PROCESS: Ten Steps To The Headless #1 Variant Cover (Patreon)

Up top is the version colored by Anna Gushchina. 

Below that we have the process. Let's run through it:

Image 1: Rough sketch layout for the human villain. With the basic overall layout set.

Image 2: Rough sketch layout for the demon villain. I separated the figures for a few reasons, the main one being that I wanted to jigger the positioning and size of the demon to the punk. I'm not capable of using photoshop to do these things, like most people, and Sarah's day is almost always overwhelmed, so I try to take care of these minor things myself even if it takes me more time this way. I have to do it mechanically with scanning-printing-futzing-lightboxing. This was pretty straightforward, not a big deal. But I still hope to learn some basic, necessary digital skills one day to shorten the process. 

I also wanted to separate the figures because the demon needed a lot more effort, the design of the character was being reworked slightly and I didn't have a super-set model to work from. So I wanted room to mess around with it. Also, I'm not very skilled at drawing wings  -- whether a demon's or a bird's. It's a difficult task for me, my literal-minded brain doesn't know how to break the anatomy and positioning down in visual terms. I draw things that fluster me very literally, using a lot of reference (unless I'm drawing in a simpler, super-goofy style and I don't care about the details much). If I try to wing it -- pun intended -- without reference, it will look like hell. This isn't perfect by any means, but it's a good effort and does the job. Even though I knew most of the wing wasn't going to make it into the final cover specs, I didn't want to cheat the work. For one thing, I was providing a generous bleed in case the editors or art director (or whoever worked on the final) wanted choice in reducing or enlarging some. And I wanted to make sure that whatever got into the finished cover looked solid.

Image 3: Final rough layout. Yes, I printed out the roughs and mechanically scissor cut-and-pasted them together, using the lightbox for placement. I am terrible at eyeballing (or just guessing) sizing things up (or down) so I usually waste some paper on misfires until I get what I want. It's a ridiculous system that, again, would be a lot easier to do digitally. But it got done, and the complete rough went on the lightpad for penciling.

Image 4: Pencils. I was mostly happy with how it came out. Penciled tight, because I'm the kind of inker that needs a very solid foundation. Otherwise I'll try to draw with ink, rather than ink a drawing. I'm not good at drawing in ink for the most part.

Image 5: Inking WIP. I scanned these to post them here. 

Sometimes I'll scan something I'm working on just to see it in a different light than under my hand, where I am way more critical and apt to second-guess. Seeing it cleaner, seeing it reduced at print size, can make a difference in my anxiety level if I'm stressing over a drawing. I tend to stress covers.

Image 6: Inking WIP. Getting there.

Image 7: Raw, finished inks. I went a little overboard on the background textures but I've grown really fond of that kind of thing. I like making the marks and filling the space up. I should cut back, though. For the good of my hand. Typing's worse, actually. 

Image 8: The finished file (web version) after Sarah does a digital clean up. I don't think there was much work that had to be done on this, which is usually the case if the pencils are laid down to guide the inks. Fewer screw-ups, less white ink, etc. I think the punk's eyes might have been manipulated a little, moved or centered. I tend to goof centering the eyes.

Image 9: The color file sent to me. I'm not sure if it's a little fuzzy or low-rez or intentionally done or if my eyes are playing tricks on me. 

Image 10: The finished cover with logo and credits. I ganked this off Diamond Preview's website. The solicitation files are usually low-rez awful. I can't tell if it's different from the previous one, fuzzy-wuzzy-wise.

And on typing "fuzzy-wuzzy-wise", I need to wind things down, obviously. 

I like the cover, I hope it prints sharply and people dig it. I might be doing another cover for the series, we'll see how things go.