Joe Quesada Critiques His Rejected NYCC IRON FIST Posters

There are a ton of talented artist lurking around these parts, such as @DioFoRio - goo.gl/XsNiXV and @Humperdink - goo.gl/OfvXVZ immediately spring to mind) who will surely appreciate Marvel Chief Creative Officer and comic book artist Joe Quesada providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his composition and layout process.  Apparently, that Iron Fist motion poster released for NYCC initially started out as a series of separate posters from Quesada.  You can see the images and his commentary on the imperfections in each poster below.

"I often speak about this when talking to young artists and writers who are looking to get into the comic’s field or any aspect of the arts. For every finished illustration or story you see and read from your favorite pro, there is a garbage can, real or digital, filled to the brim with rejected designs, crappy anatomy and unsuccessful experiments.

This NYCC Iron Fist poster was no exception. Attached you can see six different sketches including the rough that would become the final image. But there are many more variations than just what’s posted here. For each of these there were different color comps as well as various logo treatments, placements and sizes."

IRON FIST NYCC POSTER FINAL ART

After drawing this sketch I knew it was all wrong, the pose awkward and defensive, but I learned something from it. Maybe the fist should be on that bottom left corner..

A bit frustrated I changed course. This one has a bit more mystery but doesn't say a lot about the character. Plus the dragon in the background felt less visceral than seeing it on his chest..

Trying to avoid the logo again I redrew and tried this more horizontal piece which I think fails miserably and does nothing to draw the eye in any desirable direction not to mention it lacks energy.

Adjusted the anatomy a bit & lowered the fist but it sucked all the energy out of it for me because he's either in mid punch or mid pull back. Neither a desirable pose when trying to convey action.

This was my original concept. I liked the top left to bottom right flow of the image but ultimately I didn't want to mess with the IF logo for this very first image.

All those rejected sketches led me to this much more satisfying layout thought it was obvious that I needed to enlarge his left hand and whoops, forgot Finn has a beard in the show.