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.
Until next time,
Neil
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