The Eisner Award for Best Painter/Digital Artist is an award for creative achievement in American comic books. It is awarded to a comic book artist for interior art.

The award was named "Best Painter" from 1993 to 1999, "Best Painter/Multimedia Artist" from 2000 to 2019, and "Best Painter/Digital Artist" from 2020 to present. The term "(interior art)" has been inconsistently added to the end of the award's name.

Winners and nominees

Year Nominee Titles 1993 (Dark Horse Comics) in Mr. Monster Attacks #3 (Tundra Publishing) (Dark Horse Comics) Clive Barker's Dread (Eclipse Comics) (Malibu Comics) (VG Graphics/Dark Horse Comics) (Tundra Publishing), "Frank" in Pictopia #2 (Fantagraphics Books) 1994 (Marvel Comics) (DC Comics) (Kitchen Sink Press) (Dark Horse Comics) 1995 (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) (Dark Horse Comics) Streak of Chalk (NBM Publishing) (Dark Horse Comics) (Fantagraphics Books) 1996 (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) (Malibu Comics/Bravura Comics) Color Special (Dark Horse Comics) Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (NBM Publishing) Goddess (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) 1997 (DC Comics) (DC Comics) (Sirius Entertainment) Tangents (NBM Publishing) 1998 (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) Menz Insana (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics), "The Flowers of Romance" in Vertigo: Winter's Edge (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) in Shadows & Light (Marvel Comics) (DC Comics), Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold Book Two (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) (Homage Comics) 1999 (DC Comics) You Are Here (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) (DC Comics) (Image Comics) 2000s 2000 (DC Comics) I Die at Midnight (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics), Letitia Lerner, Superman's Babysitter in Elseworlds 80-Page Giant (DC Comics) Gifts of the Night (DC Comics/Vertigo Comics) (Sirius Entertainment) 2001 (Sirius Entertainment) and Team Red Star (Image Comics) #9 (Image Comics) Batman: Harvest Breed (DC Comics) #1 (Cartoon Books) From Cloud 99: Memories, Part 1 (Humanoids Publishing) 2002 (Cartoon Books) and Snakebite Cortez (Image Comics) Pictures That Tick (Hourglass Studios/Allen Spiegel Fine Arts) #16-19 (Marvel Comics) Batman: The Ankh (DC Comics) 2003 Wolverine: Netsuke (Marvel Comics) Blood Song: A Silent Ballad (Harcourt) (Image Comics) (NBM Publishing) 2004 in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings (Dark Horse Comics) (ibooks) (Comicraft) in The Sandman: Endless Nights (Vertigo Comics/DC Comics) in The Sandman: Endless Nights (Vertigo Comics/DC Comics) 2005 (Vertigo Comics/DC Comics) (ibooks) (Marvel Comics) (IDW Publishing) (Dark Horse Comics) 2006 (Active Images) (IDW Publishing) (Image Comics) (Vertigo Comics/DC Comics) 2007 in The Dark Horse Book of Monsters (Dark Horse Comics), "Love Triangle" in Sexy Chix (Dark Horse Comics), "Fair Division" in Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall (Vertigo Comics/DC Comics) Glacial Period (NBM Publishing) (Top Shelf Productions) (Image Comics), The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M (Desperado Publishing/Image Comics), Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (IDW Publishing) (Graphitti Designs), Silent Ghost (Markosia) 2008 (Dark Horse Comics) (Riverhead Books/Penguin Group) (Dark Horse Comics) (Image Comics), 30 Days of Night: Red Snow (IDW Publishing), Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse (IDW Publishing) 2009 Magic Trixie (Harper Children's Books), Magic Trixie Sleeps Over (Harper Children's Books) What It Is (Drawn & Quarterly) (First Second Books) (Ateliér Fio/AdHouse Books) Tiger!Tiger!Tiger! (Red Window) 2010s 2010 (Dark Horse Comics), Magic Trixie and the Dragon (Harper Children's Books) My mommy is in America and she met Buffalo Bill (Fanfare/Ponent Mon) (DC Comics) (Rodale