Making of a Cover - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Devil's Engine #1 :: Blog

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Making of a Cover - B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Devil's Engine #1

04/26/2012 11:14am

Duncan Fegredo shares his process in creating the cover for B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Devil's Engine #1. The new series hits shelves May 16th. Don't miss the continued destruction of the world with the best Team-Comic out today. Preorder a copy of this great series at your local retailer and make sure to let them know you're in for the long haul with B.P.R.D.. Welcome, Agents...to the end of the world!

It's not unusual to be asked to design cover art far in advance of a complete script, and that was certainly the case here. The vague brief suggested a play on 1940s rail-travel advertising posters and a live volcano belching smoke. Out of that was to loom some sort of Frankenstein's monster. There was also a very brief synopsis, so brief that the creature wasn't even mentioned! I decided to play around with that at first, totally in the dark. I considered, What if the creature was a mundane mash-up of homeless people? I had no clue; it was a placeholder until there was more information.

A quick comp of the elements I had. The train and landscape really didn't change much from this point, but clearly Mr. Crappy Monster Dude's days were numbered.

Mike wanted a creature a little more like those in Conqueror Worm, but in his words, "More juicy." Bye-bye, homeless creature; hello, Mr. Nuts & Bolts.

Revisions…Mike liked the play on the Right Hand of Doom but wanted it more integrated, less glovelike. I have no idea why I gave him two. Delirium, in all probability. My greatest achievement on the whole cover was those dinky collarbone coils. So cute.

I still hadn't nailed that arm, so Mike stepped in. As always, it was like having a veil lifted from my eyes; it was so obvious! And better yet, my collar cables had survived.