Drawing the Webbing of Spider-Man's Costume Tutorial

[Bruce Lee]

Here's a "down and dirty" four-step visual guide to drawing the webbing on Spider-Man's costume. This was done very quickly as sort of an overlay guide for someone on PJ. The proportions of the Spidey figures are a bit off, but that's not the focus here--the idea of how to construct the webbing is still very sound. I know this is not an in-depth tutorial like some might prefer, but this simple step-by-step illustration should be useful all the same, and should be self explanatory. However, if you have any questions about things, I'll try to provide some answers for you.

http://www.lostonwallace.com/spideycostume.jpg

Loston

[NickRocks]

you should do one about spideys hands. thats the part i think everyone has the most trouble with :)

[KrisDiaz]

for such and old character i have the hardest time on that damn outfit! i cant imagine doing it back in the days!....btw if hes a spiderman why is he blue and red?

[Bruce Lee]

for such and old character i have the hardest time on that damn outfit! i cant imagine doing it back in the days!....btw if hes a spiderman why is he blue and red?

He was originally red and black (like a black widow's coloration), not "red and blue" as his costume is commonly thought of today. In the old days of four-color comics there were a limited number of colors to chose from. Blue was often used as a highlight for black, because it was the closest choice of color. That's also why Superman had "blue" hair highlights. Superman had black hair, but blue was the closest color available to use as a highlight color choice.

Originally, the black parts of Spidey's costume had only small areas of highlight (which were colored blue). Black ink dominated the non-red areas. Over they years, larger and larger areas of blue highlights found their way into the costume, so now Spidey's costume is referred to as being "red and blue". It wasn't original supposed to be red and blue, but that's how it is now perceived.

Loston

[AlphaMale73]

Awesome tutorial man. You make it look simple and now it is!

[Bruce Lee]

Awesome tutorial man. You make it look simple and now it is!

Glad you liked the visual tut, Alpha. Drawing the webbing on Spidey's costume isn't easy, but if you work things out step-by-step, tackling the webbing section by section, you'll get the hang of things. The important thing is to remember that the webbing should help define the figure. Following the contour of the body in the second and third step is crucial to making the costume look credible. :pj:

Loston

[AlphaMale73]

The important thing to remember is an electric eraser too lol!

[rdarkstream]

what about a side view?

[Bruce Lee]

what about a side view?

Honestly, if you can manage the front of Spidey, drawing the webbing from the side shouldn't be too difficult to figure out. The only potential area of difficult might arise when you're drawing Spider-Man's mask from a profile POV. So, I prepared a little step-by-step on how to draw the webbing of Spider-Man's mask in profile in seven easy steps:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/spideymask.jpg

1. Draw in the shape and contours of Spidey's head, drawing in the eye visible from this POV. I usually draw in his jaw line and his ear just so I can get an idea where his features are, but that's really a matter of preference.

2. Starting from between Spidey's eyes (at the top of the nose) draw in the radiating vector lines of the mask's web pattern. These are the backbone of the web design (You'll be adding in the connecting "cross beams" of the webbing later).

3. In this step, with you pencil, lightly begin drawing in guide lines for the webbing's connecting "cross beams". I recommend starting with the facial hemisphere of the mask first, creating a center circle that encompasses the bottom of Spidey's nose, and just above his brow. The second circle should start around the area of Spider-Man's mouth and should almost surround the edge of the black borders around Spidey's eyes. The last guide line for "cross beams" on the facial hemisphere starts at the chin, rounds just at the ears, and then winds back to the very top of the Wall-crawler's head.

4. Now it's time to set up the guide lines for the back hemisphere of Spidey's mask and for his neck. The main difference here is that these guide lines curve backwards in a different way (see image). At this point, you should end up with a sizable gap at the back of Spidey's head, just between the facial hemisphere of the mask and the back hemisphere. We'll take care of this in step 5.

5. This step is very important in getting the mask right in profile. There's one last guide line to put into place here, and it fits into the side of the mask in a triangular wedge-like way. Starting at the top of Spidey's head (see arrow on image) we're going to draw a curving line that will intercept with the vectoring line of Spidey's webbing that runs just below spidey's ear. Now you have the guide lines set up, and you're ready to do the final webbing lines.

6. Begin adding in the curving lines of the "cross beams", using the lightly pencilled-in guide lines as points of reference. You can deviate from the guide lines some if you need to. Remember that the circular guide lines you put down serve as placeholding reminders. I like to start at the front hemisphere of Spidey's mask and work backwards. I think that's the best way to go about things.

