By Filip Sablik, Publisher of Top Cow Productions, Inc.

I’ve been a fan of art for most my life and a fan of comic art for a good part of that. I’ve taken art and art history courses and earned a degree in Illustration. I’m a big fan of fine artists, such as Degas, Sergeant, Mucha, Klimt, Van Gogh and many more. I’ve chased down comics solely because they contained art by Pérez, Mignola, Miller, Tomine, Lee, Burns, and many more. I’m not telling you all of this to brag or put myself in any kind of position of authority when it comes to art. I’m laying this down to be up front and give you an idea of where I’m coming from and what my tastes are, which are fairly varied.

I want to address a couple of things in relation to art this time around. The first is on the general topic of art and the second is on another one of those pesky preconceptions about Top Cow. I figured I was on a good tear here and here, so why not keep the ball rolling?

My first thought is that past a certain technical level, there is no “good art” or “bad art.” What I mean by that is this – there are a number of fundamental technical skills one can learn when training as an artist – things like human anatomy, perspective, composition, color theory, and so on.  Like other technical skills, they can be taught like programming a computer, playing a sport, or repairing a combustible engine. The learning and application of these skills will come easier for some people than it will for others, but I believe anyone can learn over time how to draw a proportional and accurate human figure. Artists, in my mind, are people who not only can learn and acquire these technical skills easier than the average person, but also have some innate talent to interpret these skills toward their own unique vision. That’s the difference between someone who can play a composition by Mozart on the piano and well, Mozart.

As artists, we never stop refining and improving those technical skills. It could certainly be argued that no artist, or a handful of artists, have ever been “perfect draftsmen.” Nonetheless, once an artist gets to a competent, professional level, they begin interpreting those skills through their singular vision. If you look at Picasso’s development, you can see he was an accomplished observational artist before abstracting his paintings to explore a particular vision. Similarly, you can look at early Kirby work and see he’s perfectly capable of executing realistic drawings, but chose to explore certain abstractions as a stylistic decision.

This is where the idea of Art being subjective rather than objective comes in. You can critique a piece objectively on its technical merits.  Once you get into talking about stylistic choices, however, you are commenting more on your personal preferences than the artist’s skill. At that point you are talking about what you like and don’t like on an aesthetic level. The art isn’t “good” or “bad,” it’s just appealing or unappealing for you individually.

My vain hope is that, at some point, internet comments will consist of more than “this guy sucks” or “he can’t draw.” Or that the comic reviewing community as a whole will work continue to elevate their critique of books with an eye towards the technical versus the aesthetic. Of course, a wide overhaul like this is probably less likely than Fox News being “fair and balanced.”

My second thought, which is a bit more personal, is trying to overcome the preconception of Top Cow having a “house style.” This is something which pops up from time to time as a largely dismissive comment when I read reviews, articles, and listen to podcasts. If I can take this one step further and put on my interpretive cap, I suspect what “they” are saying is, “all Top Cow artists draw like Marc Silvestri.”

Which simply is not true.

What is true is that Top Cow has a long and rich history of artistic diversity. Let’s start with the current face of Top Cow—the creators I’m most familiar with. Stjepan Sejic (Witchblade) is a traditionally trained digital painter, who I might add pumps out the industry’s only fully painted monthly comic and is currently tackling a second series in The Angelus. Kenneth Rocafort (Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer) is utterly unique in the way he renders, composes pages, and tells stories. Michael Broussard (The Darkness) is arguably the closest in style to Silvestri, but astute observers can also pick up that Mignola heavily influences him. Matt Timson (Impaler), another digital painter, comes from an illustration background with a dark, moody style unique even compared to Sejic. Jeremy Haun (Berserker) came up from indy comics and worked for virtually every publisher in the industry. Nelson Blake II (Pilot Season: Murderer, Magdalena) has an open, clean style influenced more by his time working with Adam Hughes and Brian Stelfreeze at Gaijin Studios than Silvestri. Jorge Lucas (The Darkness, Sunset) brings chiaroscuro realism to his work. And that’s just the surface of the types of artists Top Cow currently works with.

So let’s go back further into Top Cow history and look at some more artists who’ve graced the pages of our comics. How about Gary Frank? Or Brent Anderson? What about Tony Harris or JG Jones? Or Michael Zulli? Dale Keown or Kyle Hotz? Or the multi-talented Phil Hester? All of these artists are different from each other, talented, and successful in their own style. I even left out the much larger list of the varied artists who have contributed covers.

Even the fine artists trained in the Top Cow studio are unique and varied. Consider pencilers like Michael Turner, David Finch, Joe Benitez, Clayton Crain, Brandon Peterson, Francis Manapul and Mike Choi, to name a few. Inkers like Matt Banning, Joe Weems, Jason Gorder, and Jay Leisten. Colorists like Brian Haberlin, Richard Isanove, Steve Firchow, Peter Steigerwald and Sonia Oback. These alumni do have something in common however—they are some of the most in-demand talents in the comic industry.

Did some of these artists begin their careers with a heavy Silvestri influence? Certainly.  Most young artists show their influences in their work heavily before finding their own voice. Travis Charest started out drawing like Jim Lee. Ryan Sook began with a heavy Mignola influence. John Romita Jr. began his career drawing similarly to John Buscema and his own father. But all of these artists grew into their own visions, as have Top Cow studio alums. I would argue David Finch has little in common with Mike Choi stylistically, or Joe Benitez with Brandon Peterson.

One thing I will definitively state is that there is no mandated “house style” at Top Cow. No one, not myself, nor Matt Hawkins, not even Marc himself, is asking anyone to draw a certain way or “to be more like Marc.” We do our best to help artists become better versions of themselves by focusing on technical advice rather than stylistic advice.

Well, wait. I take that back, we do ask artists to draw a particular way: the best they can.

If you want to see one artist’s progression (Mike Choi) early in his career, you can get 2 free trade paperbacks from instocktrades.com right now. All you have to do is make one additional purchase from Instock Trades, which doesn’t even have to be a Top Cow book, and Witchblade Volume 10 and Witchblade Volume 11 are absolutely free. If you spend $50 or more, your shipping will be free. Check them out, they’re free so what do you have to lose?

Next up: Comics versus Trades – A Reversal of Thinking.

Take care,

Filip Sablik

Publisher Guy

Filip Sablik is the Publisher of Top Cow Productions, Inc. He’s been in the business for nine years and is in his thirties. Occasionally, he does a bit of writing and drawing. He loves comics. Top Cow Productions, Inc. was founded by Marc Silvestri, co-founder of Image Comics. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and two licensed) in the industry’s Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 9th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under News & Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.