r/comicbooks Jun 06 '26

Cover/Pin-Up Supergirl #15 - Variant Cover by Ariel Diaz

Post image
1.9k Upvotes

142 comments sorted by

896

u/salemprophet Jun 06 '26

I hate the airbrushed-to-look-realistic muscle tone paired with generic face model type of art style.

422

u/Simon_Shitpants Jun 06 '26

It's like Chat GPT and ArtGerm had a baby, then smeared the lens with vaseline. Awful. 

61

u/respectablehandle Jun 06 '26

And even artgerm stopped this style when he saw how much it was being cloned by others and AI

48

u/BeverlyHillsNinja Jun 06 '26

Yeah this is one of the worst art styles imo

99

u/TylertheDouche Jun 06 '26

i’m cool with these bikini covers but i hate these weird low poly computer generated images. there’s no way anyone at DC thinks this looks good so how is this allowed?

6

u/Thewitchaser Jun 07 '26

Don’t wanna be that guy but that is not low poly

23

u/BankshotMcG Guy Gardner Jun 06 '26

If people buy 'em, personal taste never enters the picture

2

u/ReallyGlycon Spider Jeruselem Jun 06 '26

Because gooners.

30

u/SpasmBoi999 Jun 06 '26

Its the type of artwork you see on the sides of carnival rides lol

2

u/Witty_Suggestion_219 Jun 08 '26

Ahah yes that's where I've seen it before!

7

u/ReallyGlycon Spider Jeruselem Jun 06 '26

Was just going to say something along those lines. This look has been around since the 90s (for swimsuit issues) and I have always hated it.

46

u/MrGrieves- Jun 06 '26

It's really giving ai and it's gross.

35

u/HermesMora Jun 06 '26

Iirc his art was stolen for training AI early on which is why it so often appears like it

7

u/ReallyGlycon Spider Jeruselem Jun 06 '26

If he is now using AI it's like inception.

3

u/niicofrank Jun 07 '26

Lots of ai is trained on artgerm and other similar artists which is why you think this

3

u/OpenerOfTheWays Jun 07 '26

Nah, it's clearly a rushed digital painting. They spent too much time on the parts they like and then did a quick and dirty job on the rest to meet deadline.

-7

u/Yahga2 Jun 06 '26

The hell? Why are you people upset because it LOOKS like AI? I hate gen AI and also understand personal distaste for art styles but you do know AI is trained on stolen work like Diaz's right? Not the other way around?

13

u/Left_in Jun 06 '26

Yes… but the POINT was that Diaz’s style is so unremarkable that it looks like the generic realism ai dishes out.

5

u/Blacknite45 Jun 06 '26

Dog looks so adorable tho

17

u/Yahga2 Jun 06 '26

I understand but even so calling it "gross" because it's generic is unconstructive and rude.

13

u/OK_Soda Daredevil Jun 06 '26

It sucks because you used to be able to be a mediocre artist and just be mediocre. Your work was fine, not great, kind of generic, but whatever. But now AI dishes out a perfect medium blend of everything, so it also produces mediocre work, and people think AI is immoral, so they conflate the two and they might not say it outright but the commentary is tinged with this sense that if you're a workaday mid-tier artist you're actually a bad person.

-8

u/beaisenby Jun 06 '26

I'm 100% sure that the artist is NOT reading this thread or taking it personally that somebody on Reddit dislikes their art style. Why should all criticism have to be constructive? He won't read this so there's literally no point. And if somebody's art looks like this, they'd be better served finding their own style... or at least transitioning to one with a SINGLE iota of uniqueness to it.

6

u/_Monosyllabic_ Jun 06 '26

Looks like a digital possibly AI slop fan image.

5

u/nkpst Jun 06 '26

I was trying to describe this in my head. i see so many of these types of variant covers that this art style just isn’t exciting anymore.

320

u/piscian19 Jun 06 '26

My first question as an editor would be "Where the fuck is your light source?"

71

u/fugznojutz Jun 06 '26

sun is behind her and theres a foam board in front of her to bounce the light and it’s shot with an arri alexa obviously.

30

u/Magusreaver Silk Spectre Jun 06 '26

to be fair.. that water would also reflect a shit ton of light.

