Stingray by Colton Worley

A few folks on CAF have gotten painted commissions from Colton and after seeing a couple, I knew I needed to add one to the collection. Colton specializes in a hyper-realistic style that is almost Alex Ross adjacent, though generally more moody. This is easly the most realistic take on Stingray that I've seen. His armor looks like armor here, thick lines clearly delineating the various plates and pieces of a more tactical looking armor than we are used to seeing for Stingray. He looks like he ditched the swim team to join the SWAT team. The helmet atcually looks like a helmet here, not just a hood stretched down over his head. The downward facing arrow is now a reflective face plate, and there are some form of protruberence on the sides of the helmet that look vaguely like eyes? I assume that's where his ears go, but it does kind of give the whole thing a fishy feel. The helmet also makes it feel like Stingray could fit in with the characters from Gatchaman.

When Colton first sent me a photo of the finished painting, I saw it on my phone and thought that those were storm clouds brewing, but now I'm pretty sure they're meant to be rocky outcroppings. Stingray is plumbing the depths. I love how Colton has decided to portray Stingray's electic bolt as though it were lightning coming from his finger tips. The white light from this energy spreads across his hands and the upper portions of the cape, and is directly reflected in the face plate. The lighting on the hands in particular gives me Hildebrandt vibes. The tactical nature of the armor and the lighting bolt against a deep blue background makes me think of this as a Dark Knight Returns version of Stingray. He's not quite as thicc, but I can imagine him finally curb stomping Namor if he goes too far. In addition to being realistic, this is one of the most bad ass versions of Stingray I've seen. 

16 x 20 oil on canvas.

Watch me unfurl this one here:
Art Unboxing - The Dark Sting Returns