Stan Lee Remembered
Stan Lee was one of the main pillars of comic books, alongside Jack Kirby, and helped to create almost all the major characters that built Marvel Comics: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Hulk, The Avengers, Iron Man, Black Panther, X-Men, Thor, Daredevil, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, and more than I could easily list.
His writing was a bombastic, less than subtle, and corny as H-E-Double Hockey sticks. However, it also worked in a weird way. There was an alchemy when he worked with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Buscema, and other giants of the industry. A synthesis that was missing when they went on to do other works, or their own projects.
He did have a problematic side when it came to claiming the lion's share of credit for creation of characters (after all, every Marvel Comic started with "Stan Lee Presents..."). And, while I am a greater fan of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee's importance was nearly as great. He was avuncular and humorous in interviews, as well as a huckster of sorts, but a huckster for comic books. He was probably one of the only comic book creators people could recognize--the literal face of comics, if you will. Without his ceaseless promotion of comic books, I have to wonder what the state of comic books would be today.
He always had dreams of writing the great American novel, but perhaps he accidentally wrote something even more important. His influence on world culture cannot be under-estimated. He helped to shape a modern mythology, and in one-thousand years I'm sure people will still be quoting "With great power comes great responsibility", not realizing it was born in the pages of a comic book.
Excelsior, Stan!
'Nuff said.
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STEP ONE: I used a chalk brush in Painter 2018 to rough out the portrait of Stan Lee.
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STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting. I mostly used the chalk/charcoal brushes, and some airbrush and blending brushes.
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STEP THREE: I thought the painting looked a little "cut-out" and thought I should engage some lost edges. By smearing out the shirt edges with a palette knife brush, it pushed more focus on the face. Which, depending on if you think it was a successful painting, may or may not be a good thing. :-D
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This was done digitally with Painter 2018
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Very, very, very nice!!! I knew you were a Kirby guy, but was half expecting and hoping you'd give the cameo guy a nod, and have been watching your blog since the 12th. You did not disappoint! You straight-up nailed both the skin and the hair on this one! And mostly with chalk and charcoal even?! Daaaang! I've yet to find a favorite brush in Painter or any sort of formula that gives me those types of results, but I haven't messed around with the chalk at all yet. I'm thinking you inspired me to give Painter another go if the Wacom drivers behave. Excellent work man! And yeah, I like the lost edges one.
ReplyDeleteYour chum,
Todd
Yo Todd, :-)
DeleteThanks for the kind words, as always! I actually thought the Stan Lee portrait turned out OK, in that I'm not embarrassed by it. Your awesome postings really forced me to up my game. :-)
I also have a cartoon of Stan Lee which will either be really amusing, horribly insensitive and in bad taste, or both. So, stand by for that one sometime Monday or Tuesday. We'll see...
Yeah, I don't know why, but I really like the charcoal/pastel brushes. The same goes for Photoshop, too. Although, some of the skin texture was done with a spattering airbrush.
Your pal (and Superman's),
John D.