Wednesday, February 13, 2013

2012 The Human Falcon Comicpalooza Commission by Kiriska

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All-Time Awesomest Alien Atlas Art continues, but rather than a female subject this week, it's the artist bringing the girl power! You'll remember Kiriska from her $5 Human Squirrel Commission, of which she mentioned on her now defunct Twitter feed...
"Aww, one of my commissioners at Comicpalooza did a write-up about one of the pieces I did for him… :O"
As a guy who pays people to do the drawing thing, I never gave much thought to what title that afforded me. Something about "commissioner" sits wrong though, like I'm supposed to receive bad news from Chief O'Hara and reach for the Batphone. Is there a dollar figure attached to the word "patron," and does it involve a free PBS tote bag with my contribution to the arts? Kiriska isn't liable to help me reach the Gold Supporter level though, because I couldn't talk her into taking more than twice as much for a second commission.

One look at the artist's Tumblr sketch blog, A Question of Intent shows that Kiriska has a gift for anthropomorphics. It also shows that nine months later, she's still fixated on Marvel's The Avengers, not that I can throw stones as a guy who has had a Martian Manhunter blog with daily updates for 5½ years. I could mock her descent into mashing the Avengers up with Harry Potter, but again, I still want a more fully realized Ben Stoves commission from her someday, so we could keep leveling-up geekery all day. Anyhow, Kiriska was offering full color 4" x 6" head shots for $10, and since she'd shown an aptitiude for birds that rivaled her furries, I selected The Human Falcon. Technically, the lone comic appearance of this airplane-assisted thief referred to him simply as "the Falcon," but confusion with Sam Wilson (set to appear in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier) and the symmetry of other "Human" Manhunter rogues makes it necessary to fall back on the title of that story for nomenclature.

Depending on the size of your screen, the scan above could be pretty close to actual size. Digitally, the reds got amped up, where the physical markers are more muted (especially the browns of the Falcon's feathers and jacket. I especially love the construction of the beak and the soulful eyes Kiriska managed to express on the big stupid Mardi Gras parade papier-mâché helmet thing this dude thought it would be a good idea to wear while doing crime. For more swell Kiriska work, scope her deviantART gallery!

3 comments:

will_in_chicago said...

I like this drawing a lot. I am not sure that the Human Falcon would work in the New 52, but I would like to see him appear in a perhaps a more humorous setting.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the above comments. this is a great commission. both you and the artist should be proud.i hope these become an ongoing tradition of your mm blog for years to come. dc bring back the human falcon!

Anonymous said...

I wonder if the artist can draw insects. maybe a mr. moth is in the future.