Wednesday, March 9, 2011

brian lee o'malley.


Brian Lee O'Malley is a Canadian comic book artist, most well know for his Scott Pilgrim series. I think what really works for him is that he has a very simple style that is still very recognizable. O'Malley's line work is able to look both slightly messy, mostly by varying in weight, yet it still translates in a way that is somehow neat and easy to read. He's able to stylize his characters to a slightly a more basic human form, but each character is completely distinguishable from the other and manages to retain an appearance and personality of its own.

When working in color, O'Malley often favors loud, attention grabbing colors. The work he creates in color most often has a bright and poppy feel to it. His coloring methods are often simpler as well, as he tends to stick to flat coloring and occasionally uses techniques that
resemble cut-outs when the line work is taken away.

The style that O'Malley has come to work in translates very well to his comic work, both in black and white as well as in color. Every character is still highly readable on a smaller scale. Even though the pages he creates sometimes have a lot to look at, he's able to keep his scenes from becoming overwhelming through smart use of selective shading and clean-cut line work.

2 comments:

  1. I really enjoy his work. His art style is very appealing, and along with his writing, kept me glued to his comic series until the end.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do admit, I enjoy his art style quite a bit... Though, I think as the series drew on, it became kind of streamlined in a way. I kept confusing a lot of the characters in the last few volumes up with one another.

    ReplyDelete