Well, him and Burt Reynolds in Gator.
Obviously!
I have no idea where the line is for others. Personally, I'm not trying to "fool" anyone.
I know you aren't. And this should go without saying by now, but my main point is that there
is a line (regardless of whether we can find it or agree on its location). There are extremes in approaches to comic art as there are with anything else. My second point is -- I would bet that many people who have expressed indifference toward Land's appropriation of other peoples' work might change their tune if it was
their work being appropriated.
I'm working in service to the imagery I see in my head and trying to capture that...I use my own drawing abilities, my own photos, screen captures, Poser, Sketchup, and the assistance of friends and peers to achieve it (within the boundaries of the copyright law). Hopefully, the end result of such disparate sources forges something new.
I think what you're describing is an entirely ethical way of doing things, and more than that, it's a commendable way of doing things -- because you're utilizing all the tools in your toolbox to serve your story the best way possible. That's exactly what creators should do.
On a divergent tangent, how do you feel about guys who don't swipe a photo, or trace a single piece of artwork, but co-opt a particular artist's entire style? There are plenty of guys who are nothing more than Adam Hughes or Frank Cho clones, for instance. I can't count the number of guys who are doing their best to be Hughes the line artist or Hughes the digital painter. And there's one guy sets up at shows, doing a Cho riff and selling Burroughs Mars/Dejah Thoris prints and sketchbooks. None of these guys swipe particular images—at least not that I've seen—but what they do seems far more dangerous to me. They attempt to replicate another artist's style entirely, from style to subject matter.
I think most artists who really have chops tend to evolve beyond being clones. Look at the difference between Bill Sienkiewicz's earlier stuff compared to the style he became famous for. It's not uncommon for artists to ape a particular style while they are still learning -- for some it really is just a part of their development.
I realize I may be on think ice here. But I like to think that, while I wear my influences on my sleeve, I'm more of an amalgam of Dave Stevens, Mark Schultz, Al Williamson, Alex Raymond, and Hal Foster, than a direct imitator of any one of them specifically.
No, I think you're totally right, and the bolded part is actually how I would describe you, myself. Many great artists, if not all, have styles that are jumbled combinations of their influences. You can see Mort Meskin in Ditko's line just as you can see Jack Davis in Tony Moore's, and so on and so on, ad infinitum. And that's fine. That's the wonderfully traceable lineage of art.
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