Dark Crystal Age of Resistance cover: Ordon

Archaia is publishing a new Dark Crystal comic series that ties in with the Netflix show Age of Resistance and I was asked to do some variant covers for it!

The series will be broken into three 4 issue arcs, and the first arc is all about the character Ordon.

To the left you can see the finished cover, but below I'll break down all the steps I took to create the cover artwork.



Sketches:
I started by reading the outline of the comic series given to me by Archaia as well as some character and show info from Henson. Besides the main character of this arc Ordon, I decided to include the following elements for the cover: The Skeksis skekVar the General, the Dual Glaive, an Arathim, and the Gelfling village of Stone in the Wood.

I used a stock photo of a samurai to get Ordon's pose, and then on copy paper and my Huion lightpad, I was able to build up pencil drawings of the other elements that would puzzle piece together in the next step...



Layout:
I scanned all my pencil drawings and put them together in one composition. By having every character/element on a different layer, I was able to resize, mirror, and make adjustments until the composition worked. I did a quick color treatment to the whole piece so it would help me see the various forms and how I'd tone them so that they could all be seen without forming into one blobby mass. The orange borders here represent the live area, trim, and bleed lines.

This was then sent in to Archaia and Henson for them to approve before I could move on.


Inks:
When the layout was approved, I printed it out (it takes two sheets of copy paper taped together to get it to the size I need) and taped it to the back of a sheet of 300 series 11"x17" Strathmore Bristol. Then on my Huion light pad, I can see through the surface of the bristol down to my layout to use as a guide when I'm inking. This way I keep all pencil graphite off of the finished inkwork with no need to erase.

I inked with Copic Multiliner SP pens (The 0.7 nib mainly). I was careful to not butt the inklines of the forms against each other to help give a sense of depth and also so life would be easier in the next step...


Color Flats:
The inks were approved while I was away at GenCon, but as soon as I got home, I started setting up my digital file for color. This step is called Color Flatting, named so because of the flat, hard-edged color layers you are laying down to establish what areas are which colors. Because this piece had so much depth, I also established all the color holds (areas where I want the ink-lines to be a color other than black) and made sure to separate out the linework of the Froud-ian circle design, the Skeksis, Ordon, the Arathim, the village, and the crystal.




Final colors:
The final rendering was done using mostly the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush. I did do a bit of painting on Ordon's face to get a little more control over the shading and planes of his visage.

Dark Crystal Age of Resistance #1 will be out in comic shops Sept. 25th.
Use comicshoplocator.com to find a comic shop near you.






2019 Appearances
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Beneath the Dark Crystal #11 & 12 Cover Process

For my last two covers, numbers 11 & 12 of Archaia's Beneath the Dark Crystal series, I decided to do adjoining covers of the Gelflings Kira & Jen!

To view my past Dark Crystal covers click here. 

With the series being 12 issues, and there only being 10 sets of Mystics & Skeksis, my editors and I knew the last 2 covers would need something different.

We talked about having Jen & Kira together on a cover and having the other cover being Augrah & a Garthim--or the new two main characters in the 'Beneath' series, but as I drew Jen on a sheet of copy paper, I drew him rather larger than I'd drawn any of the Skeksis or Mystics...And I thought, damn, I like the drawing, and I'd hate to re-size it and lose any detail or make inking him harder. So I went ahead and drew Kira at the same scale holding out hope I could find a way to cram them together on a single cover...and I suddenly realized, they were meant to be facing each other! So I re-formatted my photoshop cover template file to be two adjoining covers and layed out the cover that way. I tinted each character to help me see them better, and then drew the background of the prophecy stone (heavily helped by photo reference provided by Henson) on sheets of copy paper and added them to the composition.

With the digital collage of my pencil drawings all sized, set, and approved by Henson & Archaia, I printed it out (took 4 sheets of copy paper I had to tape back together) and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. The bristol was a sheet of 19" x 24"...the image itself is about 21" x 17". A very large piece to ink. On my lightpad, I could ink the piece with my Copic Multiliners (I used the 0.7 nib mostly with the 0.3 nib coming out for the eyes and most of Fizgig). I streamed inking this on Twitch over several sessions. 

Once the inks were finished and then also approved by everyone, I could scan them and start on the coloring. With the piece as large as it was, I had to scan it in 2 parts and then reassemble it in Photoshop. The first step in coloring a piece like this for me is establishing the color holds (where the inkwork won't be black, but a color I can paint: The background, Kira's wing edges & Jen's pants pattern) and laying in flat colors for hair, skin, leafs, wings, clothing, etc. I did myself a favor on the color holds by leaving a gap between my background ink-lines and the figures...it made them much easier to isolate.

