Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Mighty Thor! 1.3


This Thor has gone through many iterations, but this is the one I like the best.  It's still a bit of an ongoing story, so I'll save the whole thing for the Thor 2.0 series, where I try to do something more...painterly, with this image.


Here's the first pass, and then a color revision, with some minor tweaks with the hammer, hammer hand, bigger eyes and a more robust cape, made on advice from a valued and experienced friend.

So this whole Thor thing was a sample request from Marvel, whom I'd met with at WonderCon last month.  The meeting went great, the portfolio I showed was mostly made up of the stuff from the last few months, Fantastic Four, Black Manta, etc.  and I was asked to do this Thor the week after.

I then worked with an assistant talent manager (or something), and the whole thing died with him.  First it was rejected for not being colorful enough, and after a rejected color revision pass, I did those tweaks after talking to my friend about what I was doing wrong.  It finally devolved into a it just not being 'painterly.'

I do and I don't know what that means.  I realized that this style is more 'slick' and clean, and is maybe more closer to packaging type art, versus illustrative art, but my portfolio was all the same thing, consistent in style, so why have me do a sample in the first place, when you're going to act surprised by what I turn in?

Like I said, this was not done for the person I met with at the Con, and haven't heard anything from him, during or since this mini-ordeal.  But guess what?  I love to paint, and I think it's a great image, so look for the Thor 2.0 series, The Painted Version, when I hopefully can continue this story with a happy ending.  Marvel has been a tough nut to crack, but it's really one of the last 'dream projects' I have on my artistic bucket list...

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