An OG Original

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Marvel Universe Poster Sketch. 2002.
Ballpoint pen on friggin' Olive Garden pad paper, 8.5 x 4".

It may not be my best sketch, but this drawing has about as much sentimental value to me as anything I've ever done. I've been searching for this drawing for years, and I finally found it this weekend, tucked away inside an old sketchbook. I waited tables at the Olive Garden in Daytona Beach for 3 summers during my college years, eventually quitting in 2002 when Marvel (specifically, Joe Quesada) offered me my dream job. This piece was drawn in the brief period where I worked for both (and during a particularly slow lunch shift). On my last day, my parents came in for dinner and brought my first Marvel check (for my Iron Man #63 cover) as a "tip."


Poster Sketch (in sketchbook). 2002. Pencil on paper, 8.5 x 11".

Quesada had called me at home (I think my Mom answered) and described what he wanted—a classic Marvel poster featuring Marvel's greatest heroes. After seeing my left-to-right composition, he suggested a companion villains piece to compliment it. Unfortunately, school and other Marvel projects took precedence, so the poster never materialized, but I was still able to take elements from it in my Mythos collection cover.


Poster Sketch. 2002. Pencil on paper, 12 x 9".

7 comments :

  1. Oh. Wow. I think I remember seeing the poster somewhere, but it's even more interesting now that I know the backstory.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoyed handing over your "tip".

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's so cool! Thank you very much for sharing that story. It gives me hope! :) Congrats on your great accomplishments and amazing career so far!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, Narco, it's made the rounds. I'd still love the do the full version, though, with as many characters as I can possibly fit.

    Thanks, Maw!

    And thank you Philip. That's why that drawing means so much to me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well hey, at least you have a good excuse to keep the sketch - it has a good story to go with it. And anyway, the paper it is on just adds charm. Haha... I have so many sketches that I just don't quite have the heart to get rid of and I don't even know why I like them. I guess it is just that creator/creation attachment.

    I like this kind of picture, with all the characters together. It's fun to go through and identify all the known characters. It is even more fun when there is an actual team-up going on in the story.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love stories like this!

    I wonder if you ever waited on me and my family. Had I known then what I know know, I could have ordered a sketch to go with my dinner!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks, Indigo. I pretty much save everything I can—you never know what may end up being significant.

    Craig, it's certainly possible. I actually did that once for a table who asked during lunch. They said I gave such good service that they came back for dinner as well. Wonder if they still have that sketch.

    ReplyDelete

Copyright © The Self-Absorbing Man
Design out of the FlyBird's Box.