Now this is how you spend a weekend.

I could not have been happier with how my David Bowie sketchbook turned out at MoCCA. Did I try to go two for two at SPX? You’d better believe it! And here are the results.

Mark Burrier: Mark got REALLY excited about the prospect of drawing Bowie. He gunned right for the Thin White Duke era, which is my favorite Bowie look as well. I’ve found that most artists who already know and love Bowie go for the Station to Station look. I also see some of his recent nattily attired vibe, circa Heathen and Reality, in this one.

Josh Cotter: Josh knew exactly what he wanted to draw–the cover for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars–and was extremely painstaking about doing it.

Eleanor Davis and Drew Weing: Eleanor (the dreamer on the left) and Drew (the dreamer on the right) are married, so they tag-teamed this sketch. Drew was the first artist to search high and low through my photo reference for a Labyrinth shot, but he wasn’t the last. For some reason, books about Bowie tend not to have big Labyrinth photos. Go figure.

Kim Dietch: Bowie sings Perry Como! In an alternate universe, this really could have happened to David instead of to Rod Stewart. Dietch is a southpaw and as such is the only artist to sketch on a left-hand page in my book.

Nicholas Gurewitch: Another Labyrinthine sketch, with a Ziggymullet twist, from the Perry Bible Fellowship auteur. It looks like it could have come straight from the strip.

John Hankiewicz: I could see this bifurcated Bowie wandering around one of the dreamscapes in a John Hankiewicz comic really easily.

Andy Hartzell: The reason I ask people to draw David Bowie is that I really dug my friends’ themed sketchbooks, but they tend to be based on obscure superheroes they love, like Lockjaw, Nova, or Matter-Eater Lad. The only superhero I love is Batman, which would be kind of played-out to ask comics artists to sketch, so I went with Bowie. I explained all this to Hartzell, and the next thing I knew I had this awesome mash-up.

Gilbert Hernandez: I was absurdly starstruck as I watched Beto draw, as much as I was by Charles Burns. Gilbert didn’t need photo reference, and even knew which eye had the dilated pupil–and that Bowie’s still angry at the kid who roughed him up and caused the condition decades ago. I’m still pretty stunned I got to watch Gilbert Hernandez draw.

Kevin Huizenga: Kevin seemed to want to get this exactly right–he sketched and erased at least two rough versions before nailing this one. I really love the powder blue–I know exactly which outfit this is modeled after–and the paraphrased quote from “Moonage Daydream.” That actually sounds like the name of a Kevin H. comic, now that I think about it.

Paul Karasik: Karasik was a very good sport about drawing Bowie for me despite professing an active dislike for him and for popular music in general. We spent most of the time he was sketching debating whether Bowie was worth a damn, which was fun, if a little intimidating. Note: This is a mash-up between Bowie and Stardust (not Ziggy), the godlike super-“hero” from the comics of Fletcher Hanks, a collection of which called I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets Karasik edited.

Matt Kindt: Old Bowie dreams of young Bowie. It’s like Gandalf blowing glam smoke rings.

Roger Langridge: Langridge kicks it caricature-style. There’s a bit of vaudeville in both Langridge and Bowie, so this is fitting, I think.

Jeff Lemire: I knew Jeff would create something memorable the first time I saw some of his strangely haunting superhero-sketch commissions. And again, I love the powder blue.

Ted May: Kevin Huizenga suggested that I seek out Ted May for a sketch because he’s a huge Bowie fan. He definitely took the sketch very seriously. This profile shot is on the cover of Low, my favorite Bowie album.

Brian Ralph: The ever-popular pirate look makes a comeback. I don’t know if it’s just because Brian’s drawn monkeys in his comics, but between the lanky limbs and the tail-like mic cord, there’s something simian about this Bowie.

Finally, here’s one that’s somewhat NSFW if your boss happens to be paying enough attention:

Tom Neely: In color! Tom is one of only three artists from whom I have original art–a drawing of the Creature from the Black Lagoon I won on a contest on his website–so it was a pleasure to get his take on Bowie.

For the original set of sketches, click here, or peruse the whole shebang as a Flickr set.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 14th, 2007 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.