The last step to a piece like this is to render the color. Something I also shared while streaming on Twitch over a few sessions. Most of my rendering (adding highlights, shadows, and texture) is done with a textured brush and the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop. However, in several cases on this piece with the Gelflings' skin, I had to use the paintbrush tool to more carefully control the color choices and the subtlety of the rendering. It's something I rarely do, but have found that when coloring human-esque faces it's necessary.

These will be published as separate covers #11: Kira & #12: Jen. Below are what the covers will look like cut apart.

This is kind of a full-circle moment for me. It was a decade ago in 2009 that I did a Dark Crystal promo for Archaia to announce at SDCC the Archaia partnership with Henson...and it had Kira on the left and Jen on the right with the prophecy stone as a background element. Here I am 10 years later and rounding out the 12 issue arc of Beneath the Dark Crystal the same way.  I'm also very glad to see the growth in my work in that time as a penciler, inker, colorist and in my compositions. 

I've had a blast getting to draw every Skeksis and Mystic and Jen and Kira from the 1982 film for this run of covers. Thank you to Archaia for hiring me to do so, and for the fans for being so supportive of my covers, and for you blog readers who have come along with me to see the process.

2019 Appearances
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Beneath the Dark Crystal #10 Cover Process

Here is my tenth variant cover for Archaia's Beneath the Dark Crystal series!

To view my past Dark Crystal covers click here. 

This cover, the last in the run to feature Mystics and skeksis, is of UrSu the Wisest of the Mystics and skekSo the Emperor of the Skeksis. Like my other covers these two are the counterparts of each other and paired together facing opposite directions. To the left you can see the finished artwork for the cover, but below I'll walk through the steps I took to to get there.



I'll start by saying that the challenge of this cover was that there was no official design for skekSo the Emperor in full skeksis garb. In the film he's bedridden and dying. My editor and I asked Henson for any chance of possible past Froud sketches or even perhaps any insight if skekSo is in the new Netflix prequel series, but they were only able to provide me with photos of the puppet used in the original film and some nice images of his bedchambers to draw inspiration from. So I set out to design The Emperor's costume myself.

Like all the past covers, I drew each character on separate sheets of copy paper. For the Emperor, I tried to use some of his blankets, wall hangings, and tasseled chords to drape him in. I also noticed in the run of drawing these covers that skeksis tend to have some carapace from some beast on Thra as part of their adornment––so I gave him a Crystal Bat collar with the crystal eye acting like an all-seeing 3rd eye for the ruler of those wretched cruel creatures. On his back I attempted to draw something resembling a Landstrider skull, but I'm not sure if I really did that so well.

The Wisest of the Mystics was fairly straight forward as a drawing in comparison, and when the two were drawn, I scanned them and tinted them each a different color when laying them out for the composition to help me see them better.

My editors and I waited, a little worried about the approvals on this one. The others were so inline with the original designs, that I took few liberties (other than trying to work out and interpret details of the costumes)––but here I 'd completely made up the visuals for a main character's look. We all breathed a big sigh of relief when Henson approved.

I printed out the above layout and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore bristol to start inking it on a lightpad with Copic Multiliner pens.

In terms of ink details, I do think this one got a bit more texture than most of the other covers as I tried to help the viewer's eye (as well as my own) understand where fabrics and materials changed as they overlapped and draped the characters.


When the inks were approved, I started on flatting the colors. This is the step where I add flat colors, not worried about the texture and rendering and lighting effects of them, to the characters to establish what parts of the image are which colors.

The biggest challenge here was that I had very little to go on for what the Emperor's color palate would be. I opted to make him a bit darker than I think most of the bedchamber & puppet reference was to make this skeksis the most terrifying looking of them all.




The last step was to render all the colors adding highlights and shadows and texture with the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop while using a textured brush.

This cover marks a transition in the run. I still have two covers to go in the series, but this is the last cover to feature skeksis and mystics, and it was the last cover my Mouse Guard & Dark Crystal editor Cameron Chittock worked on with me before he moved on to a new path with his wife (another former Mouse Guard editor) as they start a new chapter in Boston.

2 covers left to go...time for some gelflings...


2019 Convention Appearances

Emerald City Comic Con March 14-17
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20

Beneath the Dark Crystal #9 Cover Process

Here is my ninth variant cover for Archaia's Beneath the Dark Crystal series!

To view my past Dark Crystal covers click here. 

