Fist Fight!

A new drawing from American Cowboy magazine (yes, that exists).

So, what is the greatest bar fight in western movie history you ask? The jury comes back with the epic 10 minute brawl from SHANE (1953) starring Alan Ladd and Ben Johnson.

After watching the movie again, I took some shots of the fight, which moves from one-on-one, to five-on-one, to two-on-twelve! One great tongue-in-cheek moment is the directors have a kid watching the fight, casually eating a candy cane. Just before the decisive blow, the action cuts away to the kid biting his candy cane, mirroring the crunch of the bad guy's cheek bone being pulverized. Amazing. 

This is one of those images that I got right with my first tiny sketch thumbnail. (Don't tell my students that this happens sometimes). I did other sketches, but this time, the first one was the best.