Early Festivities

Just as early with this as I was with last year's e-card...



With all the snow we've been having and also because I'm feeling very seasonal (we just put up our tree this week) it seemed appropriate to get the festive season off to an early start!

Well, it's been pretty seasonal here for a while, what with the 2000ad advent calendar and my Cycle Lifestyle cover.

MERRY FESTIVENESSES TO ONE AND ALL!

Evil Genius

The new DrawerGeeks topic is 'Evil Genius'. This was loads and loads of fun with stacks of possibilities. I thought about the classic Donald Pleasance Bond villian and Mike Myers' Dr.Evil that was spawned by him. I thought about Ming the merciless and other such Sci-Fi villains... I thought about Dick Dastardly, The Hooded Claw, Baron Greenback and Dr. Frankenstein... I was tempted to revisit some old ground too.



What have I come up with then? Only a rough sketch, but one that I'm pleased seems to capture the essence of a lot of those characters mentioned above, but it also owes something to Braniac from Superman and Dr. Emit Brown from Back to the Future for the hat thing.

I'd have loved to have a bit more time to work this up, design a proper lair and possibly a henchman or two in the background too, alas time she was a cruel mistress and for now this is where I must leave it.

Oh, and one last thing:
Mwhah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa!

Supergirl

Clue is in the title!


Quick sketch again today. I have decided to try to push forward with the Spacegirl in peril piece from yesterday... I'm struggling to find a suitable B-movie name for the imaginary feature, hopefully it'll come to me eventually!

Regarding Batman

Another sketch today. The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, Gotham's Vigilante/Playboy Billionaire Schizophrenic answer to yesterday's sketch of Superman. He's darker, harder and meaner but just as much of a tragic hero in my opinion. Again, the interest for me is in the emotional core of the character.


I always think of the Batsuit being run up on some Victorian sewing machine by Alfred - In the same way I like to imagine Martha Kent sowing up Clark's Superman suit - I'd end up with hundreds of 'sewn' lines if I let loose - the whole home-made thing really appeals to me - I mean, really, those hero suits HAVE to be home-made don't they?

Contemplating Superman

For a character I like so much and one that really did have a massive impact on my childhood - I draw Superman on surprisingly rare occasions.



When I do draw the character, I draw Superman, not Clark, never Clark and it's odd, because I always find that when I've finished drawing... the Superman I've drawn is Clark in a Superman suit... if you know what I mean.

Super-Monkey

DrawerGeeks' new topic is Monkey. I've had real problems with this - I was originally going to do a monkey killing two birds with one stone - but it didn't have the quirky quality I was looking for. Then I thought "Space Monkey" but something I've seen kept creeping into my mind...

I don't really like this Super-Monkey, conceptually I think it's a bit weak - no nice puns to be had with the name Clark Kent or Kal-El... I think at some low point in the Superman franchise there may have been a Super-Monkey. I thought about doing a strip where I just spoof Superman totally but I'm not that excited about it. If it's not working, move on. So here is the best of the aborted approaches.

Superman : Man of Style!

I found a great website called Project Rooftop via drawingboard that holds regular redesign contests. This month sees Superman's 70th birthday! He doesn't look bad for an old fella, does he? Anyway, the brief was to re-design his outfit...

01 02
03 04

I wanted to streamline the suit, get rid of the cape which I always felt would bunch-up and give Clark a hunchback when he wore his civilian clothes. Once I had done that there was the issue of colour, I wanted to see the traditional colours (01) in order to judge my other treatments against it. Firstly I went all X-men and Batman black and rubbery (02), then I tried hinting at the old Kryptonite (03) but in the end I liked the cooler, de-saturated feel (04).

I also redesigned the logo, well in marketing terms I think they call this a refresh!



For a comparison to the traditional Super-suit please take another look at my other Superman illustration: Superman's Dilemma

I had a great time doing this but in the end, Superman is just fine as he is, roll on another 70 years!

Illustration Friday - "Multiple"

Multiple identities and multiple personalities equals multiple dilemmas!


I loved Superman as a child, I used to rush around the garden in my blue pyjamas. On Saturday mornings I'd watch the George Reeves adventures avidly... of course the late, great Christopher Reeve, for me, was Superman and more recently I enjoyed "Lois and Clark" (Teri Hatcher didn't have anything to do with that at all!).

I like the concept that despite the invulnerability of Superman's body, he is inside, like all us sensitive souls. The new Superman, Brandon Routh seems to carry that vulnerableness in his portrayal of Clark Kent too.

I always felt for the position Clark found himself in... desperately wanting a normal existence, having multiple thoughts, feelings and attacks of conscience... all at superspeed! This week's theme scratched that particular itch in my mind, so I worked on this over the last couple of days. I hope you like it.