Spider-Man By Design

[Bruce Lee]

A while back, I was hired by Meredith Books to illustrate the OFFICIAL SPIDER-MAN 3 DELUXE SOUND BOOK. I was asked to submit a single illustration of Spider-Man as sort of an audition for the gig, and it landed me the job. Here's a look at that illustration:




From the start of the project, Meredith wanted this book to have an animated feel to it. Unfortunately, Marvel Entertainment had other ideas. I went through several animated style designs before we finally got Marvel to give us a "green light." Here's a few of them:

-Design A (Rough concept):

http://www.lostonwallace.com/spidey3design.jpg

-Design B was the same image as Design A, with the white webbing changed to gray webbing. I felt that the method for the webbing was not working at all at this point, and disliked the fat look of the linework, so I ditched the idea after this:
http://www.lostonwallace.com/spidey3designa.jpg

-Design C (Improved Webbing): This was a major improvement over the costume webbing found in designs A and B. The webbing was much thinner, and had a cleaner look to it which I liked. The raised webbing look was achieved in Photoshop via Bevelling and Embossing the linework of the webbing. This was the first design I felt good enough about to send on to Meredith. Meredith liked the look of this one and passed it along to Marvel Entertainment, who were dreadfully sluggish in getting back to us in regards to design approval:



When Marvel Entertainment finally got back to Meredith regarding my Spider-Man designs, I learned that Marvel did not like the stylized look of the designs. They feared that the sharp angles on the back of the head, ebows, and knees, were too extreme, and that kids wouldn't be able to connect with such a stylized version of Spider-Man. It was an issue of branding. Like it or not, the flat fingers and sharp edges had to go. Meredith was of a different opinion on the matter, liking a more animated look for their children's book, but in the end, Marvel Entertainment won out, so it was back to the drawing table for me.

-Design D (Altered style and Further Improved Webbing): Getting rid of the more stylized look to Spidey took some of the life out of the design, IMO, but Meredith still wanted the book to have an "animated" look (even though it was becoming clearer to me that Marvel Entertainment only wanted a more realistic approach--yikes). Meredith suggested that I smooth out the design, getting rid of the angles and edges, and the "fin" shape of Spidey's head, so I compliedI further tweaked the webbing embossment, and produced something I was more satisfied with on that front. This resulted in a much more recognizable Spider-Man, so I figured this design might finally receive the "green light" treatment:



This design was shot down too.

[Bruce Lee]

In the end, the design had to look slightly more realistic, yet could not be "comic booky". Branding was everyting to Marvel Entertainment, so that was that. I wasn't thrilled about watering down the feel of the book. I feel like the end result was a blander product, but since the book garnered me a sizable paycheck (the largest of my pro career), I learned to live with it.

-Example of a double-page layout spread in the book:

This was the layout for the final double page spread of the book, drawn in the more animated style. It's just a layout, but I was quite happy with how the more animated approach made Spidey leap off the page:



--Finished Color Art--

In the end, Spidey did become more generic-looking. There was nothing I could do about that with Marvel Entertainment calling the shots. Still, I had fun drawing Spidey, and even though the project was filled with lots of delays, personal disappointments, and was sometimes very frustrating, I count it as one of my favorite experiences to date.

[sdowner]

This is awesome, Loston. I totaly agree about your design troubles- the animated style looks so much better, especially in that double-page spread. Ah well.

Thanks for taking the time to do this, man- it's really enlightening to see your work broken down this way.

[sadman2000]

Sounds like the job was quite a head ache. Is professional work always that difficult?

[Werner]

To say you got to draw Spider-Man officially, that's something anybody can be proud of.

That's a great point to make, Werner. It's how I try to look at the experience too. I got to draw SPIDER-MAN! I'm very proud of that.


Loston

[Bruce Lee]

Sounds like the job was quite a head ache. Is professional work always that difficult?

No. This was a special circumstance. I was caught between three different camps who all seem to want something different where their product was concerned. It was rough, but I got through it. It was one of the most difficult assignments of my career, but it was also the highest paying gig I ever had as well. Spidey furnished the new house my wife and I had built, in fact. Can't beat that! Movie money is gggggggooood. . Give me more of that!

I rarely have had too many headache experiences in licensing, believe it or not. Most of the time everyone is on the same page, so the worst of it is doing a little redrawing every now and then, or facing a very tight deadline. As a licensing artist, my job is to handle all the problems that come my way. So far, I've been able to meet every challenge pretty well. It's a good line of work, providing you can make it steady work. The more things in production, the more likely you are to get more work, so I love hearing about comic book properties being turned into films or tv shows, and hate to hear about things being placed on the "back-burner". That's never good.



Loston

[sadman2000]

No. This was a special circumstance. I was caught between three different camps who all seem to want something different where their product was concerned. It was rough, but I got through it. It was one of the most difficult assignments of my career, but it was also the highest paying gig I ever had as well. Spidey furnished the new house my wife and I had built, in fact. Can't beat that! Movie money is gggggggooood. . Give me more of that!

I rarely have had too many headache experiences in licensing, believe it or not. Most of the time everyone is on the same page, so the worst of it is doing a little redrawing every now and then, or facing a very tight deadline. As a licensing artist, my job is to handle all the problems that come my way. So far, I've been able to meet every challenge pretty well. It's a good line of work, providing you can make it steady work. The more things in production, the more likely you are to get more work, so I love hearing about comic book properties being turned into films or tv shows, and hate to hear about things being placed on the "back-burner". That's never good.



Loston

Well that's definately good to hear, thanks Loston.

[The_Standard]

Loston,

Thanks for sharing the evolution of this job, I liked the Romita look to your spidey in your initial pitch But also thought the more animated look was good too.

[Bruce Lee]

Loston,

Thanks for sharing the evolution of this job, I liked the Romita look to your spidey in your initial pitch But also thought the more animated look was good too.

Thanks, man. I appreciate hearing that.

Loston

[spidey976]

Well Loston you know I have seen most of these pics ... and you know how much I respect both your original vision ... and your final work ... since I have the book for my son. I know that you enjoyed your original concept better ... and you know I love the ideas ... but I will say it again ... your final work was nothing to feel down about ... it was still amazing.

These are amazing threads Loston ... please keep them up.