Sampere: Digital and Pencil side by side 1 1

[babsrocks31]

   I recently purchased a monoprint page from Justice League Dark by Daniel Sampere, as well as a pencil and ink sketch of Zatanna, who is also featured in the page.

 

Obviously, one is book quality and one is a head sketch, but what struck me about them is that the only thing that really stood out to me as different between the two mediums, is the bottle of booze on the shelf in the monoprint. That bottle looks amazing, but almost too good in a way. It certainly seems like it would be a lot harder to replicate the realistic Ajmer and glare on that bottle in pencil.

 

  This got me thinking background detail might be a reason many artists are going digital. I'm not advocating either way, just pointing out what I noticed as a hobbyist in this case. 

[New School Fool]

Background detail may be a reason... or the fact that creating digitally is faster than traditional methods. I hear a lot of artists say that they can actually hit deadlines when they go digital.

[Rick2you2]

On 1/5/2022 at 3:07 PM, Shin-Kaiser said:

Background detail may be a reason... or the fact that creating digitally is faster than traditional methods. I hear a lot of artists say that they can actually hit deadlines when they go digital.

And I have spoken to one old timer, in particular, who says he is just as fast, or faster, going traditional. I suspect that most of the difference has to do with experience and the learning curve as well as the nature of the work. Repetitive should be easier going digital. Creative uses of panel design would tip me to traditional (different artist conversation).

[Hockeyflow33]

This type of art turns me off books and has really led me away from a lot of modern books. The overly-digital art lacks soul.

I'm sure it's much faster for artists but the transition away from pencil/ink has not been good. If you look at Juan Ferreyra's original art he has this beautiful use of watercolor and shading with his originals and then whatever process they use to color his pages absolutely ruins the feel of his art. 

[New School Fool]

On 1/6/2022 at 12:05 AM, Rick2you2 said:

And I have spoken to one old timer, in particular, who says he is just as fast, or faster, going traditional. I suspect that most of the difference has to do with experience and the learning curve as well as the nature of the work. Repetitive should be easier going digital. Creative uses of panel design would tip me to traditional (different artist conversation).

There's always exceptions to the rule, but in this case I feel your 'old timer' probably isn't adept at using a keyboard/mouse/stylus pen over a pencil marker. Obviously - as you mentioned,  they've had far more experience using traditional methods so that way will always be faster for them...as for creative use of panel design.. I don't think there should be a digital/traditional divide for this. Surely that depends on the artist?

 

On 1/11/2022 at 5:56 PM, Hockeyflow33 said:

This type of art turns me off books and has really led me away from a lot of modern books. The overly-digital art lacks soul.

I'm sure it's much faster for artists but the transition away from pencil/ink has not been good. If you look at Juan Ferreyra's original art he has this beautiful use of watercolor and shading with his originals and then whatever process they use to color his pages absolutely ruins the feel of his art. 

Once again, I feel this depends on the artist. I do agree there are some artists whose digital work pales in comparison to what a traditional artist can produce, I've never cared for Russell Dauterman's work which I find too plain and as you say, lacking in soul.

Then there's a few artists who use both mediums, digital and traditional and I struggle to decipher which is which (Pepe Larraz, Werther dell'Edera).

And then there Jorge Jimenez, who works 100% digital as far as I can tell. In my opinion his work easily rivals the popular traditional artists of today....I'd be hard-pressed to call it soulless.

Edited January 12, 2022 by Shin-Kaiser
addition of Russell Dauterman

[aqn83]

On 1/12/2022 at 4:36 AM, Shin-Kaiser said:

There's always exceptions to the rule, but in this case I feel your 'old timer' probably isn't adept at using a keyboard/mouse/stylus pen over a pencil marker. Obviously - as you mentioned,  they've had far more experience using traditional methods so that way will always be faster for them...as for creative use of panel design.. I don't think there should be a digital/traditional divide for this. Surely that depends on the artist?

 

Once again, I feel this depends on the artist. I do agree there are some artists whose digital work pales in comparison to what a traditional artist can produce, I've never cared for Russell Dauterman's work which I find too plain and as you say, lacking in soul.

Then there's a few artists who use both mediums, digital and traditional and I struggle to decipher which is which (Pepe Larraz, Werther dell'Edera).

And then there Jorge Jimenez, who works 100% digital as far as I can tell. In my opinion his work easily rivals the popular traditional artists of today....I'd be hard-pressed to call it soulless.

I think it all really comes down to style.

Jorge's style is fast, fluid, dynamic. Despite it being digital, you can sense how his art flows.

Bermejo's digital work is absolute insane, and it's truly hard to tell if his work is digital or traditional. Also, according to various interviews, he works largely on ONE layer, using that digital layer much like a traditional layer. That's insane to me.

Sampere's art above just doesn't have style. It feels flat and souless.

[Rick2you2]

On 1/12/2022 at 10:09 AM, aqn83 said:

I think it all really comes down to style.

Jorge's style is fast, fluid, dynamic. Despite it being digital, you can sense how his art flows.

Bermejo's digital work is absolute insane, and it's truly hard to tell if his work is digital or traditional. Also, according to various interviews, he works largely on ONE layer, using that digital layer much like a traditional layer. That's insane to me.

Sampere's art above just doesn't have style. It feels flat and souless.

Usually, Sampere’s work is more stylish, but it is, as with most artists, dependent on the subject matter. That looks like a dull discussion, making it hard to do much. But, no effort was made to give it a little style with, say different sized or shaped borders to emphasize the presumably more important dialog from other dialog.  

[Will_K]

I had a few thoughts on this piece but I'm not sure if OP posted because he wanted us to critique Sampere's style/methods or OP's taste.

I think a medium and tools are only as good as the artist (and their experience) using it. 

[babsrocks31]

On 1/12/2022 at 3:20 PM, Will_K said:

I had a few thoughts on this piece but I'm not sure if OP posted because he wanted us to critique Sampere's style/methods or OP's taste.

I think a medium and tools are only as good as the artist (and their experience) using it. 

I don't mind the critiques. 

 

Hey everyone, OP here. The page is laid out in quite a banal style. I find it works well in the context of the issue, but I knew full well it was pretty run of the mill when I bought it. I enjoy the panel with Zatanna's face/closeup on the bottom middle, which is why I bought it. I think he did a wonderful job depicting her emotion there, but I know it is the only real highlight on display here.

It was very affordable ($50 If I remember), and I have many other more "interesting" pages from the series... so, I welcome your critiques and don't worry... I enjoy the piece "for what it is" and I know full well "what it is" too haha.