Many artists strive to create a style or look that helps define their work and make it instantly identifiable. Which, given the talent level demanded to be viable in today’s highly competitive comic market, is no easy task.
The modern comic industry demands that artists are not only great at drawing anatomy, but they master perspective, shadows and technical drawing as well. Artists are expected to put all this together in a fast paced, coherent, series of panels that tell and maintain a story while keeping all of history and background of a title accurate.
For example ‘Spawn’ creator Todd Mcfarlane has said in interviews that, during his time at Marvel Comics, he would routinely have to endure complaints about his rendering of Spider Man’s webs as looking like spaghetti strings. And not just the industry, fans demand much of the artists as well. Fans demand realistic panels, complex technical rendering, creative images, and every detail to be true with what they associate with the character before they will spend their entertainment dollar.
Unlike other forms of sequential art, (such as animation) the comic pencil artist works by themselves from a script to create the series of pages that make up a comic book. This requires long hours of work, often 12-14 hours a day, without many days off.
The industry saying is ‘Skills to pay the bills’, meaning that an artist is good enough to make a living from their work. Now, with all that background on what it takes to actually be a comic artist to keep in mind, let’s take a look at the work of David Newbold.
American artist David Newbold has been creating comic art for a number of years, developing his work to embody not only what fans and the industry demand, but with an emerging style that will help people identify his work quickly.
Dramatic scenes, complex environments, and detailed characters are all part of Newbold’s images. The landscapes have so much depth and life that it feels as though you could reach through the comic panel, like an open window, and touch a building or pluck a blade of grass.
Despite the attention to detail Newbold’s images flow and move, not at all static like a technical drawing. He leaves enough space that your eye has time to rest and absorb all of the detail, instead of bouncing all over the panel trying to see everything which may create a confused feeling in the reader.
Already having worked on a number of co operative work on the forum ‘Ten Ton Studios’, and a series of short stories (which Outre Online Press , has shown interest in) Newbold is slowly becoming noticed. A recent talent search by First Comics, in which Newbold did very well, shows that Newbold does have ‘the skills to pay the bills’ and is only a matter of time until he gets picked up by a major publisher. Of himself Newbold said ” I like to view myself at this point as someone who’s on the fringe of being noticed”
More of David Newbold’s work and contact information is easily found on his website.
