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When I was in my teens, there was an ad in TV GUIDE, selling prints of one of those paintings of dogs playing poker. Ugh! But the ad used the term "subtle discovery" to describe how, they alleged, the longer one looked at the piece, the more "suble" details one would "discover". "Like the bulldog wearing an eyeshade!" I guess they referenced that just in case it was TOO "subtle"!

Growing up, and beyond, one of my favorite artists was the British newspaper cartoonist Giles, whose work was published in the Daily Express. Now, there was a guy who was a master of "subtle discovery". There were often little extra gags tucked away in corners of his drawings. Sometimes I could look at the same piece dozens of times, and still be surprised by something.

"Subtle discovery" worked its way into my lexicon, and I have included many small elements over the years, in my comicbook work and more recently in commission pieces. Sometimes I've even had to STOP doing it, as when readers learned I occasionally included a little headshot of Barney Rubble mixed in when I drew. . . rubble. Readers, I found, were searching for the Barney shots, and distracting themselves from the stories I was telling. So, except when specifically requested, I stopped doing it.

Which is not to say other things did not take Barney's place. There's almost always SOMETHING going on!

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I think I have mentioned before that I make myself a nervous wreck doing this. Since I started using this particular approach to rendering the good Doctor's armor, it has become much like my nighttime cityscapes -- I sweat bullets until the last line is drawn, even now not entirely sure it's going to WORK until. . . it does!

On this piece I had a particularly nerve racking moment when I started the rendering on the armor, as it seemed immediately NOT to be working. Then, after only a few strokes, I realized I'd grabbed the wrong sized pen, so the lines were too thick, and that was why it wasn't working. I switched to a thinner pen, and, fortunately, was able to blend the thicker lines into the rendering unnoticed. Whew!

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I checked the Gallery and was surprised to find that, despite my nervousness, this approach to the armor isn't all that "new". It seems to show up first in this piece…

LINK

Five years! Where does it go?

No one draws Doom better than JB. No one. Another wonderful commission.

Spectacular. The technique on Doom's armor is fascinating. As much admiration as I have for Kirby and Ditko's approaches to rendering metal, this approach takes it to the next level.

Leaves me hoping to see this on a future Doom solo commission: perhaps one with a bit of a close-up on the face and hand plates. Perhaps holding a glass of champagne.