- Todd McFarlane Inspired Original Artwork -
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Last week I sketched out the character Carnage from the Maximum Carnage series. I tried to time myself and push to get the sketch finished at all costs. I didn't want to refine it or take a whole lot of time on any one aspect! I really just wanted to get something complete so I gave myself some time restraints. Here, I wanted to stick with a similar theme so I stuck with Spider-Man!

Todd McFarlane had an impact on my development as an artist and so did Spider-Man. I didn't realize some of my favorite Spider-Man artworks were done by Todd McFarlane until after the fact. So, I decided to get my supplies ready and get to work! I took some photographs along the way to document my progress. I hope you enjoy watching this come together! I am truly excited to present you you my sketch of The Amazing Spider-Man!

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I rounded up all the tools I think I will need to create my depiction of Spider-Man. I will describe each tool as I use them along the way. So far for this sketch I have used a number #2 pencil of the generic variety, a Derwent Graphite Hb pencil, a PrismaColor .01 mm archival ink pen, a Poppy Red PrismaColor wax-based colored pencil, and a Magic Rub eraser. I used a loose single razor to sharpen the two graphite pencils as well.

One step I usually skip is framing the artwork before I begin to create. I decided that photographing the images was so difficult in the last few posts and that the whole process drew me away from my groove in creating out of inspiration, that it would be wise to have a border. Having framed my paper before creating the art this time... I have a traditional Comic Panel to work with. As you can see, I use a cardboard base and a card stock paper foundation while I draw on a normal piece of printer paper. The printer paper is pretty smooth with little texture so I use a slip sheet on top of my paper to rest my hand on in order not to smear the pencil and ink. I thought rather than just drawing a generic rectangle... fill the corners with webs instead!

If you checked out the links I provided up there... one of them shows the corner Box Art for the Spider-Man series that Mr. McFarlane did. I wanted to do a similar pose since it was so iconic of the superhero. Upside down it is and with plenty of web to feature, I just haven't made it that far yet.

I almost started over a million times at this point... (which is a main reason I hate framing artworks before making the art!) ... but I finally got the head and body proportions down well enough to move forward.

I went on and struggled to get the legs how I wanted. I imagine a Spider-Man with a pretty lean and strong torso but some fairly muscular legs. I wanted to showcase that here in this pose.

I got tired of second guessing my pencil work... so I decided to just go for it and bust out the Ink! I outlined the pencil, starting with the legs as in the image above, and finishing with just a few lines to cover the whole character outline, as in the image below.

After getting an outline of the character I erased all the pencil marks and had just the clean ink contours left. At this point FUD^{( F.ear U.ncertainty D.oubt )} sets in to some degree. Pencil drawings have tone, texture, and depth. Ink eliminates all of that... and erasing the pencil FEELS LIKE a step backwards... but it's not!

Wrapping up this Phase 1 post I decided to get some color going. I used the Poppy Red pencil to establish some borders of where the Red Color was going to be. Most of this Spider-Man character sketch is going to come together in the details... but I am beginning to see it all come together. I don't know what it is about seeing a splash of color... but it really FEELS LIKE progress is being made when I do!

Maybe if you use your imagination you can picture what this will look like when it's finished. At the very least, I hope you are beginning to see where I am going with it. I am thankful not to have given up or started over multiple times! Alas, this is as far as I was able to make it today. I have a sinking feeling the continuation of this artwork may be my contribution to the ColorChallenge tomorrow for MondayRed (We Shall See.)

As always, I appreciate your time and I hope you enjoyed the art experience in this post!
Until Next Time....

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STEEM ON MY FRIENDS