"Running Of The Bulls" ("Iron Man")
Pencil Marks: It took me a long time to decide on the idea for this picture because as it turns out, some people don't know about the Ironman Triathlon. Even though it's world famous and widely televised every fall from Hawaii, I received some blank stares. But that's okay. To sum it up briefly for you guys, it's known as the biggest race of endurance comprised of three checkpoints. First there's swimming for 2.4 miles in the ocean, followed by bike riding for 112 miles. It ends after the third checkpoint: a 25 mile marathon along the coast. And now the next time someone brings up the Ironman Triathlon, you can all say you're down with that.
As for who the little girl in the picture is; it's not Strawberry Shortcake. That is my feeble attempt to draw V.I.C.I. from the mid '80s sitcom "Small Wonder". Again I might be getting some blank stares so all you need to know about is it was a low-budget series on Saturday mornings about a man named Ted Lawson who designed a robot that looked like a little girl and had her/it live with his family posing as his daughter. The series was pretty creepy because Ted's real son Jamie was kind of in love with her and she lived in a cabnet in his room. Oh, and for awhile there was a myth the actor who played Jamie was Smashing Pumpkin's lead singer Billy Corgan (it's not true). I tell you, they just don't make kid's shows like they used to, do they?
But the most important element to this illustration isn't who's on it or where it takes place or that once again the season had to begin with a bloody Marvel Comics film! "Running with the Bulls" marked Tony's triumphant return to this website after a long two-year hiatus/meditation/retirement. I'll leave it to him to talk about that more in depth, but I got to say the feeling I got when I first saw his collaboration on my pencils? Man, it felt good! It felt right. - Jake
Ink Smudges: Did I mention that it was ME who thought the idea to base an "Iron Man" picture on the Ironman Triatholons was a bad idea? Okay, now I have. *Ahem*
Its been quite a long time since I picked up a pen or a pencil to draw anything, and just as long since I used my favorite editing program to color, so you'd forgive me if I thought that there would be quite a bit of rust to work out of my system. But darn it, I felt well enough, and I just plain missed it. Seeing last summers gallery succeed... then fail, made me realize just what I had given up. So when this year's summer started rolling in, I felt it only fair to actually get off my kiester and finally contribute to my adopted website.
Naturally I tried to insert my own twisted sense of humor into the proceedings, but Jake would have none of it. He HAD to have and Ironman triatholon. Thankfully he took my idea of having "famous" robots and incorporated it. My idea for the pic was to have movie robots standing around all colored like Iron Man for an "Iron Man Movie Tryouts" sort of sketch. What he handed me was an amalgomation of our two ideas, and since it DID fit in with what we've been trying to do with these SBG pics for years, I let it slide. How big of me huh?
Like every inker, there were a few minor things with his pencils I had to correct, and there are a few things that I made worse, but all in all it felt like a complete pin-up. Perfect way to begin this new season! - Tony