Generations: Hawkeye Sketchbook

Artist Stefano Raffaele really hits the target with his art and designs for GENERATIONS: HAWKEYE #1, a fact you’ll witness for yourself on August 30 and when you see his words and sketches her in this exclusive behind-the-scenes peek.

Marvel.com: Stefano, we see some Romita Sr. in your take on Kate Bishop—who are your artistic inspirations?

Stefano Raffaele: As a child I grew up reading thousands of classics, and my top favorite artists have always been masters like John Romita Sr., John Buscema, Neal Adams, and Alex Raymond. I try to mix my love for modern and classic together in my drawing style.

Marvel.com: What kind of a feeling did you want to evoke from your presentation of Hawkeye himself here?

Stefano Raffaele: I tried to give Hawkeye a classic feeling, but also look very powerful at the same time. I wanted the reader to “feel at home.” with Clint. I tried to be very respectful of his classic costume, because I know he’s a character that every Marvel fan loves very much.

Marvel.com: We love this great series of pages that leads up to the big full-page confrontation splash. How do you get that sense of movement, like in a film?

Stefano Raffaele: Cinematic storytelling is always my first goal when doing comics. The drawings are important, of course, and they must be powerful, but the right shots are always my main concern when approaching a new page.

Marvel.com: What do you prefer drawing the most: People? Backgrounds? Mechanical?

Stefano Raffaele: People come first, but I give great attention to backgrounds, too, because I think it’s very important to work “around” the characters. I have a lot of fun going into details with backgrounds!

Marvel.com: And what’s your theory on the balance between lights and darks on a page? You seem to have a great mastery of it—is that a challenge for you?

Stefano Raffaele: I am a big fan of old black-and-white movies, from Hitchcock to Truffaut, so I try to put that into my drawings, always mixing modern and classic.

Kate Bishop, A.K.A. Hawkeye, finds herself smack-dab in the middle of a battle royal between the world’s most skilled sharpshooters — including an inexplicably young Clint Barton, A.K.A. the OTHER Hawkeye with GENERATIONS: HAWKEYE & HAWKEYE from Kelly Thompson & Stefano Raffaele on August 30!