The anniversary of Jack Kirby’s death is on Wednesday and I’d like to draw something to recognize that.
So, what does it need to have? Definitely Kirby Krackle. I’d love to throw in a Kirby machine, if I can find some good examples (Google is not being my friend).
Um… my brain’s dead today, so, anybody got any suggestions? Or care at all?
A male figure in the foreground pointing at something and shouting.
Also, space hippies.
Here is a Kirby Machine, btw.
I don’t know that I can do the right perspective.
Perspective and me don’t get along.
You can make up for the lack of perspective by covering everything in Kirby dots.
Something involving the Fourth World.
…muscles that don’t exist in real live, but look totally cool and appropriate within the context of the drawing
…a great sound-effect word
…a drawing with a collage on it - but I bet that is what you mean by a Kirby machine
Okay, so so far I’ve got a guy with a insane hat pointing and yelling in front of kirbytech and krackle. Yeah… this is gonna be fun.
A lot of exclamation points.
Your character needs to be dressed in an overly elaborate outfit - not just the headgear, the whole shebang.
Bright colours - not necessarily primary colours, but vivid colours. Red and yellow seem to have been some of his favourite colours.
A very square jawline with a chin squiggle.
A beard that goes all around the head, like a lion’s mane, is optional.
Pose the character leaping forward with one hand extended, fingers splayed apart.
LOTS of background elements – a detailed cityscape, complete with a crowd of onlookers you can actually pick out as individuals.
Take care to draw all the female characters with decidedly flat chests, and the male characters with a pronounced lack of bulge in the loins. (Kirby characters were rich with detail, but remarkably sexless.)
And FWIW, here’s a quote from toonopedia regarding a previous Kirby tribute:
The Kirby/Lee Thor era was some of the damdest comics I’ve ever read, and by that I mean damned good.
You have to get the hands right. Stubby fingertips on the male characters, impossibly long fingernails on the female characters.
Kirby’s writing was as distinctive as his artwork. The plots were silly, the dialogue was stilted, the characters were one-dimensional . . . . . . and yet, he could end an episode on a cliffhanger that left you absolutely desperate to buy next month’s issue, just to see how it would turn out.
Actually, while his artwork was groundbreaking for its time (the '60s in particular), I’ve never liked Kirby’s writing, and always found his original characters embarrassing. With the exception of Mister Miracle and Barda, I have no love for the Fourth World/New Gods, and didn’t bat an eye when I read that DC was killing them all off.
It’s all about extreme foreshortened perspective angles to heighten action.
That and costumes with heavily intersected multicolor geometric shapes. bulky human frames from square shoulders to square fingers, and chrome-like shading to any surface, including skin, even if it’s not the Silver Surfer.
Just use a big, fat black marker for everything.
This isn’t a mourning thread is it? I can thread shit?
I always hated that guys artwork. But, his artwork accompanied some damn good stories.
If I could actually draw I would do your typical rainy funeral scene with all the appropriate characters standing around the graveside. With black umbrellas.
He’s been dead for 14 years. You can shit on his grave for all I care.
His stuff was definitely distinctive (and admittedly that means ugly most of the time), but compared to Bob Kane (or at least his ghost-artists) he was a heck of an artist. (No, seriously, read the earliest Batman stuff. It’s like the artist has never seen a human face in his life).
But Kirby definitely gave us some great characters. (and some dumb ones… Black Racer, I’m looking at you)
(I’m currently working on inking some Kirby machinery. I still haven’t drawn whoever I’m putting in front of it, but I found a cover to steal the pose from. And I’ve designed the hat)
People smoking stogies.
