Spidey and Gobby Call A Truce
The Idea, The Inking and Overall Process behind Spidey and Gobby at the playground.
Sam Raimi’s Spiderman movies got me into reading comics. I read the original comics from Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (that I still read today - up to #161) and Ultimate Spiderman, which was a modern day retelling of Spiderman. Before this, I was strictly a newspaper comic strip man. Willem Dafoe plays a perfect Green Goblin for the time and proves even more how awesome he is in Spiderman: No Way Home.
Sure Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst look too old to be in high school. Sure, Aunt May and Uncle Ben look too old to exist, let alone raise a teenager. Sure, some of the effects like when MJ’s concrete balcony that was just blasted by a pumpkin bomb defies gravity like a Looney Tunes cartoon for the sake of drama and looks totally fake. But forget that! It’s supposed to be a fun, my Uncle died because of me, my best friend’s father went insane, stalks and tries to kill me and my family, sort of fun night out at the movies! Don’t overthink it!
Spidey and Gobby Call a Truce - The Idea
I came up with the idea for my Truce Series in the Spring of last year. I thought it would be fun and wholesome to show rivals having fun together and being friends. I thought about how kids can hate each other one minute and then easily forget what happened a minute ago and be playing and having fun five minutes later. I think that’s something adults can learn from kids. Letting things go and being free. I thought it was a good way to portray my favorite pop culture rivalries and by making them kids, I can explore their worlds and make references to their movies or tv shows in many clever ways.
For instance, we have Spiderman and Green Goblin both flying high and swinging from a swing set in a playground here. We have Spidey trying to shoot a web while Gobby is throwing pumpkins at a MJ doll and a Roosevelt Island Tram windup toy! I like to cram a lot of chicken fat (as Will Elder would call it!) into a piece but I need to remind myself sometimes less is more. This is actually the second piece I did for the series though it is the first in the Spiderman trilogy.
The Process Behind It
For a long time, I didn’t thumbnail work. I just had an idea in my head and went right into the final sketch. Then I would be frustrated when I was struggling to get a composition or certain pose to work. Weird. Working traditionally means you can’t rotate, select and resize and expand the canvas - you really need to plan it out before hand. I started a few years back using a sketchbook solely for thumbnails and planning out work. I’ve never felt more free sketching than when I am in this book. Before my sketchbooks had to be perfect and I realized that’s not what a sketchbook is for. Now this book is falling apart and more pages are out of it than are in it but it does it’s job nicely! This piece encompassed just two pages in this sketchbook.
In the beginning, I thought of having them on a rollercoaster together but quickly scrapped it for the swing set and park setting. I write little notes to myself for later and it allows me to fail safely. (Though it won’t stop me from writing things like “Why Matt? Why?” in the margins when I do something dumb)
After getting the poses and elements set, I worked to figure out the composition and the layout of the setting and how everything will interact within it. As you can see, I worked with different ideas for the playground elements. I relied on the rule of thirds grid to get as many of my focal points on those dots. This makes a daunting piece a little less scary to sit down and sketch.
Pencil sketch on Bristol Board - Non-Photo Blue pencil on 14x11 board (yes I can see what is happening here - I think…)
I do every piece traditionally with a sketch and then ink either with a brush, pen nib and india ink or recently, a tombow for quick linework. The first time I have ever done a piece of art completely digital from sketch to final was the end of Dec. 2023 when I was playing with ProCreate for the first time on my iPad. I usually like to use a non-photo blue pencil because it allows me to be loose and not see the looseness in the sketch. I love the look of the blue pencil under inked line and the fact that I don’t have to erase after inking. It works for me.
This piece was inked traditionally with a #2 Sable brush and India Ink. Only the piping for the swing set was inked with an .01 Micron and a grid ruler.
As a good rule of thumb, I try to work from top left to bottom right since I am a righty and from back to front if I can to layer up. Thicker lines and more variation as I go forward and on my focal points.
I usually don’t stop to take pictures because it can kill my flow but I did it here to give my hand even a minute break from inking.
Final inks - sigh, now for color…
Color - We meet again…
I mostly color digitally in Adobe Photoshop. For this series, I really wanted to push my brushes and textures a bit more than in the future. This piece in particular gave me a lot of frustration as I tried to figure out the colors and the time of day I wanted to portray. I had 3-5 different versions with different overlays and adjustments. I would look at them at different times and like one more than another and later on, I would completely change my mind. This went on for days.
I decided on the nighttime twilight coloring because it fit with the mood of the piece but also fit the scene I was referencing from the movie. I didn’t want to do complete night time because why would they be in the park playground at night? Also the street lamps would be on which would change it up for me too. Am I overthinking this? I’m definitely overthinking it… If you ever think something comes naturally and easy for a creative, most of the time it’s a battle you hope you win in the end. Really,ost of the time, you don’t know if you won or lost.
More late afternoon in this version
A bit darker here with some purple but still too light for me.
My final version or as the file name probably says “SpideyGobbyTruce_FinalVersion_4_ThisOne”
I hope you liked a little peek behind the curtain drawing board! I’d love to hear what you think about this piece, my process and general thoughts on old man Tobey as Petey Parkey! Just reply to this email!
Until next time - Be Smart. Be Kind. Stay Safe. Stay Well. Do Some Amazing Art!