Friday, April 24, 2009

X-Men Legacy 226 Cover Step by Step 1 Rough




Ok, as this issue hasn't shipped yet, I can't really say too much about the how's and why's of the concept for the piece but based off what I was told to do on the cover this image popped into my head and I only sent in the one sketch, colored up ( I actually prefer to send in as few sketches as possible, because it almost always seems that the weakest idea is picked - so I like to go with my idea/s). The sketch was done in my sketchbook at 4 x 6 inches with Col-Erase Light blue pencil, Staedtler HB lead, and a Pitt Black artist pen sizes S and B. This is actually pretty big for a cover sketch for me, I average about 1.75 x 2.75 inches for a cover sketch - so I can focus solely on the composition and not get caught up in  the detail of the image itself - that's what makes it fun to draw the actual cover and not just a boring tracing job.

I then scanned it and cleaned up and did a quick color job in Photoshop CS3 and sent that in for approval. The color sketch is more important than the drawing itself at this point as I will usually follow my initial color's fairly closely on the final piece.

Once approved, I then roughed in the drawing onto 13 x 19 Strathmore 500 2ply bristol board with the blue pencil. 

Then once I was happy with the composition, I begin roughing all the characters structure and perspective for the drawing. As Rogue was the focus of this cover I made sure I nailed her face to start off so I could then work away on the rest of it.

td


5 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to see the final!

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  2. seems like a long process/ how long did it take for that cover ?

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  3. I try to set aside two working days for drawing a cover to ensure it get's all the attention it needs/deserves.

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  4. Hi Terry,
    I was curious why you work on a 13x19" board, do you work oversize (larger than an 11x17" ledger size sheet) for the interior pages as well? Interested because I have done the same for some bluelines of some of your WW pages to practice my inking - printed out on 13x19 sheet with a live area of 12x18". Thanks again for the blog - hope all these questions aren't tedious?
    Best,
    J.Gilpin

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  5. All my interiors are 11 x 17, for covers I work on both 11 x 17 and 13 x 19 and when the figures are small I will draw the cover at a larger size (13x19).

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