Ode to Tim Sale
and His Chiaroscuro Comic Art
The end of 2022, my old buddy Hector Serna hit me to an artist call for a project called FOD Drawing Project, where FOD stands for Faces of Death, and every year a list is compiled of the best and the brightest that have passed away during the past twelve months. After scouring the list I saw a few names that did stand out, but my number one pick was the late comic artist Tim Sale. The object of the project is to whip up a nice black & white drawing of said person, adhering to the specification that this will be screen printed, and then submit it along with a blurb about said person and their relation to you. Here’s how mine turned out:
“Always on the lookout for atypical comic styles, I was drawn to Sale's work when he was working on Spider-man: Blue. With the deep shadows, fine line work, and with every character possessing ubiquitous sullen eyes, it was clear that this guy did not adhere to drawing 'The Marvel Way'. But he did study comic making with some of the greats, including one of my favorites, John Romita, Sr. I've since followed his work, collecting a few of the Batman books he did with Jeff Loeb, and even some one-off art he did for the show 'Heroes'.
His illustration conveys so much emotion without being overwhelming, and the overall look of his work hearkens back to a vintage time that never quite was. He made producing comic pages look easy, just fill it with endless black, right? But no, it's in the subtleties, the nuances on his character's faces that the shadows work in. He knew how lighting worked and that's one of the hardest things to grasp with black and white comics illustration. An extremely talented and original artist, he left us too soon.”- Jarrod Perez
After all the pieces are received, they’re compiled, printed and put on display for an art opening. Although I wasn’t in town to see this Hector stopped by and sent me some vital shots.
The images are then formatted for screen printing on collectable shirts. Here’s how the print job looks.
What a really interesting project. It’s a hell of a way to garner recognition not only to those who have passed, but also those artists and creators here in the present.
And here’s Hector’s piece.
These last few months I’ve been wrapped up with some big projects, one is personal, and the other I’m not ready to disclose just yet. But perhaps I’ll give sneak preview to the paid subscribers only ;). As you read this I’m sealing up the details to get the project rolling, and when it starts it ain’t gonna stop cuz it’s on a tight deadline. More info and picks as we get closer!