Colonel Weird: Cosmagog #2 Variant Cover/Process (Patreon)

I was grateful to have been asked to draw a variant cover for the upcoming Black Hammer mini-series from Jeff Lemire (with art by Tyler Crook) featuring the Colonel Weird character. It allowed me to draw some oddball stuff and play with some texturing I've been a bit obsessed with lately (stippling, Kirby dots and waves/vortices made of small, blunt lines).

I did the layout for the cover in a sketchbook (fifth image), as a quick, small rough and blew it up to pencil from on the art pad. I moved a number of things around for the final layout, and changed the way Weird's holding onto his warped head. I don't seem to have scanned a final pencil version because I got itchy to ink some of the elements and floating heads before everything was done. Compulsive behavior wins over rational behavior once again. I should have spent a little more time on the main figure before diving into the inking the heads and details around it. I had to back up a bit and remove some inking work, so, that was an amateur move. But I had fun on this and I'm happy with the results and really like Sarah's colors. 

The images give an idea of how things developed while the cover was in progress, from the sketch to pencils and inks. I did some late-game revisions on Weird's "main" head and traced that onto the figure before finishing everything up. Actually, I probably stippled a lot more dots into the background before finally letting go of the page. 

The cover comes out in May, the same month as the new Blackwood series wraps up. 

Here's a link to the May solicitation from DHC for more info on the comic (as well as the fourth issue of Blackwood: The Mourning After).

https://www.comicsbeat.com/dark-horse-comics-may-2020-solicitations/