Army of Darkness #24 cover

Here’s the latest cover. I’ll write more about it later. Just wanted to do SOME sort of quickie update.

"My Private Hell"

I just finished the cover to Army of Darkness #23, and it was one of the more labor intensive ones. I spoke with the writer (Mike Raicht) about the storyline, and what we wanted to do. We both knew the story was set in Africa, and there was some sort of fire creature, but not much past that. I couldn’t wait to do this cover, as I had wanted to do a cover in all warm hues ( I love photos of Africa during sundown), and wanted to emulate that. As you’ll see, I did basically the opposite!

So we discussed creatures, and I tried researching African mythological creatures, fire gods, etc, but came up pretty short. I got bits and pieces, but ultimately decided it should represent the wildlife of the continent, and give a feel for the continent. So I researched, and picked the best of the animals, as well as adding some elements I found from the mythology. Then I did a quick color study to sell the writer on it.


Next up, I laid out the cover. I drew it pretty small, and didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. So I tightened it up a bit, and then popped it into the artograph (table projector) and traced it off. Why struggle trying to get everything to fit like in the sketch? Just use the sketch! Once drawn, I also researched African tribal paint, so I could give Ash some, as well as some jewelry. Nothing crazy though. Just enough to indicate it’s not the norm for him.



So with the cover drawn, I wanted to give the creature a charcoal/ brimstone type of feel. So I took a soft 8b thick, drawing class type pencil, and shaded on a toothier (rougher) paper over the pg on a light box.


Next up, the coloring. Like I said, I wanted to do a piece bathed in warms, but with the creature enveloped in flames, I wanted the cools to play off of it. I originally thought the creature would just be different levels of red, but then I remembered how you get blue flame on a stove when you turn it on, and wanted to play up that aspect as well. I also felt it was the easy way out to do different levels of just red, and really wanted to try to create something that looked cool. Makes the few hours less of sleep worth it! Well, not if you ask my mother! ;)


Most of this coloring is straightforward. The only real “trick” I did here was on the flames. After I colored them (and left the area still selected), to get the blue flames coming off the horns, I simply made a layer in PS on top of the colors already there, set that layer to “color”, and set the pen brush flow to about 7%, and washed over the flames with light blue.

Now, back to penciling #20!

I haven't posted anything in a little while, because I've been working on GiJoe movie related stuff for Simon & Schuster, and I can't show any of it. Well, i COULD, but have you ever seen the dream sequence in "An American Werewolf in London"? 'Nuff said!

Anyhoo, here's the latest AoD cover for #22. I'm probably due for another one in the next few weeks. Really looking forward to that one! The greek letters on the wall say "let us out".
Thanks to my friend Eleni for the translation!

Army of Darkness covers

So far, I've done 4. I started with #18. I just posted #21 last week, so here are #18-20!

Scent of a woman

This blog has gotten a little too masculine. I thought I should try to balance that out a little. I’ll post more later!

"Of wolf and man..."

This cover is spanking hot fresh! JUST finished it. The idea in my head for this cover was based off of the old tv serials, like “The 3 Stooges”, “Laurel and Hardy”, etc... They would always feel behind themselves before they turned around to see either Frankenstein, the big scary guy, or whoever else that was “threatening”. So since the movie this comic is based on takes a pg from The 3 Stooges, it seemed a no-brainer! Here now is the evolution of said cover!

First I laid out 2 quick sketches...



Next, I searched for reference on Google for a snarling wolf. I came across an awesome photo by Tanja Askani, the photographer who took photos of the deer and rabbit that made their way all over the internet. I reversed the photo so it was facing the direction I needed, and then werewolfed it out!


Then I decided, since the characters are so big on the pg, it would be best to draw them smaller first, then pop it in to my artograph. An artograph is a projector that faces down on the tabletop surface. Once you put your smaller sketch inside of it, you can make the sketch much bigger, and to the size you need, and then trace off...

Before I popped the sketch into the artograph though, I scanned it in, and laid out the black placement in photoshop. I actually really like how this turned out, and if it wasn't SO scratchy, maybe I'd have used it! My roommate really liked it too..

The cover is all pencil, and digital inks. No REAL ink was used in the production of this cover!


I debated back and forth between red eyes and the yellow, but the yellow pops more, and they’ll also match the logo color close enough. So it’s not completely out of left field. The logo also has red, so it all worked out. Add to that, I was dead set on yellow eyes to begin with. Ever since I saw “An American Werewolf in London”, I thought they looked downright creepy. See “Salem’s Lot” too if you don’t believe me!

Mirror mirror, on the wall, who's the most cleanly shaven of them all?

This job for Gillette was an awesome job to work on. It was part illustration, part flash animation for an online game they were using to promote a deal they had with GM to give away one of their cars. The Charger I believe it was. I had already had some experience drawing the car the previous yr for GM/ DC Comics, when I drew turnarounds of the car in a garage that also spun around. But I’ll get to that when I get to that! I got these 2 jobs because of a comic called Killer Stunts, where I had to draw all kinds of vehicles. You’re always hoping that each job you do will lead to another one. Well, there’s 2 right there!

Here are a few of the illustrations I did. The animation is all in pieces, and frankly, this work is way better anyway! Some of these pieces were end pieces to each section of the game. The ultimate goal was to pick the woman up and bring her back to his or her place. Depending on whether you got the questions right or wrong, you’d get a different illustration letting you know you passed or failed.