Esad Ribic

Esad Ribic is a Croatian comic book artist, nowadays exclusively Marvel (I don't think he's had a run in DC yet).

I first came across his artwork reading Marvel's Secret Wars (2015). I first noticed how handsome, geometric, and modern his characters looked. I thought it could've been Olivier Copiel, another one of my favorites. Then I admired the coloring, almost like water color. Then I finally noticed the way he pencils in short sets of 4-5 lines that look like small claw marks as a way of cross-hatching. It's almost Cezanne-esque, if you want to compare it to painting with the short strokes. But what's even more amazing is how Esad is able to use these strokes to create different values simply by making the space between the strokes wider. With this technique, you can create an endless values easily. The only downside, if you want to call it that, which I don't, is that the artwork becomes more sketch-like, and some might call it "not polished" or "not refined" or "not finished". I actually enjoy being able to see the artist's technique and style, especially in pencil.

The above is the best example of his technique that I was able to find on his website.

#art #comics