The pulp cover is in the final stages and the part of the project where you think to yourself, wow Im nearly done and then you spend forever tweaking things and upgrading things you already did. Always trying to make good, better and better, the best. Lots of time gets spent in this finishing stage. Perhaps thats the difference between an novice and expert or perhaps being more intuitive vs rigid planning? regardless, this is what I have at this point. One with an aging effect, as if you opened some old boxes in your dads attic or basement and discovered a gem from years gone by, and one without,  so you can see the difference. (OK EDIT! posted the final, version, some of the masthead graphic placement wasnt exactly what I need so some mine tweaks!)

My second idea is a cover for a pulp anthology comic book entitled Tales of High Adventure.

I have some reference and a Color Thumbnail. trying to get some things worked out.

I did a basic overlay of her and then started to tweak it. I need to take some shots of a model to nail it down. I took my other reference shots from House on Sorority Row for Dr. Surgeon.

Love this scene, hes all blue and purple and the background is green and weird. This is actually at a dance at the titular sorority house.

I added a third figure in the back, the guy in the tube, filling with gas! No reference for this, just drew it, supposed to have a light source on him from above inside the tube! Will maybe change the color depending on fit with rest of composition.

So still need to work on the Woman figure but most of the parts are there. I thought I’d put her in a red dress but could easily change that. Pulp is all about big loud colors and I’m trying to keep true to that.

My first idea is one inspired by the Camelot Mythology and in particular a scene from the movie Excalibur. Huzzah! Its of a quest knight coming upon a tree that Mordred has used to display the corpses of the knights he had slain. The villain!, this would be a forest scene under full moon light, maybe its visible in the scene, the Knight, on horseback is holding aloft a torch revealing the grizzly scene, as the bodies are hung in the tree broken and contorted. I thought perhaps there could be a menacing character hidden in the tree branches or something as well.

Light sources would be the Moon, the torch and I wanted another light perhaps from a nearby pond? too Hokey? or just Hokey enough?

here are some reference pics

I find myself stuck a lot of times. I like to think I can draw OK but painting, for me, is really awkward. It is like I think backwards from what I should be thinking. Where do dark marks go? I’m not drawing with paint, I am trying to paint with paint. Those are not the same thing…at all. So thats something stuck in my head. I found watercolor a bit easier, although a bit maddening. Perhaps it was because I was so acutely aware of the fact I was going to fuck it up at any moment, so I proceeded with care? I know not.

All that remains as a constant is, I need to do it more.