Pandora Zwieback: Creating Blood Reign’s Cover, Part 2

Zeu-Pan2TonedWelcome back to the story behind the creative process that went into formulating and executing the cover art and design for my second Pandora Zwieback novel, Blood Reign. As I explained last time, it began with my commissioning of artist Bob Larkin to paint the cover art, using as a template a Tomb of Dracula magazine cover he’d done for Marvel Comics in 1979. But since the version I had in mind was going to replace the victim with Pan and Dracula with Lady Kiyoshi Sasaki, leader of Blood Reign’s House Otoyo vampire clan, and I knew that Bob was unfamiliar with the fashion style Kiyoshi favors—called Elegant & Gothic Lolita—I brought in Eliseu “Zeu” Gouveia, artist of the Pandora Zwieback comics and the graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City, to design Kiyohi’s look.

Zeu’s first attempt (which I showed you in the previous post) was good, but not quite what I was looking for, considering both Pan and Kiyoshi were wearing black, which meant the potential existed for the characters to “bleed together” into one giant mass when seen at a distance. Something was needed to separate the two, and Zeu’s solution was to give Kiyoshi a white blouse. Problem solved! After he tightened the pencil art and inked the final illustration, I sent it over to Bob, who popped it into Photoshop to add the sort of cliff edge and lightning bolts found in his Dracula painting. The result was what you see up top (click to enlarge).

BloodReign_ArtOne change I asked Bob to make for the painting was to replace the heels on Pan’s boots with thick, flat soles, for three reasons: heels would be too impractical for all the adventuring (running, jumping, kicking, etc.) she’d be doing; thicker soles are her way of compensating for the fact she’s shorter than pretty much everyone around her; and Pan hasn’t mastered the art of walking on high heels—a scene in Blood Feud shows her wearing a pair of dressy pumps when she gets together with her friends, but spending most of her time wobbling around on them. She refuses to take them off because, well, she’s Pan. No stupid shoes are gonna show her who’s boss. But other than that, I told Bob, all systems were go for the painting. And, once again, when he delivered the final art he didn’t disappoint. (Of course, I knew he wouldn’t—that’s why I hired him.)

After that, it was just a matter of turning the art over to Mat Postawa, who’d set the tone for the series look with his design for the cover of the first Pan novel, Blood Feud. When all was said and done, the final cover came out as this:

BloodReign-FinalCvrSpiffy, right? Just as Blood Feud’s cover design had touches of red to complement the “river of blood” in Bob’s painting for that book, Blood Reign’s played off the blue tones in the stormy sky. Of special note is the “devil girl” symbol on Pan’s T-shirt—a manga-influenced version of the one on Blood Feud’s cover—only this one was whipped up by Pan’s original designer, Uriel Caton! I’d asked Uriel to contribute to the process in some way, and once I saw this design I not only wrote it into the novel (as a T that Pan’s boyfriend, Javi, gives her), but also decided that a running joke in the books (and covers) could be that folks are always giving Pan devil-girl shirts (the first, in Blood Feud, was a gift from Mom)—which she has to wonder is meant to be a comment on her personality.

So there you have it: the VH1 “Behind the Cover” story of Blood Reign. And what about the werewolf-centric Stalkers, the third cover that Bob painted so I’d have a complete convention banner? Well, that got bumped to book 4 in the series, replaced by Blood & Iron, which will wrap up the vampire war storyline of Blood Feud and Blood Reign—and whose cover was painted by an artist named Candra. We’ll get to the stories on each of those covers when the time comes.

Next: We’re not done with the cover analyses just yet! Tomorrow I’ll show you what went into the creation of the cover for the recently published IndyFest Magazine #85—an illustration by artist extraordinaire Zeu that depicts the first-ever meeting of Pan and StarWarp Concepts’ first lady of horror, the succubus called Lorelei!

13 Days of Pan-demonium: Hey, You Mind? I’m Trying To Read!

The Pan-demonium continues as we celebrate the publication of my novel BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, on sale right now from StarWarp Concepts and all fine online bookstores.

Stupid ghost—get your own book! Today’s illustration is a special treat, because it’s by none other than Pan’s co-creator and designer: URIEL CATON!

I first met Uriel back in the early ’90s, through a mutual friend (and comics artist) named Delfin Barral. At the time, I needed an artist for a “bad girl” comic project I was working on, so Del opened up the copy of the Comics Buyer’s Guide that I had with me, and pointed to a full-page ad for a comic titled The Outer Space Babes. The first-issue cover art and interior pencils were by his friend, Uriel Caton.

Holy Moses! Sexy women—in spaaaace? And before that he’d been drawing sexy women for b&w publisher Eternity Comics’ flagship title Ex-Mutants? Now I had to meet the guy! (What? I did say it was the 1990s, didn’t I? It was the decade of the bad-girl comic!)

Not long after, Uriel signed on as co-creator and penciller of the bad-girl project, titled Heartstopper, which introduced readers to Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin, sexy monster hunter and all-around badass. (Now sexy monster hunter and fully clothed mentor to our Goth adventuress.) The comic made its debut in 1994, through Millennium Publications—and quickly died, unfortunately.

(For the story of what ultimately happened with Heartstopper, and how it morphed into The Saga of Pandora Zwieback…well, that’s a blog post for another day.)

After Heartstopper, Uriel went on to do work for other publishers, including DC Comics’ JSA Annual #1. Did you know he’s listed as co-creator of the female assassin Nemesis, along with now-big-time Hollywood screenwriter David Goyer of Blade, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight fame? It’s true!

These days, Uriel works as the Senior Minimate (2D) Artist for Diamond Select Toys, a division of Diamond Distribution (the folks through which your local comic shop gets its weekly funny-book shipments). But even though a lot of his time is spent designing blocky figures based on movie and comic book licenses, it’s apparent from today’s “Ghostreader” art that he still knows how to draw the cutest girls around.

The “13 Days of Pan-demonium” keep rolling on! Tune in tomorrow for (or hide in fear from) my contribution to this event!

What Are…The 13 Days of Pan-demonium?

Can anything prepare you for the mind-blowing awesomeness of a dozen fantastic artists (plus me) presenting their unique interpretations of the one and only Pandora Zwieback? Okay, probably yes, but it works better (for me, that is) if you say no!

What are the “13 Days of Pan-demonium”? It’s a celebration of the release of BLOOD FEUD: THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK, Book 1, on sale now from Pan’s publisher, StarWarp Concepts. (Just click on the Blood Feud cover at the top of the sidebar for more information.)

Which artists are involved? Here’s the lineup: Neil Vokes (Doctor Strange: From the Marvel Vaults); Louis Small Jr. (Vampirella); Uriel Caton (JSA Annual and Pan’s co-creator); Elizabeth Watasin (A-Girl and Charm School); Teresa Challender (Wandering Star); Dave Hoover (Charmed); Eliseu Gouveia (the Pandora Zwieback e-comic); Chris Malgrain (Stan Lee’s Alexa); Henar Torinos de la Torre (Mala Estrella); Caanan Grall (contributor to Comic Book Resources’ “The Line, It Is Drawn” feature) Jim Coon; and Ciaran Lucas.

Ah, but in what order will these stunning pieces of art appear? The only way you’ll find out is if you check this blog each day for the latest masterpiece. A devious attempt to draw the attention of all you potential readers, you say? I call it genius!

Prepare yourselves! The hour of Pan-demonium approaches!

(That didn’t sound too hype-y, did it? … Naaaah.)