On Comicsalliance.com you can find the full story http://comicsalliance.com/russ-heaths-comic-about-being-ripped-off-by-roy-lichtenstein-will-give-you-a-new-appreciation-for-the-hero-initiative/?trackback=fbshare_top_flat_4 but the introduction goes:
"With
six decades of work under his belt, Russ Heath is arguably one of the
most important creators in comics. It was his art that was, to put it
charitably, “adapted” by Roy Lichtenstein for the pop art pieces that
made him famous. Of course, as is unfortunately so often the case for
hard-working creators in comics, while Lichtenstein made millions
lightboxing panels Heath had drawn in the pages of DC’s romance and war
comics, Heath himself never saw a dime, despite continuing a career that
saw him become one of the most respected elder statesmen of the
industry.
Now,
at the age of 84, Heath has written and drawn a short comic (with
colors and lettering by Darwyn Cooke) about his experience not only with
Lichtenstein, but with the Hero Initiative and how they’ve helped his
life as well."
The question to ask is whether this is just someone bitter at his lot in life or whether you really believe that he was ripped off? If the latter, then I hate to tell you that some of the biggest names in comics have been ripping people off since the 1930s.
"Swipe files"
Photographs of aircraft, ships, people in costume, flowers, buildings, animals -all taken by photographers or even sketched or painted by other artists outside of comics. Movie stills. Images from TV shows. All stored in boxes or drawers by comic artists.
Comic
artists call this "swiping". Most artists have reference photos, etc., in their swipe files
that they can use. After all, someone writes "She looks like a young Lucille Ball" or "dead ringer for John Belushi" then you need a reference to base that character on. In UK comics radio, TV, music hall and movie celebrities were featured heavily -and LOTS of photographs were used.
Now that is work that someone else -uncredited- did. According to Joe Kubert ( "Montclair Man's Life as Colorful as the Comics He Draws". Chuck O'Donnell, The Montclair Times ,22nd December, 2011(Montclair, New Jersey).)
" ...He (Heath) could illustrate mechanical things like rifles and
tanks in a realistic way that few other artists could. He would build
models of the things he would draw prior to drawing them and his stuff
would come out right on the button. Other artists used to keep what they
called a swipe file – pictures of things they may have to draw someday
that they could use for reference. Russ' work was so good, other artists
used it as reference."
Now, according to Wikipedia: "Various Heath drawings of fighter jets, in DC Comics' All-American Men of War were the basis for pop artist Roy Lichtenstein's oil paintings, notably Blam"
It was seen as "Pop Art"
Surely the time to complain would have been when the painting was unveiled? You see, much as I think it is VERY over-rated, Lichtenstein used the Heath art as the "basis" for his oil painting. It was a swipe reference.
Look at how comic creators -especially independent ones- use famous comedians or actors in their strips -Kevin O'Neill used such references to utter boredom in the later volumes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. So when everyone rushes around shaking their fists and shouting "First Ditko and now THIS!!" they are talking out of their asses. Ditko....let's not go there.
The Indie comic book boys who scream and shout because of a "hard luck story" -invented or not -in 60 years was Heath never paid for his work? And remember comics were seen as throw-away entertainment. He created great work and got paid. Someone was inspired to do a painting or two based on a war comic. That person, Lichtenstein, moved in the seedy art world where comics are looked down on as toilet paper.
But whatever the inspiration, Lichtenstein did the oil painting.
In an issue of Alter Ego there is a feature on Wally Wood and
it is stated that an "English guy" who worked in the studio left "lots"
of British war comics when he left and Wood, uh, "borrowed" from these
regularly.
So should Russ Heath be so bitter?
Hey look -a page from a British war comic.....or is it?
Swiping...touchy subject with many. With The Cosmis Oddity graphic series I use copious amounts of photographs because it's all based on my life, I use a mirror and sometimes take more pictures of myself to use as the narration parts demand, is this wrong? In a word no I don't think so. With the digital age swiping has taken on new heights or lows depending on your outlook. There is one Glaswegian artist that has risen to incredible acclaim for his fantastic painted art...it should be noted that it's all painted over generic cgi stuff like Poser. It's an emotive subject and one that will rage on forever as new 'swiping' techniques are discovered and abused.
ReplyDeleteJust as we, as a species, cannot divorce ourselves from the novel architectural structures that are derived from our commonly held cultural capital, so, you cannot expect an artist to be totally disaffected by the image resources that are available, as all our work is invariably derived/swiped from something. " T'was ever thus, from childhood's hour ", and such is the fate of linear beings as ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree its not as black and white as it first appears - I do think however that Heath could be forgiven for not being "chuffed" its not like it was someone copying his style like a lot of artist did of Neal Adams works for example, they created a final piece of art (a comic) based on Adamss style (with the odd panel directly copied) whereas Lichtenstein's entire piece of art in this case ws lifter directly from 2 panels of Heaths art but painted in his own style (then again as you note did Heath copy his panels from pics or other artists work) Difficult one to call for me in this case Lichtenstein sailed very close to the wind and i can see why Heath was "annoyed" but I woild say its ok (his famous Romance paining is imho a swipe though)
ReplyDeleteCreig Land experiences similar accusations that he swipes from photos, whilst he denies this (strangely!) I think his biggest issue is the inconsistency between the same characters appearance in different panels (based on what picture he used). I used to do a bit of art when I worked in advertising and I admit it I swiped at times as did a lot of folk I worked with (I just did it bit more often as I wasnt as good as them)
I think every artist has a swipe file but me! My problem is that I had boxes full of the stuff but during The Purge of 2004 I burnt it all. My books have animal references, I have local references as well as many books with uniform and weapons references so I do not need the swipe files any more. Taking photographs of yourself for a fantastic work like Cosmic Oddity I think is a must and it works. There was a UK comic documentary (1995?) in which Liam Sharp was using tracing -oops. OVERLAY paper- at the light box. He suggested that it was a good idea for budding artists to start out tracing. I say NOTHING. For instance, John Romita Snr told how he started by tracing over the figure of Superman as a kid that he could eventually draw the figure with his eyes closed. That's a kid learning. I was giving this all a lot of thought over night and I could understand if a Heath actual panel was lifted and used (in comics and illustration we tend to do this with an image but add "After ----artist")but a panel was used as the BASIS. Now, "After Russ Heath" would have been nice but the Arty crowd DO NOT do that -Lichtenstein "took a childish comic strip and MADE it art!" But what it tells me is that Lichtenstein obviously read comics for Heath art to catch his eye and then used it to become the "Iconic Pop Artist" that he did. Why? Because an artist would be inspired but maybe build on it and not make it look so identifiable. It shows an artist that wanted a bit of fame but had no imagination or ideas of his own. And I have not looked into Lichtenstein's work because it never impressed me and it was just ripping off comics which the arty set applauded. Leaves me cold. Seriously, if Heath had a panel of art ripped off and it was provable -sue. I guess his family will wait til he's dead and then launch their legal case. You can debate this stuff all day long but it comes down to the fact that artists, particularly good old school comic artists got and get ripped off daily and always end up poor!
ReplyDelete