Powerman, Hero For Hire

     Alright, so, I was in the process of doing another piece of artwork, when I stopped to take a break.  At that time, I went to my deviant art account and started checking my messages, and saw one from Samax, from ghettoManga.com.  The message contained this link, http://ghettomanga.blogspot.com/2010/10/now-seeking-powermanluke-cage-art.html.  Samax is accepting solicitations for Luke Cage fan art, for his magazine, Ghetto Manga Quarterly.  I had been awake for close to 18 hours when I read that, and was planning to go to sleep.  But, as soon as I saw the solicitation.  I sidelined my current piece, dropped plans to go to sleep, and immediately got to work.

     I immediately went to comic vine, and started cruising their image gallery for reference material.  That plan fell flat, as it was mostly filled with actual artwork, and I have a hard time using that for reference.  So, I went to google image search, typed in Luke Cage, and found a picture by the artist Ronnie Thunderbolt.  At this point, I had a basic idea of what I wanted, so his picture was used for costume reference alone, and this is what I got.  The only thing I added was the chain necklace, everything else is strictly Ronnie Thunderbolt’s.
     I had decided to try another piece, using the picture of Sam L. Jackson from the “Shaft” poster.  That one was going to be a more updated Cage, but I started feeling the sleep at that point, and gave in right in front of my Wacom tablet.  When I woke up, I was able to see that picture with a fresh pair of eyes, and it wasn’t good.  The picture was disposed of, and I started to brainstorm for my next try.
     I knew I wanted it to have elements of the current Cage, even if it wasn’t the current version, but I couldn’t figure out what to do.  I went downstairs to get something to drink, and saw a clip from Bret Michaels’ new show on VH1, showing his picture on the side of his tour bus.  That did it, that was the picture I was gonna use.  I immediately ran back upstairs and drew Luke Cage in that Bret Michaels pose from the side of his bus…

…and immediately colored it afterwards.

     In the finalized version, I changed up the tiara, giving it a sharp turn down, instead of the straight top in the black & white version.  I still wanted Cage to have something of his current self in the picture, and that’s where the facial hair came in.  The chain necklace made it in just because I liked it, but, once I saw this finished, I felt like it gave him a sort of Black Samson (the movie) + Mr. T look.  The belt hanging off of Cage’s right thigh was a Ronnie Thunderbolt holdover, and the yellow background is simply there to compensate for the lack of Luke’s shirt.