Adi Granov may not be a household name, but when “Iron Man” kicks off the superhero-heavy summer movie season next week, the 31-year-old artist’s fingerprints will be all over the hero’s helmet.

Along with concept artists Phil Saunders and Ryan Meinerding, Granov designed the suits worn by Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), as well as the villainous Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges)

The principal armor in the movie is based on the design Granov created while illustrating the 2005 “Extremis” storyline in the “Iron Man” comic book.

“I think it’s a pretty cool suit,” said Michael Travis Schuler, owner of Hall of Heroes comic shop, 316 N. Mission St. “It looks like it could work in real life.”

While designing for the movie, the primary challenge was to take that design and turn it into a practical, working suit.

“Since we had the time and the budget, I worked on an all new, much more sophisticated design while trying to maintain the visual cues that made the Extremis armor recognizable,” Granov said in an e-mail to Central Michigan Life. “Phil Saunders, who is a really good hard surface designer, brought a lot of technical expertise to it and figured out a lot of mechanical details, which are way beyond anything in the comic. The fact that most people confuse the two means that we succeeded, but it is actually an entirely redesigned suit.”

Full, wearable suits of armor were built from the designs created by Granov and company.

“For (the movie crew) to actually make a suit out of metal, that’s pretty cool,” said Mount Pleasant resident Jared Shepardson. “The suit looks pretty cool. It looks pretty realistic and everything.”

Designing the suit was only part of the work Granov did with the film. He has created promotional art used for marketing, toys and posters.

“Overall, it’s around a year and a half of living with the movie,” Granov said.

In addition to work on the film, Granov is illustrating the “Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas” comic miniseries, written by the film’s director, Jon Favreau.

“We wanted to do something which would be hugely cost- prohibitive to do as a movie but is perfectly suited to be illustrated,” Granov said. “It sees Iron Man facing off one of his greatest foes, Fin Fang Foom, a 50-foot-tall dragon, in the middle of Las Vegas. To be honest, it’s quite an insane book in the best sense possible and great fun to draw.”

Granov is a native of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Growing up with an interest in art, he began to pursue a career in the field after moving to the United States in 1995 in the midst of the Bosnian War.

“Obviously, living in former Yugoslavia, the prospects of making a great living from it were slim, but back then, that didn’t seem to matter much,” Granov said. “But once I moved to the (United States) a whole world of possibilities opened up for me and, in a way, justified all the time I’ve put into art.”

Granov’s first published comic book work was the 2003 miniseries “Necrowar.” He since has primarily worked for Marvel Comics. His published work for the company includes interior art for several issues including the “Extremis” story arc and cover art for over 50 issues of various books.

His art has become a fan-favorite, primarily with Marvel readers.

“I’m a big fan of really specifically detailed art,” Schuler said when asked about Granov. “I just like ‘nice, crisp stuff.’”

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