Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Labyrinth Variant Cover Process

I was asked by Archaia to do a variant cover for the first issue in the new Labyrinth comic series: Coronation. Here's the info about the series:

"Simon Spurrier and Daniel Bayliss present a magical look into the world of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. Before Sarah braved the Labyrinth to save her brother, another young woman sought to save a young boy named Jareth from the clutches of the Goblins. Set in 18th-century Venice, Italy, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth is a striking look into the history of the Labyrinth itself, and what happens to the little boys who don’t get rescued. This is the untold history of the Goblin King."

For this blogpost I'll run through the process for creating the cover.



Rough/Pencils:
My editor Cameron suggested since I'm not one to tend to drawn pretty Human's that I draw Jareth in owl-form rather than glam David Bowie. We agreed that the 13 hour clock would also be something that would fit my aesthetic...and then I suggested a map of the Venice canals made to be a Labyrinth that the owl and clock stand on/above. Well, 2 outa 3 ain't bad. I messed around with 3D modeling programs, image searches for Venice from above and more before I gave up on the Canal-Labyrinth-Venice and opted for just a nice shot of Rialto Bridge (I found a painting from the 1900's as reference) The owl was drawn separately on copy paper. And for the clock I drew just one of the ornamental shapes for the numbers and then in Photoshop copied them out the the proper measurement for the 13 hours to be equidistant. Once this was all cobbled together digitally with some tone and a circular maze added in for good measure, I sent it off for approval from Archaia and Henson.

Inks:
The approval came back and I started the process of inking. First I printed out the above layout onto copy paper (it's too big for 1 sheet, so I print it on 2 pieces and tape them together) and then tape that to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my light pad I can see through the bristol to the printout and treat them like my pencils as I ink on the surface of the bristol. For pens I use Copic Multiliners SP (The SP are the refillable/nib-replaceable versions and not the disposables) with the 0.7 & 0.3 nibs.
To help the shapes stand out, I gave the owl and the clock a heavier outline. I also made sure the ink lines for the owl and the maze never touch the lines of Venice, partly that's to give them each some space, but it's also so the next step with coloring is a bit easier.

Colors:
Like most of my covers, this piece has color holds (areas where I isolate the linework and paint them a color instead of black)...Unlike most of my covers, this one has every inkline held with a color instead of black. The Owl lines are one tone (that shifts lighter as it nears Venice), the clock's lines a second, the maze is a third tone (that also shifts in value and hue as it nears Venice), and fourth Venice is all in a cool blue-grey.

The shading and texture were all done with the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop using a textured brush.






Jim Henson's Labyrinth: Coronation #1 is slated to hit comic shops on February 28
My cover was the ComicsPro exclusive.




2018 Appearances:
Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 1-4
WonderCon: Mar. 23-25
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

11" x 11" Elderberry Print Process

For the last six years I have released a limited edition 11" x 11" signed and numbered print. (At the bottom of this post are all my past prints & links to blogposts about them). They are supposed to show the "prettier" side of Mouse Guard (per a request from Julia) and are often named for the flora seen in the background.

This year's print "Elderberry" was released at Emerald City Comic Con and will be available at my convention appearance throughout 2018 (and also in my online store). For this blogpost, I'll run through the steps to create the print.


I started by picking a mouse character (this happens to be Bronwyn, the Matriarch at the time of the Black Axe volume and seen in 2 panels in that book) and some type of pretty plant: Elderberry. I sketched out Bronwyn on copy paper in the hammock. On a separate sheet I drew a section of the flowers and leaves, and on another I drew the ladybug (an afterthought). I then assembled these scans in Photoshop, tinting the linework of each to help me see through the tangle of lines. I did rough flat colors to also help me visualize what was negative space, what was flower, what was leaf, and what was mouse. The berries I added in digitally and I populated the blooms by copying and rotating/mirroring the one section I drew.

The next step was to ink the piece. I printed out the above layout on copy paper and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my light pad, I was able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout so I could use it as a guide to ink from. 

I tightened up the details of the flowers, and got into a rhythm with their shape & textures. Obviously, this made the background much darker in the inked piece than my rough. One of the ways I approached resolving that comes later, but the other was to make sure the berries read as 'very dark', making the flower mass lighter by comparison. 

After the inks were completed, I started flatting the color for the piece in Photoshop. The colors for Bronwyn were already set a bit from her appearance in The Black Axe, but they still needed some adjustment, and I could also call from my rough layout flat colors for help.

The purpose here isn't so much to worry about the final colors though as much as it is about coloring in the lines and establishing the areas, that her fur color is something different than the leaves above her head, of that the cloak has a different color edge trim.


In the final color rendering is where I not only shade and highlight (using the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop) but also making color balance adjustments to warm or cool areas that I may not have quite right in the flat color choices.

To help lighten up the background and make those Elderberry flower as delicate as I could, I added a color-hold on their linework. A color-hold is where I digitally paint over the ink lines so that they aren't black, but a color, or even painted and rendered color. 



The finished Elderberry prints are numbered and limited to 300 copies and signed by me.





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Past year's 11' x 11" limited print process blogposts:

2012: "Peacock":


2013: "Raspberry":


2014: "Moonflower":


2015: "Lavender":


2016: "Juniper":


2017: "Rose":





2018 Appearances:
Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 1-4
WonderCon: Mar. 23-25
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7




Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Snowy Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day Tomorrow! I wanted to re-share the information about my Valentine's Day themed Children's Book: Snowy Valentine from Harper Collins. It's a story about Jasper Bunny as he awakes on Valentine's morning realizing he doesn't have anything for his bride, and that he's unlikely to find the special something she deserves when the land is blanketed in snow.

I chronicled the development of this book in 3 parts ad have included the links to those blogposts below:






Part 1: Origins & Pre-Production:
In this post, I go over the original book I handmade for Julia that was the inspiration for Snowy Valentine and my first drawing of Jasper Bunny.
http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2011/11/snowy-valentine-my-1st-part-1-over-next.html







Part 2: Sketches & Inks:
Here I share the sketches of the characters and scenes that would become the dummy book layout. And also finished ink drawings of some of the final illustrations.
http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2011/11/snowy-valentine-my-1st-part-2-last-week.html








Part 3: Colors & Fabric:
Finally, with the book drawn, I add color and texture with photos of fabric samples and odds & ends around the house. And the many stages of getting the cover just right.
http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2011/11/snowy-valentine-my-1st-part-3-over-past.html





Snowy Valentine can be ordered from your local book store or from Amazon.com
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PS: I have commissioned the talented puppet builder James Wojtal Jr. to build a puppet version of Jasper Bunny that I can use for library/school readings as well as to pitch to Harper Collins for the possibility of doing a small stage show of the book.


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PPS: Recently I also Uberdoodled some copies and put them in my online store for sale: 


























Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Mott Community College Fine Arts Gallery Show: TALES IN INK

Yesterday, Mott Community College's Fine Arts Gallery opened a show of my work. 20+ Mouse Guard original pieces: pages, covers, illustrations, and cutaways, are on display there until February 20th.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9 AM - 4:30 PM.

I will also be doing a public presentation where I discuss the work, my techniques, and some topics specific to the art students there.
The presentation will be Monday Feb. 12th at 1PM in The Visual Arts & Design Center, Room 129

Below is the postcard with the info for the show:



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