twiststreet:Tim Sale has passed away.  I thought his work / career was just interesting.&n

twiststreet:

Tim Sale has passed away.  

I thought his work / career was just interesting. A lot of the times, the artists who got “popular” with traditional comic book fans (at least during the timespan that Sale was an in demand artist)– they do so through an intensity of detail, or technique; fans often decry the “cartoony.”  But there was Sale and the most traditional of traditional DC fans– they lovedhim!  I think Sale just got big through an intensity of feeling and mood– you reallyknew what you were supposed to be feeling when you looked at a Tim Sale page, I think, in a way that even those fans had to give it up for.  He was the part of the creative team supplying the real content of those books, far, far moreso than the writing.   

His pages, at least by mainstream standards, were so uncluttered.  I don’t know if zen’s the right word, but the way he’d just so consciously be thinking about shapes on a page– where does a heavy patch of black go, where does empty space go– his pages just feel good to look at.  He was one of those artists very much playing with aesthetics, fan favorite characters, etc.– I don’t know I ever dug deep enough to get a sense of who he was, as a guy, if that was there– but as one of those guys doing “this is what I love about ____” style of art, I think you really got that with him in this way that was … just very unpretentious, very direct, bigger than life, bold and confident, but without being exhausting, or as dull or tasteless as is usually the case– at least in his drawings, I think there was a tastefulness there.  I don’t know if I’m saying any of this right, but… I just thought it was an interesting a guy with those particular virtues could break through with fans the way he did.  

I hope he enjoyed his time, and of course, condolences to those grieving, loved ones, etc.