Tuesday, January 8, 2013

2011 Brightest Day JLA color art by Ramon Villalobos

Click To Enlarge


"Okay so here is the Grant Morrison era JLA but drawn as they appear today. Why this? Because. I inked this digitally in sketchbook pro so some of the hatching is inconsistent and the lines aren't very smooth at points... but then they aren't in stuff I do by hand either so... its no big loss. I wanted this to be graphic and crazy looking so I did a lot of color holds and didn't render certain parts but I hope it doesn't look unfinished because... that could very well be the case. Anyways, let me know what you think. Thanks."
Ramon Villalobos' first Manhunter drawing posted to his deviantART account may have been of Paul Kirk, but he got around to the Martian model soon enough, and included him in some fanfic DC2 stuff. The quality spiked when he chose to forgo the DC Trinity for the Minor 4, but nothing Alien Atlas related matches the quantum leap demonstrated above. It's neat seeing the Morrison Magnificent Seven represented in a very temporary transitional state, not unlike how the actual JLA book soon hosted Superman Blue, Hippolyta, and Dark Flash, plus in retrospect the quite dated crab mask Green Lantern and harpoon hand Aquaman. That said, this lot just looks off, thanks especially to Batman's boring Incorporated costume, the tacky spectacle of "The Odyssey" Wonder Woman, Kyle Rayner's ongoing Jordan cosplay, and Wally West's lack of a nose. With the exceptions of Aquaman and (to a lesser degree) Martian Manhunter, the DC Universe was really barreling headfirst in the wrong direction immediately before Flashpoint, so I'm relieved it wasn't immortalized with a line-up like this. I still enjoy the piece though, and appreciate J'Onn J'Onzz's uncommon central location in the image, with the artist's style best suited for the Martian Marvel of all featured characters.

Ramon Villalobos

2 comments:

mathematicscore said...

Actually, the Wondy costume is the only one I'm not into. Kyles isn't his best, but Wally and BAtman Inc are both pretty cool.

The Martian centerpiece is boss as hell.

will_in_chicago said...

I like J'Onn in the center but a lot of the characters do look a bit off.