2025 Bookplate

 Every year since 2012 I do a new Mouse Guard bookplate for sale at conventions and in my online store. The idea is that this mini-print can be pasted/taped into your book(s), you can write your name in to identify it as yours to borrowers, and since the bookplates are signed, it means you now have a signed book. I try and make each year's bookplate art some medium the mice would/could use. I've done stained glass, relief printing, embroidery, mosaic, etc in past years––this year I was inspired by relief stone carving.

The bookplate will be made available at Emerald City Comic Con and then in my online store shortly after.

The process started when I was wowed by a photo of a restoration/recreation of facade from Louis Sullivan's Gage building. I did some clay relief carving in college this reminded me of. I ended up cutting up the reference photo and making it into a new configuration and then I went about sketching some mice––specifically a scene of the first Matriarch and founding Guardmice as documented in Jeremy Bastian's Legends of the Guard tale.

With this year (in May) being the 20th anniversary of Mouse Guard, I thought showing the in-world founding of the Mouse Guard in stone would be a nice touch. The pencil sketch was quickly digitally blocked in with some greyscale values for reference for the next step.

I printed out the above layout and on my Huion Lightpad I was able to transfer the basic drawing in pencil on the lightpad.  Below you can see three stages of me slowly shading in the areas of the drawing with graphite while using an eraser to pull highlights and a tortillon to smudge and blend the greys.

When I finished that process I carefully cleaned up the outer edges with an eraser and then scanned the piece in greyscale.

To tighten up the value range I adjusted the levels to set the darkest point and lightest point and fiddle with a midrange until I got what looked right to me.

I contemplated leaving the art this way for the bookplate, but decided to add a little bit of tone and color.

So in Photoshop I did just that. The final bookplate has been printed and as I said above will debut at Emerald City Comic Con in March (booth 20505) and then be made available in my online store sometime shortly afterward.

Here are all the past years Bookplates––many of which are available in my online store as a bundle (https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/set-of-10-mouse-guard-bookplates). Below are the blogposts about the process of making each:

Blogposts:
2012 – Lino Print
2013 – Stained Glass
2014 – Embroidery
2015 – Mosaic
2016 – Pencil Rendering
2017 – Engraving
2018 – Wood Painting
2019 – Gouache Painting
2020 – Wood Carving
2021 – Lino Registration Print
2022 – Stained Glass
2023 –– Gouache Painting on Canvas

2024 –– Encaustic Tile

Dawn of the Black Axe #1 Petersen Cover

As recently announced, Dawn of the Black Axe is a 3 issue mini series written and colored by me and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke & Key) about the first wielder of the Black Axe! 

It's up for preorder now in local and online comic shops (JAN250017 for my cover) And I wanted to use this post to share a deeper dive into the cover art for cover B (there is also a Gabriel Rodriguez cover as well as another guest variant)

To the left you can see my finished cover with logo etc, but below I'll go through the art steps.

I gave Gabe the big snake battle cover and I opted to focus on the lore of the story. Fans of Mouse Guard may know I've dropped hints about the legend of the Black Axe through my first two books and a short story the Axe Trio, but also in a whole volume called The Black Axe (which is about Celanawe, the 10th wielder of the weapon).

I drew Farrer (based on Gabe's designs of the character) the axe's smith bestowing it on Bardrick while that moment in encircled in a a medieval halo design. The background is also the Adana Tapestry (something like our world's Bayeux tapestry showing the story of the Axe) that leads to the point Bardrick kneels upon––where he receives the axe. This was all done on various sheets of copy paper, scanned and assembled in Photoshop with some blocked in color shapes.

With the above layout in a state that I liked, I printed it out on copy paper (two sheets of legal paper trimmed and taped together after printing to fit the whole image) and taped to the back of a sheet of 13" x 13" Strathmore bristol (art size is 12" x 12").

I inked the piece on my Huion lightpad where I can see through the surface of the bristol down to the printout to use as a guide while I inked. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens (the 0.7 nib mostly)

Lots of texture in this piece, and in black and while it's a little too busy, but I know I'm going to add color to al lot of that linework to add clarity.

The inks were then scanned in and I started the coloring process. The first step is called flatting, basically a color-in-the-lines for professionals with flat base colors (no shading or textures.)

The colors of the characters and the tapestry were already known from coloring the issue and the Black Axe volume, but it still took a lot of careful tweaking to get the saturations and values all right.

Here I also established color holds (areas where I want the lineart to be a color other than black) on the tapestry embroidery, and a few different hols on the halo.

To render the color I used Photoshop's dodge and burn tools with a textured brush to get the highlights, shadows and textures.

Below is the solicitation info for the first issue that will be in shops March 19th, 2025:

CODE: JAN250017 (Petersen cover)

(W) David Petersen (A) Gabriel Rodriguez

The origins of the legendary Black Axe are revealed for the very first time!In celebration of its 20th Anniversary, experience the earliest tale in Mouse Guard history...

Adventure with the ancient weapon's first mouse wielder and champion, Bardrick, as he sets off on an epic quest in the newest installment of the Harvey Award-winning series by Mouse Guard creator David Petersen and Eisner-nominated artist Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke & Key)!

Dawn of the Black Axe #1 Rodriguez Cover

Announced a few weeks ago Dawn of the Black Axe is a 3 issue mini series written and colored by me and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke & Key) about the first wielder of the Black Axe! 

It's up for preorder now in local and online comic shops (JAN250016 for the Gabe cover) And I wanted to use this post to share a deeper dive into the cover art for cover A (I also have a variant cover and there will be at least one other guest artist for each issue)

Gabe agreed to do the project, but really wanted me to be the colorist. It's been the hardest coloring work I've ever done...

The cover art was created after the first issue was already drawn. I co-ordinated with Gabe letting him know what scene/visual I thought he should focus on and also what I was going to do for my cover (that way if he wanted to do something beyond my suggestion, he knew what I was doing to avoid overlap).

This series really leans into snake battles (if you know the Black Axe lore from the illuminated pages in Fall you understand) and I asked for the big confrontation for this issue. Gabe sent over pencils, and then this amazingly clean and detailed inked art. 

While the interior pages were all drawn & inked, I had yet to finish the colors on the issue––importantly, I hadn't yet colored this scene, so the cover is were some of the color choices were made. Bardrick (first wielder of the Black Axe) had a color scheme and so did the snake (Gammeltann) and the elk, but what colors the backround were and how that may alter the hue and saturation of my established character base colors was something I figured out with the cover first.

This flat color stage is where all the color shapes are established, a coloring-in-the-lines for pros. I also established the color holds, which is where I want the lineart to be a color other than black. In this case I made color holds for the elk, the snake's eye, and the puffs of dust.

Rendering (adding shadows, highlights, & textures) has proven to take much longer for me on Gabe's inks than on my own. I think part of that is the realism of forms in Gabe's work requires a different style of lighting. He also tends to have a lot more degrees of depth in a panel, where I almost always break forms into 2 or 3 planes.

To render the color I used a bit of a painbrush tool (something I don't often do on my own work) to get some color transitions, then Photoshop's dodge and burn tools with a textured brush.

Below is the solicitation info for the first issue that will be in shops March 19th, 2025:

CODE: JAN250016
(W) David Petersen (A/CA) Gabriel Rodriguez

The origins of the legendary Black Axe are revealed for the very first time!In celebration of its 20th Anniversary, experience the earliest tale in Mouse Guard history...
Adventure with the ancient weapon's first mouse wielder and champion, Bardrick, as he sets off on an epic quest in the newest installment of the Harvey Award-winning series by Mouse Guard creator David Petersen and Eisner-nominated artist Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke & Key)!

Ivory Mouse Carving Illustration

In the past few weeks I have been sent photos of this Japanese carving from several friends, professional peers, and fans. I did a little research and found it is ivory and black coral (for the eyes), a little over 2" tall, from the late 19th century and is in a private collection.

Many years ago a similar thing happened when I was repeatedly sent a photo of a weasel riding a woodpecker, and decided to draw it as that event would happen in Mouse Guard (Blogpost for that piece: https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2015/05/weasel-rinding-woodpecker.html)...so, here we go again, I've made an illustration of this mouse and broken down the steps to create the illustration below.

