comic art that soars

Contrast for focus

The focal point of this cover is the current Captain Marvel, with her glowing fists, levitating over the water. Even though the cover as a whole is quite saturated and colourful, I ensured that the viewer would be instantly drawn to her by making her fists the highest point of contrast.

Standing out on the shelf

Comic shops are full of shelves with amazing covers that feature superheroes, so creating something eye-catching and unique can present a unique set of challenges. With this particular cover, by having the environment play an important visual role, I was able to differentiate this piece from a lot of the other covers that it would appear next to.

Visual symbolism for narrative

I wanted the viewer to get the sense that Carol was growing beyond her past self, that she was finding her inner light and persevering, but that her memories were also an important part of her. Making her reflection dull and more faded helped to visually convey that it’s a version of her from the past.

Creating the reflection

It was important that the reflection matched up with the above figure, but I wanted to make it clear that it was a representation of her past. So I adjusted a few elements such as her hair, to be accurate to the canonical 2016 version of her design.

Finalising the cover

Most of the time when working on covers for comic publishers, the trade dress/title type isn’t created yet, and sometimes publishers want to be able to offer additional versions that don’t have any text on them (for collectors), so the image really has to work with or without type. Leaving room for additional elements is hugely important, but challenging because I don’t always know what it’s going to look like.