cover – Christopher Jones Comic Art and Illustration Blog http://blog.christopherjonesart.com Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:53:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 42733131 Creating a Cover: Young Justice #24 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/creating-a-cover-young-justice-24/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/creating-a-cover-young-justice-24/#respond Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:53:17 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=3147 It’s time for another installment of my Creating a Cover series. As usual, this cover was being designed before I had seen the script for the issue in question, let alone had drawn it, so a suggestion from series writer Greg Weisman was key in figuring out a cover concept. Greg suggested Batgirl being grabbed by the throat by an arm belonging to the yet-to-be-revealed Match in his mutated “Bizarro” form. Behind them, would be Plastic Man, helpless to intervene behind the force-field barrier cutting off central Metropolis from the outside world.

Cover Sketch a

Cover Sketch a
Cover Sketch b

Cover Sketch b


We had wanted to hide Match’s identity/appearance on this cover, because while he was revealed in the previous issue, this cover would be made public as part of the solicitation for the issue before that had happened, so a shot from Match’s point of view seemed the most effective. My next priority was to get Plastic Man and Batgirl as large in the frame as possible, as we were more concerned with the characters and their expressions than the setting. The first sketch was well received, but Greg wanted Batgirl to look more aggressive and less victimized, so a second sketch with an angrier expression and a Batarang clutched in her hand as a weapon was added. I had to shrink the Batgirl figure down a bit to have room for her hand with the Batarang in the frame. I tweaked a few other things while I was redrawing, such as the pattern of lighting and shadows on Batgirl’s mask, and I realized that I hadn’t had Batgirl’s hair visible in the first version, so I rectified that as well.

Young Justice #24 cover pencils

Young Justice #24 cover pencils
Young Justice #24 cover inks

Young Justice #24 cover inks


The layout drawing was tight enough that progressing to pencils and then inks was pretty simple. It’s always nice when penciling to know you’ll be inking your own work. While my pencils are still pretty tight, I don’t have to much thought to line weight or texture at this stage, since I’ll be making those choices myself rather than having to indicated it for another artist in the pencils.

Young Justice #24 cover colors

Young Justice #24 cover colors
Young Justice #24 final cover

Young Justice #24 final cover


On the left is the first draft of color by Zac Atkinson. Zac did his usual great job, but we wanted Match’s arm to be a little more pale and chalky – not as completely bleached-white as a full-on Bizarro form, but far enough to be noticeably paler that Batgirl and to provide strong contrast with his original skin tone. On the right you can see the finished color as it appeared on the published cover, along with all the final logos and other trade dress.

You can find my previous Creating a Cover installments here.

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/creating-a-cover-young-justice-24/feed/ 0 3147 Coming in December: Young Justice #23 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-in-decmeber-young-justice-23/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-in-decmeber-young-justice-23/#comments Mon, 17 Sep 2012 21:41:47 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=2629 Young Justice #23

Young Justice #23

YOUNG JUSTICE #23
Written by GREG WEISMAN
Art and cover by CHRISTOPHER JONES
Color by ZAC ATKINSON
On sale December 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E

• Batgirl takes on Match — alone!
• Alpha Squad infiltrates Brainiac’s ship as it hovers above Metropolis!
• Superboy and the Justice League battle their captor, Kylstar!

That’s the info from the official DC solicitation. The action is getting pretty epic, I can assure you! I’m still having a great time drawing the new Season 2 Young Justice characters, plus all the amazing guest heroes and villains! This is the full reveal of the cover I was teasing a few weeks ago, showing the villain Kylstar. He’s an existing character – a lesser-known bad guy from Greg Weisman’s days on Captain Atom – but he’s been given a bit of a Young Justice makeover. And the Justice League are in trouble! The Invasion continues!

Young Justice #19 is still on the stands, and #20 will be out THIS WEDNESDAY! You can find Young Justice at your local comics shop or in digital form!

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-in-decmeber-young-justice-23/feed/ 6 2629 Coming to the pages of Young Justice… http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-to-the-pages-of-young-justice/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-to-the-pages-of-young-justice/#comments Wed, 15 Aug 2012 02:49:00 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=2504 Cold as Crystal, with eyes that BURN!

Cold as Crystal, with eyes that BURN!

