In keeping with the “grim and gritty” theme we established yesterday with my naming of Francesco Mattina as one of my favorite comic book cover artists, today we pay tribute to the prolific and uber-talented Tim Bradstreet.
Though he’s been working in the industry since the early 90′s, I first took notice of Mr. Bradstreet’s work when I first got back into comics in the mid-2000′s.
The comic responsible for getting me back into the mix, was of course Garth Ennis’ work on the Max version of the Punisher.
Despite all the laser sights, my money's on The Punisher in this one...
Bradstreet was responsible for designing the covers for every cover in the Punisher series, up until Ennis left the book, which of course was right around the time I stopped reading it.
Tim Bradstreet’s work is, much like Francesco Mattina’s, of the photorealistic variety.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a gold-toothed Michael Clark Duncan with my baby. Just sayin'...
In fact, though I can’t speak to Mr. Mattina’s artistic process, I know for a fact that Mr. Bradstreet makes extensive use of models and live-photo references of his own design.
Including our boy Thomas Jane!
Through tracing these photos, and then shading, stylizing them, and placing the figures in front of some of the dingiest, grimiest locales known to man, Bradstreet is able to create some truly provocative imagery.
So... They really picked Keanu Reeves to play this guy?
Bradstreet’s work has a very distinct and consistent style to it that deals with composition in a way that’s much closer to photography than traditional pen and paper artistry.
That’s not to say Tim Bradstreet isn’t a true artistic talent, he is; it’s just that his work seems to stem from someone with more of an eye for photography than anything else.
I like this. No funny caption this time, sorry.
Unlike some of the more graphic design oriented cover artists in the comic industry, Bradstreet’s covers rarely ever contain any sort of dynamic colors or vector art.
More often than not, Bradstreet’s covers consist of little more than a topical image of the principle characters of the book, and amazingly enough, that’s usually enough to impress.
An example of a cover that totally bypasses any background elements in favor of placing all attention of the central figure.
Despite this, from time to time he puts out “louder” and more design heavy covers:
That's pretty fuckin' slick if I do say so myself.
Perhaps the most common, and striking, element of Tim Bradstreet’s covers is his propensity for obscuring his figures in shadow.
It’s a cliched technique, but in the case of most of the books that Bradstreet works on, namely some of the more pulpy books like The Punisher and Hellblazer, it works all too well.
BAD. ASS.
Anyway, that’s enough cock-sucking for one evening.
I’ve got overtime to look forward to tomorrow, so sorry for the decidedly lax post.
See yah’ tomorrow!
Filed under: Comics, Movies, Barracuda, comic books, Comics, Constantine, DC, Francesco Mattina, Garth Ennis, graphic novel, Hellblazer, John, Keanu Reeves, live action, Luke Cage, Marvel, Max, Michael Clarke Duncan, movie, Noir, photography, Punisher, Thomas Jane, Tim Bradstreet, Vertigo
Sweet, nice to hear that the damn thing works! It’s hard to trust the PR spin found on gaming network sites, but I’ll trust good ol’ Trevor any day of the week. Guess you’ll have to review Kinect eventually too — looking forward to hearing whatever conclusions you draw.
Sadly, I don’t really know anyone that has any sort of interest in the Kinect… I do like how the advance reviews say that women can’t wear skirts while playing the Kinect. That’s just plain silly. The Coup done yet?
Dammit I’m such a internetz noob! Commenting on the dang wrong blog post… jesus…
The Coup is still in progress, but has been sent off for Sundance. It’s quite close to done though… really dang close.
Your scene-within-a-scene is real short (about 6 seconds, so we’ll have the full blown encounter on the DVD for sure), but a winner. You had Austin in stitches.
I can guarantee you that should you continue to be up for it, this ain’t gonna be your last hurrah for Sean Parker Films. Looking forward to future collaborations. Hey, maybe a martial arts flick!
Glad to have been of assistance. My offer still stands, I’ll help as long as you’ll let me! Just so you know, I’m working sending you some of my retarded old movies as thanks for letting me take a look at your gore-fest. Good luck at Sundance!
Thanks — can’t wait to see what other kinds of demented concoctions you whipped up in your youth.
You can find colorists here but artists like Bradstreet are one in a million. You’re right for gushing on about him. He’s incredible. http://comicartcommissions.com/
Hope that helps. – Terry
If you’re looking for a colorist, I can help.