Dustin Nguyen uses a combination of traditional and digital techniques in his work, most commonly airbrush, brush and ink, and in this particular case watercolors.
He employs a list of artistic methods and elements into what many would consider the childrens market of superhero comic books and manages to produce work that is both rich in detail and color, the use of watercolors for the stained glass window design work perfectly and he lets the watercolor do its own thing in the stone wall detail but still manages to control the medium and produce a tight piece with a wealth of detail and style. His style lends itself to the series that he pencils and he brings a dark and somber image of gotham and batman, the main series he works for, all the while maintaining some playfulness to his work proving that he is capable of being a diverse artist.
While his cover art is fairly straight forward in terms of layout and presentation, his pencils inside the book draw heavily from film noir and set a dark and mysterious tone, some of it probably having to do with the subject matter. It would be great to let him step out from behind the bat and explore other subjects to see what hes truly capable of.
Then again, he seems pretty capable of handling colorful images even with batman
I think this artist is incredibly interesting and versatile! I am glad you posted two images, because the first shows he is capable of handling realistic shading and rendering, while the second looks totally abstract and deco. His composition is quite good, and I like the watercolor look of his coloring.
ReplyDeleteI like the cubist style and coloring of this. I really like bright colors. Show me shiny objects! LOL
ReplyDeleteThe stain glass aspects are amazing! I am glad you told me about Batman being in the 2nd one because i would not have seen it on my own, i think. But a colorful bright batman is an interesting take.
ReplyDeleteThe soft glow in the stain glass seems to be an excellent exploitation of the properties of watercolor. I love how the figure has lots of whitish highlights that don't look unbearably shiny, like a lot of the digital work out there.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is amazing cover art. I haven't read this box but I hope that the cubist style ties into the the story or interior drawings, but if it doesn't this is still amazing. The water color, airy feel of both of the piece is really nice. And I love the use of line, especially in the second piece that alows the figure and the text to blend in and at the same time really accent the illustration. I think I really caputures Batman who always has a sort of illusory characteristic.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of this arts before but the art work really stands out. The water color batgirl with great detail on her costume, cap, and the mantel she crouched on.
ReplyDeleteStarted reading Detective Comics when they did the Heart of Hush story. I was really into his artwork, so I went back and picked up the other issues he did the art for.
ReplyDeleteHis watercolor stuff is really something else.