Here’s a cover preview to Raven Nevermore #2! This issue introduces a new villain for the Cog Town Nightwatcher to face off against–just a hint: He’s the kinda villain that’ll teach you to fear the silence in the dark, even if you thought you had those fears mastered. The story behind “Mute” is one that stretches well past this first arc and I’m eager to one day be able to tell it!

I hit some road blocks along the way and had to change cover artists last minute as a business choice. So two covers where done, but this one wins out in the end. It was done by Emmanuel Xerx Javier and myself as a collaboration. Emmanuel created the concept, layout, design framework and finally the art itself. I took that and did the digital work around the art. I’ve always loved collaborative processes but have lost some of my own confidence over the years. I hope to be able to do these collabs for the rest of this series.

Below is are the components that took me in this final direction. The first is Emmanuels art, with the background concepts stripped out. The second is a free texture I found online of paint splattered on a wall.

I immediately saw a raven shape–and I took that as a sign from a great power to roll with it and drop my previous concepts asap. I regret loosing the dog, but sometimes the art controls you. I spent 5 hours last night doing concepts with the dog in it that I ended up trashing… all but one. Maybe it’ll be for the trade some day .