Art Spotting in general

[bchat]

Sorry about the headache, bc,
I know what that's like. Don't envy you a bit.

Thanks.  I've had migraine headaches before, so I know how bad the pain could have gotten.  This headache just lasted a lot longer than I'm used to (Thursday night into Friday evening).  I'm not a pill-popper, so I probably let this one go a little too long before taking something.

Lots of people recognize Fletcher Hanks. But how many recognize Frank Thomas - just as stylized and in some of the same books? How about Lew Glanzman?

I agree with bchat that probably most people will be able to learn to recognize their favorite artist if they work at it.

I think everyone can recognize their favorite artist(s), or at least see a similar style and go "I wonder if that's drawn by so-and-so?"   For me, it was George Perez who was the first artist whose work I could recognize without seeing his signature.  From there, I'd see artists with similar styles and began to realize the differences between Perez's work and their's.  Getting to the point where you & others are at, where someone could see a piece of art that's uncredited and begin making educated guesses or accurately identify the artist is the next step, and like I said, the person has to have to motivation to get there.

For me, I don't have the motivation to get to a point where I can see something at random and figure-out who drew it.  By choice, it's unlikely I'll ever consider myself an "art spotter".  Drawing is a hobby of mine, and occasionally I enjoy mimicing the styles of different artists.  Therefore, my motivation in regards to studying artwork isn't to be able to figure-out who drew an uncredited story, it's to be able to copy a style of art.  The possibility that I can identify uncredited artwork is directly tied to which artists I've studied, which by choice is extremely limited, since I have another hobby to which I dedicate more of my free time.  Still, as a result of the time I have spent looking at artwork, occassionally, I'll be flipping through a file I've downloaded from DCM and, before looking at the credits (if there are any), I'll go "Oh look, it's so-and-so."

[narfstar]

I should have known you have to go to the download page before the download

http://goldenagecomics.co.uk/?dlid=22019 should get you to FAF 39 Jim. I was wondering if you so Molno in the non N/A stories like I do. The times when I have gotten Molno right it is always the faces and especially the nose. BTW Jim there is a new comic coming out from Image called Peter Panzerfaust the promo says "The city of Calais is the first city in France to fall to the Germans in the spring of 1940. A mysterious American Boy ralies a handful of plucky French orphans and they work together to survive Europe's darkest hour." Given your interest in France, this may be a new book you might want to give a shot.

[JVJ (RIP)]

Peter Panzerfaust sounds ghastly to me, narf. Peter Pan leading the Lost Boys against Nazis...? Hmm, maybe not. And I meandered away from comics partially due to that quasi-Manga art style. I'm fascinated by the real-world France, not so much by the make-believe way-far-out fantasy comic world.

Fightin' Air Forces #29 certainly highlights the limitations of my art spotting abilities. I know that there's some Molno there, but all the stories are what I call "after my time". I would hesitate to make a pronouncement on any of them. Sorry. I'm useless on these.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[narfstar]

Thanks for looking anyway Jim. I need to get Ramon over at GCD to look he is a big Charlton fan

[josemas]

Not an easy one, narf.

All of these are so cavalierly done - very quick, minimal pencils. For What It's Worth...

Cover: It looks most like Joe Simon pencils to me, but it might be Carl Pfeufer with Simon inks. I really don't know.

Cinderella is Jilted - I'm thinking Giordano is pencilling this, but I'm going by some faint hints of poses as the inker is so bad. I first I thought it might be Colletta, but it's not. Perhaps a hasty Pfeufer ink job? Again, in the end, I just don't know.

Take Me Back - If you made me take a stab I'd say John Prentice pencils and Joe Simon inks. The pay for these stories was historically LOW. After the Atlas implosion, ANY work was better than none and a lot of good artists hacked stuff out as fast as they could, just to make the rent. Simon was the editor here so his hand is everywhere. Prentice was an old friend and would get a preferential place in line. If it's not JP, it's someone swiping him.

