The next level

[Mighty Hal]

Is there a way for an established but never-quite-been-hot artist to step up to the next level?

 

On the never-quite-been-hot scale, I'm thinking of somebody like Randy Green (who played in the big leagues with Witchblade, New X-Men, Tomb Raider and the like) -- or Aaron Lopresti (with New X-Men, Planet Hulk, Red Sonja, Ms Marvel) -- or Joyce Chin (Red Sonja, Vampirella, Tomb Raider).

 

These are all artists that I've liked but, individually, none of them have garnered enough collector interest to even merit a Wikipedia entry. With a minimum of effort, you'll find OA cover art from any one of the three for under $400. Can they ever get hot?

[Nexus]

On their own, their art is as good as it's going to get, I would guess. If they were to reach the "next" level in terms of popularity, it would have to take a nice, long stint on a "hot" book. Something like ASM or X-MEN (or whatever mainstream book is hot these days). It would help to be paired up with a good writer. I don't know these names too well, but what I've seen of Lopresti's work, I am somewhat surprised he isn't more popular than he is. He draws sexy chicks, which would seem to be one pre-requisite for being a popular modern artist.

[Jesusjon]

If you like them, and their OA is nice and affordable, pray they never get hot.

 

On topic: I would imagine it has to do a lot with professional networking and work ethic to some extent. I haven't followed any of the guys you listed, and I'm not a comics insider, but if I were an editor I would ask myself if they're the sorts of guys who turn work in on time, take tough "time crunch" assignments, etc. Some artists inevitably work really hard to make it to the next level, and some have it thrust upon them (and whether they can respond at that level or not will cement their place in history or relegate them to one hit wonders) because their art looks flashy or like someone else who's already hot.

 

Off topic: One of my major pet peeves in the OA world is when an artist who is a total newbie OR "middle tier" start charging out the wazoo for their art as soon as they're on a top book. Clearly, they think they've reached the "next level" and have taken their pricing with them. So as Felix states, being on a highly visible book is one way to do it but no guarantee. Guess this is fine for them if they can actually sell the art, but when it just sits there, it's frustrating. But hey, it's their art and if they don't want to sell it for less than X it's their business.

[Mighty Hal]

Lopresti has recently signed an exclusive contract with DC...which almost seems to be a touch of death for an artist's popularity. And I'm a little vague as to why DC locked onto him in the first place: I like his work, I think his stuff can be great (his Red Sonja rocks) but he doesn't seem "exclusive-worthy", so to speak.

 

But the DC touch won't push him to the next level. When the Kuberts went exclusive to DC, their popularity seemed to wane. When Rags Morales went exclusive...well, he seemed to disappear.