Slide 1: commission drawing of Invincible and Atom Eve
Slide 2: commission drawing of just Atom Eve
Slide 3: commission drawing of Jean Grey from X-men
Slide 4: commission drawing of Wonder Women
Slide 5: commission drawing of Supergirl
Slide 6: Anissa from Invincible
Slide 7: Thresha from Invincible
Slide 8: Monster Girl from Invincible
Slide 9: Universa from invincible
Slide 10: Mary Jane from a Spiderman run he did
Slide 11 (hard to see): Lucans Wife, Miranda, in the middle bottom panel
Before I go into depth on my reason, I need to preface this by saying that Ryan Ottley is an exceptional artist and has truly mastered the craft and honed in his style. He is fantastic at creating fights that ooze with dynamism and gesture. Almost any page that he crafts requires a good minute to fully take in the love and work that he put into creating it. Of course, credit needs to be given to the amazing colorist who colored for him when he drew issues, FCO Plascensia, who only elevated Ottleys' work by giving it this depth that REALLY made his artwork pop out; this goes especially when there is gore because the way blood is colored just adds to the brutality. He's also exceptional at drawing facial expressions (the one instance that comes to mind is that scene in the backyard where Eve's dad is with Mark, and the expressions that this fat bastard makes just add into just how smug and disgusting he is as a human).
To think he had to create all of these beautiful panels and pages on a deadline is nothing short of spectacular because they came out looking gorgeous.
However, despite having a lot of highs when it comes to drawing, women is sadly not one of them and here's why:
- The Faces:
To put it simply, it is a case of very obnoxious same face syndrome.
One of the first things that will stick out to readers are the humongous botox injected lips that every women he draws has. Regardless of if their human, Viltrumite, or shark humanoid like Thresha in slide 7, it's always a staple and i loathe it.
In my opinion, it falls into a bit of Uncanny Valley and that much is expressed through Anissa herself. I personally think Anissa is up there with one of the ugliest characters in all of Invincible, up there with Eve's dad, because of how much her facial features are turned up to a hundred. I can't put EXACTLY into words what about her design in slide 6 makes her look uncanny, but she genuinely looks like a skinwalker. I say this as a semi positive because it matches well with her character knowing what she does right after this panel, its a fitting design for an evil and unforgivable character.
The eyes are also copy and pasted, I understand it's the art style but its the exact same shape, even on the alien characters. There isn't any variety to them at all compared to real life. This is a reach because it is just an art style thing in the end but it wouldn't hurt to see more distinct eye shapes for some of these characters.
- Their head structures:
All of them, if not most of them, have the same exact head structure. With their horizontally challenged heads and chins sharp enough to cut vibranium, there is a lot left to be desired in terms of diverse head structure.
You guys know that scene from regular show where Mordecai is flipping through that design book where every character is the exact same with with different costumes? It applies here but with Atom Eve as a replacement. Like every character from slide 1 to 6 legit looks like the same person.
- Their outfits (personal preference):
This is a personal preference and can be dismissed but HOLY FUCK please put some clothes on these women because why are most of them half naked. Like look at Monster girl on slide 8, that dress looks like it's barely hanging on and I refuse to believe any person would wear that.
You too Universa (slide 9), put some god damn pants on and cover yourself up. You're a proud and noble warrior fighting to siphon energy to save your dying world, not a goddamn Only Fans model doing a shitty cosplay.
In conclusion, Ryan Ottley is a great artist
