Done during one of my more uphill times, but I was happy to be able to do a cover for Ben Stenbeck’s creator-owned book. And since it’s for another artist, I allowed myself to do it almost how I’d do it for myself.
When I did the other Christopher Chaos cover, this was the only alternative idea I had, and the editors approved both (hooray!) so this one was done for a later issue, out in December.
Sometimes a cover is best as a simple picture of the person standing there, or a dynamic action shot. Other times, a completely different approach works out better and leads to more interesting places. Here’s a case of the latter working out better. How didI end up with these circles?
I had a few directions for this one, from the maximalist “just put everything in there” to a 3D one (using the model I made sometime in the middle of issue four of Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy and then promptly forgot to actually use for reference for the rest of the book.)
The second hardcover omnibus volume is out now, collecting the last (and best) volume I did with John Arcudi, Pirate’s Ghost and Metal Monsters of Midtown, as well as the first book, The Iron Prometheus by Jason Armstrong and Mignola, and short stories that were originally collected in the fifth paperback, A Chain Forged in Life. Roughly 470 pages of Lobster.
This is for a graphic novel that has so much going on that I thought the best course for the cover would be to include everything (or at least as much as fits on one page).
I don’t know why the release image is missing the Dark Horse logo in the top left corner, though, but the roughs below have it. Edit: It bothered me so much that I went in and added the Dark Horse logo myself. (Why even bring that up? Because balance takes at least fifty times as long as the drawing part, usually– it’s a chronic cartooning condition that eats up the brain. See black areas below.)
