ONE WAY OR THE OTHER I'VE BEEN BRINGING MY COMIC HEROES TO LIFE SINCE CHILDHOOD… 

Who says childhood ends at adulthood… not me. As showcased in my last posting here, and by this gallery's worth of illustrations I've done over the years my love affair with superheroes has never faded. From the good old no. 2 pencil to Prismacolors, from art created on plexiglas to full blown oil paintings on stretched canvas, I've spent a lifetime recreating the characters of my youth. Here are a selection of heroic images that I've done over the years. 

Starting with my first attempt ever of my favorite comic book television hero, Bat Girl as she was portrayed by the late great Yvonne Craig. For my money, the best costume ever designed for screen of any costumed hero ever. Drawn on 11 x 17 comic sized drawing. Drawn using Prismacolor pencils.

Vampirella, one of my favorite characters not published by one of the big comic book companies. I will forever have a soft spot for Warren magazines and she was one of the big reasons why. Not sure if I captured her wickedness or sexiness, but it was fun trying to figure out how to make her outfit work. I'm always amazed when I see artists drawing clothes when there's no way in reality the fabric would actually stay on. The first illustration was drawn with Prismacolor pencils, the 2nd was what I call a Plexi-Panel, the art was created on plexiglas.  

Here's an attempt at drawing the greatest female character to ever see action in a comic book. Wonder Woman, DC's amazon super hero. Its funny, my favorite version of the character was when she was without her super-powers. Simply loved when they turned her into Diana Rigg as she appeared as Mrs Peel on The Avengers TV series. That said, Here one of my drawings of the Amazon princess drawn with prismacolor.

The first screen's Super Girl, Helen Slater. I love the new series, but I really enjoyed Helen's take on the character, and simply thought the costume designed for her was, well perfect. As for the art, the 1st three was drawn using a Ebony and Prismacolor pencils. The last was created digitally on my computer.  

The Vision, as he was originally designed by John Buscema has always been one of my favorite characters ever. I still remember the issue when he was first revealed in the pages of The Avengers # 57, simply instant love. So I was stoked when they finally brought him to the big screen even if not identical to how I will always see him, but the essence of the character was perfection. Here was my first attempt at bringing him to life.

After enjoying Sam Rami's brilliant first Spider-Man film, I had to try to capture Tobey Maguire's performance in oil on canvas. As these two portraits of Spider-Man showcase.  And was stoked when I got the chance to work background on Spider-Man 2. Sadly I don't I appear on screen, but being on set with the great Rosemary Harris, watching the costumed hero standing 5 feet away from me, seeing him in the flesh, even if he's actor in a costume, made me turn into my 8 year old fanboy self.  Here are seven of a series of oil paintings that I did of the now iconic Marvel Super-Hero, plus one which I did with prismacolor and ebony pencils.

While not your usual interpretation of this Marvel superhero, one of my favorite characters in The X-Men universe has always been The Angel. Probably because of his wings and his power of flight. Well one day I was staring at a blank canvas, trying to come up with what to paint. I hadn't even gessoed the canvas yet. And I started to sketch out an idea. And well this is what I came up with.   

A few years ago, we got our second screen Spider-Man, this time he was played by the amazing (pun intended) Andrew Garfield. And like the first, I was a happy fan boy. And like the previous Spider-Man 2, in The Amazing Spiderman 2, I got the chance to work background on it. This time I actually make a small appearance in the movie (a scene with Sally Field in the hospital, when all Hell is breaking lose). This illustration was done, digitally using a bamboo pen on my wacom tablet. 

Another Digital illustration based on a Marvel character, is this portrait of actor Hugh Jackman, as he appears as The Wolverine in the X-Men movies.Talk about an actor owning a role. No complaints on my part.

Super-Man, has always been one of my favorite characters. I mean, he is the perfect super hero, and honestly it doesn't get any better then this. That is until the powers that be, decided that after 60 years, they knew better. Well, I will always prefer his classic look and here was one of my attempts at capturing him. First through colored pencils, and followed by several oil paintings that I did of The Man of Steel.   

In the 1980's I did a series of oil paintings on illustration board, trying too create a portfolio of superhero images that maybe Marvel might like enough to hire me to do one of their magazine covers. Here are three of them, The Silver Surfer, Storm, and Prince Namor, the Mighty Sub-Mariner.

