Back Cover: From Thumbnail To Final Art

I had a drawing or two that I could have recycled as the back cover image but nothing seemed just right — hit the right note.

The initial concept, sketched while on a lunch break. About 3" tall.
 My rough sketch to establish form and positioning, knowing the image would be a silhouette in it's final form.

This is a rough sketch to find the gesture and positioning of the characters while knowing they would be silhouettes in the final image. Finding strong, easy to read silhouette is a skill I have lots to learn about and is important even when figures are not in silhouette. I need to analyze my work through the lens of "does the outline read clearly?".

 

I used a light box to keep the outline I created previously. Again, like with all the other line-art for this book except the front cover, I used a Colerase pencil. The color-shape of the keyhole plate was created in a digital paint program. Late in the creation of this, I thought of Chad and how he does not hesitate to flip an image if it will read better. A flip which has the protagonist looking to the right reads stronger since we in the West react to rightward facing as the direction we're heading in. 

Honestly, this image hasn't gotten the final stamp of approval by either me or the team. It is subject to some color change to better reflect the colors used on the front cover. I'm 95% sure this will more or less be the back cover, just slap a barcode on it.