Cover process for Scott Sigler's Infected (part 1 of 4)

This is part one of four posts covering the process behind designing and creating the cover(or one of them) for Scott Sigler's graphic novel, Infected.

Originally, I knocked out about six or seven interior pages and a cover as a sort of proof of concept to pitch to a publisher.  The cover for that was pretty cool, but also a little rough.  Some interesting ideas, but didn't quite get to where I wanted to go.  But for the sake of your entertainment, I include it.

In the original, I still hadn't nailed down the look of Perry, but I liked the idea of a lower angle shot of him looking over his shoulder at the viewer.  It gives a sense of deception and dominance, a look that I brought over to the new cover(which you will see in the next post).  I punched it up a bit by giving him a knife to hold behind his back.  It was effective, and overall it was the best part of the cover.

I also included Dew, aiming his gun off to the left, the direction against forward progress.  Awkwardly, I might add.

Equally awkward, another shot of Perry, cutting into his arm.  Besides Perry being on the cover twice, it also gives a bit more away than I want for the first image you see.  As I said, I still hadn't cast a look for Perry, so his face is obscured by a mop of his blonde hair, which actually looks kinda cool.  Anything that covers a face adds a bit of intrigue and mystery, maybe that's why it's done to so many comic book characters.

The background was a cool idea in my head that didn't really play out well on paper for a couple of reasons.  Essentially, there are two people in hazmat suits trapped behind glass in some CDC lab, one desperately pressing his hands against the panes bearing the CDC and biohazard logos.  The two problems with this are, well, it's all taking place behind the logo, and the smaller guy in the far background just looks like a doofus.  As a stand alone poster or ad, maybe it works, maybe it's kind of dark and moody and cool to look at, but as a cover with a traditionally placed logo, kind of a fail.

This got the ball rolling, though, and that's really what mattered.

Next post: Layouts for the new cover.