for my own good, heh. this Leo issue took a lot out of me and i was losing sleep and blah blah blah, not sure i'm cut out for it, but you never can tell, right?

thank you so much again!!!

me again! here's a Raph i just drew. :)

http://greenoblivion.com/hosted/RAPHwall.jpg

Fantastic.

cool, their tails are back!!!!!;)finally!!!!...thanks for your openess, ross and here is hope that your fingers will be itching when the next opportunity comes knocking on your door to do turtles interiors!!....it was worth it though, right?

Damn. That Raph is great...
What a pity have not been able to read Leo Micro yet.
On its way to me...

Damn, I love that Raph pic! So envious of your work!

I'm surprised no one has noticed and mentioned how Ross took Nick's TMNT designs and made them badass.

The influence is clear as crystal, and it was that aspect that drew a lot of respect from me because he proved that even with a "tamer" look to the Turtles, they still have plenty of room to be awesome.

:tcool:

yeah, I thought that, too last night you know...since I don't have my copy yet I just shut up about it, but the thought has crossed my mind, too;)...I think the nick designs were already cool, but a picture of the leonardo figure somewhere on this frum from the last couple days reminded me very much of the beautiful artwork I have seen of this ross campbell leonardo book.

More like Nick took the ''design'' from Ross. He's drawn like that for years.

That Raph is beyond awesome!!!
I loved this issue! Ross's artwork is amazing! The turtles looked great, to me they actually looked like teenagers. Leo looked young and also not too human like. One of my favorite parts is where he ducks into his shell to protect himself from some knunchucks:tsmile: What I liked best about it was the slight differences in the closeups verses the far away shots, for example when Leo is struggling to fight the foot the look of it is sort of cartoony (in a good way!:twink:) but then there is that close up of Leo on the floor with the tear in his eye, The detail and emotion in that one shot is awesome! It still looks the same Leo, but in a more detailed, less cartoony, and more real way!

Thank you Ross!!!
Cowabunga!

thanks, you guys!

thanks, marcelangelo! i love the tails the old Turtles have but i couldn't draw them in my IDW stuff, unfortunately, because it was too inconsistent with Dan Duncan's Turtles, even though all the artists on the various micros draw pretty differently there had to be some degree of continuity with the characters.

it was definitely worth it, i'm sure if i get another shot i'll jump right back into the fray, haha.


thanks! i love the Nickelodeon designs, i think they're solid and stylish and i like that they look like teenagers, a lot of TMNT artists seem to forget that the Turtles are supposed to be kids. one thing i did borrow from the Nick Turtles was that Donatello is slightly taller than the other the Turtles, i really dig that, so i'll admit influence there! but other than that i wouldn't say i was influenced by the Nick Turtles, i've been drawing Turtles fanart, and some official stuff, for many years and the way i drew them in the Leo issue is pretty much unchanged. here's some older stuff to prove it, this one's from 2005: http://mooncalfe.deviantart.com/art/...tumes-23587780

or this one that i did before any of the Nick designs had surfaced publicly: http://mooncalfe.deviantart.com/art/...ikey-154011931

even my Mirage covers had a similar look to my Leo issue! http://mooncalfe.deviantart.com/art/...on-04-56517541

there's definitely a similarity, you're right, but it's more that coincidentally the Nick designs are very close to how i like to draw the characters! when i first saw them i was surprised at how close they were to my own sensibilities.

EDIT:
ha! i was in the middle of writing this post, you're way faster than i am. XD. i doubt they took anything from me, i'd be very surprised if they had seen any of my work much less be influenced by it, and i think our two designs do pretty different things despite their similarities. i'm sure it's total coincidence. great minds think alike, i guess! bwahaha ;)

i'm really curious who did the designs for the Nick show, i want to know who the individual character designers are! i think it's the best the Turtles have looked in a long time (barring Kevin and Peter's late work, of course).

Maybe, but I don't think artists need to overly worry about making them look "kidly," at least insomuch as it might apply to what we think when we think of human teenagers.

Because they're not.

Which might even be stemming from the old Palladium sourcebooks with the Turtles' stats. Don was the tallest there, too.

Or maybe it's not-so-coincidentally. ;)

I think I'm repeating my self now for like the fifth time or something, but your art is freaking amazing