Here we have Merlin the Magician from the first run of The Demon. I had a blast doing this piece! Every time I study Jack Kirby's work I learn something new about the man's genius. With this piece, I learned that the heavily designed aspect of Kirby's style subtly forces the viewer to work at understanding the image. Kirby's visual language is simple and direct, but his stylistic presentation forces the viewer to work a little harder to understand exactly what it is that they are seeing. To me this comes across as a learning tool. His style teaches the understanding of art simply by being what it is. It requires the viewer to translate.
While I was researching for this piece, I also noticed that there is something oddly psychedelic about Kirby's artwork. It may have just been that I had taken too much cough medicine while fighting off my recent sinus infection, but all the pieces I was looking at seemed to have a similar quality to psychedelic posters from the sixties. I noticed it specifically in his later work: The Demon, Machine Man, The Eternals, New Gods, Captain Victory.
I must offer my apologies on this piece as it is not the usual sketchcard size. I got into the groove while doing studies of Merlin's costume, then that turned into sketching and before I knew it I was finished. At that point I realized I had been drawing the wrong size.
I may permanently go to the larger size. Both sizes takes about the same amount of time to complete and I can get more detail in the larger image. The whole point of the Saturday Sketches has always been more about the time limit to complete the drawing. I do enjoy the extra detail. I'll have mull that one over.
I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches. All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners. I make no money from what I am presenting here. It is presented for portfolio and appreciation purposes only.
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