The first comic book I ever purchased was Dare-Devil #7, and as noted before it was a life changing moment for me. Well while it wasn't perfect, the Dare-Devil movie starring Ben Affleck, was actually pretty good. And this was my attempt to try to capture his take on the character. As mentioned above, I created this art on plexiglas. basically its like a stain-glass window. Below that is another Plexi-Panel, this one of Eric Bana's take on The Incredible Hulk, in Ang Lee's attempt at bringing Bruce Banner to life on screen in Hulk.

What can you say about Bat-Man, The Caped Crusader. And this is beginning to sound redundant but, yes, another one of my favorites. The first depiction, was done in oil on canvas board while I was in College.

The next one was created on Plexiglas. Its one of Adam West, as he appeared on ABC’s super hit 1960’s TV series. I’ve shown two ways, to showcase the beauty of the art. The first as it hangs on a wall and the second as it appears in front of a window. So you see the choice is yours how to display it.  

I decided to once to try illustrating the famed cousins Super-man and Super-Girl together, soaring through space. The finished art, was painted in oil paint on canvas.

And below you will find a series of Prismacolor drawings which I've done the last few years.  Batman, Adam West as Batman, Spiderman, Captain America, TV's Super-Girl and The current Flash.

To end this blog I'm showcasing some of the art I did while trying to learn how to use my bamboo pen and wacom tablet.

So there you have it, a galleries worth of Super Hero art. Showcasing that yes, I think I've got comic books in my veins. Now if you like any of my art you've seen here, please checkout some of my links, to maybe pick up a t-shirt, or a poster, or perhaps buy an original? Or better yet, if you'd like to commission me to create a brand new work of art.

• http://neil-feigeles.pixels.com
• http://www.redbubble.com/people/neilfeigeles

Until next time,

Neil

WHO KNEW PICKING UP ONE COMIC BOOK COULD ACTUALLY CHANGE THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE

Believe it or not, thats exactly what happened to me. Was it my escape or had I found my home… so where do I begin?

So when did the comic bug hit you? I was asked that once. Well here's a little back story, showcased with a gallery's worth of art, for the most part, the art has never before been seen anywhere else. Of note, many of the pieces I've showcased here, were done for portfolio purposes and helped me get into both High School and College.

It was 1964, the comic book was DareDevil # 7, the first time I ever actually spent money to buy one. The newly turned all red DD, as redesigned by the great Wally Wood, was fighting what turned out to be my favorite comic book character ever, Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner, created by one of my favorite comic artists Bill Everett and I was hooked. All it took was seeing that cover and my life was forever altered.

Not that DareDevil # 7 was the first comic book I had read, or held in my hands, or frankly just looked at the pictures, since I was 'reading' them before I could even read. That began at a much earlier age, but in 1964 I was just turning 5, and well it was love at first sight. And after forking over my 12¢ I spent many an hour staring at the cover and the interior pages.

And for the first time, I began to draw super-heroes. Until then my drawing was of anything and everything, mostly people mind you, portraits of my family or people I saw on TV or in real life. But the costumed heroes of Marvel and DC hadn't taken over as my primary subject matter. Until my eyes feasted on Wally Wood's brilliance. 

Mind you, Jack Kirby, was and will always be to me comic books, I could list a ton of artists who I grew up admiring and swiping and learning from. Artists who are as important to me as any that have hung at the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The artists of the comics world that I grew up being a fan of, and who helped shape me into the artist I would become probably had more of an influence on me then any other art form.

Beginning with the likes of John Buscema, Don Heck, George Tuska, Neal Adams, Herb Trimpe, Nick Cardy, John Romita Sr, Gene Colan, Bernie Wrightson and many others,  I just fell in love with the medium, the art form. The color, the power and fun that I witnessed every time I picked up a new comic book. But Jack Kirby to me is the medium itself. And he was the artist that I wanted to try to aspire to be as a child.  

So I spent my childhood drawing and drawing and drawing some more, creating characters with my brothers and friends. And eventually applied and was accepted to The High School of Art and Design. Where I majored in cartooning. How ever I soon discovered that what I wanted to do as a cartoonist wasn't what our instructors wanted us to do.

They wanted us to do funny, cute characters. Which I loved, but honestly, what I wasn't really into. I wanted to do Super-heroes not Mother Goose. And realized that I should instead focus on illustration at least while attending high school, where at least I could do serious art and not have to try to come up with punchlines. 

Of course the person in charge, refused to allow me too transfer so I spent the next year and a half drawing and animating funny animals. Well I survived High School, learned a lot and decided I was gonna attend The School of Visual Arts, Where I could further learn my chosen profession and somehow get myself into the world of comics and illustration. 

