I'm no comic artist but....

[Steve W]

I love to draw.  Specifically I love to draw my favourite silver-age covers. I recreate them, drawing them at approximately double the size of the originals (that's A3, or 16.5" by 11.7" for those are interested in that sort of detail).  I have no particular talent for this, but, if I stick at any cover for long enough, I eventually get the dimensions and proportions roughly correct. After pencilling the cover, I then ink the drawings using my Faber-Castell artist pens, and then colour the picture using a fairly large collection of felt tip pens.  A normal cover can take anywhere between 1 and 3 weeks, and it is a labour of love! Highly therapeutic, I recommend it as a pastime to one and all.

I now have a collection of eight covers, and I finished the latest one last night.  Anyone else enjoy the same hobby?

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Never even considered it! But it looks like fun!

[Richard Mantle]

We discussed recently on the below thread (if I've linked it right ?) - Avengers #181 and it's iconic cover.

I did not mention it there but I actually reproduced it myself in much the same way as you mention here for my own pleasure adding a few extra Avengers in the background.

I did A JLA Vs Avengers by Perez morphed into an 'Original Avengers' Vs New Avengers' in much the same way.

I must try to find them to prove it ...but my point is - YES! I grew up doing this sort of stuff!

http://captaincomics.ning.com/forum/topics/avengers-and-there-came-...http://captaincomics.ning.com/forum/topics/avengers-and-there-came-...

[The Baron]

I would love to do this kind of stuff, but I can't draw worth a damn.

[Ronald Morgan]

More or less how Alex Ross started out, redrawing Legion of Superheroes for his own amusement.

[Richard Mantle]

[ClarkKent_DC]

I never considered it either, even though I made a stab or two at drawing comics in my youth. (I did draw my own avatar. It's too small to see, but there's a card in the hatband that reads "PRESS.") Sounds like fun!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Tracy paints for fun, but I never have.

Last year I bought a "paint-by-numbers" set of five reproductions of Marvel characters/scenes to paint with the kids of the family we spend Thanksgiving with. It ended up being too difficult for children that age (we didn't even bring it along), but I intend to give it a try on my own one day.

[doc photo]

Drawing, painting and photo-shopping are my primary off hour activities - never attempted a comic cover though. My stuff tends to be more cartoon-y so if I attempted a cover recreation it would need to be more in the vein of a parody.

I believe P. Craig Russell is offering a coloring book on his site that features reproductions of his art from various comic book projects. That may be something worth looking into.

[Captain Comics]

I used to draw comics as a lad, continuing the "titles" my brothers started -- Mystic Knight, Atomic Man and James Fond. Then I moved on to my own comics, mainly JLA vs. Avengers. I did a few for series for real, and I was always doodling various outcomes when I was supposed to be taking notes in high school and college. (I kept trying to find a plausible way for Marvel to win, or at least hold its own -- but the Silver Age JLA had a couple of near-unbeatable characters.) I did an X-Men commentary book for Memphis Comics and Records that they printed and sold, and I drew a couple of books for a publisher that never got off the ground.

[Richard Mantle]

How about this one....Legion of Superheroes #300 but populated with Avengers.

My 'inspiration' was that even on the original cover each character was drawn and inked by different creative teams so it kind of lent itself.

[Ronald Morgan]

Hulk's power levels have gotten pretty ridiculous since the old days. Surprised at how many fans are positive Hulk could easily outmuscle Superman, even Silver Age Superman.

Wonder if I can still locate the FF meets Dr. Droom cover I drew about 20 years ago?

[Steve W]

Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate the points of view expressed.  Richard Mantle's observation (2nd comment) is interesting. I try to draw "iconic covers" only, but what constitutes an 'iconic cover?' He mentions the cover of Avengers #181 as iconic but (I have to admit) I had never seen that cover before!

My iconic covers consist of silver age stuff, mostly DC, and generally falling between 1965 and 1971.  That, of course, was the golden age for me, as that's when I was hungrily devouring comics as fast as I could get my hands on them.  I guess "iconic" is in the eye of the beholder!

BTW - love your drawing of the Avengers (above) Richard.