The cover of US 64 was brought to my attention today. And looking closely at it I wonder if not the backgrounds has been drawn by someone else than Barks. The inking doesn't match his and the lines are overlapping. So I scanned and quickly recolored just to see what it looked like without them. And... hmm I see why the background was added. Or maybe Barks just used another pen/style when he did those backgrounds. Now I begin to doubt myself. :)
Feels kind of empty and unbalanced whitout them, don't you think? Also notice how nice the text balances the composition.
Browsing inducks (coa) I noticed how many variations the cover had. Not only in color but there are some redrawn versions as well. And notice that the Uncle Scrooge Adventures reprint has deleted the gems that Scrooge throws away. Odd since those are clearly drawn by Barks. Maybe the editor felt that it was uncharacteristic of Scrooge to throw away riches?
Wich my favourite is? Without any doubt the original. The flat background color that puts emphasis on the ducks. I love the monocrome coloring that makes the characters stand out. The redrawn versions isn't half as good as the original but maybe the publishers lacked the proofs for Barks art.
I was actually gonna do a post about covers with vs without horizons and with vs without gradients. But it will have to wait.
Gotta run.
/J.
As someone who dislikes grandient I have to agree I like the original covers best.
ReplyDeleteI must say I agree that the background do not seem to be Barks' work. They seem to be completely distinct from the other art, and the lines cross, contrary to Barks' usual inking.
The Paperino one was re-drawn by Giovan Battista Carpi.
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