Pollock and Romita United!

The original look and feel for Spiderman was created by the iconic penciller and inker Steve Ditko back in the 60's.

The artist who made Spiderman truly a heroic figure though was Johnny Romita. He 'super-sized' Ditko's creation, fleshed him out, made him feel more substantial, more masssive and powerful. (No question - I'm going to get email now from the Ditko fans).

While working on a sketch for the Spiderman canvas above, I was struck by some of the limitations of comic art structure. You know, the hard ink line, the flat colors. Yes, there is a boldness about the color and shape of a typical superhero image that transcended the character. The hard black 'gesture-like' outlines light up my brain and the reds and blues boost the reaction. But I wanted more.

So I took a basic image of Spiderman and began playing with different settings for the background. And as soon as I added abstract paint backgrounds, I knew I had what I wanted.

This 'idea sketch' is based on using Jackson Pollock's "Number 8" (1949) painting as a background with Spidey up front. Yes, Photoshop is as important a tool as a good sable brush.

My apologies to both Tim Sale (who inked this version of Spiderman) and Pollock's estate. This was only an exercise in mashing genres and images.

(Painting shown here is Spiderman Abstract #1 2008 24" x 36" by Russ Smith. For a larger image, please click on the graphic.)