7. You should end up with a very familiar Spectacular Spider-Man mask when you're done. :)


SMART TIP: Remember that there's the human head and face of Peter Parker underneath the mask, so when you are drawing Spidey's mask, the facial shapes of features like the nose, cheek bones, chin, brow and even Pete's ears should be taken into account in your drawing. This should hold true whether you're doing a more realistically drawn Spider-Man or if you're drawing a more animated, simplified stylized approach. The shapes of the featues as they effect the shape of the mask are important, as they get across believability and credibility.

Hope that helps some, rdarkstream. Spidey's costume is a little complex, but once you figure out the basics, you're home free.

Loston

UPDATE: Here is a more detailed STEP-BY-STEP depicting how to draw SPIDER-MAN'S mask from the front Point Of View.

http://www.lostonwallace.com/spideymasktutorial.jpg

[Saturn Lad]

Nice addition to the tutorial!

[Bruce Lee]

Nice addition to the tutorial!

Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate it.

Loston

[The_Standard]

Sweet facial advice, Romita would be proud.

[Bruce Lee]

Sweet facial advice, Romita would be proud.

I don't know about that, but I'm glad you like it, man. :)

Loston

[bdog]

Great tutorial helped alot

[spidey976]

Sweet facial advice, Romita would be proud.

I think he probably would be seeing as you are helping guys like us ... this is an awesome thread Loston. Thanks for all of your help.

[Bruce Lee]

No problem, guys. I'm happy to help shine the light on things like this. I want to do a tutorial on Thing's rocky skin at some point. Seems to me a lot of artists struggle with the Thing sometimes.

Loston

[Geekboy]

Nice tutorial and I've always loved the clean lines of a John Romita Sr. Spider-Man over the over-rendering of, say, a Todd McFarlane one. Sure, Ditko had more webs on his Spider-Man, but that was Ditko. None of us ever have been or ever shall be Ditko. He could get away with it. We can not.

[Cuddly]

It's been said before but it bears repeating - this is a great thread!

My pet peeve (and you and I have discussed this before Loston) is people not getting the classic Spidey mask right. The key thing is to look closely at the mask Loston drew and notice that one line goes from the middle of the top of the head down to in-between the eyes. That line then becomes two lines that go from in between the eyes down to the jaw line. It doesn't work any other way. For example, there is no center line from between the eyes down to the jaw line. It just doesn't look right when drawn that way. Conversely, two lines up without the line in the middle looks off also.

Also, the scalloping of the webs on his limbs needs to change depending on the perspective Spidey is drawn in. IIRC, it should always be drawn in the opposite direction from the natural curvature of the muscles. This is to avoid the webbing reinforcing the muscles' curvature and making the figure in perspective look "lumpy". I hope I remembered that right.

Incidentally, is the under-armpit webbing still considered part of the costume anymore? I prefer it, but is it considered "on model" these days?

Also, I second NickGuy's comment about the webbing on the hands (especially the palms) and fingers being a pain. Is there a proper way to draw that?

[SumOne]

hey loston i jus did a spidey n w.i.p n i wanted to know if you could give me pointers on the fingers..how to do the webbing that is if your not to piled up with work

[Bruce Lee]

hey loston i jus did a spidey n w.i.p n i wanted to know if you could give me pointers on the fingers..how to do the webbing that is if your not to piled up with work

I can do that. SumOne, first off you should know that no two artists draw Spidey's costume exactly the same way--Steve Ditko drew it differently than John Romita, Gil Kane drew it different than that, etc--so there's no exact definitive costume design. But most everyone who has ever drawn the Spider-Man costume for print has tried to keep within certain reasonable perimeters. That said, most artists interpret the webbing on Spidey's gloves to be something like this:

http://www.lostonwallace.com/spideygloves.jpg

The amount of rings around the fingers or curving webbing inside the palm area of the glove often varies, but the above is more or less the basic look of Spider-Man's hand wear.

I hope this helps. :)

Loston

[dextross]

Nice! I'm glad you started a sketch thread

[Bruce Lee]

Here is an update. A more detailed STEP-BY-STEP tutorial on how to draw Spider-Man's mask from a front POV. I've added this to the front of this tutorial also for the sake of convenience.


http://www.lostonwallace.com/spideymasktutorial.jpg