Monday, May 2, 2011

Hawkeye for Heywood



New rule. Don’t blog after 11:00 p.m. Whew. Care for some cheese with that whine? Sorry about that. After a nice overnight stay visiting my parents (requiring some fancy logistics in order to keep Tooncie properly medicated) my batteries are nicely recharged and I feel a lot better. Moving right along.

A while back, my buddy Mike (who posts as Heywood Jablomie...a screen name that cracked me up when I finally got it) emailed me. He had a DVD set he suspected I’d be interested in and offered it up. I was interested but I felt bad just taking it so he suggested I draw him something in return. He said he was on a Hawkeye “kick” lately and requested a quick sketch. Well, for what he was offering, I didn’t think a sketch on copier paper would be a fair trade so I drew this up on 11x17 bristol board and threw in some extras. I’ve long been a fan of the old Marvel Comics “floating head” covers and have wanted to draw one since I was a kid. When I “took over” for Mike, drawing for his friend Carlton (which lasted maybe 3 or 4 10-page comics along with a couple of failed long-form efforts) I managed to throw in a couple of them. Looking for reference for the classic Hawkeye outfit, I came across several old AVENGERS covers with the heads on them and knew I had to do it. I struggled mightily with the Scarlet Witch (I’m still bothered by her right eye) but the rest were a lot of fun.

I think the “Mike” influence is pretty obvious in the main figure but, to me, Iron Man looks like J.R., Jr. and with the Vision, I was trying for the Jim Starlin version. With Cap, that’s pure me.

I hope you like it.

Meanwhile, the trip to my old hometown, however brief, really got me re-stoked for the HAND ME DOWN HORROR. There were some character bits and parts I wasn’t satisfied that I couldn’t work out and some solutions actually came to me in my sleep. The story is set in a small, isolated Virginia town and getting back to Rustburg must have kicked something loose. It’s true what they say. You should always step away from your story for a while to recharge and then come back to it with fresh eyes.

Later.

8 comments:

craig rousseau said...

holy crap, brother - this is just all sorts of AWESOME!

Josh said...

Great art!

todd said...

oh, man--i LOVE that pin-up so much i wanna take it out behind the school and get it pregnant~!
love the big heads and you NAILED the jr jr on iron man and the starlin shadowed eyes on vision. and, personally, i think the scarlet witch is perfect, so quit yer whinin' about the one eye!! (i see nothing wrong with it...) and i dig that cap! he looks truly surprised and it's such a great expression!
heh. and the hawkeye ain't bad either. i see a little mike in the halo, but other than that, dude--that's pure matt!

and yeah, isn't it funny how your mind will figure out some problems for you when you're asleep. when i' having trouble with a story point or something, i'll often assign my brain to work on it while i'm asleep and about 80% of the time, in the morning--bam!--there's your story!
and getting away from it all can re-charge you on so many levels--i just had that happen this weekend !
great pin-up, matt!
can't wait to see more HMDH!!

Unknown said...

Nice work Matt!

Warren said...

Duuude... nailed.

I thought I was looking at some classic Perez or Keith Pollard.

Sweet.

Adam Hutch said...

I read that issue! I'm jealous. Nice job Matt!

Brian said...

I loved those old floating head covers and, Man, you nailed this one.

Leanne said...

WOW, this is FANTASTIC, Matt! I'm totally jealous of Heywood now.