Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Entry 76: X-Men: Nation X Cover

This is a cover I recently did for a new X-Men mini series called Nation X. I pencilled and inked it. It was colored by Morry Hollowell.

When I was 11 I had a Jim Lee X-Men door poster. You remember the image.
That poster is burned in my mind.
Getting to do this cover was so cool for me. It was like getting to do a new take on that Jim Lee door poster. (except my take isn't as much fun, in my opinion)

Some thoughts on this cover:
It is strange to do these big team shots because it's kind of hard to imagine why the characters would all be standing there like that.
In  this shot the X-Men are on an island that used to be Asteroid M. The only distinguishing characteristic that was portrayed with any consistency that I could remember was that big arching window. So I had to include that.
I purposefully didn't draw Wolverine with his claws. It just seemed so obvious that he'd have his claws out. In fact I cropped him at the wrist. His claws could be out, but I've chosen to focus on the man not the claws.

Here are my original un-colored piece and my sketch.

The sketch might be my favorite version.

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9 comments:

  1. jasoncmSeptember 23, 2009 at 9:12 AM

    That's an awesome image. Love how individual everybody feels. The rocky outcrop gives a nice shape to the group, and some justification for the school photo on the bleachers arrangement that these giant group-shots use that's pretty pleasing to my sense of space.
    Thanks for posting all three versions.

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  2. royalboilerSeptember 24, 2009 at 11:22 AM

    Really great cover.
    That does look like it'd be fun.
    If only they made it into a wall poster now.

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  3. mr_cowSeptember 24, 2009 at 12:10 PM

    holy smokes- that cover is fantastic, dustin!

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  4. dustinpweaverSeptember 25, 2009 at 1:13 PM

    Thanks so much for the comments. I've been feeling a little insecure about my abilities lately. So it's nice to get some good feedback.

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  5. dustinpweaverSeptember 25, 2009 at 1:15 PM

    Actually, the editor told me they might. I'm not getting my hopes up though.

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  6. dustinpweaverSeptember 25, 2009 at 1:16 PM

    Thanks, man.

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  7. jasoncmSeptember 25, 2009 at 1:33 PM

    if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing for the gray tones in that piece? Is it an ink wash, and if so are you using a heavier board than the standard 2-ply bristol to avoid buckling?

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  8. dustinpweaverSeptember 26, 2009 at 11:16 AM

    I'm using cool grey Prismacolor markers. With this piece I tried to limit myself to only a couple values. I primarily used 30%

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  9. jasoncmSeptember 26, 2009 at 11:18 PM

    Ah! Thanks. I used to use their warm gray markers on caricature gigs -- I'd burn through about one every two-three hours.

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