The basics of drawing SpiderMan by Todd McFarlane

By Wacom |
December 4, 2018

We had the change to chat with comics artist Todd Mcfarlane about his amazing work and he was kind enough to share with us the basics of drawing his Spidey and Venom character.
Did you know that besides being a producer/ director for comic books, Todd also owns McFarlane Toys?
To check out our limited Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse promotion, click here.

Hero Spider-Man and anti-hero Venom

Artistically, McFarlane’s impact visually on the look of Spider-Man (while working at Marvel in the 1990’s) can still be seen today. A single page of McFarlane’s original art from an issue of ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ sold for record-smashing numbers.
McFarlane became a true comic book superstar for his record-setting work on Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man franchise, where he co-created the anti-hero Venom. The Sony Pictures’ Venom’ film starring Tom Hardy set an all-time record for the largest film opening in October and was #1 at the box office its first two weeks of release.

Amazing Spiderman 300 cover

The Amazing Spider-Man issue 300

Image Comics

McFarlane also co-founded and serves as President of, Image Comics in 1992. It has been the third largest comic publisher in North America in the past 26 years (behind Marvel and DC Comics). His first issue for Image Comics, called Spawn, sold an unprecedented 1.7 million copies for an independent comic. Since its debut, Spawn has continued to be a fan favorite title around the world. Spawn is published in 12 languages and sold in 37 countries. The comic became an Emmy Award-Winning animated series on HBO and a New Line Cinema feature film.

Spawn

This year, McFarlane has announced an ensemble of award-winning talent for his upcoming Spawn Movie: Casting Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Jamie Foxx (Ray, Django Unchained) to play Spawn and Academy Award nominee Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, The Town, Wind River) to play police detective “Twitch” Williams.
This new Spawn film will be a gritty, R-rated re-imagining of the character and marks McFarlane’s feature film directorial debut. Academy Award nominee Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Productions, the force behind recent hits Get Out, Split and Halloween, are attached to produce.

todd wacomworkspace

Todd in his studio working on his Wacom Cintiq

McFarlane Toys

In 1994, McFarlane founded the international award-winning McFarlane Toys – now one of North America’s top action figure manufacturers, boasting over 150 licenses (including the recently announced Fortnite license) during that time.
McFarlane Toys’ 2018 marquee figure and construction lines including some of the hottest entertainment properties including Fortnite Netflix’ Stranger Things, Game Of Thrones, Destiny, Call of Duty, Star Trek: Discovery and iconic classic Star Trek TV series, Borderlands, Five Nights at Freddy’s, AMC’s The Walking Dead TV Series, EA Madden NFL figure and NBA 2K figures.

young todd

Young Todd with Spawn in the background

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