Are comic book artists inspired by real life action stars like in this example Mike Henry from the Tarzan films of the 1960s? I remember seeing a comic book and the lead hero looked exactly like Steve Reeves even though the story wasn't a PEPLUM story or anything to do with Steve. Maybe the great Joe Jusko, who lurks around these parts, can answer this for us.
I'm aware that if a comic character resembles a real actor then royalties come into question but I've seen too many photos from films (like the Brad Harris one below) that were clearly used to trace the look of an actor for a character or at least influenced artists out there.
This photo is from a Brad Harris film called KING OF KONG ISLAND. When I saw this I thought "Hmm...this looks like it came straight out of a Richard Corben comic book!" Brad Harris looks like Den here.
I'm aware that if a comic character resembles a real actor then royalties come into question but I've seen too many photos from films (like the Brad Harris one below) that were clearly used to trace the look of an actor for a character or at least influenced artists out there.
Comic book artists often base the appearance of a character on an actor. John Byrne, during his run on X-men, used Donald Sutherland and Oliver Reed as models for a couple of characters. Paul Gulacy, artist on Marvel's Master of Kung Fu series, based the looks of characters on Sean Connery, Marlon Brando, and Bruce Lee, among others.
ReplyDeleteIf a comics artist uses a photograph as reference, it's known as "swiping". Some artists do it a lot. Neal Adams, an artist famous for his very realistic art (and who drew the shot of Kazar on the page you've shown above) often used photo reference. However the artist who drew the pics of Submariner and Silver Surfer is John Buscema, famous for his work on Conan and who drew a couple of the peplum movie adaptations you've shown in the past. Buscema rarely used photo reference as his mastery of anatomy and figure drawing was legendary.
Thanks for the info. Swiping is a good term for the practice. And now a lot of current artists are referring to the art from old comic books which referred to photos of old stars.
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