Spider-Man and His Amazing Mural in Johnstown, Pennsylvania


I'm used to seeing public acts of nerdity at stores, conventions, and theme parks. That said, it still makes me smile to see a small town recognize and celebrate its connection to nerd culture.

Steve Ditko (1927 - 2018) was a comic book artist who is mostly known for co-creating popular superhero characters such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; last year, the local Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center honored Ditko in Johnstown through a commemorative mural painting which consists of 50 panels that were combined to form a Marvel Comics-approved 49-foot by 28-foot mural that hangs on the exterior of the Stone Bridge Brewery. This mural even has its own Facebook page.


I visited Johnstown a few weeks ago to see this mural for myself, and it is very impressive. Not only does it show local pride around Ditko's accomplishments, but it also celebrates the more abstract and psychedelic aspects of his art that he put in the pages of the Doctor Strange comics (art that is alluded to frequently in the recent live-action Doctor Strange movies). 

An example of Ditko's psychedelic art style in Doctor Strange.

Being a fan of 3D and VR, I couldn't just limit myself to taking a few pictures of this tribute--I also tried to create a 3D scan of it for fans who cannot make it Johnstown themselves to see this tribute. It's one thing to see this mural in a small picture; it's another to see it in its original (or close to original) size. It changes the experience completely. I used the photogrammetry capability of Polycam to take a series of photos of the mural to generate a 3D model. While Polycam did a great job at capturing the textures of the mural's surface on the bottom, the mural model warped towards the top. 


To compensate for the warping, I cropped the 3D model and then used Blender to attach part of a photograph of the mural to replace the top half. While the two halves don't line up perfectly, they are close enough to recapture the look and feel of the mural as it stands in Johnstown. I shot a brief video of the 3D model in augmented reality (AR) so you can see what the end result looks like:


I created a QR code for my Steve Ditko mural 3D model that you can use to see and experience the mural for yourself. Just download Adobe Aero onto your smartphone or tablet, and then find a solid horizontal surface where you can place the model. Be sure to find a large space with good lighting to see the 3D model, because I made the model as large as I could to match the actual mural. 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with
Read more

FOUND: Mechanical Shark from Universal Jaws Theme Park Ride

Image
When the Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida shut down its Jaws ride back in January 2012, Jaws fans everywhere were devastated. Yet even though this part of the Jaws franchise is no longer operational, some of its sharks are swimming around out there … including places such as Frederick, Maryland. A few days ago, I was contacted by a fellow Jaws fan named John Ryan, asking me if I knew anything specific regarding the sharks from the Universal Jaws ride. He was asking because he thought he found one and is trying to verify its authenticity. We spoke on the phone and exchanged a few emails, and here’s what he told me about his find: “I've been collecting Jaws memorabilia for decades and when I found this incredibly rare gem sitting in a backyard in Frederick, Maryland, I wondered about its connection to the state. The current homeowners said the shark was already there when they purchased the property. They also told me it had been the subject of neighborhood rumor for y
Read more

Machine Robo's Magnificent Robot Combiners

Image
I don't collect Transformers merchandise, but I see articles and advertisements about it when I browse through Japanese robot toy sites. From what I can gather, one of the latest product lines for Transformers is called "Combiner Wars" , a line that consists of five or six transforming robot toys that combine into one bigger robot. Combiner robot toys have been around for a long time, and Transformers had quite a few of them even back in the '80s. Yet of the many combiner robot toys I've seen over the years, the ones that have consistently impressed me were the ones released by Bandai under the Machine Robo line. Whereas other robot toy lines are stuck in the novelty of combining smaller toys into a bigger toy, Machine Robo has used the concept of combination to promote creative play. Read on for a review of how Machine Robo has built upon its combiner toys throughout the years.
Read more