Superman Gouache, Acrylic paint study

It’s an interesting moment to pinpoint — when a sketch gets away from you, and you realize it has slipped through your fingers. In this case, with Superman as the subject, I started working on a random pad of paper and ended up testing nearly every available medium and material I had to apply to it. While acknowledging the absolute importance of this character — when you draw Superman, everything needs to be perfect. The character is simply too important for it not to be. To say the pressure is on is an understatement.
During the pen and ink phase of this sketch, which by this time in what we’ll call the Egg Shell Paper Series, I moved away from the Rapidograph pens and settled on Sharpie, brush and ink, and felt tip pens. It was during the application of the black and white where something didn’t quite fit. So I decided to build more painting instincts and know-how by transforming this piece into a study — testing the combination and blend factors of gouache and acrylic over an all-black underlay drawing. All of which ultimately led to the final piece from this random paper stack: The Black Widow.

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.