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Artwork Details
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DescriptionHere we have a splendid commission of Moon Knight by artist/inker extraordinaire Kevin Nowlan.When Mr Nowlan was announced as a guest to my local convention, I tried hard to reach him in order to possibly commission him. You see, Kevin is one of the artists whose work I would obsessively collect as a teen (along Art Adams, Byrne, Perez, Golden, Mignola, Alan Davis and quite a few others). So I was over excited by his coming. When he reached back to me, I asked if he would be open to a bigger quality option than his usual (splendid) full figures with no or minimal backgrounds on 8 by 11. So we settled on 11 by 17 with full backgrounds, a cover quality commission as per Mr Nowlan's own words. I personally think that the "this should be a cover" comment is over used in our hobby regarding pieces (some of mine included) that IMHO don't qualify. In the present occurrence, only Mr Nowlan can feel comfortable enough with the result to agree or not but I certainly don't feel cheated by the result compared to his own qualification. Now about the choice of character. It's no secret that Kevin draws a mean Batman and that he gets asked to draw Dr Strange a lot, his own fav' character per his own admission (and it shows). I wanted something different and a bit more original for myself and went back to his art beginnings when he drew a short stint on ol' MK after Bill Sienkiewickz' legendary tenure. And I loved it of course, fully recognizing (then and now) that he would soar to higher artistic levels. (so no, nothing to do with the upcoming tv show with the oh so great mummy costume). So. Moon Knight. On NYC rooftops. Under the moon (obviously. Was my request. To my astonishment given Mr Nowlan's stature as an artist, the process was quite collaborative. I had reread all his major interviews to prepare meeting him and told him that I LOVED several pieces showcased therein, his battered buildings, full of holes, textures and glorious cross hatching (a Batgirl-Joker piece comes to mind). Then Mr Nowlan showed me layouts, parts of inking and even asked me if the moon in the night sky should be round or a crescent. Crescent was a nice reflect of his own costume but I thought round was the way to go as it would make for a better composition. Should his mask be fully inked of finely cross hatched to delineate parts of his features. I thought that blackening them out would be more dramatic. The use of perspective, the chosen camera position, the different type of buildings, the water tank (!), the smoke leading your eye in parallel to MK and the different inking techniques makes for an exceptional piece. Simply put (and IMHO, which is certainly biased), PERFECTION if I can say so myself, from a TRUE modern master (another over abused qualification in our hobby). I will conclude by saying that given Mr Nowlan's stature in the industry (a true artist's artist) and artistic chops, I find extremely refreshing that he keeps finding pleasure in drawing the stupid super-heroes we love so much. Many thanks to Mr Nowlan for accepting my request, all the nice chats and (many) signatures. This is part two of my 2022 CAF B-day party. Social/Sharing |
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Comments on this Artwork
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Mark V 
Member Since 2021
1 - Posted on 2/8/2022
Congratulations and a happy CAF-bday. Amazing piece by one of my personal favorites. Nowlan didn't need to be so collaborative and communicative but the fact that he was says so much about him as an artist and human being.
Ruben DaCollector
Member Since 2008
1 - Posted on 2/8/2022
A magnificently succesful commission! It's even giving me flashbacks to the Moon Knight pieces he drew for the original Moon Knight series 40 years ago. The background is everything, by the way. Without it, all you have is a character floating in a void. This is spectacular, congrats!
E DLS
Member Since 2005
1 - Posted on 2/8/2022
Nobody does these great low angle shots like Kevin. It's a great way to not only feature the character, but also provides a great perspective for the elaborate backgrounds he does. Amazing piece, so jealous! Congratulations!
Harry M
Member Since 2006
1 - Posted on 2/8/2022
As a resident of NYC I always a good Manhattan cityscape. Add Moon Knight and the moon, what more can you ask? Congrats.
J H
Member Since 2019
1 - Posted on 2/8/2022
Happy Birthday, FM! And what a way to celebrate. It's almost not fair that Nowlan is both a top penciller and inker. And boy does it show here. You led him to some great choices that he absolutely killed. Black out inks was a great choice. And I love the bullet damage around him to the building. Perfect. Big congrats!
Duke Fleed aka #1 Groo Fan
Member Since 2013
1 - Posted on 2/8/2022
A fantastic effort by Nowlan! Love the lighting in particular. Huge Congrats!
Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005
1 - Posted on 2/8/2022
Nice and lean heroic piece! Nowlan art is fantastically composed to show the ideal image and his inking has the refined delineation for a high class look.
Ian Saint
Member Since 2021
2 - Posted on 2/9/2022
I really love what he did here by making the moon blank, then taking the cityscape and transposing the craters of the moon ever so subtly across the NYC cityscape. Artistry at its best. Its like you can feel the power of moon knight breathing across the page. Bravo!!! 🙌
Michael McIsaac
Member Since 2020
1 - Posted on 2/9/2022
Easily one of the best depictions of Moon Knight that I've ever seen, which is saying a lot given the pedigree of the artists who have worked on his titles over the decades. Always wonderful to hear about a positive commission experience as well. Congrats!
Jason Hussa
Member Since 2017
1 - Posted on 2/9/2022
WOW, F M - yeah, "cover quality" commission... check. This is obscenely gorgeous - FANTASTIC idea reaching out to him beforehand to score the larger size and backgrounds (and thanks for the story about the process - really fun to read, and good to hear!), because the end result here is extraordinary. The full moon nails down the composition (although, really, I have a hunch we'd be saying the exact same thing if there was a Kevin Nowlan crescent moon featured on the piece... :) ), and you HAVE to go with the darkened face to capture the character in the era you were after. Such a beautiful piece, F M. Happy birthday, sir, and thank you for giving US the presents by posting pieces like this here for us all to enjoy! MEGA-congrats!
Rick W
Member Since 2017
1 - Posted on 2/9/2022
Brilliant commission. The erosion of the concrete takes this to the moon!
Tommy Kohlmaier
Member Since 2008
1 - Posted on 2/9/2022
Striking splash piece and as usual with Kevin, superb drawn and inked! Makes appetite for the soon to come MCU/Disney series with the great Oscar Isaac.
Comic Art Channel
Member Since 2018
1 - Posted on 2/9/2022
Definitely went all out here. Great background work and Moon Knight image! Congrats!
Killian Cramers
Member Since 2017
1 - Posted on 2/9/2022
As I said at FACTS,as well, amazing piece! Hope you're well!
Kirk Dilbeck (3-Wishes and Patron-of-art)
Member Since 2006
1 - Posted on 2/9/2022
Awesome artist, great choice and great piece!
Johnny M
Member Since 2014
Forum Moderator
1 - Posted on 2/10/2022
Nowlan's Moon Knight is so classic! Congrats.
A K
Member Since 2017
1 - Posted on 2/11/2022
What a great commission and story to go along with this amazing piece of art! Thank you for sharing!
Seidzai 1
Member Since 2010
1 - Posted on 2/12/2022
Great character choice. Nowlan is one of the all-time greats.
K Gearon
Member Since 2011
1 - Posted on 2/18/2022
Super heroic shot of MK. Got the triumphant kind of pose, enhanced with the upward perspective. Nice use of shadow, and super effective that his face is completely shadowed in outside of the eyes. Also...no corners cut on the fore and background. Wow. Definitely a winning image all around. Big congrats, man!
Jason Caldwell
Member Since 2014
1 - Posted on 8/9/2023
A PERFECT choice of character - and Nowlan just rocked this SO HARD!
It should indeed be a cover- or at least a published pinup!
Like you, I like throwing artists a curve ball to break them out of the rut of fans asking for the same stuff.
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