Esteban Maroto - Wonders

Esteban Maroto is an artist that, like José González and Gonzalo Mayo was familiar to readers of Warren magazines where he displayed his particular talent for combining beautiful women with hideous creatures. His style was always very fluid and sensuous and always very European as he drew in a relistic manner and not in the cartoony style of many American artists. He also did some work for DC Comics like the four issue Zatanna mini-series of the 90's, but I digress.
This book is a very good display of his work, at 64 pages it's not by any means a comprehensive view of the artist's work but a good overview. Sadly, no work from his Warren days is included so all of the work is of the pinup variety where we get a single illustration per page unrelated to any characters or stories. But what art! Maroto is a true master of form and his women are legendarily beautiful and exotic. In fact the back cover states that the book is "Adults only" and indeed, almost ALL of the pieces feature nudity (a good thing, I always say).
The artwork is divided by theme into 6 sections, Vampires, Fantasy, Woman & Woman, Monsters & Demons, Nymphs and finally Light & Color, where we are trated to a collection of 14 gorgeous color pieces where Maroto shows he can paint with the best of them. The beginning of each chapter has a small introduction which is presented in three languages, Spanish, English and German. I bought this book on Amazon a couple of years ago, but sadly it is no longer in print and can only be found used at a very steep price.
Below are examples from each of the book's sections. Click for a bigger size. Enjoy!

Sorceress, The Mike Hoffman Sketchbook Volume 1

When one talks about influences in someones artwork, it’s always a tricky thing. Is the artist paying homage, or simply ripping off another artist? Does his style originate from another or is he copying? I wanted to mention this right off the bat because Mike Hoffman is often accused of being a Frank Frazetta clone, and looking at his artwork one would be inclined to agree. The influence is more than obvious, not just the subject matter, but the artistic style itself. In fact, if you look up the book on Amazon.com you will find mostly negative reviews that slam the book because of its lack of originality. However, I will let you decide if this lessens the artwork or not and just focus on what the book offers and let the art stand on its own.

This book was published in 1999 by SQP Publishing and is the first of 2 volumes called Sorceress, and one of many Hoffman artbooks available. The entire book is comprised of black and white pencil drawings, (no inks) and only the cover presents a full color painting. The subject matter is sword and sorcery with a heavy dose of jungle girls and prehistoric scenes. Like the title implies, the book is mostly devoted to the female form, though there are a few drawings without women, the bulk of the art features Frazetta-like women who are for the most part topless or completely nude. Hoffman likes his busty girls, that’s for sure (and who doesn’t?).

I have to say that I myself like Hoffman’s style, it’s clean and uncluttered with a very good sense of form. His tonework is subtle and doesn’t “gray out” his figures with too much shading, letting the linework take center stage. His depiction of women is idealized to be sure, as it is with most fantasy artists, but he never goes overboard and his figures always retain a sense of reality that grounds his work and gives it more power. Another thing I like is that, besides Frazetta, Hoffman seems to be influenced by the Warren magazines of the 70’s, which gives his art a retro feel that I just love.

Sanjulian

It wasn't long ago that I reviewed another Sanjulian art book by Big Wow books, well they have published another one and it is marginally better than the first one but still sorely lacking becaus of its size. Again the format is a 5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches tall, an insult to Sanjulian's work as the paintings should be seen in at least full letter size or more to better appreciate the art. But enough griping. The book presents both color and black and white pieces, this time in full page format (unlike the other book which placed a useless frame around the art) so one has a slightly bigger view of the art. Even though the artist is best known for his covers of Warren comics, none are presented here, though several o the pieces could have been Creepy or Eerie covers. In regards to the subject matter, Sanjulian leans a bit more to the mainstream side with the inlcusion of well known characters. Some seem to be comissioned works like the drawings of Padme Amidala from Star Wars and 2 of Catwoman. And check out the Jonah Hex piece with a topless babe! I doubt DC Comics would have used that on their comics. In total 12 color pices and 13 black and white drawings, including a self-portrait. Also if you order it from Bud's Art Books it will come signed by the master himself. Click for bigger sizes.

