Torn into the deep of the ocean

So the time has come to get an East Coast Rising 2 cover going. After several sketches, I put together 3 thumbnails to choose from:



We decided on the second one, but to keep it consistent with the first cover I decided to use elements of the third cover as well. We chose the second not because the Suffocating Death plays a huge part in this comic, but because it was such a cliffhanger at the end of book 1 it's probably what people will be looking for. Next, since I was so unhappy with the design of the first book, I'm working very closely with my new designer Colin. He's been really helpful, and we're working out what elements can and can't be changed. We go back and forth with mock ups like these:



Which is really rough, photoshopenstein style. I had a copy of the first cover and put it on the chopping block to try and line all the elements up. Here's where you can really see the elements from the second and third thumbnail come together. I also did super rough colors just to see what I liked best (decided on blue-green.)



After the mock up, I'm comfortable enough with this design to go in and do some rough pencils. I do some more color tests and try to see what colors I want the accessories to be. Even though the back will be covered mostly by text I decided I wanted something there, and went with the obvious: the star of the comic, La Revancha. (the ship is totally drawn in- hah it looks pretty good all things considered.)

Here's some trivia: La Revancha: The Revenge: named after the Dread Pirate Robert's ship! I guess you could say this comic is like my Kill Bill in that it's an homage to everything I grew up watching.



The final inks, done with brush on bristol. Decided to go with an elephant- (Yes he appears in the comic! If you like natural history you might even recognize him!!) -in lieu of the ship. I have so many ships in this comic, and they are on the cover of the first and second, so I decided to cut it.



AAND here's the tentative "final" back cover- when the front is finished I'll probably go back and tweak to make it all fit together, but here ya go! Keep in mind this is full bleed too, so it will be cropped a bit in the final. The elephant will be mostly obscured, but it's still nice that he's there. Plus Tim "Editor" Beedle suggested something more ornamental instead of the ship- I wonder if he was expecting a pachyderm?

Now back to work-- I bet I can finish another page before I go to sleep! I'll update when I finish the front cover, probably next week or something.