There is no slow down here in the studio and progress is being made towards the release of Burden in Q1 of 2025 (targeted date so far). This comic means a lot to my brother Andrew and I and I can see a world where veterans like him could benefit from the quick story read.
The original, full-color front cover for the story is one I liked but I had a sneaky suspicion that it might not be doing a good job of presenting the interior story. After getting some great feedback from the Nash Illustrators group, I felt confident in creating a new cover going a direction I know best – black and white!
Version Control
Initially I thought a cartoony approach might be best here and while it does match the character in the story, it felt a bit off and less attention-grabbing (see above sketches). The eye sockets and hand details stuck out to me as being just ok.
Back to the drawing board, I went with a more realistic goat skull – oversized and intentionally heavy. The use of dots/stippling on the dog tag also worked better than the cross-hatching and is more indicative of the sand strewn across the desert landscape where major story beats take place.
There is still plenty of formatting and other content inclusions to make with the project but my brother and I are excited to bring his military tale to a wider audience.
Keep telling stories,
Jeremy