Morrow, Gray - For Men Only Annual #8 Illustration (1972)

From Heritage's description - "If the title didn't already give it away, For Men Only made no secret of its target audience, packing its pages with hardboiled stories, sensational articles, and eye-catching pictorials. The magazine began as a men's adventure staple in the 1950s and '60s, then veered into far more adult territory in the 1970s under Magazine Management, the company that would eventually become Marvel Entertainment. Morrow pulls no punches in this illustration, portraying a crazed gunman gleefully unloading bullets into four helpless men. Created in gouache on illustration board with an approximate image area of 18.75" x 12.75"."

This illustration shows Gray Morrow's great ability and facility with his craft. Gouache's special qualities include its rich opacity, velvety matte finish, and unique re-workability, acting like an opaque watercolor that dries fast, allowing for layering and easy corrections by reactivating with water, making it great for vibrant illustrations, design work, and urban sketching. Acrylic paints include an acrylic polymer, whereas gouache contains Arabic gum, is water-based and dries to matte finish (the same that is used in watercolors–means that it can be reactivated with water).