Green Goblin: The Sketches

So what can you do with the Green Goblin that hasn't been done before? Not much! Especially when he's on his glider, since his feet are locked into position, you're kind of limited in his poses! John Romita will always be the classic Green Goblin artist in my mind since I was too young to see the original Steve Ditko version. Ditko was such a genius when it came to designing characters: all those original Spidey villains are so iconic. Ditko was a master at incorporating the essence of each character into their appearance.

So I wanted to capture that classic look of the character, the redesigns of his costume never did much for me. Although the Hobgoblin was a great variation! I loved that Ron Frenz run! I set out to push my style in a more simplified Rob Haynes direction. Rob is so good at doing so much with a minimum of line and rendering. It's that whole Alex Toth School of "less is more" and it's actually very hard to do! Mike Mignola is a genius at it. Rob Haynes and Dave Johnson both do it masterfully. Me, not so much! I want to render the hell out of everything and that doesn't always help! Geoff Darrow once told me the reason that he puts so much detail into his work is to cover up the fact that he doesn't know how to draw very well! That's not true, of course in Darrow's case, but I often find myself falling into that trap. So since these were going to be tiny trading cards, I thought a simple strong composition would serve me best. So there!