It's Saturday Starlin time! When all is said and done, Starlin covers will make up more of these recreations than those by any other artist.
Not a conscious decision. In the beginning of the marathon, I was just rifling through my collection and pulling out any book that I had a fondness for and that had a cover that looked like it might be fun to draw. That I picked up a bunch of Starlin books is an indication of just how much his seventies work meant to my teenage self and how large those books loom in my adult consciousness.
Starlin's been a challenge, largely because I don't draw at all like Starlin, his figures are really idiosyncratic, with extreme postures and musculature that I would never conceive of on my own. Michelangelo, Burne Hogarth, Steve Ditko, Aubrey Beardsley, Jack Kirby--they're all in the mix of Starlin's genius, making for some of the most eccentric yet dynamic inter-galactic super-hero space opera ever. I'd never thought of Starlin as an action guy so much, until I copied his drawings.
I didn't change a lot on this drawing--Warlock is a little bit more upright in my version, and I modified the color a bit here and there, making the piece less about gray against green, and more about a green/purple/pink contrast. Those little changes probably seem like nothing to a casual observer, but I spent hours(?) agonizing over what color to use in the circle indica on the upper lefthand corner. In the end, green was the perfect choice for the cover's background color, and although I spent a good deal of time playing around with alternatives, I never found anything that worked as well. (But you'll notice I moved away from a yellow-green toward a bluer green.)
3 comments:
I've really enjoyed these exercises. Your color choice here is very appealing. And I love the corner illustration of Warlock. The looseness of that little drawing is great.
Your comments about Starlin's idiosyncratic figure drawings 'took the words right out of my mouth' (as the saying goes). Wasn't familiar with Beardsley's art, but I agree wholeheartedly about the other influences.
And I know what you mean by wrestling with coloring choices! Sometimes it's worse than actually composing a drawing!
By the way, are these covers of your produced with markers? There's a nice watercolor feel to them. With my luck, you'll say "Oh no, it's all on computer"! Nowadays, some people are so dang good at replicating 'hand-drawn' art that I feel like a world class fool for not knowing the difference!
Keep sharing these great images.
Whoops! Just looked at your SHADOW #3 piece and realized that you do indeed use markers.
Hi Javier-
thanks for chiming in! Yeah--these are done with prismacolor markers. While I've done coloring with photoshop, and I agree--in the hands of a master(Jamie Grant, Kevin Mutch)--it's enormously effective--I'll always have painting in my bones. the touch of a brush,pen or marker to paper is a completely different experience from that of the Wacom--and the the experience on paper is the one I love.
So-- I've resolved that I'll make the work by hand as much as possible and use only a bit of digital "futzing" in order to get the stuff out there. I love putting pen and marker to paper--I don't love Photoshop--and life's too short to spend anymore time doing work that's not enjoyable than I already do!
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