DC Comics Young Justice No Man's Land Special Cover Design | This is one of those really cool special assignments that comes along - to design the cover for the Young Justice No Man's Land Special !!! The "marching orders" were simple - it's Robin, Superboy, Impulse and Lagoon Boy (yes, that's right - Lagoon Boy!) heading into earthquake-ravaged Gotham - the worst place on earth to be! What follows are 10 concept sketches with explanations for this cover. Click on the thumbnailed image to get a bigger picture!
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Concept Sketch A |
Here is the first concept for the cover - our boys fearlessly racing into Gotham - No Man's Land!! The camera is just inside the perimeter of Gotham, looking back toward the demolished Trigate Bridge. The boys have just made shore. That's barbed wire and police tape suggesting the dangerous perimeter. Not bad - but the composition is a little cluttered. There is no real rhythm to the position of the characters. And there is not enough visual cues to suggest that Gotham is not only in ruins, but it is an extremely dangerous place to be. It's not bad, but maybe we can get one with more "attitude" in our young heroes.
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Concept Sketch B |
This cover concept has the boys coming through a huge pile of fallen subway cars and track!! The idea is to get an idea of the scale of the calamity in Gotham by making it much larger than the heros. The camera is a bit farther inside the perimeter of Gotham, looking back toward the demolished elevated train wreckage. The boys are a mix of awe-struck and mad and stern. Not bad - the composition is a little tighter as the viewer's attention is focused toward the area occupied by the boys. To make the calamity seem larger, the figures were made smaller. But, the element denoting Gotham (the train wreckage) isn't powerful enough to convey the sense of total city wide destruction and to justify shrinking the main characters that much. It's not bad, but we can do better!
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Concept Sketch C |
This cover concept is a variant on concept A. Notice the camera catching the boys from just off-center ( and in concept A, the camera was catching the action head-on) A little more of the shattered bridge structure will be seen too. Not bad - this composition is a little tighter than concept A. There is more clarity in the figure area, and they seem to be moving more as a "unit." However, this concept is still missing the sense of danger and ominus power that is Gotham.
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Concept Sketch D |
This concept also tries to magnify Gotham at the "expense" of the heros (the same strategy as in concept B). The camera is placed high up in the shattered tops of buildings that are sort-of-still-standing. We look past the ruined buildings to see our boys coming ashore, reacting in a mix of shock, anger, and purpose. Not bad - this composition again tends to bring attention to the figure area. But to make the calamity of Gotham seem larger, the figures were made smaller. Although there are plenty of cues to show Gotham's destruction, the figures are just too small!! This would make a nice shot inside a story (since by then we would have good establishing shots of our heroes), but for a cover you like to have the characters large enough to be clearly identifiable and recognizable!
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Concept Sketch E |
This concept also tries to magnify Gotham at the "expense" of the heros (the same strategy as in concept B & D). The camera is placed low, just over the brackish Gotham River. We are looking past the ruins of the Trigate Bridge to see the boys coming ashore. Not bad - this composition again tends to bring attention to the figure area. But to make the calamity of Gotham seem larger, the figures were made smaller. Although there are plenty of cues to show Gotham's destruction, the figures are just too small!! And - like a dork - we are seeing the backs of the figures!! Sheesh! Hello - anybody home!?! What was I thinking?? This would make a nice shot inside a story (since by then we would have good establishing shots of our heroes), but for a cover you like to have the characters large enough to be clearly identifiable and recognizable - from the front!! Ay carumba.
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Concept Sketch F |
This concept tries to balance the dominance of the heroes and Gotham. The camera is placed low, just over the brackish Gotham River. We are looking up to the ruins of the Trigate Bridge with the boys posed ready for action. Not bad - this composition tends to move the viewer's eye from the figure area to the Gotham area. Although there are plenty of cues to show Gotham's destruction, and the figures are of workable size, the implied action on the cover is going left-to-right, and no element comes across as dominant. There is no sense of urgency or action to this concept. It's like a painting that has no variation in value - it becomes flat.
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Concept Sketch G |
This concept focuses almost exclusively on the boys, with only the bit of debris in the brackish water suggesting Gotham. The camera is placed low, just over the brackish Gotham River at the height of about Lagoon Boy's head. We are looking on a small patch of Gotham ruins with the boys poised ready for action. Not bad - this composition really focuses on the boys at the expense of Gotham. Maybe not a great approach, as the whole point of the book is a Gotham No Man's Land Special story! This shot is a fun collection of the boys, but wholly inappropriate for the task at hand. Why did I do this one??? Good question! But, since we need a bit more of Gotham here, let's go on to sketch H.
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Concept Sketch H |
This concept is a variant of the previous sketch G. It focuses less exclusively on the boys, with a better suggestion of Gotham by adding more debris in the brackish water, as well as the addition of ruined buildings reflected in the water. The camera is placed low, just over the brackish Gotham River at the height of about Lagoon Boy's head. We are looking on the patch of Gotham ruins with the boys poised ready for action. Not bad - this composition isn't as focused as the previous one. The addition of more tags of the ruined Gotham are competing with the figures, with lots of elements distracting the attention of the viewer's eye. It's a neat idea, but it's a bit too unfocused.
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Concept Sketch I |
This concept returns to the attempt to dwarf the heroes by the cataclysm of Gotham. The camera is placed low, below the level of the ruined Trigate Bridge (but still above ground level). We are looking up past the fallen deck of the bridge with the boys poised ready for action. Some ruined buildings are seen on the far rightl. Not bad - this composition tends to highlight the "isolation" of Gotham by having the boys isolated on the bit of remaining decking. But, is "isolation" powerful enough to justify the tiny heroes?? We think not.
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Concept Sketch J |
This concept tries to capture a more dynamic balance between the danger of Gotham and the power of our heroes. The camera is placed low, below the pile of debris piled on the ruined Trigate Bridge (to serve as an implied perimeter barricade). We are looking up past the debris to the boys poised ready for action. To add a sense of danger, helicopters swarm around the perimeter.
Hey, hey, hey.... we may be on to something here! This composition: Score! Let's go with this one! But, some alterations are in order.
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Onto the Finish Line! | Now that we have selected a concept (sketch J), we have some minor modifications to make before rendering the final piece. What follows are the revisions sketch, the layout, the finished pencils, the inked piece and the colored piece!
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Concept Revision Sketch K |
The modifications to the concept sketch are simple enough. I need to make room for the Young Justice logo and the vertical banner (trade dress) that is on all No Man's Land books. Simple. You can see these areas blocked out by the dashed lines.
Some other changes I made to the concept: With these mods sketched in, I can tighten up the detail a bit to complete the layout (see next page).
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Cover Layout |
With the modifications to the concept sketch in place, I simply tighten up the detail for the layout. This drawing was done at less than half of full size (at 46% of f.s.), thus it gets enlarged a total of 216%. Recall that I work on a light-box. This drawing, once enlarged, gets taped to the back of a sheet of cover board, acting as a guide for my final pencil line art.
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Cover Pencils |
The finished cover!! Very cool! At this point, all I can think about is how extremely cool this is going to look after Tim inks it!! This picture is a scan of a terrible photocopy. Due to an ice storm the day I shipped out the cover, the store I usually get copies at closed early (unbeknownst to me!), so this was done at a supermarket. Sigh. Unfortunately, the smoothness of the line art is lost. I'll try to replace it with a better scan (if possible!).
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Finished! | Very cool! I hope you had half as much fun as I did!
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