Valiant Entertainment Promo Picture

Promotional image for Valiant Entertainment.
Official press releases here and here.

Red Skull Covers

Red Skull: Incarnate is a five-issue miniseries, written by Greg Pak with art by Mirko Colak and colors by Matthew Wilson, out in July from Marvel.

Editor Alejandro Arbona asked me to do five covers including design and logo. It was not intended to be a typical super hero comics, so it shouldn't have anything like typical cover art.

The series is about how a young German boy turns into Red Skull, in a story that parallels the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in pre-war Germany, so I thought it would be a good idea to try to get that historical aspect on the covers. I tried to approach the artwork as if they were real posters, newspapers and Nazi propaganda from that time, kind of in a documentary style.













































I did extensive research into historical documents for the styles. In order to make that work, I used different typographies each issue, emulating different typefaces in real work; so I needed a uniform tone, technique and color in the finished art to identify all the covers as a whole collection.
These are some of the tons of real posters and stuff I based my work in:


Quotes by Frederick the Great and Friedrich Nietzsche in covers #1 and #3 were actually used in nazi propaganda.
At last was decided not to show swastikas on covers, but we thought readers' brains would fill blanks on issue #2.
Thanks to editor Sebastian Giner for helping us with German on issue #4 cover.
Here are some of the sketches I did during the process:



Official press release up on Marvel.com and CBR.

Green Arrow #12 Variant Cover

Green Arrow #12 variant cover.
Out this May from DC Comics.

5 Ronin Psylocke Cover Process

5 Ronin Psylocke is #4 issue in a five-issue weekly-shipping limited series, written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Goran Parlov, out in March from Marvel.

Editor Sebastian Giner asked for this: "Maybe her kimono is slipping off her shoulders, revealing her tattooed back. A sensual and sexy cover, but there's also something very dangerous about her."

All I can say about this cover is that much probably is my favorite one.

This is final cover sketch.

Main picture's whased inks (left). Pencil for aditional figure lines and mask, and inks for some kind of nature Sumie paints (right).



Final art in Photoshop and final design with texts and logos:

5 Ronin Punisher Cover Process

5 Ronin Punisher is #3 issue in a five-issue weekly-shipping limited series, written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Laurence Campbell, out in March from Marvel.
In first sketches of this cover I was drawing Punisher with a bow and I did not get with right shot. Till I understand The True. Wanna go right with Punisher? Give him a firearm and place him under a light. Black costume is replaced by a white kimono, white being the color of death in Japan. At this point in time Japanese warriors used matchlock rifles called “Tanegashima”, one Punisher has on picture.
This is final cover sketch.

Main picture's whased inks (left). Pencil for aditional figure lines and mask, and inks for some kind of nature Sumie paints (right).



Final art in Photoshop and final design with texts and logos:

5 Ronin Hulk Cover Process

5 Ronin Hulk is #2 issue in a five-issue weekly-shipping limited series, written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Dalibor Talajic, out in March from Marvel.

Although is second book of the serie, is last cover I did. Challenge here was to draw Hulk without drawing Hulk itself. I went with a 'Bruce Banner-time after smashing' a post-battle scene (...the horror...the horror...). Japanese mask on the background would give the threat of violence and anger. Green would do the rest.
This is final cover sketch where editor Sebastian Giner gave me the clue of ripped clothing.

Main picture's whased inks (left). Pencil for aditional figure lines and mask, and inks for some kind of nature Sumie paints (right).



Final art in Photoshop and final design with texts and logos:

5 Ronin Deadpool Cover Process

5 Ronin Deadpool is #5 issue in a five-issue weekly-shipping limited series, written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Leandro Fernandez, out in March from Marvel.

Although is last cover of the serie, is second one I did. Main idea was to show a classic ronin shot showcasing Deadpool's dual characteristics, someone was once a noble samurai driven insane by betrayal and war.


This is final cover sketch.

Main picture's whased inks (left). Pencil for aditional figure lines and mask, and inks for some kind of nature Sumie paints (right).



Final art in Photoshop and final design with texts and logos:

5 Ronin Wolverine Cover Process

5 Ronin Wolverine is #1 issue in a five-issue weekly-shipping limited series, written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Tomm Coker, out in March from Marvel.

Wolverine cover is first one I did of the serie, and to be true, I was a little insecure with both technique and composition, was by far one I used more time with.
I based main Wolverine picture on Toshirō Mifune in Yojimbo. Not so happy with result, though, and I did not use references on next covers, where I think characters look much better.

This is final cover sketch.

Main picture is done in whased inks (left). Pencil for aditional figure lines and Samurai armor, and inks for some kind of nature Sumie paints (right).



Then, put it all together and turn colors in Photoshop.
I wanted to play with two main blocks of texts, one for the serie title (5 Ronin) and another for the character of the issue. I thought a quote of the charater will give some personality to each cover. I know what you are thinking, it had to be a serif typeface, and yes, you are right, I used a serif typeface.
I also add japanese numbers on top of the character name and I had the chance of turning Marvel logo into main color of the cover.

5 Ronin Covers

5 Ronin is a five-issue weekly-shipping limited series, written by Peter Milligan and drawn by Tomm Coker, Dalibor Talajic, Laurence Campbell, Goran Parlov and Leandro Fernandez out in March from Marvel.
Official press release up on CBR and Marvel.
I had the chance to do five covers, whole design and create a new logo.
From the very beginning, I wanted to keep each cover down to two colors that indentify with each of the five characters. I also set out to come up with a design that would grab eyes from the shelves compared to the rest of the covers while keeping uniformity throughout the series.
But at last I thought was going to be so complicated and I just did the covers you see here.
I will try to upload a step by step of each one of the covers soon(er or later).

Black Panther: Captain America 70th Anniversary Variant Cover

Black Panther: The Man Whitout Fear #516, Captain America 70th Anniversary Variant Cover, out in March from Marvel.


I did these two proposals for texts adapting Captain America 70th Anniversary logo to fit vintage look of the cover:

Happy Days

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Expocomic 2010

Hi guys, I will be in Expocomic, Madrid Comic Fair, this week, December 9-11th.
Signs and talks schedules in Expocomic site.
Come say hi!

Hola, estaré esta semana en Expocomic, el Salón de cómic de Madrid (del 9 al 11 de Diciembre).
Podéis consultar los horarios de firmas y charlas en la web de Expocomic.
¡Pasaros a saludar!

Invincible Iron Man Variant Cover Process

I'm doing lot of cover-work lately, but as I cannot show anything by now, let's go with a process of an older one, Invincible Iron Man #6 Variant Cover, 2008.

Cover sketch and pencils:



Inks and halftone dots:


Background, texts, logos, and to finish, unfamous vintage effect: