User blog:Temporaryeditor78/comic artists dramatis personae: evolution to foundation

well, it's probably fair game to critique all ME comics released so far based on their visual merit. everything's been said and whined about the stories, Mass Effect: Foundation is complete, and as of this writing only the omnibus collection is on scheduled release.

been planning for a long time to make this, but more important things just kept getting in the way. the day i release this is the day i finally felt like, "fuck it. artists: the good, the bad, the ugly - now or never." i'm not counting interactives like genesis and genesis 2.

michael atiyeh

 * colorist: everything

first off, let's begin with the dark horse guy who got coloring credit for all comics to date (incidentally, also because he's first in an alpha order list).

for the most part, he knows how to work with differing styles, keeping schemes consistent across the works. his flattest works tend to be those with tony parker below, though when he does go vibrant even shoddy lineart turns passable.

his professional accounts and other works can be easily googled.

garry brown

 * page art: Mass Effect: Homeworlds 3, Mass Effect: Foundation 7
 * page & cover: Mass Effect: He Who Laughs Best

specializes in rough, heavy, sketchy lineart. which, unfortunately, turns most of his characters into borderline stick figures even when in focus. tends to be better in moody environmental shots.

apparently, he can also do good stuff - only if the work's a relative one-off, like that locutus piece he did (google it) or the cover for Mass Effect: He Who Laughs Best. i'd think he gets sloppy when burdened with multipage commissions.

massimo carnevale

 * cover art: Mass Effect: Evolution (main), Mass Effect: Invasion (main)

guy who did the regular covers for invasion and evolution. i'm getting a retroish vibe on his work, in keeping with the prequel settings, though i would argue it's more justified in evolution's case given it's set decades earlier. stylized photorealism, i'd say it works.

more examples of his art can also be googled easily.

benjamin carré

 * all Mass Effect: Foundation covers

disappointment would be an understatement when you see this guy's cover work then compare it to most foundation pages. maybe bioware didn't have enough money to commission him beyond covers, maybe none of them had the will to commit further, etc.

apparently maintains an account at deviantart here, and has enough non-mass effect art on google results.

matthew clark

 * pencils: Mass Effect: Foundation 5, Mass Effect: Foundation 6
 * collaborations: drew geraci - inks: Mass Effect: Foundation 5, sean parsons - inks: Mass Effect: Foundation 6

personally, clark and company's run is the highlight of the foundation series. few derpfaces, superb synergy with mr. atiyeh's coloring, acceptable levels of detail degradation on far shots, it's a wonder why they only had these two issues to work with. nothing unique with the style, but i'd say it's more close in line with what i expected in comic art.

this unupdated site here is apparently clark's. this twitter, however, is certainly his.

jean diaz

 * all art in Mass Effect: Inquisition

makes identifiable faces, but sometimes flounders on posture.

apparently operates a personal site here.

omar francia

 * page art: Mass Effect: Redemption, Mass Effect: Evolution, Mass Effect: Invasion, Mass Effect: Homeworlds 4, Mass Effect: Foundation 1
 * page & cover: Mass Effect: Blasto: Eternity is Forever
 * collaborations: manuel silva - page art: Mass Effect: Evolution (co-credit)

the guy who worked on the first incarnation of the franchise in comics, redemption. then a couple other projects.

he sucks at making asari, and it shows in redemption. vastly improved in invasion. other races he can depict reasonably well ever since.

he's also responsible for the first visual depiction of a female turian.

has a deviantart, an all-but-abandoned blogspot, and a twitter.

eduardo francisco

 * page art: Mass Effect: Homeworlds 1, Mass Effect: Incursion, Mass Effect: Conviction (page & cover)

thin lines and flimsy detailing when it comes to far faces. and he does tend to draw them from a distance. on the rare occasion he does mugshots, the results are passably recognizable. even then, he doesn't make them huge unlike other artists.

his most polished work is incursion. the lineart inking in his homeworlds issue actually feels skipped compared to earlier efforts. he does draw a lean aria though.

deviantart here, twitter here. if google is to be believed, despite the prevalence of meatheads on his ME run he does have a vested interest in drawing the female form.

mike hawthorne

 * cover art: Mass Effect: Homeworlds (alt)

he makes one good panorama. just click the homeworlds link. personally felt off-put by liara's face though.

maintains a personal site and links to other social media accounts here.

ben huen
no idea what his comic piece looks like, but he did contribute a bunch of concept art for the games. see them here. they're good enough for the artbooks shipped with the games.
 * cover art: Mass Effect: Invasion (NY comic con exclusive cover art)

daryl mandryk

 * cover art: Mass Effect: Redemption

it's the job of the cover artist to hook potential buyers with impressive visuals, interior content be damned. omar francia's first effort in the franchise is redemption, and it shows. meanwhile, mandryk's covers are good enough by themselves... except for that FIVE-fingered Tazzik. go look at the redemption page.

maintains a personal site and a wordpress.

anthony palumbo

 * cover art: Mass Effect: Homeworlds (main)

par for the course, excellent main covers that give no indication of the actual artstyles in the comics.

i was wondering why his style looks familiar, turns out he seems to have made some stuff for magic: the gathering. granted he illustrated cards well beyond the time i stopped playing, but still. unmistakeable 80s-90s fantasy vibe in his homeworlds work.

doesn't seem to be an online sort of guy, nor his works widely circulated. seemingly abandoned portfolio site.

tony parker
page art: Mass Effect: Foundation 2, Mass Effect: Foundation 3, Mass Effect: Foundation 4, Mass Effect: Foundation 8, Mass Effect: Foundation 9, Mass Effect: Foundation 10, Mass Effect: Foundation 11, Mass Effect: Foundation 12, Mass Effect: Foundation 13

ah yes, this guy. definitely a contributing factor to foundation's generally crappy feel, mac's writing notwithstanding.

sameface, check. most of the time paired with derpface.

not to be confused with the spurs point guard. the art guy apparently has a site here.

joe quinones

 * cover art: Mass Effect: Evolution (alt)

has more of a conventional look to his art than mr. carnevale. of particular note is that T&A posing on eva core.

as with other cover artists, his works are easily found on the web.

paul renaud

 * cover art: Mass Effect: Invasion (alt, anniv special)

if you have vertically-oriented screens his invasion works are very wallpaperable. small wonder google results on him are epic pin-ups.

chris staggs

 * page art: Mass Effect: Homeworlds 2

distinctively lanky people and turians with undefinable faces. he even manages to make volus look slim.

i'm... not actually sure if http://www.staggsart.com/ is his, apparently he's not much of an internet person as well. outside homeworlds, the guy seems to have penciled some jobs over at marvel.

everyone in common
even the crappiest page artist among them can make beautiful environment shots, that much is certain. goes with having handy 3d references, i guess.