Artist Appreciation: Russell Dauterman
Hey guys from Planet-M, this week I’ve decided to do something I haven’t done in a while, an artist’s appreciation and since Thor Ragnarok hits the theatres this Tuesday in the UK I’ve decided to do an artist appreciation on the very man drawing The Mighty Thor right now at Marvel, Russell Dauterman.
Dauterman’s is an illustrator and character designer with his previous artwork being a few short issues of DC’s Nightwing, Marvel’s Cyclops, BOOM! Studio’s Supurbia and illustration work on The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo and Captain America: The First Avenger, but he would gain more popularity with his current artistic run of The Mighty Thor with writer Jason Aaron, which was later nominated for Best Continuing Series at the 2017 Eisner awards.
Dauterman’s artwork embraces vibrancy in not only movement, but in colour as well, this is shown most in his depiction of fight scenes, especially when it is characters that attacks involve bright colours such as the lasers in Cyclops and the Lightning in Thor, the way he draws energy in general is artistically amazing as it creates this illusion of fast paced movement as its flowing like river.
Not only is his use of colour impressive, but also his work in the aesthetic design of the characters as he has redesigned and created the looks for most characters that take place within The Mighty Thor, giving them more colourful attire that embraces the magical and cosmic aspect that has always been a part of Thor, even when the characters have quantities of black in their colour scheme it comes off as a way to amplify the movement and the brighter colours. His style also allows for more expression as many characters that he draws are never blank in expression, they are always showing some form of emotion, even in fast paced movement.
All and all I think Russell Dauterman is one of the best talents working in comics today and I hope he will be producing more beautiful artwork for more titles in the industry. Sorry for the lateness of this week’s blog and I hope you all have found it interesting and please take the time to read the Mighty Thor as it one of the best books Marvel is printing right now along with anything else Dauterman has drawn, Thank You for Reading.
