"I Can't Imagine How Jack Would Have Done It!"

One in a series of storyboard frames for the original Spiderman trailer!

This is a comment I made in a conversation with a fellow Art Center College of Design student.

Yeh Karen, Jack would have given me that smirk if I tried to tell him my problems with this piece. I remember how he would jokingly say create an obvious mistake that would be easy to correct so that the art director would have something to say which would validate the art director's job.

When I first did this piece it occurred to me, someone would have a problem with the kid since it was the focal point of a dubious concept. So, I did it in two pieces and the original "kid" was more in line with the atmosphere of an early urban morning. There were no contrasts.

The many folks from art directors to movie execs made me beef it up and add wind blown hair and shirt...

Three more times.

I started to wonder if doing it separately was a mistake. Maybe, if I would have drawn it all in one piece, they would have been more receptive to approve it. Doing it in pieces just seemed to spur them on, perhaps! Sometimes, you can out smart yourself by anticipating possible scenarios of disapproval.

I must say having the computer to cut and paste was a godsend regardless of how many times I had to change the kid and reassemble it into a composite piece of art. Looking closely at it,  I thought I did a pretty good job of selecting the kid and pasting him into position.

Today, they'd probably "google" a NewYork skyline and pose a buddy, if they couldn't find a pose that worked with the layout. They'd then, photograph the buddy and assemble it... if they needed to go to that extreme for a presentation.

And every time I see and relive this frame, I wonder to myself, " How would Jack have done it?"

Copyright 2013/ Ben Bensen III