Queen Studios Comic Spider-Man - Behind The Bust

In the 15^th issue of the 1962 magazine “Amazing Fantasy”, we were first introduced to Spider-Man co-created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Spider-Man’s alias is Peter Parker, an ordinary high-school student living with his aunt May in Queens New York. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, he was blessed with new superpowers that gave him the ability to cling to walls, detect danger with his spidey senses and later shoot webs.

As the worlds first teenage superhero, his unique and evocative story has captured the imaginations of fans around the world for over 50 years. As Marvel fans, the Queen Studios team have grown up with this incredible character both on screen and off screen. When the time came to create our first comic inspired bust, we knew that we had to start with Spider-Man.

In this post, we’ll offer a glimpse behind the curtain so you can learn the story behind the life-size comic Spider-Man bust.

 CONCEPT: INSPIRATION AND BACKGROUND

CHARACTER AND POSE

Before he was Spider-Man, he was Peter Parker. A young high-school student with a passion for science. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, the young hero had to juggle high-school, hormones and his new powers. Although a difficult balance, Peter gets to grips with his new abilities and uses his scientific skills to create a web shooting gadget and spider suit.

In the concept stage, our artists try to envision what the bust would look like. We wanted to bring the comic character to life with a contemporary look with bold eye catching colours. For the eyes, our artists decided it would be better to go for a larger pair that would be in-keeping with the modern look more akin to McFarlane than Ditko or Romita.

One of Spider-Man’s stand out features is his web shooter which Parker designed himself. We decided the best way to capture the iconic Spider-man would be to incorporate this in some way. The solution? Add in his arm and webbing that shoots from the wrist.

BASE DESIGN

For the base, we wanted to find a way to represent the character in a simple way. After a quick brainstorm, our artists agreed up on a simple concrete grey look. The concrete represents the a building that Spider-Man would crawl on or propel from. But concrete alone would look a little bland. Therefore we decided to add in the Spider-Man title as though it was on the cover of a classic comic.

3D DESIGN

The 3D design process is not a one-time process. The 3D artists at Queen Studios have modified the comic Spider-Man bust several times. From the 3D rendering, the artists tried to capture the muscle tone in his arms, as well as the definition in his chest.

As the bust is a comic character, exaggeration is necessary, but excessive exaggeration will make the proportions of the character unbalanced. We’ve made several modifications to his body to get the exaggeration of his body shape just right, focussing on his chest and abdomen muscles to perfectly highlight the figure of the superhero Spider-Man.

WORK IN PROGRESS

Following the 3D Design, we can create a print of the bust. This gives us a chance to inspect the sculpt to make sure everything looks as it should based on the 3D sculpt.

We also use this stage to test out new colours and paints. Allthough the Spider-Man suit appears simple with bold blue and red colours, adding the finer detail isn’t quite so straightforward. His body is wrapped in a black spider web covering the entire red section of the suit. These lines need to look uniform and clean throughout and it took an experienced painter hours and hours to get it right.

The most unique aspect of this comic version of Spider-Man's bust is that his eyes are replaceable. Queen Studios will provide three different eye pieces to meet the different needs of fans, as well as offer interchangeable webbing.

THE FINAL BUST

Standing 64.5cm tall, the life-size comic Spider-Man by Queen Studios is inspired by the worlds first teenage superhero. The contemporary design shows Spider-Man in his iconic blue and red spider suit, with big eyes shooting webbing from his wrist.

The expertly crafted bust is made of polystone, and comes with three pairs of interchangeable eyes, as well as switch-out webbing. The final bust also comes in three limited edition versions. The iconic red and blue, red and black and solid black.

Fans and collectors in Europe may still be able to order this unique collectible from Deriv Store while stocks last.

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