Superman Day - 2026
I don't know why I don't realize these things until they are too late, but last week on April 18, 2026, it was Superman Day. With Superman being my moral North Star since I was but a child (some would argue I have yet to grow up and I can't say they are entirely wrong), I thought I'd do up a painting of Christopher Reeve as Superman, why not?
After my mentioning I think I've been a little too heavy on digital painting of late in my last post, I figured I had to do up something with traditional painting--in this case it is another Acrylic painting. Although, I wish I had a better scanner, as the colors are a bit more harsh than they are on the original.
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STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done with a blue pencil on an 11" x 14" piece of copy paper.
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STEP TWO: I was going to bust out the light box and trace it onto some watercolor paper and thought "Hey, why don't I just scan it in and print it out on some extra-heavy cardstock?" Also, it was a bit larger that I was intending and shrunk it down to 8" x 10". I converted the Blue Line to Black, darkened the lines, and printed it out to paint with Acrylic Paint.
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STEP THREE: And here's the first pass with Acrylic paint. Mostly, just to lay out the basic shapes and colors and give the next layers something to stick to, as Acrylic seems to adhere better when going over top a previous Acrylic layer.
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STEP FOUR: And here's the final painting. Alas, the finished painting is much more subtle in color and blending than the scanned image shows. Ah, well... I guess it's OK.
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Done traditionally with Acrylic Paint on 8" x 10" extra-heavy cardstock.
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