Sunday, August 3, 2008

Excalibur + Gary Baseman

This week's challenge:

Excalibur came about in the late 80's as a property that melded the worlds of the X-Men and Captain Britain. Shadowcat, Pheonix, Captain Britain, Meggan, and Nightcrawler banded together and had all sorts of wacky, mystical adventures based off of their new home on Muir Isle. The series has gone through many changes through the years, but the original Chris Claremont and Alan Davis run will always be my favorite. Apart from offering a deliciously different take on the X world, Excalibur featured a varied and powerful female cast. Kitty, Rachel, and Meggan were each wonderfully unique women, and it was great growing up with them as a girl.

Gary Baseman has a "cartoonish", whimsical style...almost childlike in the rendering. His work features distinctive characters and often combines dark and/or disturbing imagery with a super-sugary color palette, kind of like Candy Land on crack. I can't take my eyes away.

This week I won't be announcing the particular characters I plan on drawing, in part because I kind of hope I get around to each of them (but know that won't be the case). It will also be a challenge to make sure that the individuality I love so much about the women in Excalibur comes through in Baseman's style. Here goes nothing!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi, um. I came here from a link at Overcompensating and just wanted to say that the stuff you've already done (especially your Batman and Jasmine) are really cool and I've been showing this link around.

I'm really curious what Excalibur and Gary Basemen's art together would look like!

Your challenge's a really nifty idea.