2010 Comic Book News Archives

October 26, 2010: Jim Lee Says Superman is Hardest Character to Draw

Icons MTV.com interviewed Jim Lee, fan favorite artist turned co-publisher of DC Comics, who discusses the release of his new hardcover retrospective book titled "Icons: The DC Comics and Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee". Here's a segment from the interview in which he talks about Superman being the hardest character to draw...

    MTV: Is there a character that you look back on and remember having a rough time with?

    LEE: Superman is the hardest character to draw. There are a couple of things that make him difficult. He's got a very simple costume, and doesn't have the long cape like Batman. He's not a character that is necessarily always in shadow, and he doesn't have a mask. He has to be Superman. He has to be the most grand, the most idealized form at all times, so he has to look powerful, but he can't look bloated. His face has to look noble and handsome and rugged. It's a war of subtleties. Every little change on that character makes a big difference in how he finally looks.

    I think that I erase that character more than I draw that character, to be honest. He's a character that doesn't have the gloves, and doesn't have the big boots, so you're really drawing sort of an idealized human form with a very simple costume. He's got to be in a pose that suggests nobility. It's got to be a pose that suggests his idealized form, and it's tricky to do. Batman hunches over. He's crouched and he's in the shadows, so he's in slightly more dynamic poses. Superman tends to stand very upright and he's very symmetrical, and those are actually the most difficult poses for me to draw.

Read the complete interview at MTV.com.

Order "Icons: The DC Comics & Wildstorm Art of Jim Lee" from Amazon.com.



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