Attending The School of Visual Arts is something I fully endorse to anyone thinking about choosing a college. I loved going there, in fact I still wish I could be going there now.  What could be bad, 4 years spent discovering all types of art, experimenting in as many mediums as possible. And spending your days with other like minded souls, all wanting to discover where this art thing might lead us.

For me it was eye-opening, for I discovered to my amazement that I could paint, that I wasn't just a wanna be comic book penciller, but maybe I could grow up and become a full fledged illustrator, like my idol, Norman Rockwell or the genius named Frank Frazetta.

And while attending classes there, my eyes were opened to all manner of styles and well life. Making my once innocent view of the world, well open up. You see, just what college is supposed to do. And along with that I got the chance to learn from one of the masters of the medium itself, the legendary Will Eisner. While attending SVA I was lucky enough to score one of the few seats available to his classes. And boy did I relish learning from one of the people that actually helped make sequential art into the medium it is today.

YOU ASKED FOR IT! Was one of the assignments that Will Eisner gave us. The assignment, a one page sequential story. With art and story by yourself. Well I was stumped, since the writing part, hadn't been what I had devoted my life to. So I decided to re-use a very old, very bad joke as my inspiration and well… Uncle Will, as some of us called the great man, seemed to love it.

A DESCENT IN THE MAELSTROM! Another assignment from Uncle Will, was to take a pre-existing story, mine was from the great Edgar Allan Poe, and adapt it into a 3 page sequential story. Dig that crazy zip-a-tone. And as you can see, my hand-lettering wasn't something I was really focusing on. I just figured, if I actually made it into Marvel, they could hire one of their letterers to do it. I must say, the headline for the story itself, I'm kind of proud of. Have to be honest. Oh, I just noticed some of the words balloons have been lost. Sorry.

After I graduated, I focused on illustration, thinking to myself that it was easier painting one image, one illustration then drawing an entire book. Mapping out the story. Story boarding the plot. I figured finding one iconic image in the entire story would be easier. And then I received a call from a friend from High School. She informed me that she was gonna self-publish her own comic book and that she wanted me to do an 8 page story in it. I also was gonna be doing the back cover. 

The comic was eventually entitled Panorama. I actually came up with the magazine's name and logo design, and was thrilled to see it on the cover when it was published a few months later.  

I decided that instead of drawing and inking Those who Watch! my little tale of Joseph Mann, who well watched our planet, protecting it from evil, in this case Mystique (yes I came up with the same, years before Marvel did)…well,  I was gonna paint it. At this time, I was fantazing that Marvel might call me up and hand me my dream assignment, a Sub-Mariner graphic novel. I had decided that pen and ink was so old school. And after a little debate, I talked Debbie David, our publisher into allowing me to indeed paint my story. The final art as showcased here was done the same size as real comic book pages are done, and painted in oil paint on double weight illustration board.

Well I haven't received the call from Marvel yet, but once the comic book came out, I started attending comic book conventions, and at my very first appearance, I was approached by the art director of Personality Comics, and happily was hired to do the my first assignment for them, a portrait of Gloria Estefan,which turned out to be the first of of 25 covers I eventually did for them. 

It was while I was making the appearances at the conventions, that the idea of publishing my own magazine really started to percolate. I mean if I wasn't getting hired by the powers that be, perhaps I could persuade them if I showed them I could do it myself. Then one day, I came up with Advanced Warning! which eventually became OffWorld, thanks to my friend, Tony Williams. who came up with the new title.

The great thing about self-publishing is that for once you get to have final say in what you want to do. And you get to  call the shots. The main reason I launched the magazine, was it was supposed to be a showcase for my talents as an illustrator. And happily here is one example of the art I created especially for the magazine.

Even though, as of now, I haven't spent my career working for the major comic book companies, I did spend a few fun days coloring pages at Valiant Comics when they published the GAME BOY comics. However, I have spent much of it, creating art showcasing the characters from the major companies. Two favorites of mine have always been Marvel's Spider-Man and DC's Super-Man.

In addition to my more traditional oil paintings featuring heroic imagery, I've also been experimenting with prismacolor color pencils, and you can still see my love for the medium in most anything I create.

So you see, this is what happened after an almost 5 year boy picked up one 12¢ comic book. I can only imagine if instead of that comic, I had been attracted to something else, who knows where my life would have led me.

If you interesting in seeing more of my art, please check out:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/neilfeigeles

Until next time,

Neil