Ryan Meinerding on his new book, The Art of Ryan Meinerding at NYCC 2024

Written by Rash Vinakota

Published on October 21, 2024

NEW YORK CITY, NY– The fourth and final day of Comic Con 2024 was a little on the chiller side but still had interesting panels. One of the panels featured the head of visual development of Marvel Studios, Ryan Meinerding. He spoke about his new book ‘The Art of Ryan Meinerding’ that was released on October 1 of this year. 

Meinerding is the one who designed the suits for the live-action Marvel movies. One of his first designs was for Tony Stark, a genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist. And the fictional scientific marvel behind Iron Man. But apparently, Meinerding appears to be Tony Stark in real life being the person who actually designed the suit. 

His book is a compilation of his initial sketches of Marvel characters, showcases his process of creating the iconic suits and outfits Marvel fans everywhere love. The book contains over 500 illustrations. 

Moderated by authors Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, Meinerding talked about illustrations he enjoyed doing, and ones that stressed him out. He also highlighted what suit design means to him and how he makes sure that the suit keeps in line with not only the character, but also the world around them.

“Storytelling through suit design,” says Meinerding. Every suit for every superhero tells a story. It adds a layer of complexity that eventually adds up to make up universes. And with Marvel’s multiversal theory, that’s a lot of suits. 

As Meinerding goes on to describe his experiences with certain superheroes, he touches on the character that stressed him out the most. Spiderman. “I made ten different spiderman masks back before cosplay was cool,” he says. 

‘The Art of Ryan Meinerding’ is a limited edition book with only 500 copies being currently sold.

 

Featured image by Rash Vinakota