Ahead of the Game

After I received the first rough draft of the story line the second thing I did, after sketching out the bad guy, was come up with layouts for the cover. This is called being ahead of the game. Even though you may not know the entire story line or even what the writer or higher ups had in mind for the cover, your first idea should always be sketched out. Even if it is a terrible idea, and you know it, be sure to sketch it out on a piece of paper. 

This insures that your initial idea, good or bad, will be out of your head and leave you free to think about your other work. Plus, you can always come back to it later and touch it up if it's a good layout. 

I would not suggest starting by looking at other work. I would suggest trying to be as creative and original as possible. After you have 4-5 original sketches, search the net for your favorite comic artist and see how he approaches covers. Mix it up with someone you don't know and see if you can't come up with something innovative and different.

I did a few sketches, just using the idea that Saguarrior would be fighting a new mysterious nemesis, but then I ended up choosing this design. As you can see I started out real small, this is no bigger than a business card.

Secondly I drew another small sketch to see how it would work with the title and comic tag, then did some crude coloring.

Finally, after I was happy enough with my layout I drew a 8.5" by 11" drawing with some more crude coloring, just so I could get the idea out of my head. To go the extra mile I even opened up Illustrator and did a mock up of what the title may look like, and added it in. This also helps me see that I may need to move the skull over a tiny bit, or just change the overall direction of the figures. The brown square is where the LoS Comics logo and issue number go. 

I think it's pretty aesthetically pleasing, and I came up with a cool new way to shade Saguarrior while I was drawing it. Going the extra mile is never a bad idea. Now I have a fresh mind to think about my sketches, and I also have a cool layout to play around with when it comes time to draw the cover. 

FYI! This is for my personal convenience. I'll only show my co-workers when the time comes to discuss potential issue covers. :)