Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Lightpainting: Adventures in Metropolis

 Comic books are a versatile art form. They combine the omnipotence of a book with action driven pictures to portray stories often too fantastic for the even the silver screen. Over time comic books have evolved to become more complex and exciting and has established itself as more than just something for kids. Classic stories, such as several Sherlock Holmes adventures, have been adapted into comic book form. Something that has not and will never change about comic books it their ability to portray motion. Weather a character is flying through the air, shooting lasers out of their hands or simply walking down the street the illustrations of a comic book capture that motion.
As children we often play pretend that we are one of the X-Men or Wonder Woman or whichever superhero we happen to fancy that day. We take the actions we see in comic books and reenact them. We don't have to be told what the character was doing to understand, the blanks between panels are easily filled in. In my project I chose four of my favorite comic books characters and brought them into reality. I combined the idea of children reenacting their favorite super heroes with the style of an action panel in a comic book using long exposure photography, several glow sticks, a colored light on a phone and some rather convenient siblings.

I am Cyclops


I am Batman


I am Iron Man


I am the Flash





This sketch was inspired by Cyclops. I wanted to portray laser beams being fired from the eyes to an unseen target. Abilities such as this are one of the greatest aspects of comic books.

This sketch was inspired by the early Batman comics. I wanted to try to capture a fight scene between the hero and an assailant by showing the motion of the fight.


This sketch was actually inspired by a comic book movie. I wanted to capture a hard landing. I used glow sticks to draw lines symbolizing the fall as well as the ripple shock-wave caused by the touch down.


Super speed is a common superpower. I wanted to portray the rapid motion of the legs by outlining them in light. A line symbolizing a sonic boom as well as motion lines also capture the direction and speed. 


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