Never Leave Me - Ted Galindo (best guess) and Simon inks again.

Lonely Goddess - Mr. Bob Powell pencils and inks.

Mad About Mitch - Carl Pfeufer and Simon (best guess) inks

A perfect example of why the date of the comic is EVERYTHING in art spotting.

Jim, 

I got that Giordano vibe on "Cinderella is Jilted " too.  It reminded me immediately of some Atlas romance stories that I had seen that he had done with Vinnie Colletta.  I don't have a clue as to the inker here though.

On "Take Me Back" I'm guessing that it's not actually John Prentice as he was already three years into doing the Rip Kirby strip.  Given the fact that he occasionally need assistants on that strip I tend to doubt that he'd go looking for low paying comic book work to increase his workload.  For those reasons I'm gonna go with your second guess that it's someone aping Prentice.

"Lonely Goddess"- Not as detailed as Powell's earlier work but not quite as minimalist as his romance work was shortly to become.  He seems to be eliminating more and more backgrounds and details and doing less and less actual penciling (with an increasing amount of the "drawing" actually being done in the inking) as he worked to increase his output to compensate for the lower pay rates.  I'd really like to get together a bunch of his stuff from this period to watch the transition.

My Two Cents

Joe

[JVJ (RIP)]

Never underestimate the power of a buck, Joe,
and don't overestimate the remunerations from a newspaper strip. I am about 50/50 on the Prentice ID. If it's Prentice, it's terrible Prentice, but it's also possible that he could whip this out in a day and earn himself $100 without raising a sweat. Comic book stories can be so much easier that comic strips (no syndicate review, etc.). I remain open to the possibility.

The big lesson on this book is Joe Simon, if anyone even cares about him at this era...

(|:{>

[Ger Apeldoorn]

Re: All For Love V3#3. I had quick look and my vote goes to a complete swipefest.

I hope to be hear more often and contribute, as I have to Atlas Tales and now the GCD.

[narfstar]

Always welcome in each place Ger

[Ger Apeldoorn]

Thanks for Baffling #25! I will enter it into the CGD, where it is the only one missing. And surprise, surprise... isn't that last story by Gene Colan? I am pretty sure, although the style does suggest it may have been drawn about two to three years earlier. There even is a bit of swirling smoke with a hole in it...! All it lacks is a close shot of a door handle!

[JVJ (RIP)]

Thanks for Baffling #25! I will enter it into the CGD, where it is the only one missing. And surprise, surprise... isn't that last story by Gene Colan?

I think Tillmann brought that out pretty clearly, Ger, so it's hardly a "surprise" and pretty definite. T = "Mopping up with a harmless Colan-story."

I am pretty sure, although the style does suggest it may have been drawn about two to three years earlier.

He's got that covered, too. T = "All reprints from earlier ACE horror books."

There even is a bit of swirling smoke with a hole in it...! All it lacks is a close shot of a door handle!

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Ger Apeldoorn]

I am not yet up with what part of the forum to follow, but I am glad I wasn't the only one to see it.

[JVJ (RIP)]

One easy way, Ger, is to set your DCM "home" page to the "View the most recent posts on the forum". You can easily ignore those threads that don't interest you, but you generally keep track of relevant posts.

And I don't think we've ever been formally introduced, so, Hello.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[tilliban]

All credit to identifying Colan belongs to Jim.
I'm just the typist around here.

Great to see the mysterious Mr. Apeldoorn here.
He's probably Europe's best art spotter and does incredible things on his blog:

http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/

[Yoc]

Yes in deed, welcome Ger!

Would you care to chime in on the 'Who is this Mystery Artist #1' and 'Who is this Mystery Artist #2' topics?

[Ger Apeldoorn]

I am completely in the dark of most forties artists, but I'll have a loo. My blog isn't called the fabulous fifties for nothing. And it's great to meet you all too. Jim, I know from his scans and art identification cards, of course.