Welcome to the third installment of “How I Did It,” where I share the process behind the variant covers I drew for the wonderful Mignolaverse books. Today we look at the variant cover for Baltimore: The Curse Bells #1.
As with my other covers, it all started with a detailed synopsis and breakdown of the miniseries. Reading through the script, I decided right away I wanted to feature the creepy nuns and the monastery (where the curse bells of the title reside) on the cover. As usual, I did a couple of sketches to give some options to Scott Allie and Mike Mignola.
Scott and Mike loved the first option, which had a more graphic approach to it. The graphic style has been a constant on all these covers, so I wasn’t surprised to find out that was their favorite.
Scott and Mike gave me a couple of notes (removing the bats from the bell, straightening up Lord Baltimore’s head to make it more heroic, and making the title more prominent). Based on those notes, I produced the final version that will be on the cover of the book out this week in stores.
Hope you guys enjoyed this inside look at my process, and I will see you all next month for the Abe Sapien cover, the last of this set of four variant covers.
Also, if you would like to see more of my process and art, please visit my blogs Pulp Sunday and Francesco Francavilla’s Sketch Blog.
Cheers,
Francesco