I came across this nearly 25 year old drawing of a cartoony Doc Sampson in a big box of old artwork in my attic. I am in the agonizing process of "thinning the heard' of 30+ years of comic, books and crap I have accumulated from years of being in the business and my old comic collection. I plan on turning the attic into a painting studio, so I can have a completely separate, and bigger studio to do my painting, sculpture and non-commercial work in.It's a funny and sometimes insightful thing to look at really old artwork. You see things you did a long time ago you still do now, themes, or things that interest you, and hopefully improvement, lots of improvement.
At that time I was doing a lot over very cartoony or what we now call the "animated look' with comics and superheroes. This was long before the success of the Batman show buy the Dini/Burnett/Timm crew made it cool to do cartoony versions of superjocks. I always thought, and still do, that the medium of animation is the best way to do superheroes as film. I came across a lot of old sample pages, some illustrations and drawings going back almost 30 years, well into my high school days. maybe I'll post a few more samples from my origin days.
Ha! I wish my old stuff was as charming, Mister M.
ReplyDeleteI always thought, and still do, that the medium of animation is the best way to do superheroes as film.
I, too, prefer animated superheroes.
Still, I do sometimes wonder:
Are animated superheroes truly better than their live-action counterparts or are they simply more faithful to comic book source material, given similarities and differences among the three media?
That is, would I prefer animated superheroes if I had no affection for the medium of comics?
I would love to see more of the archive - very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis image is cool. Clearly you had solid skills even then: the composition; the placement of solid blacks, etc. But you can also see where your draughtsmanship has improved lots; and your inking, especially, say, the feathering.
Still a kick-ass drawing.
Jon, For me, yes, they are more favorable graphically and it seems a more natural fit. As good as effects are now they still can't quite capture the fantasy right for me. In the end battle in Ironman it just didn't work for me as the human body, even encased in armor would have been broken and reduced to jelly.
ReplyDeletethe body wiggles and bend wrong, bad weight, so many things. Witha drawing we already suspend belief. Otherwise you are waiting for then the human becomes the CGI puppet.
Alan, thank Jeebus I've improved since then! but yes, there are some good things, and it's again interesting to see there are things I wanted to do then I still do now.i was trying to combime many things at that time, Caniff and Sinnott ink-wise, if that could possible make any sense and then a more cartoony style of drawing with a gritty finish.
That's something I still do today.