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Did Awesome Fan Art Inspire the Remarkable Look of 2018's Animated 'Spider-Man' Movie?

'Yup, those swagger jackers bit my $#%&!' claims creator.

By Paco TaylorPublished 6 years ago 9 min read
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"My spider-sense is tingling!"

On Monday December 8th, Marvel and Sony Pictures Animation rocked the collective socks off the nerdiverse with the unexpected release of a teaser trailer for a computer-animated Spider-Man film that fans are now anxiously waiting a whole flippin' year to see. December 14th, 2018 will bring to the big screen the thrilling release of the super cool-looking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse features the Marvel Comics character Miles Morales/Spider-Man in a spine-tingling tale adapted from a screenplay by Phil Lord. Actor Shameik Moore (The Getdown) gives voice to Morales and is joined in the cast by Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage), and Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta).

[Credit: Marvel, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation]

Committed to giving the project a very distinctive visual style, the filmmakers merged computer animation with traditional hand-drawn comic book techniques and other graphic elements. The end result shows Morales moving through a dark, color-saturated New York City that Kevin Melrose at CBR describes as "absolutely gorgeous" and "stunningly different than any fans have seen before."

Chris Cabin at Collider says "the style and design on display is vibrant and immediately engaging on a visual level, showing a genuine sense of personality."

io9's Julie Muncy describes the look as "elegant" and "fresh," and writer/graphic designer, Paco Taylor, says of the film's brillant-looking visuals: "those...wack-ass swagger jackers bit my $#%&!"

Along Came a Spider-Man

["Ultimate Spider-Man" digital art on ultra premium inkjet paper, Paco D. Taylor]

In the fall of 2013, Taylor (who's actually writing about himself here in the third person like he's cray-cray) posted a series of four superhero film-inspired digital fan art pieces to his blog, Your Kung Fu Sucks. The pieces featured images of rappers Ghostface Killah and Method Man, and actors Samuel L. Jackson, Wesley Snipes, and others in faux mini movie posters laced with a hip-hop vibe.

Then, in June 2015, an additional piece was added in an effort to round out the mini poster series. This 5th installment, Ultimate Spider-Man(titled after the Marvel comic book of the same name), featured fan favorite actor/rapper Donald Glover as the webslinger Miles Morales. Along with appropriated graphic elements, the Ultimate Spider-Man mini poster boasted an unorthodox color palette and a skillfully synthesized title logo.

And, if you ask Mr. Taylor, the approach taken now by Sony Pictures Animation to next year's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse appears to be patterned after his fan art. Somehow, though, he doesn't mind. In fact, he's flattered. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," he reminds. "And, for this OG geek, the thought of a creative labor of love of mine actually inspiring the visuals of an animated Spider-Man film is pretty boss."

Although he has no way to substantiate his claim that the creative team responsible for the animated Spider-Man production used his fan art as a basis for the visual direction of Miles Morales' multi-colored world, he's quite content to file his seemingly fantastic claim under the category of "fan theory." But as far as fan theories go, he makes a fairly compelling case.

Step Into My Parlor

[Credit: Marvel, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation]

"The clearest evidence of the production's visual congruity with my fan art is the color palette," says Taylor, pointing to a unique array of psychedelic colors anchored by shades of aqua (or electric cyan) and varying shades of blue. These are followed by pink, lavender, green, red, and hints of still other nearly-fluorescent colors. Everything is set against a dark background.

Taylor says that he intentionally made heavy use of colors that are virtually antithetical to the hyper-masculine colors typically associated with testosterone-driven superhero movies. "Cyan, pink, lavender, magenta, baby blue? You'd have to be blind, deaf, dumb, and in denial to think that the team working on this Spider-Man flick decided on the same color palette by happenstance," he says.

The artist thinks that the production was also impacted by a remark he made in a related blog post about New York City film settings now being "a bit passé." Instead of using Tokyo, Hong Kong, or his hometown of Chicago (all of which were mentioned as settings for a film concept in his post), Spidey's NYC was simply dipped in a more vibrant visual palette: His.

[Credit: Marvel, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation]

"Oh, and with Chicago in mind," he interjects, "I'm not saying that it was done as a subtle nod to me or anything, but I find it curious that Miles, in one frame of the teaser trailer, is wearing a retro pair of Air Jordan I sneakers––the iconic shoe that MJ first wore while playing for the Chicago Bulls during his 1984-1985 season. Meaningless coincidence? Yeah, maybe not."

Common Thread

Seemingly even less coincidental is the character design of Miles Morales for the film. From his first appearance in Marvel's Ultimate Comics #4 in August 2011, the character has always been drawn with closely cropped hair. But in the trailer, Miles has what could easily be viewed as a much fuller version of Glover's curly coif, as seen in the Spider-Man fan art.

As a cool bit of trivia, Taylor mentions that the body of Miles in his faux movie poster is actually that of actor Tobey Maguire costumed in the black Venom bodysuit for a Spider-Man 3 promotional photo. "A lot of people don't seem to realize that Glover's head was applied digitally," he says, "and that the suit's colors and a lot of the shadowing was done digitally."

