Excuse me. I'm just a writer. Yeah, I can draw. Pretty well, actually. But not for a graphic novel. My artistic abilities, however not comic bookey they are, give me a great idea I do know what I want in an artist (which makes it easier to write).

For all of those graphic novelists/comic book writers who aren't drawing their own graphic novel/comic book: who is your dream artist?

Mine is M.K. Perker
He's got that classic comic goodness but there is still something a little avant garde to the comic world that I love. No Dick Tracy-esqu colors or anything. He is currently illustrating for AIR. A new comic book series written by G. Willow Wilson.

I would most likely have to say my friend Josh. We just recently found out that we'd worked on a show together before (we didn't go to the same school and its been almost 5 years).
I don't know if his drawing skills go towards the realm of graphic novel-dom, but he can draw much better than I can and I plan on asking him if he'd be willing to draw the pictures for the script I plan on writing.

I would so hire Colleen Doran. Her "A Distant Soil" is epic, but this is more of a manga style adventure and she can do that beautifully. I would have said Clamp but I think they only draw their own stuff. Colleen masters every art style. And she has two very good book on the subject, Girl to Grrl Manga and Manga Pro Superstar Workshop. When she turned her own very stylized art from ADS and showed what it would look like if done manga-style, it blew my mind. So much so that I bought one of the original pages from her :-)

Anyway, she's my illustrator. In my dreams. If I could afford her. Yes.

Mine was Michael Turner; he died last year, though, so that's not going to happen. :( I suppose if I had to choose a creative team aside from him, though, I'd want his team from Top Cow.

Franco Urru or Georges Jeanty for their work on Angel: After the Fall and Buffy Season Eight, respectively. For my book, Franco's style is probably more appropriate, but Jeanty... mmmm, tasty pictures! :D

Brian Lee O'Malley, if he wasn't busy working on his own stuff.

I draw my own comics... but if I could work with ANYONE in the world it would probably be Moebius.

can I have Sam Kieth from around the time he was doing The Maxx??

we get who we ask for, right??

Darick Robertson would be my dream artist. His work on transmet and the boys was awesome.

Not to sound like scene jerk, but I would totally choose Gerard Way. And not because he's in My Chemical Romance and "so totally awesome!" but because I genuinely like his style. He's got a weird way of sketching and his use of colors are refreshing different, at least to me.

But I would probably do most of the art myself (save for the backgrounds...I hate backgrounds...). I don't know if I would really trust my story in another person's hands. Plus I don't think I could convey my ideas to another person well enough.

Tim Sale, hands down. While all I've seen are his Isaac Mendez paintings and the rare graphic novel, his style is really clear cut and yet has a lot of shade to it.

If I could choose anyone, It'd probably be Jen Wan, I love her stuff and the stills that she does for Shojo Beat are Great. (The fact she was involved with NaNoWriMo is probably the only reason I'm here) But I would probably die of excitement if Dean McKean decided to work on my stuff (float to heaven and then fall to hell and all.)I'd die. I really would.

I'd like Tim Sale as well. The man could do the epic scale of what I want quite as well.

I know it's not necessarily a popular choice, but the work that David Lloyd did for Alan Moore's "V For Vendetta" would be a perfect match for the graphic novel I'm writing. His dense, atmospheric take on dystopia and war-torn cities would do some serious justice to my piece.

To be honest I know my dream artist in real life. A friend of mine named Steve... well more accuratlly a friend of my hubby. He has the most fab art for a comic book I've ever seen. He should be working in the industry but we live in Indiana and he is in the situation where he needs "a real job" and doesn't think he could actually do it. But it would be awesome to have him do the art. Other then that I love a lot of the art work in the new X-men and Avengers sereies. So that would be awesome. Also love the art in the Runaways. And the art from Fray. So anything like that would be awesome.

:D

I'm sure that if I thought long and hard about it I'd have numerous dream artists who I'd wish could draw my comic, but I'm fortunate in that the perfect person for the job is my friend Judy, who is a fantastic artist in need of a fun comic project, which I'm of course more than happy to provide.

Give me time though and I'll think of someone I'd never be able to find in a million years. Doesn't hurt to dream...

George Perez, hands down. I've been a fan of his since his work on the Korvac Saga in The Avengers, and he's one of those rare artists who continues to improve with each passing year.

He's my Art Hero.

I think that David Llyod would work wonderfully with what I'm writing. :3 His style fits the whole dystopic mood I'm shooting for, and I would give anything to have him illustrate it. My style is far too generic and bright for this project.

Hrm!

Jeez.. I'm not sure. One part of me wants that clean, great style like Jim Lee is pulling off.
But the rest of me says 'Dave McKean' . His work on "Arkham Asylum: a Serious House on Serious Earth" was drool worthy.
Not to mention the complete kick-assery that every project he's with Neil Gaiman on turns out to be gorgeous.

Also though. I love Brian Bollard's work. So many choices.

But I'm poor. So I've just got me.. =/

For the type of genre I'm writing, I think Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze) would be a great choice. I'm working with historical fiction, set in ancient Rome, so I'd love a largely realism-based artist with a knack for the period. Brian Talbot's classical work on The Sandman, particulary "August" and "Orpheus," was very impressive as well. P. Craig Russell, for a less rigid, wonderous feel, a la "Ramadan' in Sandman, would be an exciting choice, too.

Touche.

Touche and applaudes.

I'll admit, I'm thinking graphic novel as in Manga more than comic book. As awesome and amazing as Spiderman and all of them are, I prefer the manga style. (probably because that's the style that I draw in.)

My dream artist? CLAMP!!!!!! No doubt about it. If you have ever read Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic, or Chobits (or Cardcaptor Sakura, though the art in that isn't as nice) then you will know how amazing that art is.

More realistically, my best friend Kenz. Because no matter how much she says she can't draw as well as I insist she can, I'd love to see my story come to life in her style.

Bisco Hatori, kthxbye. ^_^

She's the mangaka of perhaps my most favorite manga/anime ever, Ouran High School Host Club. Matsuri Hino of Vampire Knight fame would be acceptable as well. My favorite mangaka, at least visually, is Arina Tanemura, but I don't think that her style is right for my story. It's too pretty.

Aaaaahh!!! Bisco Hatori rox!!
Plus, did anyone else notice that she wrote Twilight way before Stephanie Meyers did? That made me laugh so hard.

Anyways, I do my own artwork, but my dream artist would deffinitely be Tite Kubo. Except I'm doing a shoujo this time so it wouldn't work out. Maybe what's her bucket who does Cats Street and Hana Yori Dango.

fmiller wrote
Darick Robertson would be my dream artist. His work on transmet and the boys was awesome.

Same here, especially for transmet, he went wild.

I'm a huge fan of Wendy Pini. Elfquest is *classic*. The work is excellent.

Well actually, though there are some similarities between Millenium Snow and Twilight, the two are quite different. There is a human girl, and a vampire and werewolf involved in both series, but the characters and plot line are completely different.

But yes, Bisco Hatori does indeed rock. ^_^

I'll go with illustrators not associated with mainstream graphic novels.

Adrian Tomine, William Joyce, Barbara Reid

^Oh I absolutly love William Joyce and Adrian Tomine!

Though I never heard of Barbara Reid, so I looked her up. Very cool and interesting.

Emma Rios would suit what I'm doing, I think. She's just finished Hexed for Boom! Studios.

Hmm.

Jim Lee. Or Ramon Perez. Or Gurihiru. It'd be interesting to see each of their takes on the same part of the story, in fact, since they all have very different styles.