I’ve always believed, and still believe that Stuart Sayger was the best artist to ever illustrate the Bionicle comics. In avoiding the norm in artistic styles, Sayger introduced us, the fans to a rich and deep type of illustration that conveyed the expressions, moods, and dangers experienced by the characters like no other artist. There is also a lot to be said for his landscapes; no artist could possibly have evoked the feeling of Mahri Nui as a lost, underwater city better than Sayger. His art showed us the MU from an angle that made it seem more realistic than any artist before him than D’anda or Elliot had been able to manage. Who cares if the two tiny loops on Turaga Vakama’s firestaff are drawn, in order to portray him exactly as his set appears, anyway? Especially when you have Sayger’s expressions and moods.
By far, Carlos D’anda was the worst artist on the Bionicle comics, ever. I’ve read all nine issues that he illustrated, and he almost never attempted to show any expressions on the faces of the characters. All the Toa, Turaga, Rahi, and Matoran are completely static and unfeeling. He drew all of the Toa Mata’s weapons and masks exactly how they appear in the sets, when he easily could have added some actual fire to Tahu’s sword or actual frost to Kopaka’s mask. He also kept himself from drawing the characters in creative poses or maneuvers if the sets couldn’t b posed that way themselves. In 2001, the sets had very little articulation, so D’anda took a phenomenal number of possibilities away from himself by mimicking the sets exactly. D’anda limited himself by the sets, while Sayger built us a world. There were no movies or animations in 2006 and 2007 save the lackluster VNOLG and the 2007 Cryoshell music videos, which were non-canon, so Sayger’s art was the only canon visual medium for Voya Nui and Mahri Nui. And Sayger definitely delivered.
Sir Kohran, I’d like you to take another look at the two “obvious” examples of the loss of “richness” and “complexity”, and the rise of “wonky and out of proportion” figures that you’re suggesting. Which illustration of Turaga Vakama has the most richness in its coloring, the one on the left or the one on the right? I’m almost certain that we all know the answer to that question.