Monday, July 12, 2010

Rob Liefeld's Alex Ross Art Critique

Rob Liefeld critiques Alex Ross's Genesis artwork on his Twitter account.  There's just something deliciously ironic about Liefeld giving critique about another artist's work, especially one as critically acclaimed as Ross's.

In Pullquotes, we present a quote and related imagery, to provide a source of discussion and/or thought among our readers. Feel free to comment on the above image.


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26 comments:

Maxy Barnard said...

I'm with Rob here. That Alex Ross piece is just all over the fucking place. But then Alex Ross is probably one of the worst creators out there.

Yeah, yeah, irony or whatnot, but I actually LIKE a lot of Rob Liefeld's art. Alex Ross has about one thing I've liked, and that's how he drew his father in Kingdom Come (which itself is crappy).

.... Wait, I'm slowly becoming the opposite of the typical internet opinion... help me.

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth I agree with him 100%. I feel like my eyes have been raped with lasers.

Klep said...

Much as I hate to agree with Rob Liefeld on matters of art, I have no idea what's going on in that image. Between the bleeding colors and the reflections, everything just washes together and makes it very hard to pull specific details out.

Brandon Whaley said...

As a fan of (most of) Liefield's art, I love this. I'm not a fan of Ross in general, but this piece makes me want to vomit in technicolor. There isn't a single level on which this piece works. I'll probably check Genesis out, but it'll be for the Busiek story while tolerating the Ross art I'm sure.

Kirk Warren said...

The colours are what really turn me off of the Genesis piece and I think they are what make Liefeld's point about the lack of focus. It's just too hard to pick anything out with the colours chosen. I can't focus on anything as it all bleeds together. It reminds me of an exaggeration of the use of yellow ROss had on an older JSA cover.

Ivan said...

I love Alex Ross, and I think Liefeld had way more success than he deserved as an artist, BUT I do agree with him there.

Matt Duarte said...

I think this art piece would probably work as a huge mural that you could absorb in pieces. As a comic book cover that is only going to be some inches big, though, it's a lot to take in and it just becomes technicolor noise.

Anonymous said...

The irony is in the fact that the cluttered piece of crap by Ross is exactly like the crap Liefield use to bang out in the '90s and led to me to give on comics for 10 years.

Ivan said...

Hey guys, completely off-topic, but I just heard Harvey Pekar died. You guys plan on doing a feature on him?

Anonymous said...

Ross Rules. Liefield blows.

Anonymous said...

I have no clue what's going on in that image?

Jason D. Manger said...

I'm with Liefeld here. I'm a 90s guy and actually do enjoy some of his work and I enjoy Ross' work from time to time. But every piece he puts out isn't the "be all end all of comic art".

Kirk Warren said...

@Ivan - I considered writing something, but every single comic related site has pretty much covered it and said their piece on him. I'm not sure I can say anything more about the man that hasn't been said already. I also have very little experience with his work outside the movie, so would have little new insights and no personal history to draw on for a memorial piece.

The Dangster said...

I think the comment really is about the layout and not the actual design of the characters and I'm glad people recognize it.

If it was about Liefeld critiquing the designs, then it'd be a different story.

Markus said...

Rob may not be a better artist than Alex... But has a point!

Drew said...

I love Alex Ross when he's doing good work. This isn't one of his good works. Every artist has stuff that just isn't good. This is one of those.

Maxy Barnard said...

anonymous is so classy. glad to have THAT back.

And I'm admittedly curious as to what stuff Alex Ross has done is good, and why. because I just don't get it. this seems typically his stuff in that it's extensively photo-referenced, over-painted, all over the place and generally unappealing. seriously, what's his appeal?

Ivan said...

You can dislike his art and that's your prerogative. But you can't deny that Ross is an excellent artist from the technical standpoint, and some (or lots of) people happen to appreciate that. Honestly, I don't know what's so shocking about enjoying Ross' work.

Ivan said...

Also, it's sort of funny how you weight in on Ross' photoreferencing but claim to enjoy the work of a notorious tracer.

Maxy Barnard said...

@ivan thank you for completely not answering my question. what technical standpoint? what am i missing? as far as I can see he's just a dude who reaches too far whilst creating the same overly painted models he uses in all his work, and I just don't get where people are coming from. I just want an explanation of what people get from it or something. so ya know, what's his appeal?

And I think there's a crucial difference between someone tracing other people's work and keeping it looking like a comic (or referencing even, though) and outright just overly photoreferencing. I mean i'm not calling Ross greg land by any means, because that would be a massive insult to the guy, but the ridiculous and copious use of models kinda makes for what essentially feels like a photobook to me, one that's been painted over gaudily

Wez said...

I have no idea what I am looking at.

Ivan said...

"what technical standpoint? what am i missing?"

Just the fact that he's a GOOD ARTIST.
You may not like his art, it might not do anything to you, but you can't argue with the fact that the man delivers exactly what he proposes: photo-realistic paintings of superheroes. That's his appeal. It appeals a lot to me, in small doses. And it seems to appeal to a lot of people as well. It doesn't appeal to you, and that's fine, Max. But it's not DEVOID of appeal, which is what you seem to claim.

The Gaf said...

I actually really enjoy this. Yes there's no singular focus. But try to focus your eye on each character, one at a one. It works when you try that. And I love that about it. If you love Kirby, it forces you to explore and find each character rather than saying, oh heres Darkseid, and then ignoring the rest.

Plus Liefeld is an embarassment as an artist, while Ross (HOW CAN THERE BE DEBATE ON THIS??) is an absolute legend/genius.

He's entitled to explore a bit.

The Gaf said...

PS- I said Darkseid, b/c I dont know jack about the Topps stuff. Where can one find that?

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