Artists I Like: Adam Hughes

Okay then, time to do one of those text-based blog posts I promised a couple of days ago. Since I picked up a copy of Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes at the comic book store today, I thought I'd write a little something about one of my favorite artists: Mr. Adam Hughes.
Born in Riverside, New Jersey in 1967, Adam Hughes got started in comics in the late 1980s, drawing a detective comic called Maze Agency, but it didn't take long before he was drawing DC's top super-team book, Justice League America. He also had brief runs of titles like Ghost, Penthouse Comix, Gen13: Ordinary Heroes and the Star Trek: Debt of Honor graphic novel, but his meticulous art style was probably never meant for monthly comics. For the last decade or so, he's been the cover artist for first Wonder Woman (drawing the covers for most issues between #139 and #197), then Catwoman (#45-83).
Hughes' forte is drawing gorgeous women, drawing inspiration from classic good girl artists and painters like Gill Elvgren, Norman Rockwell, Alphonse Mucha and Drew Struzan, as well as his comic book contemporaries such as Dave Stevens, Steve Rude and Jaime Hernandez.
There are many reasons I love his artwork (in addition to the pretty girls, obviously): the graceful and elegant linework, the expressiveness of the characters, his masterful use of color theory and his ability to tell a whole story in a single image.
The book I bought today, Cover Run: The DC Comics Art of Adam Hughes, features almost a hundred of his best covers in an oversized hardcover coffee-table book format. Every cover is accompanied with a "behind the scenes" commentary by Adam and, in most cases, preparatory sketches. The artwork is arranged chronologically, spanning his 20-year career at DC Comics, which means it's also a document of the artist's journey. Along the way, Adam reveals some of the secrets he learned, dropping some helpful art tips for us wannabe artists. Even at $40, this book's totally worth it.
If you want to know more about Adam Hughes, check out his website or his DeviantArt page.

105

Wolverine sketch that isn't quite 100% of what it should be. Looks more like a hiss than a growl, but ehhhhh. Whatever. Good enough.

104

(click to enlarge)

Another quick sketch I drew at work when I had nothing to do. Might explain why he looks so miserable.

So I've been thinking about repurposing this blog a bit. I started this thing as a way to exercise my drawing hand and to advertise my artwork. Now, I'm gonna try updating a little more often, but unfortunately I haven't drawn much lately. So, I figure, I'm going to give it a shot supplementing the occasional sketch or artwork with regular text posts without artwork. Revolutionary, I know.

So there it is. If you have any input, don't be shy, post a comment. Whether you think "this is great news, can't wait to read more" or "just shut the hell up and show us more purty pictures", now's the time to let me know.

103

Okay, so I was out drinking with some friends tonight and I decided to draw something, as an experiment. Trouble is, by the time I got home I was no longer drunk but just slightly buzzed. So this is what I ended up with. It looks sufficiently different from my usual stuff that I thought it was interesting but I don't feel like it's completely successful. I was hoping for spontaneous and inventive but it just feels more sloppy than anything else. Next time I try this, I'm gonna be falling-off-the-chair-drunk. We're talking serious lack of hand-to-eye coordination; that ought to look interesting...

102

I can scarcely believe we live in a world without Dennis Hopper now. Not that he had any deep personal significance to me (though I enjoyed Easy Rider and whatever else I'd seen him in) but it seemed to me like he was some kind of force of nature, like he always existed and always would. People age and die. Brando and Newman are gone; Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine won't live forever, but Dennis Hopper seemed timeless in some way. Rest in peace, mr. Hopper.