The Way To Triumph

When I met my nephew Vibhav earlier this year in the US, we talked a lot about his favourite animated movies and superheroes. While browsing through one of his comic books, I promised him to create a painting for him. And there was no other perfect time to gift him the same, than on his birthday this August.

I had the initial sketch ready long before I actually started painting. Then it waited on my easel like all other paintings do for the mood to hit me.

One day, I forced myself to start the colouring. With my past experiences with colours, I chose Acrylic for its brightness and applied the base colours on the two characters - The Spiderman and the Vulture. 

Again the painting waited on the easel to be continued for a perfect day and time. And, then one day within a matter of 4 hours, it reached its intended destiny. 

I completed the spiderman first with the details and actually loved how the shades on the pants turned out. It is very rare that I am happy with my own work. I wanted the superhero to be more attractive in his dressing than the antagonist like it usually is. I also loved how the initial bright blue acted as a base to this final texture. But everything had to be quick as acrylic dries faster. I also had a perfect atmosphere to complement my mood.

For the vulture, I used little white to give a rather dull shade. There was not much detailing on his costumes, so it turned out to be quicker. 

The challenge though was to retain my patience to complete the feathers of the wing. I tried to do them individually. But then thought, I could cheat by creating a thick band of black and white stripes on them.

However, I realised soon enough that it would not work out well. So, continued painting every single strands of the wings separately.

And then, the painting was complete. I had to force myself to look away because, there is always some more detailing to do.

The spiderman was all set to struggle his way through to become triumphant. Victory does not come easy, but what is important is to not stop believing in oneself... like all those superheroes.