This cover features UrAmaj the Mystic Cook and skekAyuk the Skeksis Gourmand. Like my other covers these two are the counterparts of each other and paired together facing opposite directions. To the left you can see the finished artwork for the cover, but below I'll walk through the steps I took to to get there.



The first step was to draw each character in profile. I draw the characters on separate pieces of copy paper to help me arrange, position and re-size them into an overall composition. I was able to use reference photos from the original production from Henson to help me figure out all the details on the characters and their costumes. When I scanned the drawings into photoshop, I tinted each drawing a different color to help me see where one character ended and the next began.

The background circle pattern is my redrawing of a Brian Froud design found in the World of the Dark Crystal art book.


Henson and Archaia had to approve the above layout before I could start inking the cover. Luckily, they've both been great about green-lighting my Dark Crystal work so-far (knock on wood for the rest of the cover run). When the approval came through, I printed out the above layout onto copy paper, and then taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol.
On a lightpad I can ink on the surface of the bristol while still being able to see the layout underneath.

I used Copic Multiliner pens to do the inks focusing on how to play with line size and texture to get all those costume and fabric details to still read to the viewer's eye.


After the inks were approved I scanned them and started the coloring process known as 'flatting'. This is where flat colors are drawn in digitally to establish what areas of the image and the figures are which colors. A lot of the color choices were established by the reference photos, but I still handpicked the colors so that I could make some hue and value choices to get a better cohesive palate for the cover as a whole.


I only needed to establish one color hold (where I want the inkwork to be a color other than black) on this piece, and that was for the background pattern.



The final step was to render the colors using the dodge and burn tools (and a stock photoshop brush that adds texture) to add highlights, shadows, and texture to the colors.

At this stage I also dropped in another Froud-design that I inked as a ghostly overlay like the other covers in this series.

With this cover done, that leaves 3 to go!




2019 Convention Appearances
(more may be announced)

Emerald City Comic Con March 14-17
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20

Beneath the Dark Crystal #8 Cover Process

Here is my eighth variant cover for Archaia's Beneath the Dark Crystal series!

 To view my past Dark Crystal covers click here. 

This cover features UrNol the Mystic Herbalist (sometimes referred to as the Hunter) and skekNa the Skeksis Slave Master. Like my other covers these two are the counterparts of each other and paired together facing opposite directions. To the left you can see the finished artwork for the cover, but below I'll walk through the steps I took to to get there.



I started by drawing the two characters on separate sheets of copy paper. As each character was missing the same eye, I had to decide which character was more visually interesting showing their patch than the other, that would not only determine which way they faced, but as I alternate the directions of the mystics and skeksis on each cover, where it would fall in the issue numbering. I opted to show the patch of skekNa. Using reference provided by Henson, I was able to draw the two and then scan them into Photoshop and place them in a template for the cover. I tinted each character to help me see what lines were associated with which figure.



When Henson & Archaia approved the layout, I printed it out on copy paper and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. using a lightpad, I can see through the surface of the bristol to use the printout as a guide to ink from. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens to inks with. Mostly using the 0.7 nib and swapping it out for the 0.3 for some of the finer details on their faces.

These characters had a little less texture detail than some of the other covers I've done in their series, so while I still had to do some work in the inks to make the forms have some tonal definition, this cover went quicker than the others to ink.


The next step, after the inks were approved, were to start coloring the cover. That first step is called 'flatting' where flat un-rendered colors are placed in digitally. The idea is to establish what parts of the characters are what colors, and where those colors change. It's like a professional version of coloring within the lines.

At this point I also established some color-holds, where I want the inklines to be a color other than black. For this cover those were for the background design and the chains on the shoulder of the skeksis.



When the flats are established (no need to submit for approvals at that stage), the more exciting part of adding shading highlights and texture to the colors is at hand. To do that I pretty exclusively use the dodge & burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush.

Like the other covers in this series, I drop in an inked Froudian pattern overtop of the whole image as a ghostly symbol.

4 more covers to go!



2019 Convention Appearances
(more may be announced)

Emerald City Comic Con March 14-17
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20

Beneath the Dark Crystal #7 Cover Process

Here is my seventh variant cover for Archaia's Beneath the Dark Crystal series! 

To view my past Dark Crystal covers click here. 

 This cover features UrUtt the Mystic Weaver and skekEkt the Skeksis Ornamentalist. Like my other covers these two are the counterparts of each other and paired together facing opposite directions.

To the left you can see the finished artwork for the cover, but below I'll walk through the steps I took to to get there.


