Earth's Mightiest Sketch Blog: Iron Man

Much like the Flash, Iron Man was a character I felt an affection for very early on in my childhood. Also as with the Flash, I knew next to nothing about the character of Iron Man or the man behind the mask, I just knew there was something about the visual aesthetic that I really dug. Did I just have a thing for the red and yellow color scheme? Maybe, but with Iron Man, I was also really into the smooth sleekness of the look and thought the integration of technology was cool as well. I always thought armored characters were cool, from Iron Man right on down to Prototype of Ultraverse fame.

(Note to self: write an entry on the Ultraverse some time; also see if Kiel read those books, because I bet he did)

So I was both excited and nervous to draw Iron Man because I think his look is so cool. I chose to go with the armor design I remembered as classic and seminal to my youth that he wore in the 70's and early 80's, with a few moderate tweaks on my part. Here's what I came up with...

Initially, I found myself extremely frustrated and having to redo this one more times than either of the others thus far. For starters, I felt like I couldn't find a dynamic enough pose and my rough sketches all had Iron Man looking too stationary, which I don't think of whan I think of the character. Ultimately, I don't feel like I totally licked this problem and the final product still looks a bit stiff and lumbering, but I find it improved from where I started, and sometimes that's all you can ask for.

I also had way more trouble with the helmet at first than I figured I would, but am pretty satisfied with how I handled that. For awhile my attempts looked more like a guy wearing weird facepaint than a helmet, until I realized that it's all about making the faceplate a separate piece from the rest. Once that clicked in, I think I nailed it.

Overall, not my strongest effort in my opinion, and that may be partly because I think Iron Man is an inherently strong design and have a better picture in my head, but not a total failure. I learned as I worked and think aside from the helmet, I did really well with the chestplate and tweaked boots. A learning experience, but an enjoyable one.