Iron Man Covers Project #9

Iron Man Covers Project #8

Iron Man Covers Project #7

Iron Man Covers Project #6

Iron Man Covers Project #5

Iron Man Covers Project #4

Iron Man Covers Project #3

I have always been in awe of the artist’s work. It’s talent and skill, and I recognize that’s not something I possess. But another byproduct of this Iron Man covers project is being even that much more impressed by comic book artists who only work in black and white. The cover recreations I’m doing look like indiscernible messes before I use colored pencils to finish the pieces. Plus, mixing colors to come up with skin tones and blending and things like that have been a great exercise. Not to mention the fact that coloring is just plain fun!

Iron Man Covers Project #2

The first Iron Man cover recreation I did was quick and dirty. I ripped through it really fast and without regard for much of anything – including lettering and the number of fingers on a human hand. Since then, however, I’ve been taking more time with each one, slowing down and drawing purposefully. They are taking me about two hours apiece now, from first ink to finished colors. I’m really happy with how the subsequent covers have come out, and I’m excited to share them!

Iron Man Covers Project #1

I loved to draw as a kid. Sometime in the mid-’70s I sat down and drew an illustrated four-page “book” depicting the lyrics to “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells”. (Man, I wish I still had that!) Around second or third grade my mom sent me to art classes at the Canton Museum of Art. Now, however, I recognize that the confidence and any ability I might have had as a kid is long gone. But I saw Bean’s FF Cover Project and thought he was on to a really great idea. So I cribbed it. Wholesale.

I’m working my way through the Iron Man covers one at a time, and I’m going to see where it leads me. I have no designs on any sort of long-term art-related job. I’m not looking to draw comics or anything like that. I just want to see if I can get better at something I used to love doing and haven’t done in a very long time. Sort of exercise a different set of creative muscles than those I use when writing.

Taking my cues from Bean and the self-imposed, warts-and-all approach he came up with, I’m working in a 5 ½” by 8 ½” lined notebook with black ink and colored pencils, no real artistic talent, and a love of comic cover recreations…