Seibertron interviews Livio Ramondelli

[Bidoofdude]

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/).

Those Sharkticons look awesome. I like the look of some of his art.

[Sam]

So he's like the Michael Bay of comics - he can do great promo action shots, but is hard to watch a whole issue in that style.

Okay, I see your point, but the comparison seems a tad harsh. ;p

Overall I like his art, but for comics the storytelling is not great and his colouring does tens to make everything too dark. There are less appealing artists doing TF art, so i like this for being something different.

You've answered a question I had but didn't post - who did his colours? If it's him, then perhaps his own colouring is somewhat ruining his pencils.

That art is really nice Sam, but that highlights what i find as blurry in the Monstrosity series.

what you showed there is really excellent, it feels to me there is a filter that's applied somewhere between the original art and the final coloured inked images that takes out a lot of the sharpness and adds almost a grainy scratched texture. so much of the initial detail is lost.

I too think that perhaps whoever did the inks has kinda taken away from his pencils rather than lifting them out.

I recall a brief conversation with Goktimus Prime some years ago on a similar topic. I told him that I didn't like Andrew Wildman's rendition of robots having spittle when they spoke. Goktimus told me that Wildman didn't add the spittle in, it was the inker who did that.

Later on I had the chance to check out some of Wildman's pencils on the internet, and he was right - Wildman's lines are quite clean and tidy.

This makes me think that perhaps if only IDW used an inker that had better complemented Ramondelli's lineart, we'd enjoy his art in the comics a lot more.

I have often found that when a penciller and inker who has worked together for a number of years continue to work on titles together, the art really shines because they have learned how to complement each other's strengths. A couple of examples I can think of are Ed McGuinness / Dexter Vines, and Jim Lee / Scott Williams.

Those Sharkticons look awesome. I like the look of some of his art.

Yeah, there is a certain "industrial-ness" to the way he makes the metal look that gives it a nice sense of realism.

[DELTAprime]

You've answered a question I had but didn't post - who did his colours? If it's him, then perhaps his own colouring is somewhat ruining his pencils.

He did briefly say in the podcast that he does his own lighting and colours. Also he says he does his comic work digitally, I don't know if thats common or if it contributes to the problem.