Monday, May 5, 2014

Daily Quick Sketch: Thor

Had this sketch laying around for quite some time now. I believe it was initially drawn shortly after we saw the second Thor movie.

Fan Art: Thor in mid-float, colored digitally with Photoshop and ArtRage Pro

I went retro with the costume since it's the Thor costume I grew up seeing. I like the newer look of Thor's chain-mail textured suit seen in today's Marvel comics . . . But the classic Kirby style is the iconic look I prefer drawing. Probably because it is so "comic book."  If you were to wear such bright colors in real life, it would seem quite campy.

The original pencil sketch of classic Thor

While the modern style of superhero costumes tends to be more movie-like with realistic qualities, I feel the characters lose some of their iconic presence.  Every artist seems to take more liberties with how superheroes look today, which is a good and bad thing. (Look at Iron Man, he appears in so many difference suits - what is his traditional iconic look of today?)

Going slightly off topic: An example of comparing when a new costume design works for me and when it doesn't
(Images of Superman are the property of DC Comics)


Another good example is how Superman looked when DC's launch it's reboot with the New 52: Superman wore jeans, a t-shirt, and his cape. It was very enjoyable seeing him look more like an ordinary person. Then, several months later, DC's New 52 decided to make Superman's suit look like armor. He's Superman . . . Why does he need armor? DC's New 52 seemed like they were on the right track . . . But then they did a complete 180 and made his costume worse by adding the metallic armor style.

I'd rather see Superman go through 200 t-shirts and jeans a week, where every fight looks like he was in a battle. I never liked the idea that Superman would come out of a major battle without a single thread of this costume being torn or damaged.