Random Sketch 01: Do it the MARVEL Way!

So, I've been practice sketching a few pieces of the Erol Otus Competition (EOC) piece along with just random doodles. I think the idea of the EOC has me freaked out a bit--so it's easier just to whip out a random sketch here or there that has no bearing on the piece, but still gives me a chance to practice. My skills aren't exactly progressing the way I would like, but I have enlisted help....

Meet Mr. Stan Lee and Mr. John Buscema!

That's right, there's no easy road to perfection or greatness, but there are shortcuts to mediocrity and by Jove I've found one! "How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way" (Hereafter refered to by the ridiculous acronym HTDTMW) is actually a wonderful book if you're just learning to sketch and want to infuse your characters/human figures with dynamic poses. There's also a basic lesson on perspective that comes in handy. Now, I've read about a dozen or so sketch books in my time and they are all the same:

• Step 1: Basic shapes
• Step 2: Perspective
• Step 3: Human figures - loose sketches
• Step 4: Filling in the details
• Step 5: Steve Buscema's drawings look nothing like the crap you just took on that piece of paper. Please re-read steps 1-4 until you get it right!

That's about the jist of it.

So I took a crack at one mimicing one of the generic figure poses. Here is Marvel's rough of a hero punching:


My exercise of same, taken to a fleshed out Bandai-like ninja character:


Apologies to Marvel Comics on the image use, but I want to illustrate how my lack of skill compared to their talented instruction.

The drawing is not great. So it's back to studying steps 1-4 again and practicing until I get it right! However, I would like to point out that I did take a few liberties, in the way of open hands, some costume elements, as well as a weapon/accessory. I even tried to make the ninja star look dynamic by making it bigger in the foreground as a way of adding perspective.