Books) You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man (Fantagraphics Books) 2011 (Dark Horse Comics) Picture This: The Nearsighted Monkey Book (Drawn & Quarterly) (Drawn & Quarterly) Return of the Dapper Men (Archaia Entertainment) On the Odd Hours (NBM Publishing) You’ll Never Know Book 2: Collateral Damage (Fantagraphics Books) 2012 No Eisner Award for Best Painter/Multimedia Artist was presented in 2012 as the judges "didn't find enough contenders that reached the level of quality they were looking for." 2013 (Dark Horse Comics) (Drawn & Quarterly) (Man of Action Entertainment/Image Comics) (Fantagraphics Books) (Dark Horse Comics) 2014 (Image Comics) (Dark Horse Comics) Here I Am (Capstone Publishers) (Marvel Comics) 7 Miles a Second (Fantagraphics Books) When David Lost His Voice (SelfMadeHero) 2015 (Vertigo Comics/DC Comics) and Jaakko Ahonen Jaybird (Dark Horse Comics) Bandette (MonkeyBrain Books) (Marvel Comics) (Dark Horse Comics) 2016 (Image Comics) Love: The Tiger (Magnetic Press), Love: The Fox (Magnetic Press) Bandette (MonkeyBrain Books) Izuna (Humanoids Publishing) (Magnetic Press) 2017 Wonder Woman: The True Amazon (DC Comics), Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In (Dark Horse Comics) Love: The Lion (Magnetic Press) Panther (Drawn & Quarterly) 5,000 km per Second (Fantagraphics Books) Black Dog: the Dreams of Paul Nash (Dark Horse Comics) (Image Comics) 2018 (Image Comics) Love: The Dinosaur (Lion Forge Comics/Magnetic Press), Little Tails (Lion Forge Comics/Magnetic Press) Monet: Itinerant of Light (NBM Publishing) Flight of the Raven (EuroComics/IDW Publishing) Portugal (NBM Publishing) 2019 (Image Comics) (DC Comics) Izuna, book 2 (Humanoids Publishing) (Magnetic Press/Lion Forge Comics) Watersnakes (Magnetic Press/Lion Forge Comics) 2020s 2020 (Berger Books/Dark Horse Comics) Black Water Lilies (Europe Comics) Diabolical Summer (IDW Publishing) Cover (DC Comics) Elma, A Bear’s Life, vol. 1: The Great Journey (Europe Comics) Wrath of Fantômas (Titan Books) 2021 /John Pearson Blue in Green (Image Comics) Soon (Europe Comics) (Europe Comics) Kodi (Top Shelf Productions) When You Look Up (Enchanted Lion Books) Gentlemind (Europe Comics) 2022 (Image Comics) Brindille, Love: The Mastiff (Magnetic) Hell’s Flaw (Renegade Arts Entertainment) Ballad for Sophie (Top Shelf) (Magnetic) (Pronoia AB) 2023 , The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night (Image Comics) (BOOM! Studios) Animal Castle (Ablaze) (Europe Comics) Rain (Syzygy/Image) 2024 , The Night Eaters: Her Little Repears (Image Comics) Blacula: Return of the King (Zombie Love Studios) (Magnetic) Blacksad, Vol 7: They All Fall Down, Part 2 (Europe Comics) Nocterra: Nemesis Special (Best Jackett), Starhenge: The Dragon and the Boar (Image) Universal Monsters: Dracula 2025 (DSTLRY) Donald Duck: Vacation Parade Victory Parade (Pantheon) (Greystone) Aster of Pan (Magnetic Press) Brittle Joints (Street Noise Books)2026 (Image)Black Hammer: Spiral City (Dark Horse)Shadows of the Sea (Fantagraphics) QuSlices of Life: A Comic Montage (Bulgilhan Press)Night Chef: An Epic Tale of Friendship with a Side of Deliciousness! (Random House Graphic) (Peow)

Multiple awards and nominations

The following individuals have won Best Painter/Digital Artist one or more times:

Colorist Wins Nominations Jill Thompson 6 7 Alex Ross 5 5 Juanjo Guarnido 2 5 Sana Takeda 4 5 Dustin Nguyen 2 2 Teddy Kristiansen 1 5 John Bolton 2 4 Charles Vess 1 2 George Pratt 1 2 Ladronn 1 2 Dave Dorman 1 1 Jon J. Muth 1 1 Eric Powell 1 1 Fiona Staples 1 1 J.H. Williams III 1 1 Christian Ward 1 1

The following individuals have received two or more nominations but never won Best Painter/Digital Artist:

Colorist Nominations David W. Mack 6 Dan Brereton 4 Ben Templesmith 4 Federico Bertolucci 4 Dave McKean 3 Miguelanxo Prado 3 Brecht Evens 3 Jim Woodring 2 Scott Hampton 2 David Wenzel 2 Kyle Baker 2 Lorenzo Mattotti 2 Lynda Barry 2 Carol Tyler 2 Colleen Coover 2 Tony Sandoval 2

References