anatomy of a cover :: D.C Comics

tomer :: The Unmen are a group of deformed creatures living in a city of freaks in the Nevada desert. their origin dates back to the 70's as a group of villains on Berni Wrightson's classic Swamp Thing. The city is a mix of Tokyo, Las Vegas and a side show tent parading your worst nightmare. at the center of the story is Cranius, a humnan brain sewed onto a hand. there's also a winged one arm woman (a real life Winged Victory), a two headed CEO and an FBI agent who is an African american albino, leading the plot after an unsolved murder.
since it's the first cover of an ongoing series it needed to depict a broad idea showcasing the series as a concept rather than a specific scene.
the atmosphere of the book is rather flesh-centric, and by that I mean it doesn't hold back on the gore. many of the freaks are manmade, so operations, extra limbs and a variety of animal+human combos are always present. it made me think about old medical book illustrations, which provided a starting point for the coloring-- they keep an emotional distance from thier objects with a monochromatic utilitarianism, and spots of saturated color to point out certain organs.


colored in Photoshop, 600dpi. (the logo's color/placement is a personal projection)


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in other news, the Marquis De Sade cover showcased here a few months back was awarded the Gold medal at the Society of Illustrators. the show is up, so if you're in NY you can still catch it.

A Season on the Edge :: The Dark Side of Tennis

asaf :: Tennis Magazine ran a story about the "dark" side of amateur league tennis. the author describes a lot of the conflict, nasty behavior and poor sportsmanship he witnessed in league play.



luckily, the better sketch was chosen. I enjoyed rendering the cavemen in the background with pencil on paper, it's been a while since I used "real" tools for drawing.




on a different note - AfterDark Films has acquired North American rights to Goran Dukic’s dark romantic comedy “Wristcutters: A Love Story,” starring Patrick Fugit, Shannyn Sossamon, Will Arnett and Tom Waits.
the film is an adaptation of the same short story (Etgar Keret's "Kneller's Happy Campers") as Pizzeria Kamikaze. apparently it takes more liberties in interpreting the story-line. watch the trailer here.



there is a striking similarity between the graphic novel and the film in the opening scene...



lastly, the lost images on my last post are now back on the blog.

between Iraq and a hard place :: the Iraqi Refugees Crisis

tomer :: from Mother Jones Magazine: "They cheered the U.S. invasion; they offered to help, signed on as translators, risked everything they had to work for the United States. But when they had to run for their lives, America slammed the door."
the story examined the unique problem of Iraqis who helped America in the early stages of the war. they were soon targeted by insurgents and couldn't stay in Iraq. if they happened to survive the deadly desert chill on their way out of the country and make it to Jordan they had to face discrimination as they couldn't legally work or send their children to school. America's doors stayed shut.
from the story "Of Iraq's 27 million prewar population, about 1 in 8—some 3.4 million people—have left their homes since the invasion, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (unhcr), and more than half of those have ended up abroad. Refugees International labels this the world's fastest-growing humanitarian crisis. Yet the Bush administration has refused to so much as acknowledge the refugees' plight, let alone help them get to safety or even provide basic humanitarian aid."

>> read more and learn how to help