Bill and Ted Are Doomed #4 Cover Process
Added 2020-09-23 23:48:28 +0000 UTCThe fourth and final issue of Bill and Ted Are Doomed has been solicited online, so here's the fourth and final Bill and Ted Are Doomed cover process post.
Up top is the final cover art, colored by Sarah Dyer.
Then in order below, the raw inks (meaning "as is" after I finished working on it, before being digitally cleaned up by Sarah), the pencils, and the rough layout sketch. The rough was drawn on an index card to try and keep things simple. Originally I was going to have the main villain of the story riding one of the trolls -- you can see a rough figure in the layout -- but it didn't reflect the story accurately and I thought it might bring the art too close up towards the logo and require it to be reduced. Also, I needed to get the cover done as quickly as possible and knew I was going to add a third troll and kibbitz their hair and other details longer and spend more time on it than I should.
I had a false start on the pencils, I didn't like the positioning on the trolls after adding the third figure, there were several tangents and things were just not reading as well as they should. So I started over, tracing off the characters but moving the third figure and a few things so the composition read more clearly.
I also did a few takes on the original cover sketch but I can't find those cards to scan them. One had Bill, Ted and Death peeking out of an open grave as the trolls were hunting for them. I liked it but wanted to show off the characters more. And I knew the graveyard stuff would take me a lot of time. I avoid drawing full figures a lot less than when I penciled the old Bill and Ted series back in the day, but still find backgrounds challenging. I tend to get very detail-bound when using reference, and am not good at paring things down to what's necessary. I'm still learning.
The wrap-up of the series ships in December. The collection is scheduled for March, 2021.
Comments
Yeah, I thought the trolls looked more Station-like than expected. The troll reference I used had the classic folklore big noses and the hair and it kinda fell into similar waters. I wanted to draw Bill and Ted in different outfits at least once. They were going to be in the disguises that they wear in the story, but I decided not to spoil that. It isn't a huge ddeal, but I figured let the joke be made in the comic itself.
Evan Dorkin
2020-09-25 02:55:17 +0000 UTCOn the whole I'm a better penciler than I am an inker, as an inker I still have a lot of moments where I feel absolutely lost. I would have no problem penciling something for someone else to ink, the problem being I don't think I could pencil a regular monthly book unless it was very basic and open for color. And if I could resist adding details. But on the other hand, I can't see myself ever inking someone else's pencils for a sustained project. Maybe a few pages as an experimental one-off. I'd be pretty nervous about screwing up, and there are some basic inking techniques I've never really learned to do correctly, feathering, lighting, hair. Anatomy. Drawing.
Evan Dorkin
2020-09-25 02:50:03 +0000 UTCI'm on Roger's Patreon, and he said he really liked your script, especially in how you wrote a ton of fun things for him to draw. And the raw pencils look amazing. Maybe someday, you can do a project where you don't ink your pencils. (Your inking is great too, but the raw pencils have a neat energy.)
Ray Cornwall
2020-09-24 14:45:55 +0000 UTCThis is great! Interesting to see Bill & Ted out of their usual setting - both in their outfits and surroundings, and in the non-afterlife fantasy elements. Those trolls look quite Station-y - maybe there is some deep WyldStallynverse lore about trolls actually being ancient Martians!
TimeGentleman
2020-09-24 08:08:03 +0000 UTC
