Friday, July 10, 2009

Hawkman And Hawkgirl Sketches By Paul Smith


Paul Smith is best known for his work on X-titles over the years, including handing the art chores on Uncanny in most of 1983.  This is appropriate to me, as his work has always reminded me a little bit of Neal Adams, whose X-Men is, as far as I am concerned, the best that team has ever looked.  He also did the superlative Golden Age miniseries, plus American Flagg!, and Nexus.

Now, THIS is how the Hawks can look dynamic and graceful without aping Joe Kubert!  *coughcoughWednesdayComicscough*  Hawkman looks powerful without being bulky, which is how he is normally portrayed nowadays.  His helmet has nice texture and shape.  Hawkgirl really looks great, too, with her flowing locks, rocking helmet, and athletic build.  While I like cheesecake as much as the next guy, Hawkgirl, to me, is a character who should always have that trim build.  But just because she's not voluptuious doesn't mean she's not sexy, though -- check out that figure!  Homina homina homina!

I also like the wings being portrayed differently for each character, with Hawkgirl's wings looking like a pixie or fairy's wings almost.  For some reason I also really like the taped wrists that Hawkman is sporting, like a prizefighter.

Disclaimer: I do not own or have possession of this sketch.  It is being reposted from the cited website only.

Image: Hawkman and Hawkgirl sketches, ???, Paul Smith, posted from 11by17.com.

2 comments:

Diabolu Frank said...

I love PMS, but not on the Hawks. Too sedate.

The Irredeemable Shag said...

This looks great. Makes me think he could have pulled off a penciled "Kingdom Come". That's not to say I'd rather someone other than Alex Ross do the art for "Kingdom Come". I'm just saying that if Ross hadn't been available and the went for penciled rather than painted, sketches like this make it appear that Paul Smith could have done an excellent job on that.

The Irredeemable Shag
http://onceuponageek.com
http://firestormfan.com