HACK/SLASH #18 Cover-The process part 3

That wraps up my part in this piece--Now to the inks! The inks on this cover are a real thrill for me. This cover is inked by my friend, Paul Wee--You can check out his art blog in the links section on the right--Go there! It's worth it! Paul is an Assistant Director on The Simpsons, and I met him through my wife, Karen, who is a retakes Director on The Simpsons. Paul is a true artist's artist and his work and advice have really inspired me over the last few years.
At the same time that I got this cover job, Paul and I were sketching animals over at the LA Zoo once a week. During one of our trips to the zoo, I was telling him about a cover gig I was starting work on for a horror comic called HACK/SLASH--and I suddenly put two and two together. I realized that Paul digs horror and that I've wanted to work with Paul on something for a long time. So I asked Paul to ink the cover. He was kind enough to say yes, even though he was in the middle of moving.
The resulting cover is one of my very favorite pieces of work. Paul's line over my pencils is spontaneous and exciting. I hope everybody out there digs it as much as I do.
I know I've blathered on a bit here, but please indulge me just a bit longer. I'm not posting the next part of the process of this cover right now---I want everyone to be psyched to run out and pick up the book when it comes out---Here's the thing: The colors are a sight to behold. Lizzy John colored me and Paul on this cover, and when I say colored, I wonder if I should say painted? The work Lizzy did on this piece is the best color work my pencils have ever seen. No offense to the great folks that have colored my work in the past, but, wow. Big huge thanks to Paul and Lizzy and our editor, Mike O'Sullivan for a really fun job.
HACK/SLASH #18 is on sale in November and you can find a portion of the final colored cover in the September issue of PREVIEWS on page 240!

HACK/SLASH #18 Cover-The process part 2

Check out the MANY differences in the pencils that you see here versus the original layout. I was happy with the pose, but when I got to drawing the actual cover---I started to kinda see a mini movie of the scene in my head--Cassie in the sewers, repeatedly attacked and slashed at by the crazed killer that's reflected in her knife. The sewer background felt right to me instead of the checker board background in the layout--Horror and action movies seem to have a tendency to have their climaxes in old factories, steel mills, or sewers...Not so much on checker boards...Also, I changed the gloves from the layouts to bandages in the final piece, and added many more injuries. Cassie chases slashers, and from reading the HACK/SLASH Omnibus that Tim Seeley gave me, I saw that she tends to get in a little over her head sometimes. I thought the whole "Hunter becomes Hunted" idea might work well, and that became the story I wanted to tell with this cover.

HACK/SLASH #18 Cover-The process

Now that my cover for HACK/SLASH #18 is being solicited in PREVIEWS, here's the process by which I drew the cover, and what happened after it left my drawing table!
Here's my initial sketch for the cover---

UPDATE for late August

Boy, a new baby keeps you busy! Karen and I have been having a great time with our super-cute little daughter, Cole. Lotsa family has been here to see us and we've had lots going on here at Casa de Johnson.
In the meantime, I've gotten to work on a couple of new covers for Devil's Due Productions---The cover for HACK/SLASH #18, and I just finished up the cover for an issue of the upcoming BIONIC COMMANDO comic that's inspired by the new and exciting version of the classic video game. I'll post the artwork for all to see as soon as it's ok to do so.
I've also been getting in some work on The Black Lake---Previous posting here featured our first promo piece for the graphic novella. Hopefully it aroused some curiousity out there. I'm having a lot of fun every time I get to sit down with it. I'll have something new to post here in the near future. In the meantime, please keep checking back!

(Matilda Finn & The Black Lake are (c) Drew Johnson, 2008)