Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Gnome Press Original Art

This cover art from THE SURVIVORS by Tom Godwin is credited by experts as Wood and certainly has a number of Wood traits. Absolutely nothing here, beautiful as it is, screams definitely to me that it's Wood, however. The ship, the stars, the rocks, the people...all not quite what I expect from Wood. What are your thoughts?

6 comments:

  1. I think it's very nice, and certainly influenced by Wood, but no individual part of it is actually handled the way Wood would have.

    Glen

    ReplyDelete
  2. Parts of it look like Wood to me. In the late 1950s Wood was experimenting with b&w illustration quite a bit in GALAXY MAGAZINE, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was indeed a Wally Wood piece. It is not the kind of inking approach that he used at EC, and it isn't the sort of thing he did later in the '60s era, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this isn't his work. Unfortunately there's just not a whole lot to go on here. The rocketship has some Woody traits to it, but that's no proof. The star patterns seeem like something Wood might have done, but again there's nothing to validate that it is or isn't Wood's work. Even the people here offer no useful help, because there's not a lot to go on. The only conclusion that can be reached is that it looks Wood-esque. If it wasn't Wood, it was someone who was inspired and influenced by Wood's art. Either way, it's a very nice illustration. Wish the artist would have or been permitted to sign the artwork.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "I'm pretty sure this is pure Wood. It's drawn on fairly finely stippled Coquille board. There is nothing about this job that is not Wood, to me. Most convincing to me are the brush strokes on the rocket ship and the use of white paint."

    Alan Kupperberg

    ReplyDelete
  4. I was going to say that this totally looks like Wood to me. Every bit of technique you can see in other examples. The ship, the figures, and the stars fall within Wood territory for me, not to mention the lighting. Good call on the Coquille board. It certainly looks like it from here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've seen that before. It's the back cover to EC Fan-Addict FANZINE (July '04,) a fanzine by the Great EC Fan, Roger Hill.

    ReplyDelete
  6. it is, without any doubt, pure Wood!
    Wood illustration techniques -- not comics.
    Only odd thing is the elongation of the figures to give them a futuristic look like other sci-fi illustrators of the time.
    The layout was among Woody's files and appears in Vanguard's WALLY WOOD SKETCHBOOK

    ReplyDelete