Tag: 1989

Excalibur Drawing I did in 1989

Every so often I like to dig into my collection of old drawings. The ones I did as a kid. Luckily I’ve kept all my childhood drawings. I’m kind of a pack rat when it comes to things from when I was a kid. When I was 11, I put all my toys in plastic bags and put them in storage boxes. Somewhere at my mom’s house are boxes of He-Man, GoBots, Wheeled Warriors, and Star Wars toys. I really enjoy going back and looking at the artwork I did as a kid. It helps to inspire me and my current artwork to see what I use to like to draw.

Excalibur-Drawing
Excalibur ink drawing by Ralph Contreras

Here is a drawing I did way back in 1989 of Excalibur. The original image comes from the back cover of Excalibur Issue #8. I remember thinking t was the coolest poster/pinup I’d seen. At this time I was just starting to read X-Men comics, and I really like Excalibur. This was the first time I had read anything with Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Rachael Summers. I knew I just had to draw it. I didn’t start with a pencil or a sketch. I just jumped into drawing with a regular Bic ballpoint pen.

Excalibur-Issue-8-Back-Cover

Here’s the original image from the back cover of Excalibur #8 drawn by Comic Artist Ron Lim. In the late 80s, he was one of my favorite artists. Drawing Excalibur, Silver Surfer, and the Infinity Gauntlet. – Shazam!

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

Iron Man – "Present Past" Drawing I did in 1989

Iron Man drawing by Ralph Contreras

Iron Man – “Present Past” Drawing I did in 1989

A few months ago I was vising my mom’s house where I found a box of old drawings I did when I was a kid. There were drawings I did of Veritech fighters from Robotech to comic books and superheroes. Last night I was looking through these treasures from my childhood. I had a blast remembering how I’d stay up late, looking at my comics and wanting to create and recreate these awesome artworks. One of the drawings that jumped out to me last night was this one of Iron Man. I drew this 20 years ago in 1989 when I was 14 years old.

In the late 80s I was reading all the Marvel Comic I could get my hands on, but Iron Man was on the top of my favorites list. I’m a huge science fiction fan and Iron Man was a perfect meld of Sci-Fi and Comics. This drawing was a recreation of the cover of Iron Man 244, it was originally drawn by Bob Layton. I remember being blown away by the split screen showing Iron Man’s then-current suit and his original grey one. I had to redraw it. So this is not a tracing, but a recreation of a cool comic cover. This is how I learned to draw. I’d look at a comic and try to recreate it. I didn’t take any art classes when I was young, but I loved to draw.

Looking at this drawing I did as a bright-eyed kid so many years ago really reminded me of the passion I had for comic book art back then. I feel very lucky that as an adult I haven’t lost that passion. I plan on posting more of my childhood drawing up, so keep an eye out. -PoW, Zap, Zooom! 

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.