Michael Zulli

You may recall that back in the Ides of March (the 15^th to be exact) I blogged about a very unusual and interesting use of the web medium by one of the best artists working in the comics genre, Michael Zulli. Following a link from Neil Gaiman’s journal I found Michael’s site where he was working on his final Sandman portrait.

After years of being asked to draw Morpheus, Michael decided to create one final image and to share with everyone a peek into the creative process as he posted images of his work in progress.

It’s a fascinating use of the web medium and one of the more innovative uses I have seen since Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross collaborated online to produce a novel, sharing each alteration and draft with readers. It allows of a rare glimpse into an act of creation which is normally a closed and private affair – we see the result, but not the design, technique and sheer effort that went into creating it. Obviously many of us are interested in seeing how a work of art or a book or a film comes into being or we wouldn’t buy so many magazines and books which explore the creative process. Michael is to be lauded for making this process so freely available through the democratic medium of the web.

Michael has very generously given us permission to post a couple of pictures of his work in progress (which he tells me is all but finished) on the blog and I’d like to thank him for his kind permission. All images are, of course, the copyrighted material of Michael Zulli, so please don’t use it without seeking his permission. If you nip over to Michael’s website you will be able to see an impressive number of much larger images, from initial sketches, through preparing his canvas to selecting and mixing colours and applying brush to canvas. Have a look, it is quite wonderful to watch a work come to life, from a few pencil and ink outlines to a fully-realised portrait.

All pictures © Michael Zulli 2005