Thursday, December 9, 2010

Inspiration Thursday!

You just know that after I had so much fun drawing the Creeper on Tuesday that I was going to have to give him a spin! Let me take this opportunity to talk a little bit more about Steve Ditko, the creator of the Creeper and also of a few other characters you might have heard of.

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Steve Ditko, along with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are near-universally recognized as the men responsible for the creation of the Marvel Universe in the 1960's. Ditko is the creator or co-creator of Dr. Strange, all his various villains and supporting characters, made contributions to the Hulk and Iron Man books, and, oh yeah... he's responsible for (along with Stan Lee) Spider-Man.

You've heard of him, right? Ditko is easily one the best, and most important, artist in comics history. Spider-Man really embodies that. Let me just list Ditko contributions to his universe, and let that speak for itself.

Spider-Man. Dr. Octopus. J. Jonah Jameson. The Vulture. The Lizard. The Green Goblin. Sandman. Kraven. The Chameleon. Electro. And possibly the most acclaimed Spider-Man story ever, "The Final Chapter" (from issue number 33). Man, the guy's great.

I tend to be drawn (ba da boom!) to artists who's work is more 'illustrative', but Ditko imagination is so pure that it's infective. There's an energy and a passion to what he draws that it almost doesn't seem like drawing; it can feel almost like his imagination is simply transcribed on the page, instantly captured from his mind.

If I've peaked your curiosity (and I've left out big, big chunks of his career) check out the well-done documentary on him. It's free, it's on YouTube. Check it.

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The Creeper is definitely one of Ditko's lesser creations, but still incredibly interesting and fun to draw. I did a loose pencil drawing here of the Creeper, trying to capture a little bit of that loopy, easy 'Ditko jump'. I'm definitely going to ink him at some point.

Hope you like!

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