Seibertron interviews Livio Ramondelli

[Sky Shadow]

Is it just me on this forum who thinks this, or are there others?

His work is always too muddy and dark, and whenever I buy an issue with him on art I always go to read it then my eyes go aarrggh and I put it back at the bottom of my pile for later. What they should do is get him to pencil his own work - like the Rodimus in the interview - and then put someone else on colouring, preferably Josh Burcham. Ramondelli has great potential as an artist, but his biggest problem seems to be that he doesn't know what's good for comics, and apparently his editors don't either.

[Mythirax]

His work is always too muddy and dark, and whenever I buy an issue with him on art I always go to read it then my eyes go aarrggh and I put it back at the bottom of my pile for later. What they should do is get him to pencil his own work - like the Rodimus in the interview - and then put someone else on colouring, preferably Josh Burcham. Ramondelli has great potential as an artist, but his biggest problem seems to be that he doesn't know what's good for comics, and apparently his editors don't either.

Every page of his to me feels like the "Raisins Face". So I just can't take any of it serious. Thankfully the words keep me going. As someone said to me, "This New Age look, where everything has to be done with a brush pen, just look stupid for transformers". Guess I should just be thankful Andrew Griffiths work keeps me happy.

[DELTAprime]

On the new Seibertron podcast they have an informal hang out with Livio. What I took from it is:

He claims he does some writing on Chris Metzen's work.

He thinks G1 animation has the same grit he uses in his artwork. (WTF)

The guys that work at Seibertron really like his artwork. (I guess I was right, some people do like him)

[Mythirax]

He thinks G1 animation has the same grit he uses in his artwork. (WTF)

Hahahahahahah, Ahahahahahahaha, hahahahahahahaahah. Yeah Ok

The guys that work at Seibertron really like his artwork. (I guess I was right, some people do like him)

I noticed in the comments on him everyone was batsheet crazy about liking him. Who knows, guess some people like his "G1 Grit"

[DELTAprime]

I noticed in the comments on him everyone was batsheet crazy about liking him. Who knows, guess some people like his "G1 Grit"

Maybe it's a cultural thing? Australians don't like it, Americans do??

[UltraMarginal]

I don't mind it in the right situation. it works well for the dead universe visuals but I feel it's too gritty and too much to have as a continuous style. It worked well for the Junk Planet panels in Monstrosity.

I can see why people have an issue with it. I tend to not like "messy" art in my comics, I much prefer clean lines and well defined edges. A lot of his work looks like it would be great before the "grit" filter is applied.

[Mythirax]

A lot of his work looks like it would be great before the "grit" filter is applied.

I still find his general character stances/looks and all, still just don't fit well. Everyone has a weird skewed/stretched/unproportional look. I'm exactly the same as you though, I prefer clean lines and well defined edges as well. Especially for Transformers. I find his work is maybe to Horror like?

[Gouki]

His art is great. It's perfectly fine for the series and has brilliant atmosphere, if a little murky in some panels. His line work is fantastic. Strong figures, great detail. I'm not sure I really get the 'messy' criticism. It's always seem very clean to me. I'd certainly rather have on a book than, say, Wildman.

I'd love to see someone else colour his work, just to see how it looks, not because I think he's bad at it (I haven't actually read the interview yet, so I just assume he colours his own work), just because I think then it would really pop.

I really disagree with him about it being just like the G1 cartoon though. That makes no sense to me.

[Sam]

I think his style is not for everyone.

I do not like his art in the IDW TF comics, but Ramondelli demonstrates a strong understanding of the relationship between lighting and shading, backed by traditional core skills such as the use of pencil to denote texture, as well as the ability to compose images that draw the eyes to desired "reads".

If you check out his pencil drawings, hopefully you will see what I mean:

Sharkticons: http://livioramondelli.deviantart.co...cons-137824775


Galvatron: http://livioramondelli.deviantart.co...tron-123720279


Omega Supreme: http://livioramondelli.deviantart.co...reme-148406049


Devastator vs Dinobots: http://livioramondelli.deviantart.co...bots-121601861
coloured version: http://livioramondelli.deviantart.co...olor-122339865


For some reason, I feel the quality of his style is lost when placed in the TF comics. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I believe it's definitely not due to his skills as an artist.

That said, although I admire his skills and enjoy his artwork, my favourite artist when it comes to Transformers still has to be Don Figueroa (http://donfig.deviantart.com/gallery/).