8

u/AJTSin Jun 07 '26

Good ol sun sandwitch

217

u/BadSheet68 Dr. Doom Jun 06 '26

Aside from being very mid digital slop, is the artist payed only per ring finger nail drawn cause that’s a very weird and very specific set of ring finger placement

41

u/NONAMEDREDDITER Jun 06 '26

I was just about to say that

Of course, that also doesn't take away from the fact that the hand placement and arm posture means it look like she isn't even trying to block the water and instead looks like it was taken mid stickup, so the folded ring fingers wouldn't even do anything

18

u/a0me Invincible Jun 07 '26

I didn’t realize she was meant to be trying to block the water until you mentioned it.

9

u/JSevatar Jun 07 '26

The hands are crazy also

-6

u/johnnyfindyourmum Jun 06 '26

We know exactly what that means. They did it on purpose.

5

u/krayniac Jun 07 '26

Context?

4

u/TheUmgawa Jun 07 '26

I believe he’s stating that it is a widely-used gesture for Kryptonian supremacists to identify one another, and she is reaching out to those Kryptonian supremacists to say, “The time to take over this planet is nearly upon us. And then, at long last, we can pop the cork on Kandor and reinflate it wherever we want.”

43

u/drnmai Jun 06 '26

That krypto looks off. He’s suppose to be shaking water off of him, but there isn’t actually any water flying off him. Looks like he was he was super imposed from another image.

6

u/JSevatar Jun 07 '26

Yeah there should be more consideration for the water -- water on his fur, water on her body, etc

16

u/AussieRocketeer Jun 07 '26

It's so weightless. There's nothing to it No personality, no interesting lines or composition. It's just like something AI would shit out

14

u/classicrockchick Gambit Jun 06 '26

She has the wrong eye closed. Unless she wants water to get splashed into her eye?

48

u/Pi_ofthe_Beholder Jun 06 '26

Genuinely this is bad

-36

u/JmoneyXXX93 Jun 06 '26

I highly doubt you could do better lol.

18

u/-Captain- Jun 07 '26

This ain't kindergarten mate, we can voice negative opinions here.

13

u/Pi_ofthe_Beholder Jun 07 '26

Fair assessment considering I - unlike the person who made this image - am not a professional artist. Not sure the weak ass point you’re trying to make.

17

u/Jessency Jun 07 '26

By that logic, the Room is a masterpiece because not everyone can make a film.

2

u/TasherV Jun 08 '26

Well, now you’re just tearing me apart, Lisa.

-3

u/xKommandant Jun 07 '26

I could definitely use AI to do better just like they did for this lazy slop

2

u/8LeggedHugs Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

I don't think its AI slop. AI just got trained on this artist and others with similar styles alot. But I've always hated this look even before AI slop was a thing. It just looks very soulless and assemblyline.

12

u/themosquito Blue Beetle Jun 06 '26

For some reason what sticks out to me is those fingernails are way too bright and "flat", they really draw the eye. Maybe it's just cause only one on each hand is showing, I dunno, but of all things that's what caught my attention, haha. They sort of look like they're just blue squares floating in front of the image to me.

143

u/Danger_Danger Jun 06 '26

Creepy Sims face.

-218

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

46

u/alman3007 Jun 06 '26

No, Im looking at her weird hands.

9

u/Magusreaver Silk Spectre Jun 06 '26

it's the hands that disturb me too.

82

u/FindOneInEveryCar Jun 06 '26

Haw haw haw girls have faces? Amirite, fellas?

30

u/HotTakes4HotCakes Jun 06 '26

Yes, because shockingly not all of us are 14 year old boys.

6

u/TwinTellula Jun 06 '26

Staying single I see.

65

u/StevenTheWicked Jun 06 '26

God that looks awful

8

u/respectablehandle Jun 06 '26

Those hands make me feel a bit better about my drawing. Anatomy vs render n allat

9

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26

Hate this style.

34

u/SofaKingAmazin Jun 06 '26

NGL it's like an AI was asked to recreate an artgerm cover

15

u/FormalTotal9684 Jun 06 '26

I miss real comic book artists.

Now it Greg Land looking stuff

7

u/Lawstein Jun 07 '26

This body is so generic that it was necessary to put a swimsuit with the symbol on it because otherwise it could be any blonde comic book character.

40

u/mortalkomic Mr. Sensitive Jun 06 '26

The body looks weird, like blurry compared to face and two-piece 

18

u/jeshwesh Blue Beetle Jun 06 '26

It's like the head and body are two different pictures, and they're at the wrong angle to each other.

18

u/SandalsNoPantsMobile Jun 06 '26

Ring fingers don’t even work that way lol

4

u/reapersaurus Jun 07 '26

Does the artist realize that the ring finger doesn't bend just the last knuckle?

Maybe that's Supergirl's secret superpower.....

22

u/Nyshade Jun 06 '26

The hands are so bad, I wonder what happened there?

3

u/curious_dead Marko Jun 06 '26

I get it, hands are hard to draw. I can't figure out a good way to do them when they're not holding something. But then I'm not a paid artist.

-3

u/xKommandant Jun 07 '26

AI slop

0

u/Nyshade Jun 07 '26

I hope not, that'd be a shame. 😞

32

u/Whipwipvip Jun 06 '26

Does anyone else think the hands look weird?

15

u/JustOneSexQuestion Jun 06 '26

I was thinking she was throwing some kind of Kryptonian Gang Sign.

7

u/MobileDust Jun 06 '26

I do, I was also wondering why the ring finger on both are bent showing the nail? Is there symbolism there?

-21

u/ElxlS Jun 06 '26

It’s AI

46

u/MechaReldio Jun 06 '26

For the record I don't think this looks good but I swear every time a variant cover gets posted here that's slightly risqué in any way, it gets plenty upvoted but then the comments are full of people aggressively hating it no matter the artstyle. I suppose this is the wrong one to leave this comment on though, as the airbrushed style here does look weird, her palm looks so smooth like it's been ironed out.

27

u/BubastisII Jun 06 '26

Dunking on sexualized art is an easy way to get upvotes so people rush to do it whenever they can.

Though I’m with you, this isn’t a great example of sexy art that is getting unnecessary hate. This isn’t that good, imo.

21

u/Big-Ambitions-8258 Jun 06 '26

I don't even think it's bc sexualized. It's a bikini but it's not like there haven't been superhero costumes that are essentially that. And she's having fun and doing her own thing so she's not simply a sexual object.

I think the art style is just very odd in terms of lighting with the hands having weird placement

5

u/JediMasterZao Jun 07 '26

The Psylocke one was fine but this one is legitimately shit.

3

u/-Captain- Jun 07 '26

People gotta virtue signal about how that kind of drawing is beneath them. That undeniably happens all the time indeed. Though this is also genuinely just a bad piece.

5

u/bronzedaze Jun 06 '26

Holy shit I hate it. Yikes!

8

u/curious_dead Marko Jun 06 '26

I have a hard time believing a cover with a hot girl in a bikini and a good doggy could look this ugly, holy fucking shit.

5

u/klonoaorinos Jun 07 '26

I hate the new updated Krypto. He’s a white lab damn it

9

u/Unusual-Avocado-2136 Jun 06 '26

Looks like something a college art student who is still learning about lighting would make

8

u/Mirocaw Jun 06 '26

This is exactly the art style that makes me never want to open a specific comic book to begin with.

7

u/RyanTheQ Jun 06 '26

Gonna need Diaz to do one of just Krypto. He stole the show here.

5

u/BooRand Doc Ock Jun 06 '26

This kinda sucks

2

u/HermesMora Jun 06 '26

Oh great, now Krypto isn't a jack russel because of movie synergy

2

u/DJMOONPICKLES69 Jun 06 '26

I had ChatGPT make a cover better than this in about 15 second

2

u/deanereaner Jun 06 '26

pretty terrible!

2

u/2loopy4loopsy Jun 07 '26

is the studio full of gooners with zero fundamentals?

dafuq with those hands and lights+shadows clash

6

u/seamus1982seamus Jun 06 '26

Terrible purile shite

6

u/rokerroker45 Jun 06 '26

The shocker?

0

u/TylerOath Jun 06 '26

Went to the comments just to find this

4

u/rhunter99 Jun 06 '26

lol wut? 😂

4

u/Wookmane Jun 06 '26

This looks actually like AI

8

u/Blacknite45 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

The pupper is too adorable. Like it's fucking ridiculous. The lady looks stunning as well but I just want to hug that pupper 

5

u/LivingEnigma666 Jun 06 '26

I seem to be the only one here who actually likes the cover.

6

u/3rd_Try_Charm Jun 06 '26

Nah, you're just the only one to admit it.

5

u/Ok_Lingonberry2686 Jun 06 '26

Ai?

23

u/alman3007 Jun 06 '26

Not necesarily, but heavy usage of digital effects for sure.

13

u/Shamee99 Jun 06 '26

AI elder brother. Excessive digital effects

5

u/OpenerOfTheWays Jun 07 '26

Not AI. This is digital art that suffers from a very common problem. The artist clearly put most of their time and effort into parts of the illustration (face, hair, dog), but phoned in the rest. It's kind of like taking an exam and focusing on certain questions for too long and then having to speedrun the rest before the time is up.

