Visual Poetry

In the field of dreams, an early work of visual poetry

by Michael Wm Kaluta:

© 1971 MW Kaluta

© 1971 MW Kaluta

Helm's Deep

Recently I received an email from Michael Kaluta, one of the great illustrators of our time, in response to a much earlier post about his artwork that did double duty for J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard properties. Along with Kaluta's gracious compliments, a lovely surprise were a couple of jpeg attachments.

One was this magnificent and epic preliminary drawing of the battle at Helm's Deep:

Above image © Michael Wm Kaluta

For comparison, I'm including the above scan from a Tolkien calendar that was kindly sent over some time ago by Christophe Jannin, a French illustrator, living in New Zealand.

Quoting an excerpt from Kaluta's email (with his permission):

(Below) is a jpeg of that full Conan cover (that was originally supposed to be the center-spread for a proposed Tolkien calendar in 1979-1980 that didn't happen, SO, I adapted it for that Marvel wrap-around cover . . . ) The Tolkien folks printed the Tolkien part the way I asked them to in the 1994 calendar: Conan gone, image reversed, but the book Realms of Tolkien published the entire art: thank goodness . . .

Above, a scan sent by Kaluta. Below, the printed wraparound cover.

Update:

Pierre D reminds us of a good interview with Kaluta at:

http://octavioaragao.blogspot.com/2011/03/high-water-marks-and-shadows-interview.html

Warning! Comic Book Geek Reference:

From the golden age of illustration is this Harold Nelson 'editorial cartoon' of sorts looking all the world like he channeled a Mike Kaluta Conan the King cover from decades into the future. Can't you just see the Conan the King masthead looming behind this guy?

Harold Nelson — A.D. 1918 — 1918

From Aesgaard to Zingara

This is a terrific illustration by Michael Kaluta, front and back cover to this comic, that got all gunked up by the other graphic elements. Has anyone seen this printed elsewhere, the way it should be seen? Maybe one of the MWK compendiums? Anyway, very nice work created in 1985.

Sensibility of Earlier Times

Of course Michael Kaluta is one of a number of modern illustratora with the aesthetic and sensibility of earlier times:

Michael W. Kaluta—Faramir & Eowyn

The Girl in the Garden

With a bit more detail than we ever saw in the comics, I was quite happy with Kaluta's portrait of young Duare. She seems to me to be a blend of Kaluta, Krenkel and St. John.

The fantasy lives.

Thanks again Mike!

Near and Dear

Above is my portrait of Kaluta as he looked in 1985. Below is his classy card that he presented to me (I pixelated the address) when I commissioned a drawing.

So imagine, when I'm lucky enough to meet and talk with Kaluta at a 2 day convention, and even luckier to have him agree to a commissioned drawing. When you have a Burroughs artist at hand, the time is right to ask for a Burroughs subject, especially when you've got other Burroughs artists' renderings of other Burroughs subjects.

The point being, I asked him to create a portrait of Duare. He agreed, but said he would like time to do it right. So that night in his hotel room he took time to render a portrait of Duare, a subject that seemed near and dear to his heart, and brought it to me the next day.

Beautiful and Harsh

Edgar Rice Burroughs had a way of rendering exotic females with words, setting the stage for an illustrator to render them with pen and ink. John Carter had his Dejah Thoris, and Carson Napier had his beautiful Duare. 

Both were great fantasies (in the best sense of the word) for adolescent boys dreaming of high adventure. Kaluta's rendering of Duare was beautiful and harsh, an exotic blending of qualities.

Kaluta's details helped to make the visuals stunning, at least for the times they were first published.

These two pages from different chapters are of differing approaches

Good Company

Kaluta certainly was in good company in rendering the Carson saga.

Kaluta

Krenkel

St. John

Nice Chapter

This is a nice chapter from the Carson series:

It Was a Great Run

At a time when a lot of comics were in sort of a rut, Kaluta's comic work verged on illustrative design. His splash pages for the Venus series of Edgar Rice Burroughs were evocative of the old days of Krenkel and even further back to St. John. The typography was fun and adventurous. The drawing, while not the best if you look at it close-up, was appropriate for ERB. It was a great run, it's just too bad Kaluta didn't have more room to run around in.

What an Artist Loves

Couldn't show Kaluta without showing The Shadow. Always have an artist draw what an artist loves.

MWK Comix

Kaluta's comix covers are distinctive and dramatic. 

They are Daring & Colorful.

Above is the backcover of the Rocketeer special.  One of my favorite Kaluta comic pages.

MWK Comix

Near the Top of the List

Above, one of my drawings of Michael Wm Kaluta, as he looked in 1985

For the next few days, I'd like to celebrate Michael W. Kaluta's artwork (don't worry Steven, I'll still do Uncle Walt on Sunday). Mike is a legend of our time, crossing back and forth tween

illustration and comic books, without spilling a drop of ink. His style has always been his own.

Mr. Door Tree, over at goldenagecomicbookstories has recently posted Mike's terrific art from The Swords of Sharazar, and in the past has displayed all the illustrations from Metropolis, a personal favorite of mine. I'm posting two of the Metropolis pieces here from my own scans because I admire them so much. In fact they are near the top of the list of my favorite images of ALL time.

I met Mike back in 1985, at a small convention, and we talked a bit and I got him to sit for some portrait photos. I then drew a couple of portraits and the one above is the first one. I suppose it's not very flattering, but I liked his profile and the lines of his hair and beard.

Mike's artwork, over the years, has been consistently superior and has continually inspired me. I commissioned Mike to create a special drawing for me, which I'll post in a few days. But in the meantime, I'll be posting work you've undoubtedly seen and maybe own, but it's worth seeing again, close-up.

Such gorgeous design and execution. Color treatment is magnificent. The uplight and rendering of face displays a perfect balance of techno-human pathos. 

The piece above belongs in a museum. Mike, this is the best.

Mike obviously has mastered his own brand of art deco. I don't draw like him, but he has inspired me none the less.

This, above, from his famous Studio days.