First Look Images IDW Limted Covers By Alex Milne

ugly. what is the appeal to this limited run anyway? Throwing money away?

I agree and speaking as an artist myself, these have no heart put into them. Draw cause you love it not cause it pays.

I agree with you both. Mediocre covers. The popularity of Geoff Senior's work demonstrates you don't need heart--or even talent--for these to sell, however.

Is Megatron standing over a dead Galvatron?
And I agree with everyone else. What's the appeal here?

WOW. That's quite the assumption there, sir.

I think this is just you not liking something or just not finding these particular works interesting on a personal level, and not about whether or not Alex is putting "heart" into these.
I color comics because I love it AND because it pays. Same could be said for Alex, same could be said for anyone; and in some cases we'll do it for even do it for WAY less pay or even for free, despite bills or rent or whatever.

Also, I find the "Draw cause you love it, not cause it pays" phrase to be a "trap". It's almost like saying "if you admit to getting paid to do something you love, then you're just in it for the pay." Or pretty much hinting that if you want to make money doing something you're particularly skilled at(that you have a huge passion for), that you're only in it for the money, and not because you just want to find a way to merge doing something you love with being able to pay bills/not be homeless.

Really? I love Geoff Senior's work and I definitely think it has heart AND talent. But that's just me, I guess.

I've warmed up to Alex Milne a lot recently due to MTMTE, but these aren't doing anything for me. Nothing wrong with them, just, not my thing.

I'm sure in the bright and fluffy world of imagination land this rings true, but in real life where the economy is hard and there's bills to pay, that's a recipe for failure. These days any gig that pays is worth doing.

Idealy one would draw because it both pays and brings them joy.

No kidding.

In addition to what I wrote, this. This right here.

xD

Josh is winning this thread.

Or rather, I should say both Joshes are - one via words, one via relevant images.

I don't see what's wrong with that art. Looks fine to me. Is the final product going to be in color, or was the pencil/inked look deliberate?

(Also co-signing to the "Geoff Senior art is awesome" club. Only stuff of his I've found mediocre is the movie comic he did, and that's probably in part because his style isn't very well suited to those designs. There aren't many artists who work on TF books who CAN do those designs justice; Alex Milne and Andrew Griffith are among the few.)

Right-click-save.

its "pencil/ink" lookin' because our artists are taking time to hand draw one-of-a-kind commission quality "sketches" for the books

the product might not appeal to some people, but to those that it does its a pretty special and unique offering

I see what they are trying to do, and it's not good enough. They need some of the most epic imagery TF fans have ever seen, not a sketch.

Those are sweet. Always love seeing Megatron wielding a mace. It's even better when he has two!

*reads the rest of the comments*

Whom is Megatron standing over? Some generic or anyone specific?
The art looks ok, Milne is good but I don't have any need to own this.
There better not be any extra fiction that is unavailible elsewhere in these books or I'll sob.

Get back to your mansion, moneybags! That foie gras and lobster ain't gonna eat itself!



I think what stands out most to me with these two pieces is the posing. Both are using stances and poses that, although not exactly new, are poses that are not normally seen or associated with the characters (even though they manage to fit their characterizations). Also, I'm not sure, but it looks like maybe their posing could have been based on action-figure articulation, rather than a human model. Even if this is the case, it might not be intentional, but if it is, it's an interesting way of achieving a pose that not only harkens back to the "toy" roots of the characters, but ends up giving an emotive, but "not quite human" sense of motion.

Looks like a Galvatrony head to me. Maybe Megs wanted his flail?

^ That might be it. Would make sense I guess, since Megatron has 2 flails in the pic - his own and Galvatrons then possibly.

I dont want to start a flame war or a thrash debate but, there are people like myself that absolutely go bonkers over uncolored art. I personally love artwork when its still raw and unfinished. Sketch lines, mistakes corrected with white out, non photo blue and green lead outlines. Its sexy looking and really tells a story about where the artist was going and about how much detail is lost or enhanced by the inker and colorist. I really dont like these though. Theyre stodgy and boring. I really find it appaling how he can draw Prime and what appears to be Megatron / Overlord standing over Bludgeon / Galvatron but cant get a faction symbol on either. Really? Thats a bit crap really.

[/QUOTE]

That awkward moment when Transformers turns into an episode of DBZ!

Personally I think its Bludgeon. I seriously doubt Galvatron is that small comparatively speaking. I also dont think thats Megs the more Im looking at it. I keep seeing a very miniscule and retarded version of Overlord.

@ this thread of comedy gold

I really like the Megs cover :cool

It's gladiator/early war Megatron.

I don't think there *is* a head.

Hm, good call.

I love his art work!

Whats all this hate?! He's amazing!!!

I think they're ok covers. Not super omg wow, but unlike some other people in this thread, I'm perfectly fine with that. They're decent.

The 'either draw with your heart or don't draw at all' is bullshit. It's a job, just like any. There's good days, there's bad days. There's cool jobs, there's sucky jobs. We still have to pay our rent and stuff, guys.

Replace 'drawing for IDW' with 'working at Walmart' and suddenly having a bad day becomes much more acceptable. Wtf.

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes I really hate being associated with some of the general Transformers community.

Limited doesn't always mean the best.

I think they're cool!
I think Prime's proportions are a little jarring at first, but his arms have that G1 original toy feel, and I like his head. His legs are pretty standard "Figureoa" legs, but its always a good choice, Milne pulls it off.
I like the Megatron too. I'm always excited to see him with his Mace(s).
Not too bad. Should look cool when colored.

OK, I think the title here is a bit misleading. These aren't COVERS of the book. These are one-of-a-kind original pieces of artwork that are coming with your IDW limited book. It's not a mass-produced thing. Each sketch is hand-drawn and you own the original, not a copy.

I'm assuming you were thinking this was the cover when you posted this. If you expect to get an original piece of artwork depicting "the most epic imagery TF fans have ever seen" you're talking about spending a lot more than these IDW Limited collections cost, and that's just on the art alone. You're talking about topping a thousand rather than a few hundred.

And if you don't like the artwork, fine. But it's still something the artist put time and effort into creating.

Thanks for clarifying that, Caliber. You are correct, these are pieces of original art that will be contained in an artist's portfolio accompanying the book. I think the official IDW Limited cover for this book has been posted here as well somewhere.

You're not alone, I'm sure.

Thanks for clarifying. I thought those black-white images are going to be cover art, too...

The 'sad face' Autobot symbols on Prime are terrible. We know what the symbol should look like, don't interpret it for us.

Yeah, wasn't it a black&white version of the Megatron cover of the hardcover TF collections?

I think these images look just fine. I reckon you'd be hard-pressed to argue that a guy like Milne phones it in when you look at his MTMTE work. I for on love raw, unfinished (line-) artwork a LOT.

The reality of paid work is oftentimes horrendous deadlines, other paid commissions that eat up time, and like someone else said with reference to Wal-mart: everyone has an off-day every once in a while.

If you don't like it then don't buy it, it's a simple as that!

Yep. It's going to end up being a silver on white image of Megatron.

I really like your art, Paul. Cool stuff!

Thanks! Much appreciated my friend!