On separate sheets of copy paper I drew the Skeksis and the Mystic. I was able to use some fantastic reference photos provided by Henson from the time of the original production. I also had some photos of my own of skekEkt from a visit I made to the Henson lot in '09, but it was still in a state of some disrepair, so I was only able to use it for some of the jewelry and costume. When the reference failed me, I just did my best to interpret the ideas of the details into something that looked believable. Something I needed to do a lot of on the Weaver. With both of the characters drawn I scanned them put them on different layers in a photoshop template of the cover, and tint them to make it easier to see where one character ended and the other began. The pattern in the back was also drawn separately and is a copy of a Brian Froud design from the World of the Dark Crystal art book.

When the layout was approved by Archaia and Henson, I was able to print out the above design and tape it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On a Huion light pad, I can see through the surface of the brstol down to the printout and I use it as a guide as I ink. For pens, I used Copic Multiliner SP's (The 0.7 & 0.3 nibs mainly).

My goal as I inked this piece was to include as much detail as I could while also not cluttering up the piece and making the figures and their costumes hard to read. Line quality, weight, and texture play a big role in trying to make that clear visually.


The inks were approved by both Archaia and Henson and it was time to start on the first step in the coloring process known as 'flatting'. It's the boring part of coloring where you establish which areas are which colors. There's some technical stuff involved too for how you are setting up your photoshop layers and the file as a whole to make moving around the image and selecting the right areas as you render the piece in the next step as smoothly and painlessly as possible.

Most of the color choices were easy to pick from the photo reference, but there is always a lot of value and hue adjustment at this stage so that the whole piece works as a color palate.


The final step for this cover was to render the colors adding shading, texture, and highlights. I use the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop to do that, with a stock textured brush to help emulate the look of something a little more natural and less airbrush-digital-slick.

Overtop of the whole piece I added in another Froudian design (one that I inked back when I was inking the cover itself) as a ghostly overlay on the entire piece.





2019 Convention Appearances
(more may be announced)

Emerald City Comic Con March 14-17
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20

Beneath The Dark Crystal Variant Cover #6

Here is my sixth variant cover for Archaia's Beneath the Dark Crystal series!

To view my past Dark Crystal covers click here. 

This cover features UrAc the Mystic Scribe and skekOk the Skeksis Scroll Keeper. Like my other covers these two are the counterparts of each other and paired together facing opposite directions. To the left you can see the finished artwork for the cover, but below I'll walk through the steps I took to to get there.



On separate sheets of copy paper I drew UrAc the Mystic and skekOk the Skeksis. I was fortunate to have some great reference from Henson for both, though there's always a part you'd like to be able to see or tough on the real puppet that the photo just doesn't provide the information for––so I just interpreted it all as best as I could. I tried to get their props mimicking each other a bit, the staff for the Mystic and the scrolls for the Skeksis. On a third piece of paper I copied an existing Froud pattern found in the art book of the Dark Crystal as the background. Once I had those drawings finished, I scanned them all, and with each part on a different layer, I tinted them different colors. The color tints for the pencils helps me see where a character ends and the next begins or what are the finicky background details.

Once the layout was approved by Archaia and Henson, it was time to move on to inking the cover. I printed the above layout out onto copy paper (two sheets I had to tape together for the full image). That printout was then taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol board. On my Huion lightpad I could see through the surface of the bristol to the printout below and use it as a guide as I inked with Copic Multiliners (the 0.7 & 0.3 nibs mainly). As ever with these Dark Crystal covers, texture is so much about how I try to honor the practical costuming and puppet building of the Henson Creature Shop. Little stippling, line weight decisions, and differences in hatching helps me create those fabrics and materials.

With the inks completed, I could move on to the coloring stage. The first step of which is the less-fun part: Flatting. Flatting is essentially a professional version of 'coloring within the lines'. No shading details are done, just flat (hence the name) colors are established. Which parts of the image are which colors.

Some of the color choice decisions are based on the photo reference I have, but I'm also eyeballing those colors and then making alterations that suit the illustration. In this stage I also establish the color holds (the areas that I want the ink to print as a color other than black) for the background Froudian circle pattern.


The final step for this cover was to render the colors adding shading, texture, and highlights. I use the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop to do that, with a stock textured brush to help emulate the look of something a little more natural and less airbrush-digital-slick.

Overtop of the whole piece I added in another Froudian design (one that I inked back when I was inking the cover itself) as a ghostly overlay on the entire piece.

Beneath the Dark Crystal Variant Cover #5

Here is my fifth variant cover for Archaia's Beneath the Dark Crystal series!

To view my past Dark Crystal covers click here.


This cover features UrYod the Mystic Numerologist and skekShod the Skeksis Treasurer. Like my other covers they are the counterparts to each other and paired together facing opposite each other. To the left you can see the finished artwork for the cover, but below I'll walk through the steps to get there.



