Watching the Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is a tradition here in the U.S., and from 1987-1998 one of the most popular balloons in the Parade was everyone's favorite wallcrawler.

But this old guy has been retired for over a decade, and for years Spidey fans have been requesting to get him back in the parade. This year Macy's announced the return of Spider-Man, and I was thrilled to play a small role in the new, redesigned balloon.

 After Marvel gave instructions and diagrams to Macy's for the new style and pose, Macy's then sculpted this clay model. Photos were taken from 6 angles and given to me.

Taking these photos, it was my job to create his costume. I digitally painted over the each angle  in Photoshop so the balloon manufacturer would have a complete full color model to work from. It wasn't as easy as it sounds, though. It was crucial that I be consistent with every detail so there were no inconsistencies between camera angles. All of the red parts of his costume had to hit the exact same body points. I had to think in 3 dimensions, making sure the web design wrapped around every curve of the head, neck, and shoulders in a way that made sense. Continuity from image to image was key. If, for instance, his boot had 8 horizontal scalloping lines in one view, I needed to make sure there were 8 scalloping lines in all other 5 views.

After the costume was approved, I had one final part: the announcement artwork. Marvel wanted advertising, but the actual balloon wasn't made yet. So we had to create something. Marvel provided me with some photographic elements from a previous parade, which I had to doctor/modify a bit. Then I dropped in my "front view" image of Spider-Man and did some surface painting to make him appear more glossy and "balloon-like". This was the image that was distributed to the press to advertise the return of Spidey to the parade.

The new Spider-Man will be the first giant balloon in the parade tomorrow morning. So tune in early to check him out!

-Scott