Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Michael Turner

Michael Turner was a comic book artist best known for his artwork being used mostly for cover art for various comic book companies, including work for DC on their 'Superman/Batman' comic series, Image Comics with their Witchblade series, and even some cover art for Marvel Comics.  His personal claim to fame came with him creating Aspen MLT, an entertainment company that has published 'Soulfire' and 'Fathom,' where the above image is taken from.

I actually came across Michael's work several years ago, finding one of his illustrations of his character Aspen - the main character in the Fathom comics - but was unable to find more of his artwork until a few months ago.  I always felt he had great detail with his line work, having a steady hand to create such a subtle change between thin and think lines on the piece.  His style reminds me of Adam Warren and how he handles his lineart, though Michael uses the negative space to create the illustration while Adam seems to play around with the negative space.

Unfortunately, Michael passed away mid-2008 after a fight with bone cancer.  His main projects continue to be published though, with his name being listed in the title of each work as his original creation.  A tribute page was created for him which contains original artwork done by him as well as some unpublished sketches.  The webpage can be found here: http://michaelturnershrine.com/

2 comments:

  1. I think I first saw his work when someone tossed the first few volumes of Witchblade my way. Horrible, horrible writing combined with some very good art.

    I honestly had no idea he did black & white line art - most of the images that pop into my head in association with Turner's name are lusciously colored in a manner so popular in comics in the wake of computer-aided-art.
    I honestly like this piece of line art a hell of a lot more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG those back muscles!!!
    and her left calf looks a little too large.. ahhh im really having trouble figuring out if the anatomy's accurate.. posing figures without a model is really tough.
    (if any of you illustrators have not taken a figure drawing/anatomical modeling class yet, please do! it helps a lot!)

    ReplyDelete