I’m lucky enough to be teaching Advanced Art this year and made up my first assignment! To help students learn how to work in ink, I developed a project where they design and draw their own superhero in action. Based on an exercise from Jessica Abel and Matt Madden’s essential Drawing Words and Writing Pictures, my students created their own costumes by drawing three pre-existing characters and then combining elements of each to come up with a new look. I then had students find an action photo they could draw and add their costumes to (next time I think I’ll have them pose for their own pictures).

Ink drawing of a superhero jumping through empty space, right arm pulled back to throw a harpoon, left arm extended to one side for balance. The superhero wears a mask that entirely covers his face, with two triangular areas extending above his head like wings or ears. His suit alternates between areas of light and dark and he wears large, baggy pants that ripple from the passing air. The background is made up of diagonal speed lines of different widths.

Here’s my sample, starting with the finished piece in ink. The mask and eye piece look a lot like Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, but while drawing I felt more as if I was channeling Rob Liefeld.

Ink-drawn copies of three superheroes as originally rendered by famous comic-book artists: Mister Miracle, as drawn by Jack Kirby, jumping over an obstacle; Wolverine, as drawn by John Byrne, standing threateningly in his blue and yellow costume with claws extended; and Spider-Man, as drawn by Steve Ditko, running toward the viewer.

To develop my costume, I used a drawing of Mister Miracle by Jack Kirby, Wolverine by John Byrne, and Spider-Man by Steve Ditko. I think it’s easiest to see the influence of Wolverine and Spider-Man. I wasn’t sure at first what to pull from Mister Miracle, but I liked that he has little UFC fighting shorts over his long-johns instead of the usual briefs, which I then developed into baggy pants that were big like his cape. There was a trend in the 90s where superheroes like Animal Man and Superboy wore leather jackets over their spandex, which I always thought was a little weird. If I were a superhero adding an accessory to my uniform, it would definitely be pants!

Screenshot from YouTube video “Joe Burrow WITH AN INSANE FALLING DOWN TOUCHDOWN PASS Bengals vs Browns,” posted by @lisabtheplug5630 on Dec. 12, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S_-kGgVuTmc. The image captures Detroit Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow falling forward almost face first but still managing to pull back his right arm to make a pass. Accessed on 11/18/25.

For my action pose, I used a screen shot from a video of Detroit Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow falling as he makes a pass. I didn’t realize the game was from a year ago; I only saw it more recently on Twitter because people were saying his shadow looked like Kermit the Frog. I think I changed enough of the details to say that I didn’t copy the photo so much as use it for inspiration, but maybe that’s just my fear of ending up in The Comics Journal’s old “Swipe File” feature talking.

Pencil drawing of a superhero jumping through empty space, right arm pulled back to throw a harpoon, left arm extended to one side for balance. The superhero wears a mask that entirely covers his face, with two triangular areas extending above his head like wings or ears. His suit alternates between areas of light and dark and he wears large, baggy pants that ripple from the passing air. The background is made up of diagonal speed lines of different widths.

Lastly, here’s my pencil version of the drawing. I used Adobe Illustrator to add the speed lines.