Die, Baby, Die! Cover Roughs

So, I've just gotten back from MoCCA and was trying to notice which covers people were drawn to. What actually makes people want to pick up a comic book? It doesn't matter how good the content is if nobody will bother to pick it up. Below are a few quick studies of covers ideas for my first chapter of Die, Baby, Die! They are in no particular order. Please weigh in and let me know your thoughts on which cover you find most appealing and why.
The cover above will be a lot cleaner. I was even thinking about only colouring Chiyoko's lips and eyes in the bottom right corner and leaving the rest as black line art.

The one above is a spoof of the Breakfast Club movie. I couldn't resist, I've always wanted to redraw that cover and it seems to fit perfectly with the characters I'm working with in the first chapter. All the characters would be computer coloured in this case.

Below are three different colour studies of one design. The font might actually be a bit different, I'm not crazy about that Y, but this is the general idea of it.



Thanks for checking this out! I'm trying to get this cover finished sometime soon, and I'll post the final version when I finish it.

MoCCA 2010

Hey all. I just got back from the MoCCA comics festival. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos because I discovered that my camera was busted right before I left. It was a great event. I got to meet a lot of talented people. I even was let into a swanky New York City apartment party to drink free booze.

I walked away with a big pile of comic books that I can't wait to read. I've already cracked into some of them. But it's late now, and time for bed. Because tomorrow it's back to the grind of crankin' out the pages.

Die, Baby, Die! pages 8-13

Here are pages 8-13 of Die, Baby, Die! This scene takes place right after something terrible has happened to Miyuki! Once establishing in the first scene that this is, indeed, a horror comic, I used this next scene to slow things down a bit and introduce a few more key players, mainly Chiyoko.

Page 8 will have the Title and Chapter heading in the large space after the first tier. It will look something like this DIE, BABY, DIE! CHAPTER ONE: YOU AIN'T A BABY NO MORE, BABY! Anyway, that's my tentative title, I'm planning on writing it in brush and dropping it in before final printing.

Above I did an extensive amount of hatching to distinguish the wood frames and porch from the outside walls. I dropped it after the third panel. Without the hatching it makes the panels feel less weighted. I couldn't decide if I should just hatch all of the wood in this scene to keep everything consistant, or if dropping it out works fine, because the "camera" is farther away and might not pick up every detail...

I am happy with the way this scene turned out. I think the pacing is there, and I really enjoyed working with the grandparents. I tried hard to really establish the inside of the temple, because it is going to play a large part in the story much later on.

MOCCA 2010!

People of the World,
I will be attending the Mocca Comic Convention this weekend April 10th and April 11th. This will be one of the first shows I've attended as a vendor in a while. I'm bringing with me DoubleThink issues 8 and 9. 9 is pictured below...

They both are also available at Earth Prime Comics on Church Street in Burlington for those of you who won't be at the Con. DoubleThink #9 retails for $3.00, and #8 will run about 1 buck. Also, just a little tip here, Earth Prime will be giving away DoubleThink #8 for free for this years Free Comic Book Day, which is May 1st.

Some of what appears in DoubleThink #9 has appeared in various forms in this very blog. A Worm's Life, I Wish I Never Met You, and the first four pages of Die, Baby, Die! are all in this comic book that is none too shabby.

Hope to see you at the Con! If I do I will greet you happily and try to sell you comics. If that fails, I might beg you to take them and bring them home to show to your friends and grandparents. Till next week!