He is coming…

I can’t show you the whole cover to Young Justice #23 yet, but when you see it in a month’s time, you’ll see one of my favorite covers I’ve drawn for the series so far, and one of my favorite character designs. The character in question appears before then, but here’s an even earlier peek, pencils and inks by me, colors by Zac Atkinson.

As always, you can find Young Justice at your local comics shop or in digital form!

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-to-the-pages-of-young-justice/feed/ 4 2504 The Gorillas are Revolting! http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/the-gorillas-are-revolting/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/the-gorillas-are-revolting/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 13:55:00 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=1861 Young Justice #19

Young Justice #19

Coming in August:

YOUNG JUSTICE #19
Written by GREG WEISMAN
Art and cover by CHRISTOPHER JONES
On sale August 29 • $2.99 US • RATED E
• The Brain, Monsieur Mallah and The Ultra-Humanite have captured the team.
• What does Gorilla Grodd want with Miss Martian?

Will the rise of Gorilla City mean the fall of Young Justice?

Issues #1-15 are currently available and #16 is due out May 30! Pick an issue up in digital form or at your local comic shop!

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/the-gorillas-are-revolting/feed/ 2 1861 The Gorillas are Coming! http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/the-gorillas-are-coming/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/the-gorillas-are-coming/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 03:02:15 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=1709 Young Justice #18

Young Justice #18

When you see a solicitation for an upcoming issue of Young Justice, you’re getting a peek into my future.

The way the timing works out, the issue you see being advertised is either the issue I’m currently working on or about to start work on. So as you can see, I’m about to be drawing a lot of gorillas…

YOUNG JUSTICE #18
Written by GREG WEISMAN
Art and cover by CHRISTOPHER JONES
On sale JULY 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
• The team travels to GORILLA CITY!
• Someone is enhancing apes to create an army of warrior slaves!

Well, you might guess from the cover that the “someone” is The Brain and Monsieur Mallah. Oh, and that’s the Ultra-Humanite in there, too! Don’t miss the origin of Grodd, Solivar and Gorilla City!

Issues #1-14 are currently available and #15 is out later this month! Pick an issue up in digital form or at your local comic shop!

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/the-gorillas-are-coming/feed/ 4 1709 Coming in May: Young Justice #16 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-in-may-young-justice-16/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-in-may-young-justice-16/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:12:52 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=1430 Young Justice #16

Young Justice #16

YOUNG JUSTICE #16 – On Sale May 16, 2012
Written by Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps, art and cover by Christopher Jones.

Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis fight crime with their adult counterparts! Guest-starring Batman, The Flash and Green Arrow! First part of a new storyline.

  • 32pg.
  • Color
  • $2.99 US

Issues #1-12 are currently available. Pick an issue up in digital form or at your local comic shop!

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/coming-in-may-young-justice-16/feed/ 6 1430 Young Justice #12 out today! http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-12-out-today/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-12-out-today/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:01:10 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=1366 Young Justice #12 - cover colors

Young Justice #12 cover art

…and I didn’t draw it. Well I drew the cover, but the interior has “fill-in” art by another artist.

When  I started on the book it was about a month behind schedule, and month after month we just weren’t able to pull enough ahead to make up an issue in the schedule. So, we got a fill-in issue and I jumped directly from drawing #11 to Young Justice #13.

The good news for me is that starting with issue #14 I’m inking the interiors in addition to penciling them. I’m just finishing up the inks on #14 now while penciling issue #15. I can’t wait for everyone to see how that looks (although I’ve inked all my covers on this title, so the look shouldn’t be too startling), but that’s a couple of issues off.

In the meantime, Young Justice #12 is written by the regular team of Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps, and continues the storyline wiht Ra’s al Ghul, Talia al Ghul and Clayface begun last issue. It’s a good read and I recommend checking it out. I’ll be back drawing the interiors next month with part three of our Clayface epic!

As always, you can pick up the comic in digital form or at your local comic shop, and questions and comments are always welcome!

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-12-out-today/feed/ 4 1366 Marvel Superhero Squad: #4 Hulk Talk Smack http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/marvel-superhero-squad-4-hulk-talk-smack/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/marvel-superhero-squad-4-hulk-talk-smack/#respond Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:03:07 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=1179 Marvel Superhero Squad

Marvel Superhero Squad

Are you familiar with the Marvel Superhero Squad Show? Based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad action figure line from Hasbro, it was a comedy-adventure series that portrayed the Marvel Comics characters in a cartoonish super-deformed-style. Each episode had a “title card” that showed the title of that episode next to a parody cover, based on a classic Marvel Comics cover but depicting characters in the style of the show. I drew several of those for the show’s first season, and I wanted to share some of them with you!

Typically, I would be told what cover I was to parody, and what (if any) characters on the cover were to be substituted with other Superhero Squad characters. I was provided with model sheets for the Superhero Squad animation designs of all the relevant characters, and I then I’d get down to work!

Incredible Hulk #1 cover

Incredible Hulk #1 cover

The first of these covers was for Superhero Squad episode #4: “Hulk Talk Smack!” The cover to be parodied was The Incredible Hulk #1, the first appearance of the character! The Hulk was to merely be replaced with the Superhero Squad version  of the character, but all the other characters depicted were to change. The solder on the left was to become Wolverine, General Ross and Betsy were to become Ironman and The Wasp, the soldier behind them was to become Thor, and Dr. Banner himself was to become The Falcon! They also wanted the rocket-pad background eliminated, and the Hulk figure a little smaller in the frame so it wasn’t “cropped” by the edge of the frame.

Squad Cover #4 pencils

Squad Cover #4 pencils
Squad Cover #4 Inks

Squad Cover #4 Inks
MSHS Cover #3 Color

MSHS Cover #3 Color


Here’s the pencil version of the cover I had to get approved before I could proceed with inking. One of the ongoing challenges with these covers was to replace characters with (more or less) human proportions with the stocky proportions of the Superhero Squad characters, and yet I had to preserve the composition of the original. Sometimes this was tricky, but this time around everything was framed around the large Hulk figure, and his proportions were relatively unchanged. Still, you can see where I made some slight alterations in the composition to make it work with the new proportions. Also, note that the Hulk has lost some fingers and toes in translation to his Squad form!

The inks are by me, and the color is by another artist working for Marvel. Click on the color version to see the cover with revised color and complete with logos. One of the issues with these covers is that the “Superhero Squad” logo is very square, which meant it didn’t usually fit well into the space at the top of the cover art.

Squad #4 Title Card

Squad #4 Title Card

Finally, here’s how the cover appeared in the TV episode, next to the credits for the writer and director. I always thought this was something of an odd format as the story title and other text are fairly small and there’s a LOT of pen space the text and cover art are floating around in. But he, I wasn’t going to complain. It was giving me work!

More Superhero Squad covers soon! As always, questiosn and comments are welcome.

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/marvel-superhero-squad-4-hulk-talk-smack/feed/ 0 1179 Young Justice #11 colors! http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-11-colors/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-11-colors/#respond Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:29:37 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=937 I just saw previews of some of the color pages from Young Justice #11, that’s next month’s issue, featuring Ra’s Al Ghul, Batman and a bunch of other characters I love to draw (yes, that includes the regular Young Justice team).

Zac Atkinson is doing his regular terrific job, and I was particularly struck by page two. I’d love to be able to show it right now, but the powers that be seem to get upset by that sort of thing. You’ll know the page I’m talking about when you see the page with this on it:

YJ #11 pg2 tease

YJ #11 pg2 tease

And it’s the issue with this on the cover (also with colors by Zac):

Young Justice #11 cover

Young Justice #11 cover

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-11-colors/feed/ 0 937 Young Justice #13 solicit is out! http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-13-solicit-is-out/ http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-13-solicit-is-out/#respond Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:29:14 +0000 http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/?p=876 Young Justice #13

Young Justice #13

YOUNG JUSTICE #13

Written by Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps,
art and cover by Christopher Jones.

In Star City, Artemis is under arrest — and in Gotham City, it’s Clayface vs. the rest of the team in a battle they cannot win! Aqualad’s leadership is on the line, and a fateful choice must be made.

32 pages, $2.99, in stores on Feb. 15.

]]> http://blog.christopherjonesart.com/young-justice-13-solicit-is-out/feed/ 0 876