Last weekend, I was taking it easy and started noodling on a sketch of Iron Man.I ended up drawing this shot by the time I had to move on with my day.

Last night I decided to throw some color on it via Photoshop.

I really like this Iron Man design.  It’s the armor I first saw him in as a kid in the mid1970’s. I had gotten a Slurpee cup with him on it. (I was pretty disappointed it wasn’t Spider-Man… the only Marvel Superhero I knew of at that time.) I had never heard of Iron Man. Didn’t know if he was a good guy or a bad guy. All I knew was, he looked scary. Crazy scary!

I hated that cup. But loved the delicious Slurpee inside. I would drink it with the image of Iron Man turned away from me so I wouldn’t have to look at that emotionless faceplate.

I remember seeing that cup days later at home. It was like a horrific image that I couldn’t stand to look at yet couldn’t turn away. The question running through my 5 year old mind… “Who are you, Iron Man?”

The cup disappeared (probably thrown away) and was never seen again (unfortunate, because now it’s a pretty sweet collector’s item. Been tempted to track one down for nostalgia’s sake).

Years later, I would rediscover Iron Man as a guest star on an episode of the 1980’s cartoon, Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. I was now 11 years old and could handle a more “edgy” character. I got to learn who Iron Man was. The scary man was now quite cool. I’d soon get the Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars Iron Man action figure. That led to picking up the Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars comic book series (issues #7-9 in a 3-pack at Target), thus starting my passion for comic books.

Like I said, I really like this design. It’s retro but still holds up today. In my opinion, one of the best superhero designs in comics.

You can see the black-and-white pencil version on my DeviantArt page: http://toddnauck.deviantart.com/art/Iron-Man-pencil-sketch-135303759