Dan Panosia is the Anti-Liefeld of Bizarro Liefeld. Liefeld began his career with a decent, but very catchy art that became worse over time as he became lazier. Panosian began as a Liefeld copycat, and one that was awful. Panosian’s early art was not mediocre, but bad. Over time, Panosian improved his art and now is excellent. That’s great and admirable. Panosian IS a true artist.
I remember Panosian’s early stuff being so bad, he really went somewhere though and I think he’s one of the best artists in comics these days. Weirdly it makes me appreciate his early stuff a bit more since I gives a frame of reference for just how good that guy got!
I always say, Dan Panosian is like Travis Charest, in terms of how their art evolved and improved over the course of their careers. When artists say "draw from life" this is why. Dan never would've gotten this good if he had stuck to only referencing other comics. Congrats Robert on being acknowledged by Dan.
I knew his name from the 90s when he was an inker. I may be wrong about that; his last name is unique. If I am right, then I've woken up several years ago to see he's become a master cartoonist with a painter's mind. In the 90s, I read, the only difference between comic books and the old masters is the number of images and how they relate.
I see his comic book influences fully on display. I see John Buscema, Ron Frenz, Frank Miller, Klaus Jansen, Bruce Timm, Tim Sale and Wally Wood to boot. Agreed, one million percent. What an AMAZING transformative UPGRADE 😮!!!
There’s a David Finch video in which he explains how to take inspiration from other artists without swiping—this whole book is a good example of it. Lots of the art in that book benefits from photo reference, usually considered “cheating,” yet Panosian shows there’s a lot to learn by choosing how to render it. Lots of Sean Gordon Murphy-style marks; sometime you should take a look at an SGM book. The Hulk smashing, Mary Jane, and Spider-Man are all homages; the last one is McFarlane. There is plenty of Will Eisner, Drucker, Miller, Neal Adams, Sienkiewicz, Sale, Buscema and so on. It also reads as if Dan is deprogramming from the Extreme influence, which is kind of fascinating.
Panosian has an amazing art trajectory! So inspirational. If I'm not mistaken, he's also his own colorist. Showing his learned proficiency with digital techniques. I feel more artists are going this way.🤘❤