Guest Blog: Anatomy of the Cover of Criminal Macabre: Final Night #3 by Justin Erickson
Steve Barton
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Criminal Macabre: Final Night – The 30 Days of Night Crossover Issue #1 is coming on December 12th, but we’re already looking ahead to Issue #3 and have another guest blog from artist Justin Erickson on the process he used to create the cover.
Some of writer Steve Niles’ greatest characters come together in a final showdown in the four-part Criminal Macabre: Final Night – The 30 Days of Night Crossover, which features artwork by Christopher Mitten. Look for Issue #2 on January 30, 2013, and Issue #3 on February 27, 2013 (click the highlighted text to pre-order your copies from TFAW).
Here’s how Erickson, a Toronto-based illustrator and graphic designer, describes the Issue #3 cover’s creation:
IDEAS:
– By this point in the project, I was given a rough outline of the series plot-line and wanted to play with Eben’s newly turned rabble of vampires overwhelming Cal. Fun fact: This particular concept was originally pitched as a cover for Book 2 in the series but was chosen as the Book 3 cover instead.
SKETCH:
– As with the first cover in the series, once a concept is approved, a rough drawing is produced to act as the framework for the illustration. I literally use the rough thumbnail sketch, blow it up in Photoshop and redraw it to preserve the composition.
ILLUSTRATION #1:
– I decided to carry most of the same colour scheme throughout each cover in the series to create a sense of unity in the series, so I again used blues and mute greens for Cal the ghoul and red to portray the fire-starting vampires.
ILLUSTRATION #2:
– Once Cal is completed, then I begin work on each individual vampire face. All the while I’m tweaking specific colours and revisiting areas to improve them.
FINAL COVER:
– Now that I’m happy with the final illustration, I apply the final textures and typography, and we’re done!
Our thanks to Justin for sharing his craft with us. For more info visit the official Justin Erickson website, and follow @jericksonartist on Twitter.
Issue #3 Synopsis:
Eben Olemaun is on the hunt, and he’ll rip both human and vampire limb from limb to get to the person who took everything from him–Federal Agent Alice Blood. Can Cal fight off the hordes of new vampires in time to save her?
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