Modern Masters Vol. 12: Michael Golden

Michael Golden is a name familiar to those of us who have been reading comics since the 70's and 80's. His style sometimes leans towards the cartoony but never really crosses the line into being "funnybook" style. His line always conveys a sense of fluidity and vitality that is sadly lacking in many artists.
Upon reading this book, which like many of the "Modern Masters" series, is really one long interview with the artist, one realizes that Golden kind of fell into comics and was never really confortable in the field, leaving it alltogether for long stretches to pursue illustrative work in advertising only to come back to comics whenever some editor called him for a project, and only then, if Golden had the time for it. He admits to having no real love for comics as a child and explains his almost accidental entrance into the field at the insistance of a friend.
This is one thing that comes across in many interviews with comic or fantasy artists which are revered by fans. The fact that to them their work is just that - work, a job, not some dream assignment. This is a hard pill to swallow for many fans as they believe that their favorite artists and writers are as emotionally invested in their work as the fans themselves. Golden admits that him drawing Batman or Spiderman or any other high profile character was nothing special, just a job to be done. The interviewer tries to goad the artist into saying if he was excited or felt anything special when drawing the caped crusader instead of the lesser character The Demon, but Michael Golden says simply "No". Nuff said.
The interview itself is very well done and Golden spills the beans on many interesting behind the scenes goings on at both DC and Marvel, nothing scandalous, mind you, just cool insider stuff that gives readers a further appreciation for how a comic comes together.
Of course, the best part of the book is the art, even though there is plenty of text, there are examples of Golden's work on every page with many full page reproductions. An extensive gallery section at the end of the book rounds things off nicely with some color illustrations included. Most of the book is in black and white, but don't let that deter you as Golden's work is better appreciated that way. In closing, a worthy addition to the Modern Masters series.

Sanjulian - art book

Manuel Pérez Clemente, better known by his artistic name of Sanjulian, is known by most for his incredible covers of Warren comics in the 1970's, and like José González, was one of many latin artists employed by Warren at the time. His covers for Vampirella were his most famous and have become almost iconic. Unfortunately none of these covers are reproduced here. Equally unfortunate is that the format of this small book is woefully inadequate to appreciate the work of this great master of the fantastic. The book, almost a pamphlet really, is barely 8.5 inches tall by 5.5 inches wide. The good news is that it's full color throughout (except for the black and white drawings, of course) and it's printed on heavy stock.
But enough complaining, let's see what we do get. 32 pages, 23 color pieces and 10 black and white drawings from a very wide variety of themes. From the usual sword and sorcery to comic book pinups and even some Star Wars. As far as I know, Sanjulian was never an interior comic artist so the drawings included are probably commission pieces. Vampirella fans will be glad to know that she is represented with two excelent drawings,both of which I have scanned and present here, click for larger versions.The rest of the art shows Sanjulian's work from various book covers and some advertising work. I can only assume that is the case because there is no text at all that tells us anything about the art. Not a caption, nothing. What's worse is that most of the art is not presented in full page format but instead has a rather large colored border around it making the art smaller than the already small format of the book. I have presented the scans without the useless border here of course, as it should be. Why they chose to do this is beyond me. Big Wow publishing, who published this book, really dropped the ball here. I'm still waiting for a large format hardcover edition of Sanjulian's work like the previously reviewed Art of Jeffrey Jones, that will really do justice to this amazing and underappreciated artist. An edition which showcases his Warren covers as well as his more personal works. We'll have to wait and see if any publisher is up to the task. There are a couple of other Sanjulian artbooks which I will review later on, but these are also not up to the standard that this artist deserves.

Femmes de Rêve - José González

This long out of print French publication from 1978 is, I believe, the ONLY compilation of the late great José González's work, and please somebody correct me if I'm wrong since I would love to know that there is another book out there.
José "Pepe" González, as many of you may know, sadly passed away earlier this year (2009) at the age of 70. He is best known by comic book fans as one of the best (or THE best in my opinion) artists for Warren's Vampirella comic magazine that was published during the late 60's, all through the 70's and the early 80's. José's knack for drawing beautiful women came in handy while drawing the scantily clad Vampirella but always with a touch of class that is sadly lacking in many of today's hack artists who couldn't draw a well proportioned woman if they're life depended on it, but I digress.
Femmes de Rêve (Dream Women) is not by any means a definite overview of the spanish artist, but it does a good job of giving us a bit of everything that was the art of José González. It starts with 4 page "Women in Jail" story with a SF twist at the end called Trop, C'est Assez which may or may not be a reprint from a Warren comics story (it has a certain 1984-ish feel to it, though it may be from Creepy, Eerie or even a backup story from Vampirella comics).
It continues with a series of sexy/humorous one panel drawings with pretty girls and then a Warren Vampirella reprint - Rêve Attristant (Sad Dream), the whole 10 page story where we see José at the top of his game - great stuff. Then a portfolio section with an interesting cross section of art from various genres.
The next full story is the longest in the book - Herma a full length color comic where the titular character, Herma, gets herself into a series of situations where she frequently has to disrobe. In fact there are naked ladies in just about every page of this story. I've never heard of this comic or this character, but like most of this book it probably appeared originally somewhere else. Here's a panel from the story:

The book ends in a grand fashion with the absolutely stunning 6 page romance tale Au-Delà de l'Aube (Beyond the Dawn), a black and white story with the some of the best art I've seen from José. The story is incredibly simple but that's not important, the thing here is the mood that the artist creates with his drawings. José González inking style is one that I've always admired, and I'm almost certain that he ALWAYS inked his own stuff. His incredibly controlled, yet fluid line and his mastery of light and shadow is something to behold. Feast your eyes on the splash page and an interior page and see why José González is a legend, click for larger versions.
If you want to read a very interesting article about José González's Vampirella art, check out these links at the excellent Groovy Age of Horror blog here and here.

