Revo Comic: The story behind the first issue's cover art
Jason Badower (the guy who did the cover art) has been posting on his FB about the process he went through to get to the finished cover if you're interested...
May 5 - source
Here's the cover I drew/painted without all the type on it. Lemme know who you think I did the best job on.
Hope I did #TracySpiridakos , #BillyBurke , #DavidLyons and of course, the amazing #ElizabethMitchell justice!
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May 6 - source
The cover for the #Revolutioncomic went through several conceptual stages that I'll document in a couple posts.
The original concept that the amazing @jesswchen from #DCcomics pitched at me was a joined four cover spread. This way the fans could connect all the covers together and have this bad-ass #Revolution mega-cover.
I immediately gravitated to Angel's art and the scene where our heroes are taking on the Patriots in the husk of a burned out city. I took some creative license and decided to cheat and throw Rachel into the scene too. But who should sound off and debut on the first cover? Back in episode 1, the show pretty much starts with Charlie, so I thought we should start with her again. There's a nice synchronicity there and Tracy makes for an arresting and iconic figure.
Next I'll talk about how and why we almost ended up with a triple cover and then how we finally got to a single cover.
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May 8 - source
Right, so it was thrown out that maybe one of the writers might draw the fourth cover. I can only assume this might have been Ben Edlund, the creator of The Tick. This would have been bad-ass so I condensed the four issue cover down to three. It was tough to figure out who had to share a cover and I had to make the hard decision of putting Rachel and Monroe on the one cover. Unfortunately, Ben's wasn't able to do a cover. But the writers pitched the idea of condensing all three covers onto one cover for maximum impact and having the remaining three reflect the interiors of each issue more. Given the tight time frame (this is Friday and we're going live Monday!) I had to think quick and work with what they already liked. I mostly kept Monroe and Rachel, flipped Miles and reworked Charlie so she's in a similar, mirroring pose. The cover was approved in record time and then I started drawing...
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May 9 - source
I'm gonna post these in the order I drew them. I also (tediously) drew them on separate layers so I could separate them later into individual character prints down the track.
Miles was a blast. But man... Stubble. Between him and Amell, they're wearing out my stubble-patience. When is clean shaven going to come back into fashion?
Astute observers noticed Miles' chain when I posted a preview. I try to put in as many details like that in as I can. The problem with the linework (and why it doesn't exactly look like Billy) is that he has really dark eyes. I didn't want to draw them black (as they're dark brown) and I knew they'd look fine when I painted them in.
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May 12 - source
Alright... Charlie! She was so much fun to draw. She's such a great character. Tracy is also a fascinating looking woman. That skin, that hair. Trying to capture her skin tones and the volume of her hair was incredibly fun. You can see also on the sketches that she changed the most. Crossbow down then up. Facing right then left. She went through a ton of permutations but I'm so happy with her final likeness. I chose to drop her jacket to lend some form to the cover. It just seemed like a lot of clothing filling up the cover and this was a great way to separate her.
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May 14 - source
I'm such a huge fan of Lost so I was extra pumped to draw Elizabeth Mitchell. Overall, I think it's good but I don't think it's the strongest illustration on the page (even though that gun took forever). I'm looking forward to a second chance - but I'm unsure if I'll get it...
Also, I got the colors back from @BrettRSmith for the art I did for cover 2. It's as brilliant as it is CUH-REEPY!!!
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May 16 - source
"Bass" Monroe was such a blast to draw. I felt the pressure as he has many (shall I say, enthusiastic?) fans of his online.
Technically, he's right up there with Charlie for in terms of execution, and possibly my favorite illustration on the page. In fact, if I personally had to rank how well I'd drawn them, I'd go Monroe, Charlie, Miles then Rachel. Charlie was the toughest though.
But man, David's hair and beard are a NIGHTMARE to draw. There's no cheating it and no easy way around it. It's not dark, it's not light. There's no broad strokes - you gotta go in and draw almost every damn hair. I feel for Angel who has to draw him multiple times a comic. I was exhausted after one cover!
