Thursday, April 22, 2010

CBR: Ryan Sook Covers Magdalena



Judging books by their covers is typically a no no, but if you want to break protocol and analyze Top Cow's upcoming "Magdalena" series by acclaimed illustrator Ryan Sook's cover art alone, you're bound to be impressed.

Sook is the monthly cover artist on "Magdalena," the April-releasing ongoing series written by Ron Marz and illustrated by Nelson Blake II. The artist is hardly a stranger to the spear-wielding Patience, having previously illustrated her adventures in the pages of "First Born: Aftermath" alongside Marz. Thanks to his work on that one-shot, Sook happily agreed to provide monthly covers for each issue of "Magdalena." Speaking with CBR News, Sook revealed his process in crafting the covers for "Magdalena," including how he starts and finishes a cover, the tools that he uses and the most important ingredients to making a cover stand out.

CBR News: Ryan, can you tell us how you jumped on board to illustrate the covers for "Magdalena" and what approach you took with your style?

Ryan Sook:
After drawing a Magdalena story for "First Born: Aftermath" with Ron Marz - which I really enjoyed - Ron and Top Cow publisher Filip Sablik inquired about doing covers for an upcoming series they'd been planning for Magdalena. I thought that sounded like a good opportunity to do some really striking imagery, so I said yes! I then set out to come up with said striking imagery by frustratingly scribbling out, with clenched teeth and fists, undirected possibilities that led nowhere.

Exasperated, I called Ron - "What the heck do I draw!?" - and Ron sent me his outline for the series and shared some of his thoughts, which thankfully got me on track with some good ideas and hopefully some good covers.

Read the full article here.

Source: CBR


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