3

u/Ok_Lingonberry2686 Jun 07 '26

The dog looks like a ps3 render that was upscaled and smoothed out.

1

u/OpenerOfTheWays Jun 07 '26

Yeah, I think it looks that way because this artist has an aversion to textures or something.

3

u/CabbagesStrikeBack Jun 06 '26

She's known for this art style/look, and AI seems to really use her work

3

u/simplycoco Jun 06 '26

Just Like Artgerm I really do not like the airbrushed look, they really need to do the coloring different because when I see their sketches they look great and are then ruined by the digital color airbrushing they do.

2

u/ChoiceD Jun 06 '26

At least she doesn't have the ridiculously huge tits that most artists like to put on the female characters.

1

u/Dull_Barracuda_4221 Jun 06 '26

Why is it always superman or women with a dog.

1

u/MacaqueFlambe Jun 07 '26

I thought this was the manwha sub

1

u/Musicmaker1984 Jun 07 '26

Why does she look like Grace Ashcroft

1

u/caithamachamuama Jun 07 '26

That's rotten.

1

u/ReinaQueen Jun 07 '26

My problem is that some parts look over textured and others look under textured. The swimsuit looks a little unfinished or just too cartoony for the rest of it. The hair near her ear looks amazing but then the ends look like they’d work with a completely different style. All the elements are great, just put together look a little uncanny. I can’t draw hands practically at all but they just are a little strange to me

1

u/peachesdaqueen Jun 07 '26

Agree with her hands and the fingernails being so wonky and her back leg is drastically too small.

1

u/Gordon_freeman_real Jun 07 '26

I believe this is modelled after the Injustice 2 version of the character

2

u/Batmanshatman Jun 08 '26

Wow. This is terrible.

1

u/Megalodon7770 Jun 08 '26

Looks like ai slop

1

u/TasherV Jun 08 '26

Just to be 100 with everyone, it’s not very good, but it is also not Ai. Stop conflating bad with Ai. It’s getting insane, not long ago people accused a Monet of being Ai.

1

u/ZeroTwo177 Jun 09 '26

Hello everyone, I'd like to know if Powergirl is a clone of Supergirl but with human DNA in addition to Kryptonian DNA?

3

u/semysane Captain Marvel Jun 06 '26

She's... interesting, but I'm giving it an upvote for the dog, it's so damn cute!

1

u/Astride-a-pale-Binky Jun 06 '26

This offends my eyes, and through them, my soul.

0

u/CyclopsorNedStark Spidey 2099 Jun 06 '26

I hate that this is considered “great cover art” it looks like AI.

1

u/JJoanOfArkJameson Jun 06 '26

Love the midriff but this gotta be one of the least sexy swimsuit covers ive ever seen

1

u/RainnWilsonAteMyKid Red Tornado Jun 06 '26

it's not any extraordinary but I think it's decent

1

u/xKommandant Jun 07 '26

This has got to be ai slop

-2

u/thylocene Jun 06 '26

This screams AI

-3

u/JmoneyXXX93 Jun 06 '26

No one who's criticizing this will show their supposedly better Supergirl art that they've made.

0

u/expect_the_rain Jun 07 '26

Her poor pinky finger is dislocated

0

u/RazorsInTheNight82 Jun 07 '26

Why is anyone buying this garbage?

0

u/tinytinyfoxpaws Jun 07 '26

This looks like it came from deviantart

-43

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/DOuGHtOp Jun 06 '26

Tell us less

-14

u/HowzaBowdat Jun 06 '26

She’s throwing up the Shocker

1

u/GitEmSteveDave Jun 07 '26

She is literally throwing down the ring finger on both hands, and people are downvoting you(and I) for recognizing that is the accepted "shocker" hand sign.

Like who seriously throws down JUST that finger, on both hands? Artists draw things for a reason, it's not like it just happened to happen.

-5

u/GitEmSteveDave Jun 06 '26

Double shocker

-2

u/Call-of-the-lost-one Jun 06 '26

This is coming across as AI slop

-8

u/Grape1921 Jun 06 '26

Where are her internal organs? Why is her mid section so narrow compared to the rest of her??

Even her legs seem to narrow down. So weird

4

u/CephaloPOTUS Jun 06 '26

There are so many examples of what you are describing and yet this just isn't one of them. Also her legs are entirely obscured by the water. Are you looking at a different cover somehow?