Zdeněk Burian
If Zdeněk Burian (1905 - 1981, Czechoslovakia) had worked in the comics industry, he would have undoubtedly been employed in the cover-department. Of course Burian did loads of filler illustrations in pen for the books he illustrated, but these are forgettable when compared to the covers and splash pages he did in color or in greys. I think Richard Corben is the only comic artist I know who could do a whole comic book rendered like a cover.
Here I talked about the Octobriana hoax of 1971, how Burian (and others) became a victim in this Cold War drama and how I used this historical event for my book De Smokkelaar (The smuggler). I dedicated the book to Burian because of how he inspired me when I was a child and because of how heroically he dedicated his life to illustration and how injustly he was treated because of his works inclusion in the hoax. He's the kind of artist you'd better not try to imitate but I can point out a few things I tried to at least incorporate.
Probably Burians style is best recognized by how his image is build up quite watery and misty. Some of it is as confidently splashed on watery paper as caligraphy from the Far East. The details were then added by applying light on parts and shading. Not only direct light, but all kinds of reflections and dilluted lights. Add to this vividness his sense of drama and the level becomes unreachable for most artists, so trying would be foolish.
In my book De Smokkelaar there are, luckily, quite a few underwater scenes where I could ommit the heavy contours typical for the rest of the book. This allowed for a bit of direct influence.
Burian illustrated classic science fction authors and early 'pulps' and some of his most enigmatic work was for Czech editions of Jules Verne books. His 20.000 leagues underwater is a book one could marvel at for hours on end.
In my book unfortunatetly there are no giant squids. In an earlier illustration for filmmagazine Schokkend Nieuws I did use these creatures.
In passing, there is a little reference to the many books Burian illustrated by the German writer Karl May. Karl May was very popular among Czechs (here the cover is in Hungarian, made by professor Kalman, a character I based loosely on Burian). When holidaying in Czechoslovakia in the 70s and 80s we always wondered at the amount of Wild West themed holiday parks and the amount of Czech country music on the radio. Burians influence was felt throughout.
Of course Burians best known work is of the prehistoric world. His work is scientific and heavily researched. What strikes you when you see his portraits of Neanderthals and Australopithecusses, is the kindness Burian added to their features. The one caveman-like portrait I did for De Smokkelaar, a cover for the ficticious Z.O.L.T.A.N. comic that features in it, doesn't have this quality I'm afraid.
This kindness extends to the Tarzan illustrations Burian did.
In conclusion, here's one of Burians most lurid illustrations, done for a Robinson Crusoe edition. You'd have to see it printed on paper to fully appreciate it, but still. And another very enigmatic one for the Verne book, in which you can clearly see how much Richard Corben was influenced by him.
And a feeble attempt of mine to do something just a little similar for the comic within a comic in De Smokkelaar.