May 5 - source
Here's the cover I drew/painted without all the type on it. Lemme know who you think I did the best job on.
Hope I did #TracySpiridakos , #BillyBurke , #DavidLyons and of course, the amazing #ElizabethMitchell justice!
_________________________________________
May 6 - source
The cover for the #Revolutioncomic went through several conceptual stages that I'll document in a couple posts.
The original concept that the amazing @jesswchen from #DCcomics pitched at me was a joined four cover spread. This way the fans could connect all the covers together and have this bad-ass #Revolution mega-cover.
I immediately gravitated to Angel's art and the scene where our heroes are taking on the Patriots in the husk of a burned out city. I took some creative license and decided to cheat and throw Rachel into the scene too. But who should sound off and debut on the first cover? Back in episode 1, the show pretty much starts with Charlie, so I thought we should start with her again. There's a nice synchronicity there and Tracy makes for an arresting and iconic figure.
Next I'll talk about how and why we almost ended up with a triple cover and then how we finally got to a single cover.
_________________________________________
May 8 - source
Right, so it was thrown out that maybe one of the writers might draw the fourth cover. I can only assume this might have been Ben Edlund, the creator of The Tick. This would have been bad-ass so I condensed the four issue cover down to three. It was tough to figure out who had to share a cover and I had to make the hard decision of putting Rachel and Monroe on the one cover. Unfortunately, Ben's wasn't able to do a cover. But the writers pitched the idea of condensing all three covers onto one cover for maximum impact and having the remaining three reflect the interiors of each issue more. Given the tight time frame (this is Friday and we're going live Monday!) I had to think quick and work with what they already liked. I mostly kept Monroe and Rachel, flipped Miles and reworked Charlie so she's in a similar, mirroring pose. The cover was approved in record time and then I started drawing...
_________________________________________
May 9 - source
I'm gonna post these in the order I drew them. I also (tediously) drew them on separate layers so I could separate them later into individual character prints down the track.
Miles was a blast. But man... Stubble. Between him and Amell, they're wearing out my stubble-patience. When is clean shaven going to come back into fashion?
Astute observers noticed Miles' chain when I posted a preview. I try to put in as many details like that in as I can. The problem with the linework (and why it doesn't exactly look like Billy) is that he has really dark eyes. I didn't want to draw them black (as they're dark brown) and I knew they'd look fine when I painted them in.
_________________________________________
May 12 - source
Alright... Charlie! She was so much fun to draw. She's such a great character. Tracy is also a fascinating looking woman. That skin, that hair. Trying to capture her skin tones and the volume of her hair was incredibly fun. You can see also on the sketches that she changed the most. Crossbow down then up. Facing right then left. She went through a ton of permutations but I'm so happy with her final likeness. I chose to drop her jacket to lend some form to the cover. It just seemed like a lot of clothing filling up the cover and this was a great way to separate her.
_________________________________________
May 14 - source
I'm such a huge fan of Lost so I was extra pumped to draw Elizabeth Mitchell. Overall, I think it's good but I don't think it's the strongest illustration on the page (even though that gun took forever). I'm looking forward to a second chance - but I'm unsure if I'll get it...
Also, I got the colors back from @BrettRSmith for the art I did for cover 2. It's as brilliant as it is CUH-REEPY!!!
_________________________________________
May 16 - source
"Bass" Monroe was such a blast to draw. I felt the pressure as he has many (shall I say, enthusiastic?) fans of his online.
Technically, he's right up there with Charlie for in terms of execution, and possibly my favorite illustration on the page. In fact, if I personally had to rank how well I'd drawn them, I'd go Monroe, Charlie, Miles then Rachel. Charlie was the toughest though.
But man, David's hair and beard are a NIGHTMARE to draw. There's no cheating it and no easy way around it. It's not dark, it's not light. There's no broad strokes - you gotta go in and draw almost every damn hair. I feel for Angel who has to draw him multiple times a comic. I was exhausted after one cover!