I started with a pencil drawing on copy paper where I tried to keep the pose very close to the carving and only imposing some of my Mouse Guard proportions and flourishes on him. For a setting/background, I opted for the kind of gnarled tangled branch of a flowering tree you often see in Japanese lacquered panels, block prints, and paintings.

The paper was scanned and in Photoshop I gave it all a quick color blocking (mainly to help me to better see the petals from the tree and the rocks from the soil. I also digitally blocked in a circle for a setting sun.

With a layout for the piece I liked, I sized it to 8" x 8" and printed it out on my inkjet printer. That was then taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series smooth bristol. On my Huion lightpad I can see through the bristol surface down to the printout to use as a guide while inking. 

The inks were all done with a Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 pen. The time consuming part of the inking was all the texture on the tree. When inking the clothing patterns, I found a website that had several photos of the carving from different angles to use as better reference (https://www.buddhamuseum.com/traveller-mouse_13.html)

When the inks were finished, I scanned them in to Photoshop and started the coloring process. That first step (after cleaning up the scan so the inkwork is crisp) is called 'flatting'. This is where each area is established with a flat base color; no texture & no shading. It's a professional version of coloring-in-the-lines. I went with warm colors overall to harken back to the soft warmth in the ivory carving. 

At this stage, I also established color holds, areas where I want the inklines to be a color other than black. In this case that meant the sun outline and the clothing patterns.

The last step was to render the color by adding shadows and highlights and texture. I do most all of this with Photoshop's Dodge and Burn tools with a stock textured brush.

This was a fun piece to do really just for the fun of it. I know many fans have asked if I'll ever do Mouse Guard stories set in Asia, and while I don't plan to, perhaps this will please their curiosity for such a thing.

This piece will be included in my next Mouse Guard sketchbook that I hope to release later this year.

Welcoming Artists into the Guard

In the weeks since we announced the new Mouse Guard mini-series Dawn of the Black Axe, which while written & colored by me, will be drawn by master inkslinger Gabriel Rodriguez, I've seen comments online about me not drawing it or wondering what it must have taken for me to give over so much creative control to another artist.

I wanted to do a post to assure everyone that I will still be writing AND drawing my own Mouse Guard books (Weasel War––with a still unknown completion date), but also that the Mouse Territories are a place I've welcomed in over 50 artists or writers to contribute stories, pinups, or covers even before I asked Gabriel to draw this story.

To celebrate the artists who have already donned a Guard cloak and entered Lockhaven, Here's a past blogpost that features them all https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2019/11/thankful-for-mouse-guard-contributors.html

Though, I do want to acknowledge a difference; Legends of the Guard was meant to be an anthology where the guest stories are tall tales and folklore, and this Dawn of the Black Axe series (hopefully the first in a long line of artists exploring past wielders of the Black Axe) is cannon. It's also why I handpicked Gabriel. He is an unparalleled draftsman, an auteur storyteller, and a wonderful friend...we've wanted to work on a project together for years, and this was one worth waiting for.

As a note, I have a limited number of the Legends of the Guard boxed set in my online store for sale (all the books are signed by me) mouseguard.bigcartel.com

And there have been many past blogposts about Legends of the Guard to go back to or discover as we get closer to Dawn of the Black Axe's release (and therefore subsequent Blogposts with behind the scenes, process, interviews, etc.)

davidpetersen.blogspot.com/search/label/Legends

Blog Index Updated

Since I started this Blog in 2007, there have been hundreds of posts about art process, ideas, advice, cover work, illustration projects, and lots of Mouse Guard.

I've updated the Blog's index (something 18 months past-due)   

Perhaps there are posts you've missed, or forgotten about, or you're new to my work and would like to go back and look at posts.

https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2019/12/blog-index.html

Included in the update are Magic the Gathering pieces, TMNT illustrations, Usagi Yojimbo covers & a pinup, Discovering Dragons, Mouse Guard prints, and much more.

Enjoy the new year everyone!