The Art of Jeffrey Jones

Jeff Jones is an artist that I wasn't too familiar with but I became curious about his work when I saw the amount of really cool paperback covers that the he had painted in the late 60's and early 70's (check many of them out at the excellent Groovy Age of Horror blog). This hardcover coffe table sized book is the first collection of his work in such a format. His stuff had previously been only available in limited edition prints or portfolios. At first, one may dismiss Jones as one of the many Frazetta clones out there, mostly in his very early work where the influence is most obvious, but closer inspection reveals that he has a style and visual language all his own.
Jeff Jones started as a commercal artist doing covers for sf, fantasy and horror paperbacks and in the book he minces no words when he says that he plain didn't like it. Jeff Jones is an artiste, you see, who scorns anything that comes between him and his vision. OK, maybe I'm being bit sarcastic in describing Mr Jones, but it's true that he always felt uncomfortable in doing work for others, prefering instead his personal projects, many of which are loosely fantasy based, by this I mean they touch upon the mythic, likes visions of ancient warriors, prehistoric vistas and jungle heroes who may or may not be Tarzan.

An interesting part is where he briefly talks about the legendary "The Studio". A project that was comprised of Berni Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor Smith and Jeff Jones himself. This gathering of four of the greats of illustration has grown to become the suff of legend, mostly on the strenght of a book published by the equally legendary Dragon's Dream press. Jones states that some people thought the four of them were like The Beatles of illustration and that somehow the synergy of coming together was a because of lofty creative ambitions by the four of them. Nothing so lofty, says Jones. They simply needed a place to work and chose to pay the rent for the loft between the four of them, as simple as that. When they "broke up" three years later, was it because of internal fighting? different artistic directions? jealousy? No, the lease was up. There you have it.
In closing, this is really a very well put together book that showcases Jones' work with great full page high quality reproductions. By no means a complete catalog of his art, but an excellent overview.

Draw Comics With Dick Giordano

There are many "how to draw comics" out there, and I admit that the main reason I bought this one was because it's by comics legend Dick Giordano who has been associated with DC comics for most of his career. It's a shame that absolutley NO DC ART is featured in the book, probably because of copyright issues. It seems to me that DC should have cut Dick some slack and let him use samples of his own work using DC characters. On the plus side, it means that almost all the great art featured is previously unpublished work drawn by Dick for this book.
The book is aimed, not on those who want to learn how to draw, but those that want to learn how to draw comics, and in this Dick goes into great detail and gives you his tips and tricks from decades of experience.
His chapter on inking, called "The Art of Inking, is one of the best studies done of this dissapearing and misunderstood part of comic art. Indeed, Dick is mainly known as one of the best inkers in the business, having inked many comic classics and over the pencils of Great Ones like Neal Adams, Geore Pérez, Jose Luis García López and many others.
His (grossly underrated) pencilling is fantastic also, reminiscent of the aforementioned Neal Adams and García López but with a unique clean classic style all his own.
The sections on figure drawing offer many examples of different body and character types, showing that comic book drawing is not all super heroes. I do wish he would have gone into greater detail on the anatomy of the human figure since he hardly discusses muscle groups or skeletal structure, in this respect, a certain degree of previous drawing experience is a must.
Lastly, the sections on visual storytelleing and composition round things out quite nicely, and I daresay many of todays comic artists could benefit from the advice given in this chapter. There's even a part where Dick gives aspiring artists real advice on how to presents your portfolio and try to break into the businness, beyond the usual "practice, practice, practice".
If you don't know how to draw at all, this book may not be for you, though you will surely learn from it. If you're someone interested in drawing comics, this is invaluable and even as a Dick Giordano sketchbook it is a great example of one of the modern master of comic art.

The Art of Rudy Nebres

In case you haven't heard of him, Rudy Nebres is one of the many Filipino artists that were employed in the American Comics industry during the 60's and 70's. I came to know him from his work in Warren's Vampirella and was immediately drawn to his fluid and expressive line and mastery of the "feathered brush" inking technique.
This book is not an overview of his work in Warren, Marvel or DC, but rather a collection of black and white pinups that showcase his unique style. Some are pencil drawings while others are inked with only the cover and back cover having color. This is really not that bad since Rudy's art works better in black and white. The subject matter is mainly fantasy with many drawings of Conan, Red Sonja, Tarzan and a variety of scantily clad women with a bit of nudity here and there, but not much.