I did the subscription cover for GI Joe: A Real American Hero #228. I was given the directions “it’s an all-female issue. So fit as many of the girl characters you can on the cover.”
There really aren’t a lot of female Joe/Cobra characters, so I got to 5 before I really had to start thinking. The first stage for me is sketch out boring ideas first. Because first ideas are usually boring.
Very boring. And it doesn’t really make sense to have all the Joes and Cobra ladies standing together for a photo shoot. So, I went to the montage.
More interesting and makes more sense. My editor liked this one so I scanned in the thumb and did the pencils in Manga Studio. Then I remembered Jinx.
Lady count: 6.
I printed it out in blueline and did the inks by hand.
Then back to the computer for colors. I did the flats/shadows/highlights on the figures in Manga Studio. I like the feel of the brushes there better for figures than in Photoshop.
Then the final textures and an overlay hue in Photoshop.
Done! Then they put the logo and stuff on it, and there you have a GI Joe cover.
Except this is from the solicitaion. If you notice in this version Baroness has a sharper jawline and is a bit more busty. Hasbro wanted that changed so I had to go do a little surgery on her. (The images above are the fixed versions.)
Now go out and buy a bunch of copies!