Quantum Quest Cover Process

Hey everyone! Hope everyone's new year is off to a pleasant start. Mine is starting with the release of my latest Spider-Man graphic novel, which is in comic and book shops across the various realms of the world this week. A few of you may have already gotten the book! If so THANK YOU! And I hope you and any kids you may share it with enjoy spinning it around.

I always like to do a little more on here than everywhere else, so thought I'd share a bit of my process for the cover above. I'm--if you can believe it--already on a tight deadline for the current book I'm working on, so this will be a pretty short and condensed process post. For a more in-depth look, feel free to check out this past post about the ANIMALS ASSEMBLE cover.

OK, let's swing into it! THWIP

CONCEPTS

These are the three cover concepts sketches I sent to my editor at Abrams Books (uploaded  larger in the image carousel).

We wanted something both similar to the first book in terms of design, but fresh enough to feel like a new adventure. We had established in advance that the Fantastic Four would be the primary team-up, so they needed to be featured predominantly on the cover. The trickiest part was making sure they all got in there without the cover feeling over-crowded (I was kinda stubborn to get Jeff in there as well).

ROUGH

In the end, we decided to combine elements from concepts 2 & 3, with Spidey font and center and the FF circling around. I had to move Reed to spine-side to make it work and was happy that it made a better overall composition as a result. And look! I got Jeff--really small--down there at the bottom. :)

I really liked Spidey's pose for concept #1 so I tucked it in the back of my mind to maybe reuse for the next book. Which I did.

INKS

From there it was just a matter of "inking" it (which I quote since this was all done digitally in Clip Studio Paint). And being digital, I no longer have much need of a penciling stage these days; going straight from my rough to the finished linework above.

FLATS

I don't usually flat my colors these days as well, typically deciding to shade in my shadows and lighting simulateously. But I flatted here for some reason. Probably because I really needed to makes sure all of the characters stood out around Spidey. Fortunately I also remembered to save a copy of this stage for you in case I ever decided to write up a process post. Thanks, past me!

COLORING

And here we are with some of that light and shading...

...and after coloring some linework and adding some background elements, a FINISHED cover illustration!

And just so you know I don't design these cover illustrations on a whim:

I always aim to make sure all eyes lead to my central character. This spiral composition I often use fit somewhat thematically for the story inside as well.

FINAL!

A cover isn't really done without a title and stuff. So after I finish the illustration, I send it off to my art director who adds in all the important stuff people might need to know. My only additional art contribution was replacing the "4" on the Fantasticar with a "Featuring the FF" bumper sticker as well as my drawing of that webbing graphic above the title.

After that, it's sent to a printer and voilà, finished book:

Act now and get a rare FANASTIC 1st EDITION (really thankful that typo was not my fault and was told will be corrected for the next printing).

Anyhoo, there we have it! You can get QUANTUM QUEST where ever you like getting books and you can read a little four-page preview of it HERE. Hoping it's a fun, enjoyable book for all who end up getting it!

❤️🕸️