I started creating the layout by drawing the Skeksis and Mystic each on separate sheets of copy paper.  Henson and Archaia provided me with a great set of reference photos of the puppets and their costumes from the original production that help when trying to decipher detail upon detail of a the character's garments, props, or anatomy. I tried to get these two to act a bit more, suing their hands to each hold items significant to them (the Skeksis holds a dagger and a purse, the mystic: a rope-abacus stone). I scanned the drawings into Photoshop and was able to tint, resize, and manipulate them into a layout I liked. The background circle design is based on a Brian Froud painting from the book "The World of the Dark Crystal", but simplified and drawn in my line.

Once I got the approval from Archaia and Henson for the layout, I printed it out and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my light pad (I use a a3 sized Huion) I can see through the surface of the bristol to the printout below and ink using it as a guide. I inked this with Copic Multiliners, specifically the 0.7 & 0.3 nibs.

My main focus when inking these Dark Crystal characters is to get the textures right. To give them a look of being physical things with wear and tear, with wrinkles and grime. It's important that the parts of each character's costume also reads as layered and detailed and textured as the real puppets were...though I'm certainly having to interpret color and tone and texture into some type of little line styles.


The inks were approved, and I scanned the original artwork into Photoshop to start the coloring process. This step, known as 'flatting' is where flat colors are added to establish the various color areas. Mapping out what parts are what colors. While I have some reference to start with, I'm still eyeballing these colors and making a lot of decisions on my own.

At this stage I also added the color hold (an area where I want the inks to be a color other than black) on the circle pattern behind the characters.





The last step is to render the colors using the dodge and burn tools. I use a textured brush that comes stock with Photoshop when I'm doing this to help emulate the look of something a little more natural and less airbrush-slick.

I also added in a Froud-ian design (one that I inked back when I was inking the cover itself) as a ghostly overly over the entire piece.

The final order cut off (for your local comic book store to order one for you) is Nov. 19th. The issue is in stores and on-sale December 12th!

5 down...7 to go....


2019 Appearances TBA

Beneath the Dark Crystal Variant Cover #4

I have been hired by Archaia to do a run of 12 variant covers for the Dark Crystal comic series: Beneath the Dark Crystal. This is my fourth cover of the series where I feature a pair of the yin and yang Mystics & Skeksis.

To see my previous Dark Crystal covers click here.

To the left you can see the finished cover art of UrTih the Mystic Alchemist and skekTek the Skeksis Scientist. Below I'll go step-by-step through the process of creating the piece.



I started with pencil drawings on copy paper. I like using copy paper to draw composition elements because I'm not precious about it...if I don't like the way a drawing is turning out, I don't have to erase, or try to salvage it if I don't want to, I can ball it, bin it and start again. It also helps that I draw the characters separately. For the figures, I do utilize a lot of turn-around reference photos Henson provided me of the Skeksis and Mystics. This is an invaluable resource since the puppets are detail on top of details. For the background pattern and the celestial design, I directly referenced Brian Froud artwork from the book "The World of the Dark Crystal".

With drawings of the characters and background & design, I scanned those in and started arranging and re-sizing them in Photoshop. Because each drawing is separate from the others, it makes this process easier. I tint them different colors to also help me visualize the forms and figure out where the lines from one thing end and the next begin.

I've been alternating which direction the figures faced on each cover, so I placed skekTek on a cover where he'd face the right so I could show off his bionic eye and arm. In studying his photos, I think I figured out that part of his costume are Skeksis carapace and a stretched Landstrider hide.


Once my Archaia editor Cam and Henson approved the layout, I was able to start inking the final artwork. I printed out the above layout and taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol.

On my light pad I can see through the bristol's surface to the printout and use it like a pencil guide as I ink. When it comes to the ink, I use Copic Multiliners. Most of this was done with the 0.7 nib, though lots of facial details were done using a 0.3.

Texture and line quality is always my focus when I'm inking. Trying to get the various surfaces to read differently, but also leaving room for color to do some of that work.

The first step in the coloring process is to add in all flat colors...no rendering or texture. This is to help establish what areas are the same or different colors. Making sure the Skeksis skin is a different color than the Mystic's, or that the different parts of their costuming are the appropriate colors. It's like coloring within the lines as a professional.

In this step I also establish the color hold on the background pattern.





The final step is to render the color by adding light, shadow, and texture to the figures. I do all of that work in Photoshop with the dodge and burn tools using a textured brush.

4 down 8 to go....



2019 Appearances TBA