I usually do thumbnails followed by rough pencil layouts before moving on to finished pencils and inks. It's an extra step in the layout process, rough pencils, one I will eventually eliminate with experience. But at the moment, it's an extra step of close examination of design meant to catch any errant problems that I missed in thumbnails(or, in this case, a pretty extensive reworking of the design)
So, without further ado, layouts!
This is the fun part of comics, at least for me. This is where the design problems are solved and where heaps of life and energy exude from rough pencils and gesture sketches! Alternate approaches are explored and the bulk of where your education in art comes into play.
I started out with a list of what I wanted included on the cover and roughed out some simple thumbnails, the best of which you can see at the bottom of the scan. I also included some notes on a color scheme, if you can call areas of "warm" and "cool" colors an actual color scheme.
I liked the original sort of major character, Perry Dawsey, looking over his shoulder from a low angle that was originally done in the pitch cover. It gives a deceptive and dark look that really works for me, but in the original he was wearing a jacket. Cool jackets are fun to draw, but they mask the physique underneath, so it's just Perry's gorilla arm on display in a form fitting T-shirt. Light coming from his back, shadows almost masking part of his face instead of hair. The angle isn't
quite low enough, there is a bit of an eye confusing tangent where Perry's forearm meets Dew's left arm, minor corrections made in the finished pencils/inks(next post). Much improved!
From the thumbnail to the layout pencils, Margaret Montoya is still on the right, looking a bit concerned, but now joined by a pensive Amos, both in their BSL4 hazmat suits.
Dew Phillips is taking a less active pose than in the thumbnail, more reflective of his character, who looks before he leaps, something that allowed him to survive beyond his twenties and thirties in his line of work. Complimenting Dew is his reactionary partner, Malcolm Johnson, who isn't quite as savvy as Dew, and pays the price early on. Fittingly, Mal is a little more emotional, striking an actiony pose bearing a look of angry determination.
Behind them is a swath of fire, smoke billowing up, drifting left. The Brewbaker's funeral pyre? Perhaps, but it lends a bit of warm backlighting to the center of the image, bookended at the top and bottom with the cool colors of snow and winter. Two massive oaks silhouetted at the top against a cold night sky(an important location element that bookends the entire story). Warmth of the fire fading to cool tones of the powdery snow below, where the body of Alida Garcia lies, blood pooling behind her like butterfly wings.
Room is left for the logo(designed by the talented Michael Keller), which Perry will float in front of, trees framing it from behind. There's room left for additional writing or a UPC at the bottom.
Overall, a pretty solid design, very influenced by the sort of collage approach of Drew Struzan.
Next post: Pencils and inks!
