Theory Discussion: "Alex Toth Critiques Steve Rude" Professional Critique

[FlipMcgee]

I was clued in to these pages by a Bruce Timm posting in another board. Googled, and found these scans in Jason Latour's livejournal (scroll down). Apparently these are currently being passed around amongst comic pros.

Both Toth and Rude are considered "artist's artists". Toth died at his drawing table on May 27, 2006. He was 78.

Bruce Timm on Toth's critique:

....years later, i got ahold of the infamous toth critique , and read through it nodding my head all the while....without a doubt, toth was going overboard with the scorn, but if you get past the curmudgeonly venom, you realize that point by point, he's bang - on....and the thing is, even after getting toth's critique, steve STILL makes the same kinda off-kilter storytelling choices as he did in the JONNY QUEST story, to this day...as if he didn't take a single piece of toth's criticism to heart....i hate to say it, but since reading the toth critique, i can't fully appreciate steve's stuff as much as i used to....sure, his draftsmanship is still as dazzling and rock-solid as ever (and godDAMN, how the man can PAINT), but i find myself focussing on the odd storytelling quirks rather than the pretty pitchers...