Dawn of the Black Axe #3 Rodriguez Cover

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

Issue 3 is up for preorder now in local and online comic shops (APR250930 for Gabe's 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)

To the right you can see the finished cover with logo etc, below I go through the art process to create it.

Since we are both doing covers for the series, I tried to avoid us drawing the same scene or have the same emotional tone for the same issue.

For his Issue 3 cover I asked Gabe for a cover that's a bit of a spoiler, with the Matriarch Siobhan tending to Bardrick.

In the order of events, I'd described idea for the cover before I had a finished script off to Gabe (due to how early covers need to be done and turned in). It meant that when Gabe sent over pencils, he'd drawn a different setting, and I had to quickly ask for the change (which Gabe accomplished with little impact to the figures.) Later this amazingly clean and detailed inked art arrived in my inbox.

When coloring these Dawn of the Black Axe pieces of Gabe's I start with establishing the color holds (areas I want the inkwork to be a color other than black) like the glow of the lantern and the details on Siobhan's garments, and then start laying in flat colors to establish all the shapes. Anywhere Gabe didn't close off his linework I needed to smudge out my hard line of color in the gaps.

I wanted this scene have a color scheme with muted colors of the tent Bardrick erects in issue 2, but then the lantern to cast directional warm light that was done in the next step.

To render the colors, I used the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush. I then lasso areas and color shift them to warm them or cool them. Getting that lantern light was very time consuming––and I had to do it again and again for several pages in the issue itself and I used this cover as my guide.

Below is the solicitation info for the third and final issue that will be in shops June 18th, 2025

CODE: APR250930 (Rodriguez cover)

(W) David Petersen (A) Gabriel Rodriguez

Bardrick's quest to protect the Lockhaven and mouse territories from the surrounding serpents comes to a thrilling conclusion! Will the Black Axe's first wielder be able to complete his task before the poison flowing through his veins claims his life? And who shall come to his aid in his hour of need?!