Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

This project is special for both good reasons and, unfortunately, sad ones. A little over a year ago, I found out about someone living with a genetic disorder called Epidermolysis Bellosa. I'm not revealing any personal information about him to protect his family's privacy. I found out about him and this disease through a video segment. I noticed that he had a lot of Spider-Man merch in his room. Seeing what he went through every day, and yet still have love in his heart, inspired me to give him another reason to smile. That being said, I channeled my mutual passion into crafting the best Spider-Man sketch I've ever done to date. Today, you have the culmination of that effort. An 11 x 17" hand-trimmed Canson sheet with mixed media.

I want to focus first on the details of this sketch. I wanted to do something that was pure Spider-Man. At first I thought a battle with one of his greatest enemies, but the thing is what he did in his spare time, where he hung around, and how he hung around was just as visually captivating in this books I read. He could be doing something as casual as reading the newspaper while sitting in a web-hammock thirty stories above a busy street and still look awesome. He could be pacing back and forth upside down stressing over a girl or a bill or even Aunt May. But for this project I wanted to get Peter Parker in a composition that was peaceful yet exhilarating to stare at. Spider-Man and water towers go back as far as when he almost drowned in one in Amazing Spider-Man Vol.1 #2 by the Vulture, so I thought why not? The water tower I used for reference exists, overlooking Central Park, but I deliberately changed the texture of the wood and channeled my inner McNiven with my lines. The complete rendering of that water tower was a study in light and shadow, as well as in perspective. That's where my inner Ditko came in; throwing in the deep shadow helped me immensely to capture that classic imagery of the background. Since I wanted to further ground the character in New York, I threw in a close up of a pigeon. Admittedly it was my first time drawing a pigeon so it was a study in everyone's favorite guest to a bread feast in the park. With the empty blue space at the left, I felt that I had to throw something in there to create depth, so I sketched a flock of pigeons in shadow. The sun's position helped justify the lack of details. (Hoo-boy, drawing those wings and plumage, people.) Speaking of, I did something like this for a Superman sketch a while back. and decided to replicate that effect. The sun effect was achieved through a combination of colorless blender, Acrylic titanium white paint, and thinned-out titanium white. I'm satisfied with the overall effect I accomplished on the sky.

Now here is what makes this achievement a little hollow. The recipient of this sketch sadly passed away from his illness before I could complete the projec.t In all honesty, I feel like hell. I set about this endeavor to give him something to smile at when he woke up in the morning. It hurts knowing he'll never get to see it. I'm still sending the sketch to the family after I personalize it. That part of the job I'm not I'm not posting. I'm trying my best to roll with it. I have his name affixed to my table as a reminder. I only pray that he's finally at peace. And I hope that through his family he can see what I did for him.