Wacky Reference Wednesdays, No. 97
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Labels: Color / Color Studies / Covers / Inked / Painted / Photoshop / Wacky Reference Wednesdays
R. Kikuo Johnson. Building a Better Teacher, Cover. 2010.
Ink and watercolor on bristol board, 12 x 16".
My colleague (and long-time roommate), R. Kikuo Johnson, illustrated the cover story of last weekend's New York Times Magazine (you can see his other illustrations and read the article at their site). When he needed a quick reference for the cover figure, who better than a professional male model—me! While I admit that I'm not looking my best here, I know that personal vanities must surrender to the greater good if society is to progress (but man does my head look big).
At the bottom of the post, Kikuo was kind enough to provide us with a preliminary sketch for the cover (he uses Photoshop for color studies as well). The project took much longer than originally anticipated, going through several drafts and disparate iterations. It made me really appreciate the scarcity of revisions I'm required to make for my Marvel editors.
By the way, I'm going to count this as the first official preview of my current Spidey project. Those are pages from the 3rd issue on the wall behind me. You may not be able to see anything, but I'd probably get in trouble if you could. And besides, I think the big announcement will be next month.
The flip-flops really bring this home for me.
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..And the facial expression
ReplyDeleteTruly you are the teacher of the future, Paolo!
True commitment would'be been wearing high heels, Paolo.
ReplyDeleteI live for my art, but I do have my limits.
ReplyDeleteHeh - Very funny tease about the upcoming Spidey work Paolo...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael. I've got another tease coming tomorrow. And I'm in the midst of painting the first promotional image... to be unveiled at C2E2.
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