Better Comic Book Covers

Thought I'd try something different today, rather than the usual what I was drawing, and a dashed-off comment (though those aren't stopping). This is an informative post from Toronto's Chris Butcher about what makes a comic book cover work. I think it could be extended to what makes certain illustrations appealing. [link]



But here's another sketch. I rescued a drawing from last night which wasn't looking so promising. I like Mr. Firehead, but his girlfriend looked too boyish until I cut down her jaw-line (though her neck is a little long). It's interesting how the scanner lets you see these things. It still drops out lots of tones in the media I use, such as watercolour or coloured pencils. So nice gradations are out of the question, reds look raspberry, and all one's mistakes show up extra badly. Still, there are things I can fix, and surely all my "realistic" drawings will look like Alan Lee in a short while.

Truthfully, I don't want it to be too slick, because I like the roughness. But I am working on technique, also underlying contruction, and proportion, so I can draw nicely if I want to, and even capture a likeness at times. As I've always said, it's the journey that's interesting. Still cool if you can do a knockout picture or two, once in a while.