The original cover idea for issue 6 is something I’ve had in mind for at least a year. I’d seen a picture of the singer Nikka Costa and I loved the body language of it, so I wanted the Diva issue to look like that.
So the time came to draw it and I spend a looooooong time on it… I reckon it was almost a month. And of course, then I decided it wasn’t right for the issue (plus I hadn’t captured what worked in the original picture). Damn.
I put it on the Facebook Spandex page and it received a great response, but it wasn’t what I wanted any more.
Pretty much before I’d decided to dump that cover, I saw a photo of the singer St Vincent in Q Magazine – it was on Boxing Day this year – and it gave me an idea for a new version of the cover.
Plus it played to my strengths – I love drawing hair – so the thought of drawing all that blonde hair appealed to me.
So I sketched it, and then drew it – the first version I drew was the one I went with. Then I had the dilemma of what version to go for – a black and white version (with just the eyes coloured), a red version with a white Diva, or a full colour version.
After a few days of carrying the images around on my ipod and looking at them, I decided the colour version was the one to go with (it was a close call with the red one though!).
So there you go! The story of issue 6’s cover!
8 comments:
I loved the first cover you did but this one is even better. Is the whole issue going to be about Diva? She's my favourite Spandex character!
Thanks Rob. I think the first cover was striking and the new one is more subtle - but it's the way it wants to go, I think!
Issue 6 is fairly evenly split between all of the characters. We find a lot out about all of them, but Diva gets the biggest twist/shock/revelation. I am really, really nervous about the reaction!! :-/
But it's done now...
Those are some damn fine covers.
Prefer the first version of the second cover myself, it's more graphic and stark.
I hate drawing hair, which is why most of my characters have black hair so I can just fill the lot in. Hair is unnecessary work for comic artists. I wish I could get away with drawing it like Chev, or just draw a book where everyone's bald
Thanks guys!
There are a lot of reasons why I went with that final cover. It's a bit of a ...strange issue, so I felt the cover had to suit the tone. you'll see!
Maybe you could print a few copies with the mostly black and white cover, call it a sketch variant and charge a tenner for it?
i could do, actually... My cheap new printer guys allow for things like this. But I think I'll leave it as I've got a lot going on!
I think covers rarely come easy. I've written and drawn my own comic book stories, but I've never had the courage to come up with a cover.
www.artbyarion.blogspot.com
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