Livio Ramondelli Interview - Monstrosity and Robots in Disguise

Hi guys, longtime Lurker/Reader, Seldom-Poster here...

While I do enjoy the new series and the direction of the IDW stories (now that they have sort of "settled" into what they want their Transformers legacy to be), I have to say I really just don't like the art this guy puts out. Nothing against him personally, but the proportions, perspective and general grittiness of his art, for me, just doesn't work well with Transformers, especially when it varies wildly from panel-to-panel.

I mean, I personally can't stand Andrew Wildman's artwork in ReGeneration One (I think that style of drawing should have stayed where it was - in the 80's!), but his skill with the storytelling aspect at least make things very easy to follow plot-wise.

Ramondelli's style is obviously a stark contrast to Wildman's, but what I'm trying to say: I can handle it when an artist is doing something I don't like visually, as long as I can follow the plot. I can accept that some readers probably find Ramondelli's style utterly beautiful and completely respect that... But particularly noticeable in Monstrosity, I found I had to look at each page VERY carefully to try and figure out what was going on in the story - and who each "blurry smudge" was supposed to be. Reading a story and then having to double back after realising you've missed something lost in the grittiness of the art really breaks the flow of the comic for me and it seems to happen repeatedly when this guy is on pencil duty. Does anyone else feel this way or am I just being a whiny b-i-t-c-h?

Hey MegaDump!

You are not alone in your complaints, but that is the first time I've seen them written in such a constructive way (rather than 'he's awful, he's the Bay of comics, blaaaargh').
I personally do not hate Ramondelli's artwork, but I do believe that he works better with bigger, more static images than dynamic ones.

And he can draw, he's an amazing artist. But it doesn't always show with robots.
For comparison:

Hi Va'al,

Thanks for your reply and for adding your opinion - I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone. Reading through my first post on this topic, I realise now that I may have exaggerated my stance on Ramondelli's art. As I mentioned, I really don't like his style, but perhaps "hate" and "awful" are a bit too strong and unfair. After all, I definitely enjoyed Monstrosity, despite my misgivings about the art.

Personally, I find it something of a struggle to type out an opinion that is logically thought out and unambiguous yet fair, based on known examples. I refuse to succumb to troll-like behaviour: unsupported criticisms and personal attacks, just because I don't like something. The internet is full of negative attitudes from talentless hacks deriding the work of the genuinely gifted. I would not like to include myself in that list, which is why I try to frame my criticisms with specific focus - something, I hope, slightly more constructive.

I agree wholeheartedly that Ramondelli's artwork looks spectacular in that image of the Stormtrooper. You're right about the bigger, more wide images looking superior to some of the backgrounds in Transformers. Even the shape/proportions of the Stormtrooper look better in that one image in comparison to his robots (who's bodies often vary panel-to-panel). Together, these facts beg the question: should this guy be drawing robots? His proportions are out of scale/shape/varying degrees of damage between panels, difficulty following the plot and identifying characters...

MegaDump wrote:Together, these facts beg the question: should this guy be drawing robots? His proportions are out of scale/shape/varying degrees of damage between panels, difficulty following the plot and identifying characters...

That does seem to be the overarching question, once you get down to it, yes. As I said, I love his cover art, and Autocracy worked better than Chaos in my opinion, even though some splash pages and spreads were really really good (the D-Void, for example).

But there always is the feeling that things, even just little ones, are just a bit off. IDW keep asking him to do work for them, so there must be something good about it! He's obviously a nice person, and he runs his own thread on Monstrosity over on the IDW boards, really accommodating and friendly - I wonder if that influences readers' opinions, too.