ARTBLOG: Marvel Comics, part 1
CHARACTERS: Nightcrawler, Gambit, Cyclops, Wolverine, Colossus.
SELF IMPOSED PRETENTIOUS SELF-JUSTIFYING BRIEF: Disparate statements on mutant masculinity. Consider how these characters would interact in genuinely homosocial settings. Combine street clothes and costumes/iconography to indicate a particular grammar of dress-as-text. Body language in confined visual space.
MEDIA/TIME: Gelpen and ink on A4, 2 hours. Photoshop, 1 1/2 hours. Screaming and smashing at the graphics tablet, 1 hour.
Enjoyed this one, and am pleased to have found a number of ways of "doing" established characters that are a little off-kilter. There's a certain amount of riffing off Morrison/Quitely-era X-men, but nothing too direct. Quite possibly the beginning of a disastrous stag night for Scott Summers*. Whatever it is, Logan has arrived late and obnoxiously bought drink. At least two of these will follow, so stay tuned. Any suggestions for X-Women for a follow-up? One of the things I'm finding hardest about these sketches is that Marvel's female superheroic cast is somewhat limited, at least in the traditional-ish waters I'm swimming for characters. As much as I'd like to just do Emma, Angel, the Cuckoos, etc from NXM, it's been done, and by better than me. I'm trying to find a way of dealing with these characters visually that doesn't entirely rely on Great Artists of the Past. Let me know how I do.
*On a side-note, I enormously enjoyed how threatening and shouty the stag-blokes were in Vampires of Venice - a nice moment of social accuracy.
EDIT: fuck, Frank Frazetta's dead. That's not really on.