Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Swamp Thing no.9: Berni Wrightson

















 Before Alan Moore, before Steve Bissette, there was Len Wein and Berni Wrightson.   While Moore and Bissette discovered depths to the character no one previously imagined, no matter how old I become, when I think of the character, Berni Wrightson's cover for Swamp Thing no.9 will be the image that comes to mind.
I worried about this piece a good deal before coloring it. How do you improve on something so beautifully attuned to the mood of the image as the coloring for Wrightson's magnificent drawing? The answer--you don't. So---I had two choices--copy it as closely as possible--or do something entirely different. I decided for the latter, and here's the result. Hope you enjoy it.

2 comments:

J.T. Dockery said...

One of my "break throughs" in drawing as a teen came from doing my version of this same image. Still sticks in my head as the definitive Swamp Thing as well...cheers!

Arthur Canning said...

Impressive, man - The '80's team were brilliant, but Wein and Wrightson - nothing touches those two.
cheers, A.