wrayzor.com

Let’s Talk Artists #1: Leinil Francis Yu

Dec 22, 2008 Let's Talk Artists

I am a huge fan of comic book art!   There’s just something special about someone taking what they can see in their head and letting their pencil interpret that. The interpretation is the key. If you ask any professional comic book artist, or anyone at all really, to draw Spider-man and give them no other direction, they will hand you their specific vision of the character. That is what is so amazing! There are so many artists out there producing mind bending work that I want to spotlight them whenever I can.

Today I have chosen to focus on Leinil Francis Yu. Artist on such books as Superman: Birthright, Wolverine, X-Men, Ultimate Hulk vs. Wolverine, New Avengers and the recent smash, Secret Invasion.

What I have found myself doing over the years is developing an interest in a certain artist and then hitting the comic shops and online resources to find as much of their past and present creations as I can. As many comic fans know, artists rarely “pop” overnight so there are usually older gems that can be dug out of the quarter bins with a little effort. Not only that, but with the internet rising as it has been (it’s gonna stick around, kids. Tell your grandparents) you can find creations by your favourite artist(s) that you won’t find anywhere else by simply “treasure hunting” using a search engine as your map.  Google quite literally ”marks the spot”.  This is how you will find rare images of original commissions or comic con sketches that would normally have only been seen by the lucky recipient or anyone they happened to invite over for dinner.

Please continue on for more about Leinil and to see some videos of Leinil at work:

I would say that I first got into Leinil’s work around the time of Superman: Birthright. This was the re-imagining of the Superman origin written by Mark Waid. The art throughout this 12 issue maxi-series is stellar and you can see Leinil really getting a grasp of the characters by the middle of the story. It was after this that I went specifically looking for Leinil art.

The timeline escapes me right now, but I believe I picked up High Roads in TPB form next. It was a book published by Cliffhanger that included a war hero, a kamikaze pilot and a Hitler look-a-like. It sounds like a crazy combination, but the story itself was and is very entertaining. Regarding the art, there is a scene when the America war hero is hanging off a building that has to be seen to believed in terms of the detail that was included by the artist. Next came Silent Dragon. Again I picked up the collected edition and definitely enjoyed the art as it fused Asian themes with mecha and tech influences as dictated by the story. I never really got into the story, but was able to look at the pretty pictures. There are some very intricate looking vehicles throughout the pages.

When Leinil was working on his X-Men and Wolverine runs, I was not picking up those books on a consistent basis so I only had a handful of each title I had picked up here and there along the way with his art gracing the interiors. I remain hopeful that Marvel will eventually collect some of these issues, if not all, into “Visionaries” trade paperbacks or something in a similar vein.

Lenil enjoyed a successful run on New Avengers which saw him drawing one of Marvel’s premiere books that included MANY high profile characters like Spider-man,  Iron Man and Wolverine.  He teamed with Brian Michael Bendis on that book which served Leinil very well as Bendis then chose him specifically to provide art on the Secret Invasion mini-series that was set to rock the Marvel Universe.  Which it did thanks in part to the solid pencils within it’s intriguing covers.

Some time ago, I started looking online for any hidden gems of Leinil’s work and was handsomely rewarded. Leinil has a DeviantArt page.  Thank goodness, Leinil Yu has a DeviantArt page!!! For those who don’t know, www.deviantart.com  is a site that allows users to upload their art and engage in the community that dwells there. Do yourself a favour and check out the Leinil section. Make sure you have some time to kill though; you won’t be leaving too soon… 

Click to See Leinil Yu - DeviantArt

Another very good resource for searching out comic art online is Comic Art Community (www.comicartcommunity.com/gallery/). While it is tougher to find the more rare pieces or art, it is a great database that can be searched by character or artist.

Click to See Leinil Yu - Comic Art Community 

Of course, with the smash success of Secret Invasion this year, people are recognizing Leinil’s distinctive line work more and more. Similar to the way Steve McNiven exploded after Civil War not that long ago, it would be fair to say that Leinil has detonated in a similar fashion. It is very near the point where I would pick up nearly any book that has Leinil’s dynamic pencils inside. Leinil on Wolverine? Add it to my pull list. Leinil on Cloak and Dagger? Add it. Leinil on Care Bears: We Care A Lot? Yup, I’ll take that too. Man, now I REALLY want to see Leinil’s rendition of Share Bear…

I have added some images throughout this entry, but I do encourage you to seek out favourites of your own and post links to them in the Comments section. I am ALWAYS looking for a new wallpaper. 

Plus, I have added a couple of videos below showing Leinil in action.  The first video is nearly 10 minutes, but it is worth it to see the paper come to life as he draws the Hulk.  The 2nd video is a quick taste of Leinil getting to draw Iron Man on the wall!

 

Leinil Hulks Out!

 

Leinil (and Simone Bianchi) are ALLOWED to draw on the wall!

Tags: leinil, leinil francis yu, leinil yu, new avengers, secret invasion, superman, wolverine, x-men, xmen