Day 248
Day 248 of the #365drawingchallenge is the legendary silver age comics artist and the creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, Steve Ditko. This is a companion piece to the Jack Kirby I did yesterday, and done in the same style. I’ll probably do a few more of the great comic book creators. Ditko had a story similar to Kirby, where he was an artist never given his due and held down by people like Stan Lee. The big difference was Kirby tried to change things but ultimately put up with it and created a ton of art for Marvel and DC, while Ditko got fed up with it and quit. From all accounts Ditko seemed to be a pretty reclusive person who had a strong vision and a unique style. He and Stan Lee butted heads pretty hard, and it ultimately led to him leaving Marvel. He’s a bit of an enigmatic guy because he was not so prolific and he valued his privacy. Hell, it was hard to draw him because there’s only like 3 old black and white photos of him on the internet. His star burned bright, and he came up with a lot of interesting ideas throughout his career. And of course he created one of the most popular and enduring superheroes, so his legacy lives on. Personally I’ve always found his “imperfect” expressionistic style to be an inspiration, and his story was one of the things that first got me into comics. I was sad when he passed away last year, and even more sad when I heard about the lonely circumstances. Fun Fact, he looked a bit like my grandpa.