[Credit: Marvel, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Complex]

The image of Jamie Foxx as Electro, by the way, came from a promotional image for 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man, while the image of actress Jamie Chung was appropriated from a 2014 model shoot for Complex magazine.

In further regard to the animated Miles, as compared to the fan art image, it should be observed that the light and shading in the subway scene very closely mirrors that in the photograph. Further visual unity is indicated in the web pattern designs on the upper torsos of both figures when the images are placed side by side. Taylor says there are still other telling similarities, too.

"Do you see how the ends of Miles' eyebrows angle like those of Glover in my piece, and also the little dimples in the center of his brow? The same echoes of Glover's face can also be seen in the scene where Miles pulls up his mask and then grins after sticking his precarious landing, but there's also a positioning of his lips that angles up to the right, echoing Glover's mouth."

[Credit: Marvel, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation]

In spite of the clear similarities found by Taylor between his fan art work and visual elements in the Spider-Verse trailer, he reiterates that he has no way to outright prove that his work was used as a reference. "Like I said, this is only a 'fan theory,'" he emphasizes with a smile, while gesturing air quotes with his fingers. And then he piles on more evidence.

Webs We Weave

[Credit: Marvel, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation]

"I think that the Spider-Verse title design is great," Taylor gushes. "And the graffiti-style emblem in the background (also seen on Miles' costume) is a super nice touch. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a vandal at heart, and I still blog about other graffiti artists from time to time. I'm envious that I didn't think of incorporating a similar element into my own piece."

The artist then points out how the placement of the spider in the Spider-Verse logo echoes the placement of the spider symbol in his work, both being situated slightly above the movie title.

With regard to the actual text, despite the Into the Spider-Verse designers taking things in a seemingly different direction, the logo design still appears to hint at visual cues inspired by Taylor's work. Chief among these is the use of multiple layers on the lettering for the logo, placed in such a way to create what's known in boring tech jargon as offset layering.

["Ultimate Spider-Man" title detail, Paco D. Taylor, 2015]

Also, in the Spider-Verse title, the top text layer is outlined (or stroked), like the white outline in the fan art. But where Taylor's outline is offset from the bluish green block letters and italicized for a more off-kilter sense of 3D depth, Sony's team, having also used multiple layers of text, uses the colors of red and blue to brilliantly channel the vibe of an old school 3D comic book.

"While I like seeing their similar use of a 3D effect––and on the classic Spider-Man logo at that––it kinda feels like if a kid who sat next to you in detention copied your style over your shoulder," says Taylor. "I mean, fine if he says: 'Hey, I just had to try something similar,' but when the nerd doesn't even acknowledge where he got the idea, that is the textbook definition of a biter."

Taylor then mentions the Spider-Man logo used in his piece came from the cover of Marvel's 2011 Ultimate Comics Spider-Man series. Hearing himself say the words, though, leads him to a shocking epiphany: "Oh $#%&! Sony didn't use one of their usual lame-ass 'Made in Burbank logo designs. They used an actual logo from a Spider-Man comic book…like I did!"

Itsy Bitsy Spider-Verse

[Credit: Marvel, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation]

The very last bit of evidence provided by Taylor to support his (essentially proven) theory suggests the likely source of inspiration for one of the most intriguing scenes of the many seen in the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse trailer. Here, Morales, dressed in the Spider-Man costume, floats (or falls) mysteriously upward towards an inverted city skyline. The scene echoes one found in a YouTube clip posted by Taylor to his blog in March of 2011.

This similarly upside-down urbanscape appeared in the teaser trailer for the tragically unfinished CG animated film Soul Man. The gorgeous-looking project was in the works at the the time by French animator Guillaume Ivernel and his Paris-based production house, Blacklight Movies.

[Credit: Guillaume Ivernel / Blacklight Movies]

"Someone seems to have surfed (read: studied) my blog pretty thoroughly," says Taylor. "I'm somewhat impressed...with my good taste."

Dollars & Spider-Sense

In the DC Comics graphic novel, V for Vendetta, the book's heroic protagonist says that "there are no coincidences, just the illusion of coincidence." And while the dozen or so similarities detailed in this sprawling "fan theory" could all be the result of an incredibly bizarre series of coincidences, such a large number of 'em are not only improbable, but impossible.

"And look, my graphic design work can make liberal use of appropriation and re-contextualization," admits Taylor, "But my design sense is still uniquely my own, like a fingerprint. And if my work is a source of inspiration for the overarching design concepts of this film (read: it is), then Sony Pictures Animation appropriated my design style. There's an amusing sense of irony in that.At the same time, though, a big company like Sony should prolly have offered to pay me for my 'animation concept design' and buried my name in the credits rather than run the risk of this *cough* fan theory *cough* going viral. For some good ol' fashioned hush money, I would have happily placed my name at the bottom of a non-disclosure agreement and taken that check to the bank."

Then, with a warm grin the artist says, "And it's not too late! Tell Marvel or Sony to have their people call my people. I could use a new pair of Jordans."

fact or fiction
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About the Creator

Paco Taylor

Pop culture archaeologist. Content creator. Word nerd. Blogger. Fluent in geek speak.

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